Best Hero of 2007

Doom DeLuise says: Booster Gold!

The greatest one you’ve never heard of, Booster Gold. How do you redeem a character that is only heroic for the endorsements, fame, and praise? Make him be incredibly heroic behind the scenes, but have it so that nobody knows about it and still treats him with scorn. And this is the path he’s chosen. Absolutely fantastic. His role in the end of 52, plus his ongoing monthly, has been one of complete and utter fun.

Jim Doom says: Captain America!

He made Civil War worth reading and he was awesome in New Avengers and his own book … and then he got killed. But even in death, he only proved how awesome he was.

Whether it was in flashbacks in books like New Avengers (the scene when Hawkeye joined the Avengers was fantastic) or by inspiring people like Bucky and Tony Stark throughout the Marvel Universe, Captain America’s presence and heroicism were only amplified by his death.

For the most part, if there was a great Marvel comic in 2007, Captain America was involved in some capacity. The decision to kill him off was questioned, but it definitely wasn’t done with any disrespect to the character.

Doominator say: Cyclops!

Nobody but Cyclops. Cyclops is totally awesome. Cyclops is so cool. If I could be Cyclops, I would, except I wouldn’t be a total wuss about taking off my glasses. Nightcrawler and Collosus are pretty sweet too. Also, Zibarro, the Bizarro of the Bizarros who was normal. I really liked him.

Fin Fang Doom says: Winter Soldier!

Captain America kept on track in 2007 after the death of the title charcater thanks to the really strong supporting cast. I had always cast the Falcon off as the black guy Marvel threw in there because they needed a black guy, but in Ed Brubaker’s run he’s become a completely three-dimensional character. Agent 13 has been great as the tortured hero trying to deal with a horrible mistake she made. Black Widow has been interesting as the newly-revealed former lover of Winter Soldier. Even Iron Man has been enjoyable in his not-completely-evil role in the book.

But the Winter Soldier stands out as the best character in the book since Cap’s death. Bucky’s quest to hold Tony Stark responsible for Cap’s death was a great joy to all of us who hated Iron Man for what he did in Civil War. Bucky has evolved so much since he was brought back from the dead a few years ago (in what seemed at the time to be a mere publicity stunt) that seeing him ready to don the red, white and blue tights by the end of the year seemed like the most natural thing in the world.

Hey! Check out what we had to say about this category in 2006 and 2005!