[Slate] The New Captain Signals the End of Masculine Leadership

The Monstrous Leader and the Hero
Why Empathy-Driven Organizations Survive in an Uncertain World

Every hero must face an adversary-a monstrous leader. Mythologist Joseph Campbell once said, "The figure of the dictator-monster is well known in the myths, folklores, legends, and even nightmares found throughout the world. Its characteristics are essentially the same everywhere: as a supposed beneficiary of universal good, it greedily seeks only its own rights." Often, the true nature of such a figure is ambiguous or concealed. In some cases, the hero and the monstrous leader are one and the same.

Movie 'Captain America: Brave New World' still cut
[Photo by Walt Disney Company Korea]

The film 'Captain America: Brave New World' features a character who fits this description: Ross (Harrison Ford), who rises from U.S. Secretary of State-once a check on the Avengers-to President. Early in the film, he emphasizes unity and proposes that countries around the world share a newly discovered resource, Adamantium, found in the Indian Ocean. However, following an attempted assassination and other incidents, world leaders lose trust in the U.S. government, and Ross becomes the main cause of diplomatic conflict.

In fact, Ross brings this downfall upon himself. Blinded by personal ambition, he becomes brainwashed by villains. Ultimately, he loses all reason, transforms into the Red Hulk, and devastates the White House. This plotline may feel familiar to Korean audiences, as it mirrors a scenario where a president, having thrown the nation into chaos by believing baseless rumors, ends up behind bars.

Movie 'Captain America: Brave New World' still cut
[Photo by Walt Disney Company Korea]

Brainwashing is not limited to certain religious groups or organizations. It can infiltrate any area where one has never even considered the possibility of being wrong. The reason people fail to recognize it is because their mindset has already changed, and they do not question their new state. When the person undergoing such a transformation of existence and character is the leader of a nation, the consequences are inevitably severe. No matter how robust a democracy may be, political and economic decisions are made not by the powerless majority, but by the powerful few.

This film presents an alternative through another leader, Captain America, who embodies an "organization led by empathy." Wilson (Anthony Mackie), who inherits the shield from Rogers (Chris Evans), lacks superhuman strength but possesses the ability to empathize. He encourages his teammates to fully realize their potential, free from old constraints and stereotypes. He even persuades Ross, who has transformed into the Red Hulk, to return to his human form and accept his fate as a criminal.

Movie 'Captain America: Brave New World' still cut
[Photo by Walt Disney Company Korea]

In this new normal era dominated by uncertainty, organizations led by unilateral and narrow-minded leaders struggle to survive. This is especially true for the masculine style of leadership that has long dominated global organizations. Only organizations that skillfully incorporate empathy into their environment-responding flexibly and gently to crises-can effectively adapt to a rapidly changing world. This is precisely what Barbara Kellerman, a professor at Harvard Kennedy School, predicted in her 2012 book 'The End of Leadership.'

"The fate of democratic leaders will be determined by structural conditions such as the ideologies and institutional checks that support democracy, new technologies that expand the spread of information and freedom of expression, and followers who have become more aware of their rights and more courageous."