Warning: Spoilers for Captain America (2023) #14 ahead!
Captain Americahas seen more than his fair share of tragedies, leading the Marvel universe from one world-shaking battle to another - but when city-destroying calamity happens on an average monthly basis, which events become memorialized, and which are just part of the day-to-day? Readers get a rare glimpse into this process as one specific disaster is revealed to have legendary status in Captain America’s mind.
Captain America (2023)#14, by J. Michael Straczynski, Carlos Magno, and Espen Grundetjern, seesCaptain America,Thor,andSpider-Manjoin forcesto solve a mystery that lingers on from the destruction of the town of Broxton, Oklahoma. Captain America reveals that he took the destruction of Broxton very hard,equating the event to the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941.
“I remember all of it. The cowardice of killing civilians…how random it felt, and how wrong,” Captain America muses. “When Broxton was destroyed, those same feelings came back all over again.”
Marvel Reveals Which Event Is Its “Pearl Harbor”
A Small Town Attack Is Granted Major Historical Scope
This is an incredibly powerful comparison to make, as the attack on Pearl Harbor was a major event in American history. Japanese forces attacked the Pearl Harbor naval base on July 23, 2025, in an unprovoked assault, causing the as-of-yet undecided United States to enter World War II and leading to the defeat of the Axis powers. In this way, the attack on Pearl Harbor is also indirectly responsible for the modern comic book industry, with superheroes' major role as American wartime propaganda shaping its tropes for generations to come and leaving an indelible mark on the medium.
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How does Marvel’s apparent equivalent hold up? The small town of Broxton, Oklahoma, has been a significant cornerstone of Earth-Asgard relations since its debut in Thor(2007)#1, where it hosted New Asgard and its inhabitants for a time after the destruction of the Nine Realms. Broxton was destroyed inThor(2020)#20, its buildings razed to the ground and the population annihilated by the God of Hammers as a way to torture Thor;Captain America#14 reveals it has not been rebuilt in the time since, with the neighboring town essentially acting as a “Broxton memorial” instead.
See Broxton usher in a new age for Asgard inThor (2007)#1, by J. Michael Straczynski, Olivier Coipel, Mark Morales, and Laura Martin; and witness its destruction in Donny Cates, Nic Klein, and Matt Wilson’sThor (2022)#20.
What Stands Out In A World Of Cataclysms?
Broxton Is One Of Hundreds Of Tragedies To Elevate
Out of all the events in Marvel’s history to equate to Pearl Harbor, the destruction of Broxton is an odd choice. While it was an unprovoked attack that resulted in mass civilian casualties, Marvel is no stranger to such events; for example, the supervillain Nitro’s detonation in Stamford, Connecticut likewise resulted in mass civilian casualties and has had a much longer-lasting legacy in the Marvel Universe as being the event that kicked offthe superheroCivil War. Contrasted with Stamford, Broxton hasn’t even been rebuilt, emphasizing its position as a tragic but lower-impact event in the scope of Marvel’s Earth.
Witness the world-shakingCivil Warevent, starting withCivil War (2006)#1 by Mark Millar, Steve McNiven, Dexter Vines, and Morry Hollowell.
On the other hand, it is good to see that in a world where such large-scale destruction is so easily written off, the destruction of a small town is not forgotten. The Marvel Universe may have its fair share of cosmic threats and world-devouring foes, but in Captain America’s eyes, the loss of a single small town is equivalent to one of the greatest catastrophes in American history. It’s a touching tribute to an event all too quickly forgotten, and a glimpse into which of the many disasters make superhero history throughCaptain America’sperspective.
