Captain Social Worker: Director's Liberal Talking Points Cut from 'Avengers'

Today’s superhero movies can’t come right out and say they love their country.

The 2006 “Superman Returns” reboot featured Daily Planet editor Perry White distorting the iconic line, “truth, justice and the American way” into, “Does he stand for truth, justice, all that stuff?”

And when Captain America made his big-screen debut last year, director Joe Johnston assured us this superhero was more U.N. approved than truly “American”:

And that spirit of determination and wanting to do the right thing is translatable into any nationality and any period really – it’s just sort of a universal theme.

Now, we’re learning that Captain America nearly got political in the upcoming “Avengers” film before writer/director Joss Whedon snipped the scene for rhythm reasons. But it was the correct kind of political commentary, the touchy, feely brand embraced by modern-day storytellers:

I really do feel a sense of loss about what’s happening in our culture, loss of the idea of community, loss of health care and welfare and all sorts of things. I was spending a lot of time having him say it, and then I cut that.

Phew. “The Avengers” hits theaters, hopefully sans soapbox preaching, May 4.