Steve RogersCaptain America

CAPTAIN AMERICA

From the dark days of world war to the explosive challenges of today, Super-Soldier Captain America stands ready as a shining sentinel of liberty to shield the oppressed and fight for freedom everywhere.

Ninety-Eight-Pound Weakling

A poor orphan from the wrong side of the tracks in the days leading up to World War II, goodhearted Steve Rogers enlisted in the army to fight the Axis Powers, but met with rejection due to his small size and underdeveloped physique. Professor Abraham Erskine, a pioneer in the development of a Super-Soldier for the United States, saw potential in Rogers and whisked him into Project Rebirth, the professor’s bold experiment in enhancing the human body to its peak powers.

Rogers found himself subjected to Erskine’s treatments— a specialized serum and exposure to a unique form of radiation—and realized the professor’s dream, becoming the world’s first, fully developed Super-Soldier. Now muscular and tall, as well as possessed of amazing strength and agility, the former ninety-eight-pound weakling watched in horror as a Nazi spy shot and killed Erskine, and thereby ensured Rogers would be the last of his kind.

The United States government moved swiftly to fashion Rogers into a living symbol of inspiration to the public at home and soldiers abroad. And, after extensive combat training he debuted in a colorful, patriotic uniform as Captain America. Operating out of the army’s Camp Lehigh in Virginia, Rogers posed as an ordinary soldier, but conducted secret missions stateside and abroad as his alter-ego to smash spies, saboteurs, and the occasional Super Villain who threatened the country he loved so dearly. Soon, Cap captured the attention of the Red Skull, his evil counterpart in Germany, and the two formed a lasting enmity over the course of the war. The hero also gained a near-indestructible shield with which he became supremely efficient in both offense and defense.

More costumed champions began to appear and founded a fighting battalion known as the Invaders with Captain America. The Super-Soldier also struck up a close friendship with a young man named Bucky Barnes who was perceived as a kind of sidekick on Cap’s missions, though Bucky possessed his own formidable skills. Toward the end of the war, the famous fighting duo closed in on Baron Zemo, a Nazi scientist who’d committed nearly as many atrocities against the Allies as the Red Skull, and moved to destroy an experimental plane he coveted. Unfortunately, Cap and Bucky found themselves caught in the aircraft’s fiery demise while in flight, and both tumbled into the ocean, leading Cap to believe Bucky had perished in the explosion.

Due to Erskine’s serum coursing through his veins, Cap’s body went into suspended animation once submerged in the frigid waters, and ended up encased in solid ice. In this manner, he slept away the decades until discovered by the Avengers, a team of Super Heroes, in modern times. Awakened and resuscitated, Cap’s astonishment in realizing he’d lost Bucky and everyone he’d ever cared for quickly gave way to his unshakable sense of duty and he once again donned his famous shield and outfit to join with the Avengers in their ongoing battle against injustice.

Patriotic Power

After being infused with the Super-Soldier serum, Steve Roger’s body reached the upper-most limits of human perfection in strength, stamina, agility, and durability. With training, he learned to use these traits in perfect unison in any given situation. Because of this, many see him as super human, but in truth he maintains a strict regimen of exercise to bolster the serum’s transformation of his physical form. In addition, Rogers’ charisma and shrewd decision-making ability are also recognized as being at the top-level of any human on Earth.

As Captain America, he carries a concave shield composed of vibranium and steel alloy. This makes the disc lightweight, nearly indestructible, and perfectly balanced. Cap’s extensive use of the shield in combat situations has formed a kind of symbiosis between the two, making the disc practically an extension of his will. Hurtling it with his enhanced strength and marksmanship, he can strike several opponents in quick succession and catch it on its return arc. The shield can also withstand extreme temperatures and pressure, as well as rebound most forms of energy directed at it.

Cap’s unique uniform is made of a tight-woven chainmail, able to deflect sharp objects and some smaller gauges of projectiles. He has also been seen wearing a belt equipped with pouches for quick access to a variety of useful items.

Circle of Friends

Many of Captain America’s friends and allies during World War II were lost to him due to the ravages of time during his suspended animation, and in the present day his closest companions are few in number.

James Buchanan “Bucky” Barnes survived the explosion of Baron Zemo’s plane to be snatched up by Russian operatives and brainwashed into an instrument of death, the Winter Soldier. Bucky eventually broke the deep conditioning to reaffirm a friendship with Steve Rogers that stretched back to the earliest days of the war, and today the two men think of themselves as brothers.

When Cap met Sharon Carter, S.H.I.E.L.D.’s invaluable Agent 13, and learned she was the niece of his wartime flame Peggy Carter, the die was cast for them to become soulmates. Through thick and thin they’ve maintained their bond, even through tumultuous times like when Steve Roger’s temporary death came at the hands of a manipulated Sharon. Though the two may sometimes dream of a shared life together, their respective careers keep them from settling down as husband and wife.

Sam Wilson and Steve Rogers met under fire on a far-off island and became fast friends and later crimefighting partners when Cap helped Wilson create his Super Hero persona of the Falcon. Though both grew up on the mean city streets and share a common belief in justice and liberty, the two have more than once disagreed on matters of opinion, but have always reminded themselves of their friendship.

Axis of Evil

Captain America toiled tirelessly to earn enemies throughout his career, but none so much as the Red Skull. The skull-faced villain charted his own course after his “creation” by Adolph Hitler himself, but he retained the Nazi mindset of superiority and world-dominance. Crafty and cunning, he waylaid Cap at every turn, even surviving into the modern age to bedevil his adversary time and time again. The Skull recognized Cap as his mortal enemy - perhaps not a genuine equal, but as someone whose image was to be corrupted, his goals subverted, and his life ruined. The Sentinel of Liberty never underestimated the Red Skull, and despite witnessing his supposed death many times, rarely believed his threat had truly ended.

Baron Heinrich Zemo nearly rivaled the Red Skull in his battles with Captain America. Originally a Nazi scientist, Zemo’s diabolical inventions included a super adhesive to which he himself fell prey, leading to his mask becoming permanently adhered to his face. Zemo, like the Skull, survived the war to form the first Masters of Evil in the modern era, a group of Super Villains that opposed the Avengers and other heroes. Though Heinrich ultimately met his end, his twisted son Helmut picked up the Baron Zemo mantle and continued his father’s endless skirmishes with Cap.

Another purveyor of warped science from the World War II era, geneticist Arnim Zola created incredible beings to do his bidding, but battled Captain America many times to prove his mind was the superior. In recent years, Zola became the master of an entire other dimension apart from our own, one in which Cap led a revolt to disrupt the evil scientist’s mad dreams.

One other adversary rose up from the war era to follow Cap into the modern world: Baron Strucker. The evil aristocrat founded the organization which became known as Hydra, a global scheme to dominate the world through terrorism and subversion. Other hands have since replaced Strucker in the leadership of Hydra, but his dark legacy lives on.

Other enemies of Captain America include the Red Skull’s right-hand lieutenant Crossbones, the Skull’s daughter Sin, the bizarre entity known as M.O.D.O.K., wayward psychiatrist Dr. Faustus, the acrobat Batroc, the anarchist Flag Smasher, and the snake-themed Super Villains who make up the dreaded Serpent Society.

Shield Stories

Captain America’s adventures in modern times kicked off with several missions with the Avengers that culminated in him taking over the leadership role when the founding members stepped back to address their individual lives and careers. Cap reorganized the team as a small fighting band consisting of outlaws Hawkeye, Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch, which the press dubbed “Cap’s Kooky Quartet.” He made it work somehow until the original members came back to once again fill the ranks.

S.H.I.E.L.D. director Nick Fury, whom Cap knew during World War II, approached the hero with an offer to join the spy organization, and through several missions for them Cap faced various menaces and met Agent 13, Sharon Carter. The Red Skull returned, having secured a Cosmic Cube, a device granting its user near-unlimited power, but Cap smashed the villain’s plans. Later, after his civilian identity as Steve Rogers was publicly revealed, he worked to train an eager young teenager named Rick Jones as his new partner, all the while mourning Bucky.

The Falcon grew into the role of Cap’s partner when Rick and the hero grew apart, and Cap became a police officer in his civilian life. He returned to the Avengers after a brief hiatus from membership when the team faced the galactic menace of two powerful alien races battling each other in the Kree-Skrull War. Around this time, Cap also addressed the appearance of the man who posed as Captain America while the real deal slept away the decades. Later, Helmut Zemo, the son of the original Baron Zemo, rose up to claim his father’s legacy and continue his evil.

When the Secret Empire, another subversive group, made a play to take over the United States, Cap disrupted their gambit, but was crestfallen when he discovered the true identity of the Empire’s masked leader to be a high-ranking government official. His faith in his country shaken to the core, he abandoned the role of Captain America to temporarily adventure as Nomad until circumstances drove him to once again take up the shield and the old red, white, and blue. As Cap again, he and the Falcon strengthened their partnership to face the Madbomb crisis as well as the rise of Arnim Zola as a mad geneticist.

Following a string of violent clashes, the Red Skull accelerated Cap’s physical body to match his true age, and the two entered into what the Skull believed would be their final battle. In the end, Cap believed his greatest enemy to be dead. Later, the Serpent Society crawled into the light to challenge the hero, and Cap set up a national “hotline” to answer calls for help across the country. Back in New York, Zemo and the latest edition of the Masters of Evil invaded Avengers Mansion, captured Cap, and destroyed precious mementoes of his before his eyes.

The U.S. government removed Rogers from the Cap role, forcing him to rebrand himself as “The Captain,” so he could continue his crusading career. When he returned to the shield, his replacement, John Walker, became a new government operative called the USAgent. Strange times followed, including a romance with a former Serpent Society member, a transformation into a werewolf, and a breakdown of the Super-Soldier serum in his blood that forced Cap to don armor and eventually led to his disappearance, perhaps to die alone.

Rogers was revived in time to take up the shield against a resurrected Red Skull and a new threat involving the Cosmic Cube. Once again stripped of his Cap role not long after, he operated as an “ex-patriot” until returning to his old uniform. For a brief time following that, Cap found himself submerged in a new reality apart from his own, wherein he operated as a somewhat different Captain America, until brought back to his proper existence. Soon after, Cap would lose his shield at the bottom of the ocean and be forced to use makeshift replacements. Luckily, the real shield was recovered and returned to its rightful owner.

One of the Avengers’ greatest foes, the time-traveling Kang, invaded Earth with an immense army, but the assembled heroes fought back and Cap himself faced Kang in personal combat and defeated him. The Red Skull later worked secretly as Dell Rusk, the U.S. Secretary of Defense, until exposed by Cap, while the Scarlet Witch, one of the original “Kooky Quartet” members went mad and attempted to obliterate the Avengers. In the days that followed, Bucky resurfaced alive as the Winter Soldier, a brainwashed Russian assassin, and Cap helped a small group of teenage heroes form the Young Avengers out of the ashes of Scarlet Witch’s assault.

When Cap’s teammate Iron Man proposed and pushed through into law a Superhuman Registration Act, Cap vocally disagreed with it and a period of “Civil War” erupted between the two old friends. Spreading to the entire Super Hero community, the skirmishes escalated until Rogers realized the toll it was taking on the public and surrendered to the authorities. Incarcerated, he fell to an assassination attempt concocted by the Red Skull, which used a duped Sharon Carter as the instrument of death.

Steve Rogers’ essence wandered through time, reliving moments throughout his career as Cap, but was brought back to the present to be rejoined with his body, although not without a battle with the Red Skull for possession of it. While believed dead, Cap’s mantle was taken up by Bucky and Rogers insisted his old partner maintain the role while he himself became the director of S.H.I.E.L.D. for a time. As always, he returned as Captain America when the world and the heroic community needed him most, during a siege on the fabled realm of Asgard. Unfortunately, Cap’s shield was later broken in the midst of another crisis involving godlike beings, but was repaired, albeit with a scar to remind its user of the high price of being a champion.

Cap organized an Avengers Unity Squad to bring together humans and mutants for the greater good and one of their first challenges involved a Red Skull clone who stole the brain of the late Professor X, a powerful mutant with psychic abilities. Once again, the Super-Soldier serum was neutralized in Cap’s blood, causing him to outwardly transform into nearly his true advanced physical age. The Falcon became Captain America during this time, until a sentient Cosmic Cube known as Kobik restored Rogers to his heroic stature, but also to a warped mindset manipulated by the Red Skull in which Cap was raised as an agent of Hydra, bent on subjugating the world to the group’s twisted domination ideals.

The true Steve Rogers resurfaced when given a body by Kobik and the Hydra version was defeated, and Captain America headed out to travel the United States in search of not only himself, but the real America he loves so much.