| Captain Midlands | |
|---|---|
 Captain Midlands as depicted inWisdom #6 (July 2007). Art by Manuel Garcia. | |
| Publication information | |
| Publisher | Marvel Comics |
| First appearance | Wisdom #1 (January 2007) |
| Created by | Paul Cornell (writer) Trevor Hairsine (artist) |
| In-story information | |
| Alter ego | Sid Ridley |
| Species | Enhanced human |
| Team affiliations | MI-13 British Army |
| Abilities | Physical attributes enhanced to peak of human potential Expertmartial artist and hand-to-hand combatant All terrain acrobatics Mastertactician and field commander Circular shield with anti-magic gloss |
Captain Midlands (Sid Ridley)[1] is a fictional character appearing inAmerican comic books published byMarvel Comics. Captain Midlands was created by writerPaul Cornell and first penciled byTrevor Hairsine and first appeared inWisdom #1 (January 2007).
Captain Midlands is apatriotic British Army veteran and a British analogue ofCaptain America. An eighty-year-oldBrummie[2] superhero, Captain Midlands is often portrayed as agrumpy old git. His real name, "Rambling" Sid Ridley, is a combination ofKenneth Williams'Round the Horne character ‘Rambling Sid Rumpo’ andArnold Ridley who playedPrivate Godfrey in thesitcomDad's Army.[3]
Captain Midlands' nuanced role sees him more as a down-to-earth hero, with Paul Cornell describing him as:
the representative of my dad's generation, those who fought in World War II, which is still big in the British psyche. He also tends to look backwards, while Pete Wisdom looks forwards, thus also representing that trait of the British.[2]
As part of the 1940s British Super-Soldier program,[4] Sid Ridley is transformed into a "perfect" specimen of human development and conditioning then sent off to be part of the British Army's war effort.
After serving asCaptain Midlands inWorld War II, Ridley somehow ended up inBritish Intelligence and eventuallyMI-13.[1] Ridley also suggested that he had "knocked a girl up" (got her pregnant) and married her before she died in 1963.[5]
Captain Midlands served alongside other British heroes, includingCaptain Britain andPete Wisdom in MI-13, fighting supernatural threats such asfairies,[1]Y Ddraig Goch,[5] alternate realityJack the Rippers andMartians. He was also reported to be fighting theSkrull invasion of Britain.[6]
When MI:13 refocused itself against a supernatural pandemic, Captain Midlands - while carrying out routine crimefighting - identified a demonic incursion in Birmingham and called it in to the agency. He was captured and imprisoned in acouncil estate basement, being tempted to give his soul for an unknown desire. He was freed by and joined Pete Wisdom's strike team.[7] However, this was a ploy by Captain Midlands to lead the group into a trap so he could get his heart's desire, to spend eternity with his dead wife.[8]
Wisdom, disgusted with Sid's treachery, deliberately destroyed the illusion of Sid's dead wife. After the team escaped, he was arrested in view of the public and imprisoned in The Vault, a high security prison inShoreditch. In an act of mercy, Wisdom gave Sid the chance to kill himself and avoid humiliation in a trial - although it was left ambiguous as to which option Ridley took.[9]
Captain Midlands has no superhuman powers, although as a result of the 1940s British Super-Soldier program Sid Ridley was transformed into a "perfect" specimen of human development and conditioning. Captain Midlands' strength, speed, stamina, reflexes, agility, dexterity, coordination, balance, and endurance are at the highest limits of natural human potential, and despite being an eighty-year-old man he still has a body of a superhero.[4]
Captain Midlands wears fullDPM military fatigues and helmet with a cowl mask (similar to the World War IIUltimate Captain America outfit) and wields a goldencircular shield in the design of the traditional lion symbol of Britain and coated in an anti-magicnanominium gloss.[1]
When the character became popular, creator Paul Cornell decided to add more drama to the character by making him a traitor to the team explaining:
Well that’s my job! I’d noticed he’d become quite beloved, so thus we’ve got to shake his life up a little bit and put some drama into it! And you know, if one gets drama inserted into one’s life that’s often a very terrible thing. So it’s my job to make you love these characters and then to hurt them.[10]
'Rambling Sid Rumpo' was Kenneth Williams' folk singer character in the radio showRound the Horne, a man very much out of his time, and Arnold Ridley was the very old soldier Private Godfrey in the sitcomDad's Army.
There's Captain Midlands, the survivor of Britain's 1940s Super Soldier program, who is an eighty-year-oldBrummie man with a body of a superhero. He has got the opinions and a personality of an eighty-year-old man but the abilities and strength of Captain America. He's a bit of a tragic figure in many ways.