Top 10 Captain America Facts

Steve Rogers is by far the most famous person to take up the title of Captain America, but several other comic book characters have assumed the role when Rogers was unable to. Following Rogers’ apparent death in 2007, his former sidekick and best friend Bucky Barnes became Cap. In recent years, it’s Sam Wilson AKA The Falcon took up the position after Rogers lost his Super Soldier enhancements. No matter who holds the mantle of Captain America however, they all fight to defend democracy and the American dream.

Chris Evans has taken up the role of Captain America in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and has done a fantastic job capturing the personality and drive of Steve Rogers. Evans’ success could be a result of experience. In fact, he has starred in five other comic book films, including playing the Human Torch two major “Fantastic Four” films and Lucas Lee in “Scott Pilgrim vs. the World”. He has also starred in “Push” and “The Losers”, both of which were adaptations of comic books.

There’s a great scene in the second Avengers film where each member of the team tries to pick up Thor’s hammer, much to the Norse god’s amusement. No one is able to carry the hammer, although Cap does make it move slightly. In the comics, however, Cap has been able to wield Mjolnir. One of the most famous occurrences was during a battle with Seth, the Egyptian god of death. With Thor down for the count, Cap picked up the hammer and returned it to Thor’s grasp. Something Marvel loves to have happen whenever Thor needs a pick-me-up.

Today’s most recognizable figure associated with the comic book industry, Lee’s first ever published story involved Captain America. At just 19 years old, Lee’s story, titled “Traitor’s Revenge”, appeared in “Captain America Comics” #3. With help from Bucky, Cap is able to prevent a disgruntled soldier from murdering an American Colonel. The story also featured Cap’s famous ricocheting shield-toss, which would become one of the character’s main trademarks.

While he wasn’t the first superhero to be created by Marvel, he was the first superhero to exist in the Marvel universe. In a fictionalized World War II, the U.S. Army tested the “Super-Soldier” serum on a scrawny boy named Steve Rogers, transforming him into a physically remarkable human being. Rogers would be given the codename Captain America and participated in dozens of important battles during the war as a member of the Blue Spaders, the 1st Battalion, 26th Infantry Regiment.

Of course, Steve Rogers wasn’t born as Captain America, so what did he do before he transformed into the patriotic hero? Naturally, suitably, he was a comic book artist. Most people know how Rogers was an undersized boy who wanted to serve his country during World War II, but few are aware that he was also a fine arts student who was studying illustration and also worked as a comic book writer and artist. Of course, once he became Cap, his carrier as a comic book artist got put on hold, so he could star in comic books. Deep Bro.

As previously mentioned, Captain America is one of the oldest superheros – in fact, he’s even older than Marvel. Cap was created by visionaries Joe Simon and Jack Kirby in May of 1941, 20 years before the creation of Marvel Comics. The first Captain America stories were actually part of Timely Comics, and was reintroduced under Atlas Comics in the 1950s. While both of these companies would eventually be recognized under the Marvel name, they technically were not considered Marvel at the time, thus making Cap older than the company.

Marvel hasn’t been afraid to push boundaries with their comics. In the turbulent 1960s, smack in the middle of the African-American civil rights movement, a new sidekick appeared to aid Captain America – the Falcon. First introduced in “Captain America” #117, the Falcon became the first African-American superhero to appear in mainstream comics, and the first African superhero not to have the word “black” in his name. The Falcon, also known as Sam Wilson, would help Cap for numerous years before eventually taking up the role of Captain America himself.

Although the Marvel Cinematic Universe elected to go with “Captain America: The First Avenger” as the title for the first Cap film, this is actually incorrect – he wasn’t even a member of the original team. The first Avengers were actually Iron Man, Thor, Wasp, Ant-Man, and the Hulk, all characters considered B-List at the time. This would last only a few issues, however, before the Hulk left the team and Captain America took his place. He would eventually move into a leadership role, but he was not a founding member despite being the face of the team.

Before we unveil our number one pick, here are a few honourable mentions:

He Almost Had His Own Musical

Captain America Comics #1 is Worth Over 100k

His Shield Was Originally Badged Shape

Created As War Propaganda

Although it’s only lately that comic books movies have taken the big screen in an even bigger way, Marvel actually tried their hand at the superhero film genre in the 1940s. They chose Captain America as the first hero to have his own movie in 1944 in the form of a black-and-white serial film. Several key plot points were changed, however. District Attorney Grant Gardner takes up the role of Captain America and attempts to stop The Scarab, a villain by night and museum curator by day. It was a much more standard and typical super hero story, and we wouldn’t get to see Cap battling it out with the Red Skull in World War II for many years later.

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