Board Thread:Administrative/@comment-4651179-20170830172042/@comment-4651179-20170831102250

While the Steve that returned originally described himself as a "memory of himself," the fact that he's the Cap we have now indicates he is meant to be the real one and not just some duplicate created from Kobik's memories.

It's necessary to take author's intent into consideration for this kind of thing. For exaple, if we don't apply author's intent, an argument can be made that the Spider-Man currently running around isn't the real one, or even that while he is, rather than Otto Octavius having been the Superior Spider-Man, it was only Peter Parker brainwashed into believing himself to be Octavius.