Captain America

Though Captain America didn’t appear during the 1950s (a decade with few super-hero comics) he has been a mainstay of Marvel Comics ever since his 1964 return.

This is a gisted profile. That is an overview of Cap as he generally appears, rather than digging into a given version of the character.

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Background

Powers and Abilities

Captain America’s super-soldier treatment has brought his physical abilities to the absolute peak of human ability. This includes an enhanced diving reflex (extreme cold will not kill Rogers but instead induce a state of suspended animation capable of lasting for decades) and superhuman endurance due to rapid elimination of fatigue poisons from his system.

He is an experienced combatant who trains constantly and has reached the pinnacle of human fighting prowess. He’s routinely trashing multiple highly-trained SpecOps troops in the space of a single panel and outmatching nearly all other superheroic martial artists. He’s probably Earth’s greatest hand-to-hand combatant. He is also a gifted tactician and leader.

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Though Captain America is highly skilled with pretty much any weapon he picks up, his greatest skill is with his shield, which he uses both defensively and offensively. He is skilled enough with his shield to use it as a thrown weapon, often using Trick Shots and Multi-Attacks with it and still easily managing to have it bounce back to him in the same panel.

In the course of his adventures Captain America has picked up a great many skills in addition to his martial training. He is a skilled disguise artist (once creating passable alterations to his features through the skilled applications of natural clays found in the wilderness, among other things), an excellent paramedic, and a highly capable driver and pilot (more so than most professionals in those fields).

Inspire

Perhaps the most significant ability Captain America has is his gift for inspiring others. As Hercules once stated, “Even the Gods of Olympus respect his bravery and courage.” Captain America is the most-emulated character is the Marvel Universe, with many heroes citing him as his inspiration and even stepping into the costume during his absences.

During his time in suspended animation, three other superheroes donned his costume because they felt the world needed a Captain America. The same thing drove Rogers out of retirement twice (once from superheroics altogether, once from his alternate identity of Nomad) when numerous civilians began dressing as Captain America and putting themselves in harm’s way in Rogers’s absence simply to keep the dream alive.

History

Steven Rogers’s early childhood was ironically unremarkable, given what he would ultimately become. He was born on July 4^th, 1917 to a poor family in New York City. Both of his parents died before he graduated high school.

After graduation, Rogers eked out a living as an artist painting subway murals as part of the Works Progress Administration program.

After seeing newsreels of the horrors perpetrated by the Nazis in Europe in 1940, Rogers decided to enlist to do whatever he could to help. Unfortunately, his frail health gave him IV-F  status and the enlistment office rejected him.

Dr. Erskine (known as Dr. Reinstein in some accounts) was at that recruitment center looking for subjects for his super-soldier program, Operation: Rebirth. He was impressed by Rogers’s passion to make a difference.

Rogers was recruited into the program and given months of arduous physical and mental training, both to prepare him for his upcoming role as a super-soldier and to give him the necessary strength of body and mind to survive the difficult process planned by Dr. Erskine.

Erskine’s experiments culminated in exposing Steven to the “vita-rays” after having the young man drink the super-soldier serum.

Super soldier

In moments, Steven Rogers went from a scrawny youth to physical human perfection. At the instant of Erskine’s greatest triumph, a Nazi spy in the audience opened fire, hoping to kill the scientist and his newest creation. Erskine was fatally wounded before Rogers could stop the spy.

Six men who wore the costume and bore the title – Steve Rogers, William Nasland (in his Spirit of ’76 costume), Jeff Mace (in his Patriot costume), William Burnside aka Steve Rogers (in his Grand Director costume), Roscoe, John Walker (in his Super-Patriot costume).

The brilliant scientist thus perished before he could finish his notes about the vita-rays, leaving Rogers as the sole product of Operation: Rebirth. Other Nazi villains saw to it that the rest of the research team also died in short order.

Though the U.S. couldn’t produce super soldiers en masse, they still had one. Instead of being the first of a new breed, Rogers became a symbol of American values, countering the iconic Nazi supervillain called the Red Skull. He maintained a secret identity as Private Steven Rogers at Camp Lehigh while fighting Nazi sympathizers in the United States.

Camp mascot Buck Barnes discovered that Rogers was Captain America. In exchange for keeping the secret, Cap trained Bucky and let him become his sidekick. Cap and Bucky later moved to the European theatre, fighting by themselves, with the Invaders, or with Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos.

In the final days of WWII, Captain America and Bucky attacked Baron Zemo I’s headquarters to prevent Zemo from deploying an experimental drone plane. The plane was launched with Bucky and Cap clinging desperately to it. Bucky managed to sabotage the drone but set off a booby-trap in the process.

The resultant explosion killed Bucky and dropped Captain America into the Arctic Sea, causing him to go into suspended animation and locking him in a tomb of ice.

During his absence, several heroes wore the costume to keep the legend alive. These substitutes included William Nasland (a.k.a. The Spirit of ’76), Jeffrey Mace (a.k.a. The Patriot), and a cosmetically altered doppelgänger with violently anti-Communist beliefs (who eventually served as the Grand Director).

The original Captain America would remain in the ice until Namor the Sub-Mariner discovered him. Namor was fleeing the scene of a recent defeat by the Avengers and came across a group of Eskimos worshipping the ice-locked Rogers. Not realizing that his old WWII comrade was in the ice block, Namor threw a temper tantrum and tossed the block of ice into the ocean.

The warm currents of the Gulf Stream began thawing the ice and the Avengers, who were still searching the area for Namor, discovered Captain America’s body. Captain America regained consciousness on-board the Avenger’s submarine and rejoined the modern world.

Return into the world

As Rogers attempted to adjust to his new surroundings, he buried his turmoil in duty. He fought crime by himself or as leader of the Avengers. When the founding members of the Avengers retired, Rogers made a bold decision to recruit reformed criminals Hawkeye, Quicksilver, and the Scarlet Witch to fill out the ranks and serve as symbols of the possibility of redemption.

Captain America also found himself working alongside S.H.I.E.L.D. with great frequency, battling the terrorist groups Hydra and A.I.M. as well as his resurrected nemesis the Red Skull. He renewed his friendship with Nick Fury, now a Colonel.

Cap also began a romance with Sharon Carter, Agent 13 of S.H.I.E.L.D. and younger sister of Peggy Carter, whom Cap had been romantically involved with during the Second World War.

Cap retired for a brief time to try and live a normal life, but his sense of responsibility soon brought him back, a decision spurred by all of the people who had endangered themselves by trying to fill his shoes in his absence.

The romance between Rogers and Carter did not last long for similar reasons. Rogers couldn’t bear losing someone else close to him as he had lost Bucky and Carter could not bring herself to retire from active duty when so many enemies threatened the world.

Rogers found other close friends during his adventures, many of whom he trained himself. Rick Jones became the fourth Bucky for a while, eventually leaving to find his own place in the world. Sam Wilson combined Cap’s martial training with his own unique abilities as the high-flying Falcon.

Disillusions

When Captain America discovered a group of conspirators known as the Secret Empire, he followed the plot all the way to the top of the White House. When Rogers confronted the head of the Secret Empire, the President of the United States, the president committed suicide rather than surrender.

The scandal was covered up by replacing the dead president with an actor until he could step out of office (this was the Marvel Universe’s version of Watergate  – and thus, of course, much more dramatic than on our Earth).

Disillusioned with his role as Captain America, Rogers changed his heroic identity to Nomad, Man Without a Country. Several ordinary citizens stepped in again to try and take on the role of Captain America. One man named Roscoe was killed by the Red Skull for donning Cap’s costume, which triggered Rogers’s return to duty as Captain America.

Rogers realized that Captain America’s existence was important to the people. He also decided that he could represent them and the ideals they believed in even if the government’s actions were flawed. Jack Monroe, one-time Bucky to the fourth Captain America, would later take on the Nomad identity once assumed by Rogers.

Though the Red Skull’s aging had been retarded by the sleep-gas that held him in suspended animation between WWII and the modern era, the effects finally wore off and the Red Skull suddenly matured to his true chronological age.

Determined to defeat Rogers before old age claimed him, the Red Skull kidnapped Rogers’s friends and killed one of them to urge Rogers into a fight to the death. To make sure that they were equals, the Skull also injected Rogers with an aging serum. Captain America still defeated the Skull in personal combat and refused to kill him. The Skull passed away in Rogers’s arms.

Sometime after this, Rogers was stripped of the Captain America identity by the Presidential Commission on Superhuman Activities for his refusal to reenter government service. He assumed the identity of the Captain while John Walker (formerly known as Super-Patriot) became the next Captain America.

John Walker turned out to be ill suited to the role. The entire event turned out to be a ruse to ruin Captain America’s image perpetrated by the Red Skull, whose mind had been resurrected in a cloned body of Steven Rogers by Arnim Zola.

Rogers confronted the Red Skull, but the Skull escaped. However, the Nazi inadvertently inhaled a dose of his own Red Dust of Death, making his head into a literal red skull. The Commission soon gave Rogers the identity of Captain America back, seeing that he was the only person truly fit for the job.

When the terrorist Al-Tariq led a mission into the American heartland, Captain America fought his forces and apparently killed Al-Tariq. To keep Al-Tariq’s followers from launching retaliatory attacks on America similar to the World Trade Towers attacks by Al-Queda, Rogers revealed his identity on national television and took sole responsibility for Al-Tariq’s death.

Tariq had in fact survived due to a mind-swapping technology, but he was subsequently tracked down and captured by Captain America.

Description

Rogers is a tall Caucasian male with an extraordinarily well-developed physique, right at the borderline where any more muscular bulk would begin to interfere with his agility.

Though Rogers once described himself as looking like any of a hundred blond guys, he is actually a very handsome man judging by most reactions. His natural charisma and knowledge of his accomplishments certainly play a role in his attractiveness to others, too.

The irony of Captain America being created to fight Nazis when he is the physical embodiment of the “Aryan ideal “ has been pointed out by his enemies on occasion.

Captain America’s costume is a blend of colors and symbols from the American flag. The basic costume color is a blue micro-chainmail body stocking (the upper torso is scale mail instead of micro-chainmail) with integral cowl, red boots and gloves, white midsections on the arms, and red and white panels around the midriff.

There is a large white five-point star centered on the chest and on the back and a squared-off white A centered on the forehead. A pair of small white wings decorates the temples of the cowl.

The first version of the costume used during WWII did not have an integral cowl. Instead, it ended at the neckline and Cap wore a leather half-helmet that had the same design as his current cowl. This version was changed to the more convenient and protective integral cowl after Cap’s first few solo missions.

(Continuity note: The WWII costume described above was what Cap appeared in during his first appearance. Some of the early Marvel issues retconned his current costume into being his only one. This was retconned again later on so that Rogers’s original costume was worn for his first few missions before being replaced by his current one).

The most iconic part of Captain America’s appearance is his shield. Cap’s original shield was a hardened steel medieval coat of arms-style shield ; the design on the front was a line of 3 white 5-point stars in a horizontal blue banner along the top fifth of the shield and red and white vertical stripes (red, white, and blue stripes in some depictions) running down over the rest of it.

Experiments with a new alloy resulted in the disk that became the shield most often associated with Cap. This concave disc is 2.5’ (.76m) in diameter and the design on the front is three concentric rings (red/white/red) with a blue circle in the center upon which is emblazoned a white five-point star.

Both shields had two dark brown beaten leather straps running parallel vertically along the inside that Cap uses to clasp the shield to his arm or to sling the shield over his shoulders like a backpack.

Personality

Steven Rogers has dedicated his life to the American Dream, “the freedom to strive to become all that you dream of being.” To that end he has devoted himself completely to being Captain America, working to give others the freedom to accomplish their goals.

Consequently, Rogers is a very straightforward man, honest to a fault, and unhesitating in facing any threat. The only time his resolve has been shaken has been when he felt that he had not done enough or that his work was not accomplishing “the mission.”

Cap and his partners up to the 1990s – Falcon, Rick Jones, Nomad (Jack Monroe), Bucky (Bucky Barnes) and Demolition Man.

The strongest example of this was his assumption of the Nomad identity in the wake of the Secret Empire debacle. He was concerned that America no longer represented his cause and that wearing the flag was a betrayal of his work because of that.

When he discovered how important an inspiration he was he resumed his Captain America identity, but even during his time as Nomad he never stopped trying to serve the public good.

It is important to remember that Captain America represents the ideals of America, not its government. Far from being a government stooge, he has actively opposed the US government on several occasions when he felt the actions taken by its officials were wrong.

When the Commission stripped Rogers of his identity as Captain America, he respected their legal right to do so but continued protecting the public in the guise of The Captain. He even eventually went so far as to confront a member of the Commission regarding certain suspicious acts, exposing a secret plot of the Red Skull in the process.

As mentioned above, Steven Rogers has an almost-superhuman gift for inspiring others. In his career he has become a figure recognized around the world and is respected even by those who consider themselves peerless (such as Doctor Doom) and even draws the attention of alien personages such as the Beyonder.

A classic example of this occurred during the Destiny War. Captain America was at his lowest ebb, having been plucked from the time stream moments after watching the President of the United States commit suicide to escape criminal prosecution. Sent to a future where humanity has almost been wiped out and everything he fought for seemed futile, Rogers still managed to convince a war-torn people to give up their quest for vengeance against their oppressors.

While he recognizes his own skill at leading others, Captain America has no problem stepping aside to let others take the reins if the situation requires it. One example of this was letting Tony Stark lead the Avengers for a while during a public relations crisis, an issue that Stark had more experience with.

Rogers does sometimes suffer from introspective moods, usually occurring after a major setback. Examples of the events that trigger these introversions include dealing with Bucky’s death, watching the U.S. President commit suicide rather than surrender to authorities when revealed to be the mastermind of a major conspiracy, being stripped of his heroic identity by the U.S. government, and being deported from the U.S. after being accused of betraying national security.

Steven would spend a fair amount of his free time brooding over such events in the aftermath and would sometimes even separate himself from his heroic alter ego to a greater or lesser degree.

After the president’s suicide, Rogers took on a new heroic identity as Nomad, the man without a country, and after losing the Captain America identity to the government he went on sabbatical for a while before coming back as the Captain at the encouragement of his friends.

Even when Rogers disassociates himself from events like these, it is usually to contemplate new ways to continue his mission and he often returns to action with renewed vigor.

Quotes

When told to follow government orders or be stripped of his identity as Captain America: “The Committee is NOT my country. They are only paid bureaucrats of the country’s current administration. I represent the intangibles upon which our country was founded…liberty, justice, dignity, the pursuit of happiness.”

“Without its ideals, its commitment to the freedom of all men, America is a piece of trash !”

Secretary Dahl: “Perhaps you aren’t aware that your presence here is a violation of—”
Captain America: “—National security?…I’m here to protect the people. And the dream. Not your secrets.”

Surrounded by armed goons that have taken a school bus hostage: “Get those children off the bus, get them to safety…or I will make you EAT those guns.”

“No. It’s not the end of the world. Not until the Avengers say so.”

DC Universe History

In his search to create the perfect body for his psyche, the Ultra-Humanite secretly encouraged Operation Rebirth in the United States during WWII. Dr. Erskine in America succeeded where Nazi scientists has failed (their projects producing bodies unsuitable for the Ultra-Humanite) by developing his super-soldier serum, which could enhance any human being to the peak of physical perfection.

Dr. Erskine had selected IV-F rejected Army recruit Steven Rogers as his test subject based on his strong character and moral convictions. As the experiment began, the crimefighter called the Unknown Soldier burst into the labs

The Soldier had discovered a secret connection between Nazi Germany and Operation Rebirth. The Ultra-Humanite’s plant in Operation Rebirth started a running gunfight with the Unknown Soldier and was fatally wounded, but not before his gunfire inadvertently killed Dr. Erskine and damaged the vita-ray projector beyond repair.

The experiment was a success, but since Dr. Erskine had never taken the time to record the details of the vita-ray treatment, the experiment could not be duplicated.

Subsequent attempts to replicate the super-soldier serum, such as the treatments that turned Slade Wilson into Deathstroke and the experiments that created the “Venom” used by Bane, had unfortunate mental and physical side-effects on most participants, often permanently crippling them or driving them insane.

In the wake of the experiment, Steven Rogers was given the identity of Captain America and served with distinction at home and abroad during WWII. He eventually side by side with Bucky (Bucky Barnes, an army mascot turned sidekick), the Freedom Fighters, the Justice Society of America, and the All-Star Squadron.

Captain America inspired many other heroes, including Jim Harper, a.k.a. Guardian.

Guardian later assumed the Captain’s crime-fighting role in the United States when Captain America was assigned to the European Theatre of Operations (not being a meta-human, he was immune to the Nazi’s safeguards against such menaces).

During the final days of the war Captain America and Bucky traced a connection between the Ultra-Humanite and his network in the United States. They found his secret lair in Europe and managed to stow aboard his plane as he took off for America, fleeing the coming defeat of the Axis Powers.

A fight ensued on the plane and an on-board explosion broke it apart. Bucky was killed, the Ultra-Humanite managed to escape, and Captain America plunged into the Arctic Sea, going into suspended animation.

During Captain America’s absence, several heroes wore the costume in his honor, including Guardian. During the 1950’s, a government agent was given the super-soldier serum and cosmetic alterations to make him an exact duplicate of Steven Rogers.

This Captain America was psychotically anti-Communist, and testified against the JSA during the House Un-American Activities Committee “Red Scare ” investigation.

Soon afterward, the serum drove this Captain America insane because of the lack of vita-ray exposure during the treatment. He was captured by the FBI and placed into cryogenic suspension. He would be revived in the modern era and go on to plague the first Captain America (see the Captain America IV/Grand Director write-ups for details).

The original Captain America remained lost until after the Appellexian invasion which brought the Justice League together. The founding members of the League arrived in the Arctic just in time to see Superman flying away after having defeated his Appellexian opponent.

Black Canary suggested that the heroes form a Justice League for these emergencies. On their way back to civilization, they spotted a block of ice apparently containing a man. When the ice melted, they discovered that they had found the legendary WWII hero, Captain America. They took this as an omen that they were meant to form a superteam just as the Justice Society had formed in WWII.

Captain America led the early League with distinction, and has served off-and-on as a leader of the Justice League ever since depending on what other activities are occupying his time and whether a suitable leader is available to step in for him.

When the Red Skull emerged from his own accidental hibernation and formed his multi-national business front, he came into conflict with Lexcorp. This had the odd result of teaming Lex Luthor and Captain America together on several occasions. Captain America quickly saw through Luthor’s philanthropist façade, and Luthor is even more confused by Captain America than he is by Superman.

By Luthor’s reasoning, Superman doesn’t have to engage in the manipulations Lex does because of his great physical power. But Captain America’s greatest strength is his ability to persuade others and the Captain’s failure to exploit that ability for his own ends mystifies Luthor to no end.

Agent Liberty has worked with the Captain at times to root out corrupt members of the US government. Agent Liberty’s energy shields formed the basis of the technology for the energy gauntlets that Cap used during the period his original shield was missing.

(Alternatively, fans of John Byrne’s Generations should take a look at Batman/Captain America , which is set in the same universe.)

By Sébastien Andrivet, Jeff Baker, Roy Cowan, ORION, Ray Winninger.

Source of Character: Avengers and Captain America Comics (Marvel Universe), Captain America created by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby.

Helper(s): The entire list ! Latest revision helpers include John Colagioia, Dr. Mike Davis, Hrdwarrior, Eric Langendorff, Jay Myers, William A. Peterson, Pufnstuff, and Stormangel. DCA stats by Pawsplay.