America Chavez

• 1. Introduction

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  America Chavez, a superhero in Marvel Comics, was described by her own creator as "the Muhammad Ali of the Marvel Universe." Writer Joe Casey wanted a character who would hit audiences as hard as certain figures had hit him in his youth. Looking back on 2010, he admitted he did not know whether a big enough audience existed for a Latina superhero. He gave her a strong sense of individuality and self-confidence anyway. She first appeared in Vengeance #1, dated September 2011, drawn by artist Nick Dragotta. She is a lesbian hero of Latin-American origin, and she took over the name Miss America from an earlier heroine, Madeline Joyce. Three questions run through her story. Where did she really come from, given that her own memories turned out to be disputed? What exactly can she do? And why did readers, critics and even actors respond to her so strongly?

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• 2. Two Origins

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  The Utopian Parallel, a reality outside time, is where Chavez first believed she grew up. In that telling, she was a Starling of the Fuertona species, an alien race with supernatural abilities. She lived with her mothers in the presence of a being called the Demiurge, whom she credited with her powers.

  When she was about six, black holes threatened the Utopian Parallel. Her mothers sealed them at the cost of their own lives, and their particles scattered across the multiverse. Chavez was eager to prove herself as a hero and sure that Utopia did not need saving, so she ran away. She wandered through realities, took the name Miss America, and began acting as a hero in secret.

  That account was challenged in the 2021 series America Chavez: Made in the USA. A previously unknown sister named Catalina forced her to remember that her mothers were not aliens. They were human doctors named Amalia and Elena Chavez. The doctors brought both girls to a private island, also called the Utopian Parallel, hoping to cure a disease named Edges Syndrome. Their benefactor, however, had evil plans for the girls held there.

  Experiments on the island exposed Chavez to extra-dimensional energies, and that is how she gained her powers. Her mothers gave their lives to free the girls, but only Chavez escaped. The Santana family later adopted her, and she became America Santana. Catalina offered a blunt theory: the alien universe was a story America invented to cope. Whatever the truth of that childhood, the powers it left behind were never in doubt.

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• 3. Kicking Open the Stars

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  Star-shaped portals are Chavez's signature, and she makes them by kicking reality open. Each one can carry her and her teammates across the multiverse, including into a place called the punch dimension. The same portals let her travel through time.

  Her body is built to match. She has superhuman strength, speed and durability, and she can fly. Her invulnerability makes her bulletproof and also flame retardant. Spectrum observed her in her light form and saw her catch up to the speed of light and nearly exceed it.

  Her attacks have a signature look. She can make an enemy burst into tiny star fragments with a single punch. In moments of extreme duress, she projects a large star that releases an energy blast strong enough to injure Captain Marvel.

  Some of her gifts are quieter. Hyper-cosmic awareness gives her a metaphysical insight into space and time. She can also raise her fighting ability by drawing on the power inside her. Her extended lifespan means she does not age at a normal rate. Years of street fighting made her a trained hand-to-hand combatant as well. Her first teammates, a group called the Teen Brigade, would test all of it.

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• 4. Team Years

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  Ultimate Nullifier was her co-leader in the Teen Brigade. Together they freed the In-Betweener from a government confinement center in Nevada called Groom Lake Adjacent. Chavez then broke into the Metropolitan Museum of Art to keep the Young Masters from recruiting Kid Loki. Loki used the Screaming Idol to send her to the Sixth Dimension, where she fought Tiboro. The Last Defenders, She-Hulk and Daimon Hellstrom rescued her. The team later clashed with Doctor Doom in Latveria, and Chavez eventually left over what she called "musical differences."

  The Young Avengers series of 2013, by writer Kieron Gillen and artist Jamie McKelvie, made her a fan favorite. On Earth-212, a teenage Loki pretended to persuade her to kill Wiccan for the good of the multiverse. Disgusted, she sided with Wiccan instead. Later she helped rescue Hulkling, Wiccan and Loki from the Mother, an inter-dimensional parasite, and the final battle took place in Central Park. In issue 15, she told the team offhandedly that she was not interested in men. She later began dating Lisa, an EMT, and danced with her to "close a hole in the universe."

  During the 2015 Secret Wars storyline, Chavez joined A-Force, an all-female team of Avengers. Her fans formed a gang called La Chiquitas and styled their hair after her symbols, including a fan named Sydney Walker. When a megalodon attacked the island nation of Arcadia, she threw the shark across the Shield, the wall at its border. That broke the laws of King Doom, who sentenced her to spend her life protecting the Shield.

  After Secret Wars, Blue Marvel invited her to join the new Ultimates team, written by Al Ewing. She also enrolled at Sotomayor University, where she shared a class with her old Young Avengers teammate Prodigy. Later team appearances included West Coast Avengers in 2018, by Kelly Thompson and Stefano Caselli. Back in 2016, though, Marvel had already announced something bigger: a comic book with her name on the cover.

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• 5. Parallel Selves

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  Captain America Chavez is the title worn by an older version of her in All-New Hawkeye, a book from 2015 by Jeff Lemire and Ramon Perez. In that possible future she is a captain of S.H.I.E.L.D. Other alternate versions are quieter. In the Age of Ultron storyline, only a picture of her appears in one of Nick Fury's safe houses. In the House of M storyline, she is a Young Avenger who fights the Sentinels.

  The Ultimate Universe, labeled Earth-6160, offers the darkest take. There she was imprisoned by Doctor Midas and used to power part of the North American Union's electrical grid, until Wasp freed her. When the Ultimates met the time-traveling Guardians of the Galaxy, Captain Marvel recognized Chavez as one of their displaced members. Chavez did not remember them. Cosmo Starstalker scanned her mind and found that any such memories had been "amputated."

  Captain Marvel still remembered her, and revealed they had once been lovers. Time separated them as they fled the Unmaker.

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• 6. Her Own Series

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  Gabby Rivera, a queer Boricua novelist, wrote America, the 2017 series that made Chavez the title character for the first time. Marvel's announcement of the book drew praise from critics. It made her the first Latin-American LGBT character in Marvel Comics to star in a solo series under her own name. America #1 was the 37th best-selling comic book in March 2017, according to Diamond Comic Distributors. The first collected volume, The Life and Times of America Chavez, ranked 30th among graphic novels in October 2017.

  Reviewers were warm. Kat Vendetti of ComicsVerse gave issue 1 a score of 95 percent. Matthew Aguilar of ComicBook.com gave it four out of five stars, called the lead a "breath of fresh air" and praised artist Joe Quinones for "lively" and "energetic" work. Jesse Schedeen of IGN scored it 8.5 out of 10 and said fans of The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl or Hawkeye would enjoy its tone. Aguilar also liked that her sexuality and race read as parts of her character rather than her whole definition.

  In 2018, Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote to Rivera. She said: "You have created a powerful female character in the production of America, and I know you will forever inspire many individuals by continuing to invent America Chavez's story." That same year, the series was nominated for Outstanding Comic Book at the 29th GLAAD Media Awards. A second collection, Fast and Fuertona, gathered issues 7 to 12 on the 11th of April 2018.

  The second solo run came in 2021 with America Chavez: Made in the USA, by writer Kalinda Vazquez and artist Carlos Gomez. Retailers placed it 18th in advance reorders in early February 2021, and it was the 88th best-selling comic in March. Joe Grunenwald of Comics Beat called the first issue nearly "flawless" for a debut. Robert Reed of Newsarama gave it 8 out of 10 and called it a "modern homage to Superman's origin." A trade paperback, Marvel-Verse: America Chavez, later ranked 67th among graphic novels in May 2022 on the ComicHub chart.

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• 7. Critics and Fans

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  Abraham Riesman of Vulture saw long-standing demand for a Chavez series and said Marvel had only recently "wised up" by giving her one. Nivea Serrao of Entertainment Weekly called her a "fan favorite" after Young Avengers. Kelly Knox of IGN described her as a "no-nonsense heavy-hitter" who is also a "team player and natural leader." Reid Carter of Popverse added that cosplayers and fan artists love her "fashionable assortment of patriotic jackets."

  Not every reaction was kind. A Comic Book Resources writer named Donohoo noted that she had "loud detractors." He tied the hostility partly to her rising profile at a time when some fans were arguing about "politics" in comics and reacting with venom to what they called "forced diversity." He still praised her quiet, observant manner and her stylish costume.

  Michele Kirichanskaya of ComicsVerse said her story stands out for focusing on fun adventures rather than a traditional "coming out" narrative. Carlos Gomez of Daily Trojan found her "compelling" as an LGBTQ+ woman of color who struggles with severe childhood trauma. Rankings followed. GameSpot placed her 17th in a list of the 50 most important superheroes, while The A.V. Club put her 97th among the 100 best Marvel characters. Autostraddle named her the 1st of seven LGBT women who needed to appear in the Marvel films.

  Honors came early. She won Favorite Queer Character at the 2014 Autostraddle Comic and Sequential Art Awards. In 2022, she was nominated for Best First Appearance at the Golden Issue Awards. That September, Multiversity Comics readers voted her third in a poll for Favorite Latin American Superhero.

  Her influence was also debated. In 2016, writers compared her to the hero of an Image Comics one-shot that Casey and artist Dustin Nguyen had in development. Journalists repeated the comparison after All-America Comix #1 appeared in July 2020. In 2023, critics saw similarities between her powers and those of DC's Power Girl.

  Actors noticed as well. In March 2018, Gina Rodriguez said she would love to audition for the role. In May, Stephanie Beatriz said the same on Twitter, and in October 2018 she dressed as Chavez for Halloween, which drew wide media coverage. The part would go to someone else.

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• 8. Screen and Shelf

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  Cierra Ramirez voiced Chavez in Marvel Rising, a run of short films and television specials. In that version, the Kree attacked her home dimension, and her mothers teleported her away before Hala the Accuser killed them. She worked at an auto garage until she reluctantly joined Squirrel Girl's effort to rescue Ms. Marvel. She eventually found the Secret Warriors.

  Xochitl Gomez played her in the 2022 film Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. This Chavez is a supernatural being from the Utopian Parallel who can travel the multiverse. The Scarlet Witch, corrupted by the Darkhold, attacks her in order to take her powers. She ends up in the main 616 universe and teams up with Doctor Strange. Afterward, she chooses to stay on Earth-616 and joins the Masters of the Mystic Arts. Earlier plans placed her in Spider-Man: No Way Home as a sorcerer's apprentice, but that was scrapped because delays meant it would release before the Doctor Strange sequel.

  In video games she is playable in Marvel Contest of Champions and Marvel Strike Force, among others. She is unlockable in Marvel Puzzle Quest, Marvel: Future Fight, Lego Marvel's Avengers and Lego Marvel Super Heroes 2. Sandra Espinoza voiced her in Marvel Avengers Academy. She is also a playable card in Marvel Snap and an assist character in Marvel Future Revolution.

  Toys followed. In 2018, Hasbro released dolls based on the Marvel Rising version. In 2022, Disney released an MCU doll, Hasbro made a Marvel Legends action figure, Lego produced a minifigure, and Funko made a Pop figure. A 2023 Disney item was a pair of ear headbands. In 2022, issue 1 of Made in the USA even appeared as an easter egg in the final episode of She-Hulk: Attorney at Law.

  Chavez also appears in the board game Marvel United from CMON Limited. At Disney California Adventure, her MCU version is a meet and greet character. Aboard the Disney Treasure cruise ship, Gomez reprises the role at the Worlds of Marvel restaurant.

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