Captain Patriotic/Playing With

Basic Trope: A patriotic-themed superhero, usually used as the representation of a country.

Straight: Captain Patriotic is a superhero deeply loyal to his country, protecting its citizens and battling those who have declared themselves its enemies. This is reflected in such things as his costume, beliefs, fighting style, themes, etc.
Exaggerated: Captain Patriotic's costume is essentially the flag, all of his powers are themed around national myths and beliefs, and every single word that comes out of his mouth is a hyper-patriotic slogan.
Justified:
- Captain Patriotic deeply loves his country and, now that he has become a superhero, has incorporated his patriotism into his purpose as one.
- As an extension of this, before becoming a superhero Captain Patriotic was a member of the military or similar public service where love of country and patriotism is generally considered a defining character trait of its members.
- Captain Patriotic is literally the Anthropomorphic Personification of love of his country.
Inverted:
- Anarkist is a superhero / villain who has rejected patriotism to any one country entirely and is dedicated to tearing down all forms of national division.
- Captain Humanity chose a third option and decided to fight for all people, ignoring country and culture lines
- A country reflects the theme of a superhero that contributed to it
Subverted: Bob is given superpowers with the intention of becoming Captain Patriotic; however, he is disillusioned with his country and rejects the role entirely.
Double Subverted: However, Bob decides that his disillusionment is not with his country's values, which he views as strong and good, but with those who have been cynically manipulating them; as such, he decides to become Captain Patriotic after all.
Parodied: Captain Patriotic is a jingoistic idiot always spouting halfwitted cliches about how great his country is, which never fails to annoy his allies. His primary targets are immigrants and liberals.
Deconstructed:
- Captain Patriotic does indeed represent his country's values... including those less-savoury ones that the so-called 'patriots' he represents would rather people didn't focus on, and which said patriotism can easily be corrupted into. His patriotism has become corrupted into extreme nationalism, and he is jingoistic, corrupt and blinkered, an arrogant hypocrite so blinded by cultural elitism and so beholden to and easily manipulated by government, military and / or corporate forces that he fails to realize that he is ultimately a stooge who does more harm than good overall.
- Captain Patriotic is a loyal, committed true believer to his country's national values. Unfortunately, his country happens to be Nazi Germany, Stalinist Russia or some other similarly totalitarian and genocidal regime.
Reconstructed: While various unsavoury forces in the government, corporate and / or military would like nothing more than to manipulate Captain Patriotic and the patriotism he represents for their own cynical, nationalistic ends, unfortunately they have failed to consider that Captain Patriotic is ultimately a true believer in the values he represents and who, while recognizing that not everything about his country is perfect, still maintains that there is much about those values he represents that is good, laudable and worth fighting for. As such, he is determined to fight as hard as he can to make sure that those more laudable values prevail -- including, if necessary, by fighting against those in his own country / government etc who would attempt to cynically exploit, undermine or destroy them.
Zig Zagged: Captain Patriotic turns out to be a mercenary who'll wear the flag of whatever country is willing to pay the most for his services. In the past, though, he was a proud citizen of Exampleonia, and only turned to mercenary work because his home country abandoned its guiding principles. Ultimately, his goal is to raise enough money to form a coup and overthrow Exampleonia's corrupt government.
Averted: Bob becomes a superhero, but displays no particular devotion to any patriotic ideals or themes.
Enforced:
- The comic that Bob stars in is being produced during a time of war, and the writers feel that having a patriotic superhero will act as a good way of encouraging people to fight or support their country.
- As above, but this particular superhero is being produced at the request of the government, military, etc.
Lampshaded: "I made a pledge to fight for my country and it's values, and so I shall -- as CAPTAIN PATRIOTIC!"
Invoked: The government / military etc are intentionally attempting to create a superhero who will be loyal to their nation -- and to them.
Exploited: Baron Von Evulz secretly bankrolls the top secret government / military Captain Patriotic project; after all, having an idealistic and patriotic superhero whom he can rally the masses around will make it much easier to manipulate, exploit and control them...
Defied: Bob rejects the Captain Patriotic role; he will fight for good, not simply for the values or flag of one nation in particular.
Discussed: "Whenever Captain Patriotic shows up you can practically hear the national anthem playing behind him."
Conversed: "It's obvious that the nation values that Captain Patriotic embodies have changed drastically since he was first published..."
Played For Laughs: Let those who harm the innocent, FEAR THE MIGHT OF... Captain Elbonia!!
Played For Drama: Captain Patriotic must deal with how he is able to represent his nation's values when they seem to be constantly shifting, at times away from those he understands or respects.

Come, citizens, let us fight for our nation against the forces of darkness alongside myself -- Captain Patriotic!