Captain America
| Captain America | |
|---|---|
 Promotional art for Secret War #3 (Oct. 2004). Art by Gabriele Dell'Otto | |
| Publication information | |
| Publisher | Marvel Comics |
| First appearance | Historical: Captain America Comics #1 (March 1941) Modern: Avengers Vol.1, # 4 (March 1964) |
| Created by | Joe Simon Jack Kirby |
| In-story information | |
| Alter ego | Steve Rogers |
| Team affiliations | Avengers, S.H.I.E.L.D., Invaders, Defenders, Secret Defenders |
| Notable aliases | Nomad, Weapon I |
| Abilities | Artificially enhanced physiology at the maximum human level; martial arts and hand-to-hand combat training; master tactician and field commander; indestructible shield. |
Captain America, the alter ego of Steve Rogers (in some accounts Steven Grant Rogers), is a fictional superhero in the Marvel Comics Universe. Created by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby, he first appeared in Timely Comics' Captain America Comics #1 (March 1941).
Publication history
Captain America was one of the most popular characters of Marvel Comics (then known as Timely) during the Golden Age of Comic Books. Though preceded by MLJ's The Shield, Captain America immediately became the most prominent and enduring of a wave of patriotically themed superheroes introduced in American comic books prior to and during World War II. With his sidekick Bucky, Captain America faced Nazis, the Japanese and other threats to America during the war.
In the post-war era, with the popularity of superheroes fading, Captain America lead Timely/Marvel's first superhero team the All-Winners Squad in its two adventures, and in his own series turns his attention to criminals and Cold War Communists. Bucky was shot and wounded in a 1948 story and succeeded by Captain America's girlfriend Betsy Ross, who became the superheroine Golden Girl. Captain America Comics ended with issue #75 (Feb. 1950), by which time the series had been titled Captain America's Weird Tales for two issues, with the finale a horror/suspense anthology issue with no superheroes.
Captain America was briefly revived, along with the original Human Torch and the Sub-Mariner, in Young Men #24 (Dec. 1953), published by Marvel's 1950s iteration Atlas Comics. Billed as "Captain America, Commie-Smasher!", he appears several times during the next year in Young Men and Men's Adventures, as well as in three issues of an eponymous title; however, sales were poor[citation needed]. After the publication of Captain America #78 (Sept. 1954), the character disappeared again. In the 1970s, the post-war versions of Captain America were retconned into separate, successive characters who briefly took up the mantle of Captain America after Steve Rogers went into suspended animation.
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Marvel Comics returned the character to publication in The Avengers #4 (March 1964). The story explained that in the final days of WWII, Captain America fell from an experimental drone plane into the North Atlantic Ocean and spent decades frozen in a state of suspended animation (retellings sometimes place the event over the English Channel). The hero found a new generation of readers as leader of the all-star superhero team, The Avengers, and in a new solo feature beginning with issue #59 of the "split book" Tales of Suspense, shared with the feature "Iron Man". Again penciled by his Golden Age co-creator, Jack Kirby, and written by Stan Lee, the feature went to full-length and took over the number of TOS with #100. (Iron Man received his own, separate series.) The new Captain America continued to feature artwork by Kirby, as well as a short run by Jim Steranko and work by many of the industry's top artists and writers. This solo title has lasted decades longer (albeit in multiple incarnations) than the original run.
In the stories published after the 1960s, Captain America became a more serious and less jingoistic hero. Writers often use the character to reflect upon the conflict between politics and ideology by placing him at occasional odds with the United States government or showing him as troubled about the state of the country. He considers himself dedicated to defending America's ideals rather than its political leadership, a conviction Captain America sums up when confronted by an army general who attempts to manipulate him by appealing to his loyalty: Rogers responds, "I'm loyal to nothing, General ... except the Dream." (Daredevil #233, Aug. 1986)
Character biography
1940s - Operation: Rebirth
Steven Rogers was a tall (6'2") but scrawny American, fine arts student specializing in illustration in the early 1940s before America's entry into World War II. Disturbed by the rise of the Third Reich, he attempted to enlist, only to be rejected due to his poor constitution. A U.S. Army officer looking for test subjects offers Rogers the chance to serve his country by taking part in a top-secret defense project. The project, Operation: Rebirth, saught to develop a means to create physically superior soldiers. Rogers volunteered for the research, and after a rigorous physical, combat training, and selection process, Rogers was chosen as the first human test subject for the Super-Soldier Serum, developed by the scientist Dr. Emil Erskine (code-named "Dr. Reinstein").
Later stories revealed that Rogers wass not the first to be given the Super-Soldier formula. While Rogers was being assessed, some military members of the project felt that a non-soldier was not the right candidate and secretly give Erskine's incomplete formula to Clinton McIntyre. The serum sent McIntyre violently insane. He was subdued and placed in cold storage. The criminal organization AIM later revived McIntyre as the homicidal Protocide. (Captain America Annual, 2000).
In the 2003 limited series Truth: Red, White and Black, a beta version of the formula was given to Isaiah Bradley, who, among a group of African-American soldiers that Reinstein and the military experimented on in 1942, was the sole survivor. After the last two members of his group were killed, Bradley stole the uniform meant for Rogers and wore it on a suicide mission to destroy the Nazi super-soldier effort at a German concentration camp. Bradley was captured but the U.S. Army rescued and court martialed him. He was imprisoned for 17 years in Leavenworth until pardoned by President Eisenhower. By the time of his release, the long-term effects of the formula turned Bradley into a hulking, sterile giant with the mentality of a seven-year-old. Rogers does not find out about Bradley until decades later. The Patriot, a member of the Young Avengers, is Bradley's grandson.
New X-Men #145 (Oct. 2003) reveals that Project:Rebirth was part of the Weapon Plus program, a clandestine government organization devoted to the creation of superhumans to combat and exterminate mutants. Rogers was "Weapon I", the first-generation living weapon. Following his disappearance, subsequent phases involved experimentation on animals, racial minorities, criminals, and mutants, with results including Wolverine (Weapon X) and Fantomex (Weapon XIII). Rogers remains unaware that one motivation behind his enhancement was the extermination of an entire race, or that the Weapon Plus program considers him its greatest success.
The night that Operation: Rebirth was implemented, Rogers received injections and oral doses of the Super-Soldier formula. He was then exposed to a controlled burst of "Vita-Rays" that activated and stabilized the chemicals in his system. Although the process was physically arduous, it successfully altered his physiology almost instantly from its relatively frail form to the peak of human efficiency, greatly enhancing his musculature and reflexes. Erskine declares Rogers to be the first of a new breed of man, a "nearly perfect human being".
At that moment, a Nazi spy revealed himself and shot Erskine. Because the scientist had committed the crucial portions of the Super-Soldier formula to memory, it can no longer be duplicated. Rogers kills the spy in retaliation (retconned in the 1960s so that the spy accidentally kills himself by fleeing into an "electrical omniverter") and vows to oppose the enemies of America. The United States government, making the most of its one super-soldier, reimagined him as a superhero who serves as both a counter-intelligence agent and a propaganda symbol to counter Nazi Germany's head of terrorist operations, the Red Skull. To that end, Rogers is given a uniform modeled after the American flag, a bulletproof shield, a personal side arm, and the codename Captain America. He is also given a cover identity as a clumsy infantry private at Camp LeHigh in Virginia. Barely out of his teens, Rogers made friends with the camp's teenage mascot James Buchanan "Bucky" Barnes.
Barnes accidentally learned of Roger's dual identity and offered to keep the secret if he could become Captain America's sidekick. Rogers agreesd and trainsed Barnes. Rogers met President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who presented him with a new shield made from a mixture of iron, vibranium and an unknown catalyst. The alloy is indestructible, yet the shield is light enough to use as a discus-like weapon that can be angled to return to him. (In several stories, due to writer error, the shield is described as an adamantium-vibranium alloy; see Captain America's shield.) It proves so effective that Captain America forgoes the sidearm. Throughout World War II, Captain America and Bucky fought the Nazi menace both on their own and as members of the superhero team the Invaders (beginning with the 1970s comics), which after the war evolved into the All-Winners Squad (in 1940s comics).
In 1945, during the closing days of World War II, Captain America and Bucky tried to stop the villainous Baron Zemo from destroying an experimental drone plane. Zemo launched the plane with an armed explosive on it, with Rogers and Barnes in hot pursuit. They reached the plane just before it took off, but when Bucky attempted to defuse the bomb, it exploded in mid-air. The young man was believed killed, and Rogers was hurled into the freezing waters of either the North Atlantic or the English Channel (accounts differ). Neither body was found, and both were presumed dead.
Late 1940s–1950s - After Steve Rogers
Fearing a blow to morale if Captain America's demise is revealed, President Truman asks William Naslund, the patriotically costumed Golden Age hero the Spirit of '76, to assume the role, with a young man named Fred Davis as Bucky. They continue to serve in the same roles after the war with the All-Winners Squad, until the android Adam II fatally injures Naslund in 1946 (What If? #4, Aug. 1977). After Naslund's death, Jeff Mace, the Golden Age Patriot, takes over as Captain America, with Davis continuing as Bucky; however, Davis is shot and injured in 1948 and forced to retire. Mace teams up with Betsy "Golden Girl" Ross, and sometime before 1953 gives up his Captain America identity to marry her. Mace contracts cancer and dies decades later (Captain America #285, Sept. 1983).
In 1953, an unnamed man who idolizes Captain America and who had done his American History Ph.D. thesis on Rogers discovers Nazi files in a German warehouse, one of which contains the lost formula for the Super Soldier serum. He takes it to the United States government on the condition that they use it to make him the fifth Captain America. Needing a symbol for the Korean War, they agree, and the man undergoes plastic surgery to look like Steve Rogers, even assuming his name. The war ends and the project is never completed. "Rogers" finds a teaching job at the Lee School, where he meets Jack Monroe, a young orphan who also idolizes Captain America. They decide to use the formula on themselves and become the new Captain America and Bucky, this time fighting communism (Young Men #24–28, Dec. 1953 – May 1954). These stories are written by Stan Lee with art by a young John Romita Sr.
"Rogers" and Monroe do not know of and therefore do not undergo the "Vita-Ray" process, and the imperfect implementation of the formula in their systems makes them paranoid. By the middle of 1954, they are irrationally attacking anyone they perceive to be a Communist. In 1955 the FBI places them in suspended animation. The 1950s Captain America and Bucky are revived years later after the return of Steve Rogers. They go on another rampage and are defeated by the man after whom they had modeled themselves (Captain America #153-156, Sept.-Dec. 1972).
1960s–1970s - The return of Steve Rogers
In The Avengers #4 (March 1964), the Avengers discover Steve Rogers' body in the North Atlantic, his costume under his soldier's uniform and still carrying his shield. Rogers had been preserved in a block of ice since 1945. The ice block melts after the Sub-Mariner, enraged that an Arctic tribe is worshipping the frozen figure, throws it into the ocean. When Rogers revives, he relates his failed last mission to the Avengers. Rogers accepts membership in the Avengers, and although he is decades out of his time, his considerable combat experience makes him a valuable asset to the team. He quickly assumes leadership of the team and typically keeps that position throughout the team's history. He is plagued by guilt for being unable to prevent Bucky's death — a feeling that does not ease for some time. He additionally undertakes missions for the security agency S.H.I.E.L.D., which is commanded by his old war comrade Nick Fury.
In one storyline, Rogers meets and trains Sam Wilson, who becomes the superhero known as the Falcon. The Falcon is one of the few black superheroes in comic books at the time, and two characters begin a long association that continues to the present day.
Some of the most notable Captain America stories have a political tone to them. For example, during Steve Englehart's stint as writer, Rogers encounters his revived 1950s counterpart and deals with the Marvel Universe's version of the Watergate scandal. Rogers is so severely disillusioned that he abandons his Captain America identity in favor of one called Nomad only to re-assume it to face the Red Skull, as a symbol of America's ideals rather than its government. During Rogers' time as Nomad, several men assume the Captain America identity, all without success. Jack Monroe, cured of his mental instability, later takes up the Nomad alias. (Captain America #176–#183, 1974–1975). During this period, Rogers also temporarily gains super strength.
1980s
In the 1980s, in addition to runs from such acclaimed creators as John Byrne, the series reveals the true face and full origin of the Red Skull. Long-time writer Mark Gruenwald explores numerous political and social themes, such as vigilantism when Captain America hunts the murderous Scourge of the Underworld; and extreme idealism when he fights the internationalist terrorist Flag Smasher.
In Captain America #332, Rogers receives a large back-pay reimbursement dating back to his disappearance at the end of World War II. The expense draws the attention of a government commission that orders Rogers to work directly for the U.S. government. Already troubled by the corruption he had encountered with the Nuke incident in New York City (in the "Daredevil: Born Again" arc), Rogers chooses instead to resign his identity and takes the alias of "The Captain". The story arc illustrates the differences between Captain America's beliefs and those of replacement Captain America John Walker. Walker, the former costumed hero Super-Patriot, has a jingoistic attitude that reflects a vocal segment of American culture at the time, embodied by other fictional characters such as Sylvester Stallone's movie hero Rambo. Walker struggles to emulate Rogers' ideals until pressure from hidden enemies helps to drive him insane. Rogers soon returns to the Captain America identity while a recovered Walker becomes the U.S. Agent (Captain America #332–#351, 1987–1989).
1990s
Some time after returning as Captain America, Rogers avoids the explosion of a methamphetamine lab, but the drug triggers a chemical reaction in the Super-Soldier serum in his system. To combat the reaction, Rogers has the serum removed from his system, and he trains constantly to maintain his physical condition. The storyline was partly prompted by reader concerns that Captain America is effectively the beneficiary of steroid treatments.[citation needed] A retcon later establishes that the serum was never a drug because Rogers' body would have metabolized it out of his system. The "serum" is, in fact, a virus that effected a biochemical and genetic change, explaining how the Red Skull (who at the time inhabits a body cloned from Rogers' cells) also has the formula in his body.
However, because of his altered biochemistry which takes the form of the "serum" in his blood work, Rogers's body begins to deteriorate due to overuse of the "serum". For a time, he had to wear a powered exoskeleton to keep moving and had to be placed again in suspended animation. During this time, he is given a transfusion of blood from the Red Skull, which cured his condition and stabilized the Super-Soldier serum/virus in his system. Captain America returns both to crime fighting and the Avengers (Captain America #425– 454, 1994–1996).
2000s
In the 2002 Captain America #1, Nick Fury pulls Rogers from the World Trade Center site of the September 11 attack and sends him on a mission to liberate a small town from an Arabic terrorist organization. Following his victory, Rogers unmasks himself, taking the blame for his own actions in order to avoid a retaliatory attack against the American public. He establishes a residence in the Red Hook neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York.
Subsequently, Rogers discovers that Bucky is alive and being used by Soviet espionage interests as the Winter Soldier. In the Marvel Comics 2006 Civil War crossover, he leads the Anti-Registration faction, becoming a fugitive in the process.
Powers and abilities
Rogers in the regular Marvel Universe has no superhuman powers, although as a result of the Super-Soldier serum, he is transformed from a frail young man into a "nearly perfect" specimen of human development and conditioning. With the exception of his super-strength phase, Captain America is as strong, fast, agile, and durable as it is possible for a human being to be without being considered superhuman. The formula enhances all of his metabolic functions and prevents the build-up of fatigue poisons in his muscles, giving him endurance far in excess of an ordinary human being. This accounts for many of his extraordinary feats, including running a mile in a little more than a minute.(Captain America 65th Anniversary Special) Rogers is also unable to become intoxicated by alcohol.
The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe states that Captain America's maximum overhead lifting capacity is 800 lb "with extreme effort". He is depicted bench pressing 1100 lb in a workout while carrying on a conversation in Captain America vol. 1 #402. (Athletes can typically bench press significantly more than they can overhead press.) Despite the fact the handbooks' classing the ability to lift 800 lb as superhuman, the editorial position at Marvel is that he is simply at the upper limits of human conditioning.
Mentally, Rogers' battle experience and training make him an expert tactician and an excellent field commander, with his teammates frequently deferring to his orders in battle. Rogers's reflexes and senses are also extraordinarily keen. He is a master of boxing, jiu jitsu, and judo, combined with his virtually superhuman gymnastic ability into his own unique fighting style with advanced pressure-point fighting. Years of practice with his indestructible shield make it practically an extension of his own body, and he is able to aim and throw it with almost unerring accuracy and even ricochet the shield to hit multiple targets. He is extremely skilled in hand-to-hand combat, sometimes taking on and defeating foes whose strength, size, or superpowers greatly exceed his. In the comics, he is regarded by other skilled fighters as one of the best hand-to-hand combatants in the Marvel Universe (Captain America #302 and #375, among others).
Rogers has vast U.S. military knowledge and is often shown to be familiar with ongoing, highly-classified Defense Department operations. Despite his high profile as one of the world's most popular and recognizable superheroes, Rogers also has a broad understanding of the espionage community, largely through his ongoing relationship with S.H.I.E.L.D.. He occasionally makes forays into mundane career fields, including commercial arts, education (high school history) and law enforcement.
Weapons and equipment
Captain America uses several shields throughout his history, the most recognizable of which is an indestructible discus-shaped shield made from a vibranium/steel alloy (not adamantium-vibranium as sometimes erroneously stated). This alloy is accidentally created and never duplicated, although efforts to reverse engineer it result in the creation of adamantium.
Captain America's uniform is made of a fire-retardant material, and he wears a lightweight "duralumin" chainmail beneath his uniform for added protection. As a member of the Avengers, Rogers has an Avengers priority card, which serves as a communications device.
Ultimate Captain America
The Ultimate Marvel Universe version of Captain America was created by Mark Millar and Bryan Hitch based on the original character. He makes his first appearance in Ultimates #1.
In the Ultimate universe, Steve Rogers is a frail volunteer who undergoes months of steroid treatment, surgery, and the Super-Soldier formula to become Captain America. Bucky is a childhood friend who follows him on his missions as a photographer rather than as a costumed sidekick. Rogers' last mission as Captain America sends him to a Nazi stronghold on the coast of Iceland to stop a prototype hydrogen bomb created using alien technology. He causes the rocket carrying the bomb to explode and falls into the freezing Arctic Ocean. Rather than die from hypothermia, Rogers falls into a state of suspended animation until Tony Stark's deep sea exploration team pulls him out of the water 57 years later. Bucky survives the war, and, thinking that Rogers had been killed in action, marries Rogers' fiancée Gail.
The Ultimate universe Captain America is more politically and morally conservative than his mainstream Marvel universe counterpart and is more prone to violent solutions, frequently using small arms and explosives. His costume is mostly the same, except that his mask lacks the traditional wings on the side of his head and his shoulders sport American star emblems.
Rogers becomes one of the first members and field commander of the superhuman team the Ultimates, S.H.I.E.L.D.'s answer to posthuman terrorism. He tries to adjust to life in the 21st century, although he longs for older times and values, spending much time with Bucky and Gail (now senior citizens) and going to WWII veterans' reunions. Rogers wears a kevlar uniform and carries a shield of pure adamantium. He also dates Janet van Dyne, the Wasp, the estranged wife of former team member Henry Pym.
A year later, it appears that Captain America repeatedly betrays the team, and S.H.I.E.L.D. places him in custody. The Black Widow is revealed as the traitor, aiding a coalition of countries invading America. When last seen, Rogers is confronted by enemy forces in his cell, but his bonds have been released by the Wasp. The story is ongoing.
Rogers is also a highly skilled hand-to-hand combatant. In addition, his strength and recuperative abilities exceed peak human levels (he was shown curling 540 lb in Ultimates 2 #4). In the Ultimate Universe, Bruce Banner becomes the Hulk as a result of his experiments to recreate the Super-Soldier serum. Despite the Hulk being one of the strongest characters in the Ultimate Universe, Rogers defeats the Hulk in hand-to-hand combat, knocking him down momentarily. Rogers also defeats Henry Pym in melee combat while Pym is in his almost 60-foot tall Giant Man form, in retaliation for Pym having beaten the Wasp during a domestic dispute.
Alternate Captain Americas
- In the Spider-Ham comic books, the funny animal version of Captain America is Steve Mouser, an anthropomorphic cat who works for the Daily Beagle and is also secretly Captain Americat.
- In a recent House of M crossover issue, another alternate Steve Rogers is featured, one who had lived through World War II unfrozen, a concept previously used in the What If? comic series.
- In the Mutant X universe, a mutant succeeds Rogers as Captain America, joining Havok's team of superheroes "The Six" in order to protect mutants from a deranged Nick Fury and S.H.I.E.L.D. He is killed by the Beyonder.
- Other alternate Captain Americas include several seen in issues of What If, a comic featuring tales of alternate realities.
- In the 1999 Earth X series, in a post-apocalyptic alternate future transformed by a Terrigen Mist plague, Captain America is a war-worn hero, with a shaven head, a ragged United States flag for a top and an A-shaped scar on his face, but still holding on to his shield.
- In the 1602 limited series, a Captain America from a possible future is transported to the year 1602, and he assumes the identity of "Rojhaz", a Native American. He refuses to return to the future because he wants to nurture America and make its citizens proud to be Americans. The 1602 version of Nick Fury forces him to return, accompanying him on the journey.
- In the 2005 limited series Last Hero Standing, the MC2 universe version of Captain America is fatally injured when he leads a group of young heroes in battle against the Norse god Loki.
- In the Amalgam Comics universe, Super-Soldier is an amalgamation of Captain America and Superman.
- In the 2006 miniseries Marvel Zombies, the zombie Captain America is known as Colonel America, and he has served as President of the United States.
- In the Marvel Mangaverse reality, the original Captain America is dead, but Carol Danvers assumes the identity.
Other media
Movies
A 1944 movie serial called Captain America portrays the hero as a district attorney named Grant Gardner and removes many important elements of the character, such as his shield and his sidekick, Bucky.
The 1991 direct-to-video film Captain America, starring Matt Salinger, earned highly negative reviews. It depicts the hero's battle against the Red Skull, who in the film is an Italian fascist rather than a German Nazi. Rumors of a new Captain America movie have circulated since 2005, but have thus far not produced anything concrete.
In 2005 Variety reported on the formation of Marvel Entertainment, a business entity dedicated to producing film adaptations of Marvel Comics properties. Marvel Entertainment released a list of Marvel properties being developed for production by the company to be released through a partnership with Paramount Pictures. The list includes Captain America. Other properties specifically named in the press announcement are the Avengers, Nick Fury, Black Panther, Ant-Man, Cloak and Dagger, Dr. Strange, Hawkeye, Power Pack, and Shang-Chi. Budgets for each film are expected to be between $45 million and $180 million. The first picture under the arrangement is slated for release by 2008.
Television
Captain America appears in two 1970s live-action television movies: Captain America and Captain America II: Death Too Soon, starring Reb Brown. The character differs slightly from the comics, in both his origin and his operations. Besides a different shield, Captain America also makes significant use of a specialized van and motorcycle.
Animation
The 1966 syndicated animated television series Marvel Super-Heroes includes "Captain America" segments. The primitive animation is largely composed of stills photostatted from Jack Kirby art. Like the Thor, Iron Man and Hulk segments, Captain America’s episodes had its own theme song, with these lyrics:
- When Captain America throws his mighty shield,
- All those who choose to oppose his shield must yield!
- If he's led to a fight and a duel is due,
- Then the red and the white and the blue will come through,
- When Captain America throws his mighty shield!
Marvel Super Heroes adapted and condensed the original Marvel Comics stories. This allows the Avengers to appear in several episodes of Captain America's segments.
Captain America makes two appearances in the 1980s animated series Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends, in the episodes "7 Little Superheroes" and "Pawns of the Kingpin". He also appears in one episode of the syndicated Spider-Man series, in which he and Spider-Man fight the Red Skull. Captain America appears in the fifth season of the X-Men animated series to fend off Nazis as a fellow soldier and friend of Wolverine in the flashback episode "Old Soldiers".
Captain America appears in the 1990s Spider-Man animated television series, in the "Six Forgotten Warriors" and "Secret Wars" story arcs. In this version, while the original formula is lost, scientists are able to create five similar doses, which are given to five other Americans. The imperfect formula gives them all slightly different abilities and the effects are temporary. The characters can turn off their powers to keep from wasting them using special rings. The super soldiers fight together in World War II until Captain America and the Red Skull are trapped in an extradimensional stasis device, eternally fighting until they are released.
Captain America appears in one episode. "Command Decision", of the 1999-2000 The Avengers: United They Stand animated series. The story involves the Masters of Evil and a flashback to Captain America defeating Baron Zemo.
Captain America (along with Nick Fury) appears in the "Operation Rebirth" episode of the animated series X-Men: Evolution. Here Rogers gets his abilities from a machine as part of "Project: Rebirth". During World War II, he participates in a joint operation with Canadian soldier Logan to liberate a concentration camp, where one prisoners is a boy named Erik Lehnsherr, the future Magneto. After the attack, Rogers learns the Rebirth process is killing him, so he and Logan destroy the machine, and Rogers is cryogenically frozen until a cure can be found.
The Ultimate Marvel version of Captain America appears in the animated direct-to-video animated-feature series, Ultimate Avengers, the first installment of which was released in February 2006.
Novels
Captain America appears in several prose novels, notably 1998's Captain America: Liberty's Torch by Tony Isabella and Bob Ingersoll, in which the hero is put on trial for the imagined crimes of America by a hostile militia group.
Computer games
Captain America appears in several video games. He is one of four playable characters in Captain America and the Avengers (1991). He later appears in Capcom's Marvel Super-Heroes and the subsequent Marvel vs. Capcom series, as well as Maximum Carnage and Marvel Super Heroes: War of the Gems. He is also a playable character in the PSP version of Marvel Nemesis: Rise of the Imperfects (2005).
Musical Theatre
In 1985, a musical about Captain America was announced for Broadway. The piece, written by Mel Mandel and Norman Sachs, never actually premiered, although recordings of the score have surfaced. (Citation at New York Times - article requires payment or registration)
Pop culture references
Music
The phrase "Captain America" has been used to refer ironically to American patriotic values, especially in rock music.
- The 1978 Kinks song "Catch Me Now, I'm Falling", about the ailing U.S. economy in the late 1970s, refers to "Captain America calling".
- Jam band moe. composed a song called "Captain America" which deals with Captain America as an authority figure.
- Jimmy Buffett recorded a song in 1977 titled "Captain America," offering a tongue-in-cheek tribute to the hero, replete with a kazoo solo and the phrase, "He wears a mask, his clothes are weird, and some folks call him hokey. But he is hip, he just can't dig the Okie from Muskogee."
- The Guns N' Roses' song "Paradise City" also contains a reference to Captain America ("Captain America's been torn apart...").
- The Roadrunner United album features a song titled "I Don't Wanna Be (A Superhero)" which contains the line, "They came from sea and they from the sky, Captain America is going to die."
- In 1990, Eugene Kelly (formerly of the Scottish band The Vaselines) formed the band Captain America but was forced to change the name due to a possible copyright infringement suit by Marvel Comics. The band was renamed Eugenius.
- The 2003 album Cyclorama by the rock band Styx features a song called "Captain America"
- The blink-182 song "Feeling This" from their 2003 self-titled album opens with Captain America saying "Get ready for Action!"
Literature
- Early Doonesbury strips have Zonker Harris referring sardonically to B.D., captain of the football team on which they both play, as "Cap'n America sir!"
- The Marine Recon unit in Evan Wright's 2005 nonfiction bestseller Generation Kill derisively referred to their overzealous commander as Captain America.
Cinema
- Peter Fonda's character in the iconic 1969 feature film Easy Rider is nicknamed Captain America. According to the "making of" feature on the DVD edition of the film, director Dennis Hopper described the two motorcyclists of the film to actor Robert Walker, Jr., who said "they sound like Captain America and Bucky", and Hopper liked the name.
- In the 1997 film Men in Black, Will Smith's character refers to an overzealous Army lieutenant as "Captain America".
- In Armageddon, an overzealous military man is referred to as "Captain America".
Other
- In Britain, United States soccer captain Claudio Reyna is often referred to as Captain America.
- UFC Light Heavyweight fighter Randy Couture recently used the nickname "Captain America".
- In the Hellboy comics, there are two heroes who fit the Captain America archetype. The Torch of Liberty fights Nazis and monsters during World War II and teaches Hellboy how to use a pistol. Lobster Johnson fights Nazi agents and the supernatural before World War II. The major difference between the two heroes is that the Torch is a public hero, and Johnson is officially secret. A series of black & white films are made during and after the war to cover this up.
- In DC Comics, the hero General Glory is a pastiche of Captain America.
- In the "Walkabout" episode of the ABC TV series Lost, Shannon sarcastiscally addresses her stepbrother Boone as "Captain America" when he says that someone should help Rose.
Bibliography
 | This list is incomplete; you can help by adding missing items. |
- Captain America Comics #1–75 by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby (March 1941 – Feb. 1950)
- USA Comics #6–17 (December 1942 – Fall 1945)
- Captain America Comics #76–78 (May 1954 – Sept. 1954)
- Tales of Suspense #59–99 (Nov. 1964 – March 1968)
- Captain America (1968 series) #100–454 (April 1968 – Aug. 1996)
- Giant-Size Captain America (December 1975)
- Marvel Treasury Special: Captain America's Bicentennial Battles (June 1976)
- Marvel Fanfare (1982 series) #5, 18, 26, 29, 31–32
- What If... (1984 series) #5, 26, 38, 44
- What If... (1989 series) #3, 28–29, 67–68, 103
- What If... (2006 #1), "What if Captain America had lived in the American Civil War?"
- Adventures of Captain America - Sentinel of Liberty (1991 series) #1–4 (October 1991–January 1992)
- Captain America: The Medusa Effect (March 1994)
- Captain America: Drug War (April 1994)
- Captain America (1996 series) #1–13 (Nov. 1996 – Nov. 1997)
- Captain America (1998 series) #1–50 (Jan. 1998 – Feb. 2002)
- Captain America Sentinel of Liberty (1998 series) #1–12 (Sept. 1998 – Aug. 1999)
- Captain America: Dead Men Running (2002 series) #1–3 (March 2002–May 2002)
- Captain America (2002 series) #1–32 (June 2002 – Oct. 2004)
- Truth: Red, White and Black by Robert Morales and Kyle Baker (2003 series) #1–7
- Captain America: What Price Glory? (2003 series) #1–4 (May 2003)
- Captain America & The Falcon (2004 series) #1–14 (April 2004–)
- Captain America by Ed Brubaker and Steve Epting (2004 series) #1–15 (Nov. 2004– )
- Marvel Team-Up #6, 10 by Robert Kirkman and Scott Kolins (2005– )
- Marvel Team-Up #14 by Robert Kirkman and Cory Walker (2005– )
- New Avengers #1–16 by Brian Michael Bendis and David Finch (2005 series)
- Civil War #1–7
See also
References
- Marvel Universe online bio Official Marvel biography
- Marvel Database Project: Captain America (Steve Rogers)
- Marvel Directory: Captain America
- Star-Spangled Site
- Star-Spangled Site's Captain America Shield FAQ
- Comicshistory: Captain America
- Captain America Fan Site
- Avengers members
- Captain America
- Defenders members
- Fictional Americans in Marvel Comics
- Fictional captains
- Fictional martial artists
- Fictional supersoldiers
- Fictional World War II veterans
- Invaders members
- Marvel Comics titles
- Marvel Comics mutates
- Marvel Legends
- Marvel vs. Series characters
- Ultimates members
- United States-themed superheroes
- Golden Age superheroes
- Brooklynites
- Fictional heroes