Title: Revisiting the Exhibit
Challenge #59: Photo
Fandom: Avengers
Rating: G
Length: 662 words
Summary: When wandering through the "Captain America: Man, Hero, Legend" exhibit, it is the photographs that people notice.

When wandering through the "Captain America: Man, Hero, Legend" exhibit, it is the photographs that tend to catch the museum goers' eyes.

The first photograph is rare, the original squirreled away in the archives, carefully pressed between acid free paper while a crisp, clean copy sits on display. It is the first known photo of Steven Rogers, the man who is now known to one and all as Captain America. Donated by the estate of Arnold Roth, it shows two boys of about seven or eight playing stickball, the sickly and small blond boy barely recognizable as the strong hero he would become. The back of the photo, also been copied and on display, reads "Arnie and Steve Rogers 1927."

Next is the display of a set of photographs, formal annual group portraits from the Saint Mary and Joseph Orphanage and dated between the years 1930 and 1935. Each picture is carefully labeled with the names of the orphans, nuns and priests. Printed underneath is the careful annotation noting the location of two of the boys in particular: James Buchanan "Bucky" Barnes and Steven Rogers. The pictures are fuzzy, not the best quality, but it is impossible to miss how the two boys are pressed side-by-side in each and every picture.

The Project Rebirth section of the exhibit has perhaps the most well known, and the only official, pre-serum photo in the entire collection. Steve Rogers, dwarfed by his simple army t-shirt, dog tags hanging loosely around his neck, determination shining from his eyes. There are numerous reports of his time in Basic and his various failed attempts to enlist before finally succeeding but it is always the photo that catches the eye of all visitors. It is a perpetual complaint from the custodial staff about the mess of fingerprints to clean off the display case glass once the exhibit has closed for the night.

Captain America's time as a war bonds salesman is the only section missing photographs; its stage of his career is noted by numerous posters of his tour as well as newspaper articles and recollections of various members of the chorus line. Few linger over those displays.

His time during the war, however, is quite popular. The entire history of the Howling Commandos and its members can be seen. There are numerous photos of Sergeant "Bucky" Barnes and several of the rest of men. It is perhaps interesting to note that while Timothy "Dum Dum" Dugan, Jacques Dernier, and James Montgomery Falsworth can be found in both team and individual photos, Gabe Jones and Jim Morita, the team's minority members, are only found in group shots. Much has been made of the fact in each of those pictures the team is always positioned the same way, with Jones and Morita in the center, as if to make it impossible to trim them out and thus remove them from history.

Up until recently the final section of the exhibit was that of his legacy which had grown after his life had been tragically cut short: memorabilia, movies and other media's take on his myth and legend, biographies, etc, but now, after the events in New York, after the Chitauri invasion, this is no longer the case. Now there are new photos of Captain America. Thousands have been submitted when the museum put out the request: cell phone shots, surveillance camera footage, paparazzi and reporter zooms, video of him in action. So many, in fact, that there has been talk of moving the entire Captain America exhibit to a larger wing, especially since, as it has been noted, it appears the good Captain's career is far from over and more space will most likely be needed to include future events.

The world, and the museum, would certainly welcome more heroic deeds, as well as more photographs, of America's first Avenger, after all, with any luck, his career will be a long and successful one, continually kindling people's interest and imagination.