America Chavez Gets New Origin Ahead of MCU Debut

Spoilers for America Chavez: Made in the USA #3 ahead!

America Chavez has gotten a brand-new origin ahead of her Marvel Cinematic Universe debut in America Chavez: Made in the USA #3. Created by writer Joe Casey and artist Nick Dragotta, America Chavez first appeared in 2011’s Vengeance #1. Originally, America hailed from an alternate reality named the Utopia Parallel. After the death of her mothers, America fled that reality, and ultimately came to ours, where she was a member of the Young Avengers, and A-Force, the all-female Avengers team.

Recently, America’s powers started acting erratically and even more disturbing, she has learned that the life she thought she knew on the Utopia Parallel may have been a lie. America has a new, Earth-bound family named the Santanas who claim to have found her as a small child and raised her as their own. And now, in America Chavez: Made in the USA #3, readers learn the shocking truth of America Chavez’s origins.

The issue opens with America waking up to a hooded figure standing over her, who reveals herself to be Chavez’s “sister.” America denies this, saying she has is an only child. The young woman, whose name is Catalina, proceeds to tell America the truth: she is not from a parallel dimension, and her mothers were human doctors who were seeking a treatment for their two daughters who were born with a mysterious genetic condition called Edges Syndrome. America Chavez learns that her desperate mothers subjected both her and her sister to genetic experiments that reversed the condition but gave them both super-powers in the process. There was no parallel reality—the Utopia Parallel was Mister Gale’s island; Chavez made up the bits about an alternate universe and blacked out the existence of her sister. America does not react well to this news, but then learns her sister plans to use the same process to make an army of super-powered women just like them.

Rewriting a heroes’ origin story is a classic comic book trope, and here it is used to force America Chavez to look deep into herself and confront some unpleasant truths. If Catalina is telling the truth, then America Chavez has been living a lie, and must come to terms with that, a process that could potentially redefine her and her place in the Marvel Universe. Regardless of her origin, she is a hero, dedicated to helping others, and this issue shows that.

America Chavez will make her MCU debut in next year’s Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness It remains to be seen if her origin in that film will be the new origin she has just been given. America Chavez: Made in the USA #3 by writer Kalinda Vazquez, artist Carlos Gomes, colorist Jesus Aburtov and letters by Travis Lanham is on sale now in print and digital.

About The Author

Shaun Corley
(1387 Articles Published)

Shaun Corley is a pop culture enthusiast living in the Pacific Northwest. After stints in both customer service and academia, he’s turned his attention to writing about comic books–his lifelong passion. He is a graduate of Radford University, with a degree in English. When not reading comics, he enjoys spending time with his fiance and their dog.

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