Vocation: super hero
Domain: Marvel Universe
Active: 1940 –
Affiliations: the Avengers, the Invaders
AKA: Cap
There were dozens of flag-wearing super heroes battling evil in the golden age, but Captain America is the one we thawed out to face down pot-smoking protestors in the 60s.
Just kidding; Captain America is the real deal. He believes in the American way for all people, even dirty hippies, and he’ll fight for it.
With no powers to speak of, but bearing his invincible shield, Captain America has gone toe to toe with literally the worst threats the Marvel universe has to offer. His fighting skill, courage, willpower, and sense of justice are unparalleled making him the almost perfect hero. If Batman stayed on his meds, he’d be a candidate for Captain America.
Of course, this mostly applies to one particular guy: Steve Rogers. Generally, when someone talks about Captain America it is Steve Rogers they are referring to. To be fair, Steve is the face of billion dollar cinema franchise and he has been behind the mask for the vast majority of Captain America’s eighty-odd years of existence. He is not the only one to hold the job, though. Not even close.
Two centuries before Rogers took the serum, his own ancestor, Steven Rogers, by sheer coincidence, fought in the revolutionary war as Captain America, where I’m sure he blended right in.
Late in the second world war gangster Butch Cantwell posed as Captain America to try to discredit the real hero though the ruse didn’t last long. And super soldier Isaiah Bradley wore Cap’s clothes on a mission, but I don’t think he was fooling anyone.
After Rogers was lost in World War II, William Nasland, the hero known as the Spirit of ’76 became Captain America to carry on the legacy.
Luckily there is almost always a flag-waving hero around, and when Nasland is later killed the Patriot, Jeffrey Mace, becomes the new Captain America.
Mace retires in 1950 leaving the role unoccupied for a time. But then William Burnside, a Captain America enthusiast with a faulty super soldier serum stepped up during the 50’s to battle communists.
By the end of the decade the Red Skull had manufactured his very own Captain America. I don’t know how he thought that would help, but this one doesn’t survive long enough to be a factor either way.
The villain the Acrobat briefly impersonates Captain America in the 60’s before Steve Rogers is thawed out to reclaim the title. Rogers hogs the job for years again except for time he spends kidnapped and replaced with a nameless impersonator who works for the Sons of the Serpent (seriously).
Steve retires for a time in the 70s and the name was up for grabs. Professional baseball player Bob Russo attempts to take over, but only once and not well, but better than Scar Turpin, biker thug and Captain America hopeful. Roscoe Simmons, however, was so convincing that he is killed by the Red Skull.
After that Rogers decides to stay on as Captain America until he gets fired in the 80’s and enhanced marine John Walker is assigned to take over. Walker turns out to be a little kooky and Rogers gets his old job back until he is “killed”, and the role gets reassigned.
The hero Hawkeye temporarily stands in, but the job ultimately goes to his original sidekick, Bucky Barnes. The alien Pitt’o Nili thinks he is Captain America during this period, but poisoned darts and death convince him he’s wrong.
When Steve Rogers turns out to be less than dead, he gets to be Captain America for one more stint but only after enhanced soldier David Rickford gives it an attempt. While he’s back at it he runs across a poor goon named Adam who also believes himself to be the real Captain, but he’s just another traumatized recipient of a faulty super soldier serum.
Most recently another of Rogers’ old partners, the Falcon, is Captain America, shield and all, comics and live action.
And that’s just the regular continuity. There are, of course, an infinite number of alternative history Steve Rogers, but enough about him. The multiverse springs spastic and eternal and different versions abound.
Carol Danvers becomes the new Captain America in Marvel’s mangaverse. In at least one future Danielle Cage doesn’t inherit the shield but she does get the name and becomes Captain America.
In another it is Ms. America, America Chavez, who picks up the gig. Frank Castle, the Punisher, steps into the role in one alternate timeline. In the Ultimate’s timeline, Frank Simpson, known as Nuke in regular continuity, served as Captain America during Vietnam.
In that same universe the X-Man Cyclops becomes the new Captain America after the poor old guy passes away. Steve Rogers and Peggy Carter have a daughter who takes up the mantle in one universe.
In some realities, Steve Rogers wasn’t Captain America at all, and Isaiah Bradley was the World War II hero with Bucky as a sidekick. In some, Isaiah’s grandson, the Patriot, is the one who becomes Captain America.
In others it was Peggy Carter who got a shot at the super soldier serum and became Captain America. In the future, Roberta Mendez is the Captain America of Marvel’s 2099. In the Wastelands future, Captain America is some dude named Grant.
There is actually a universe where everyone is Spider-Man‘s Uncle Ben where Captain America is …, well, do the math.
An alternate timeline from Avengers Alliance has Jeremiah Rogers taking up a costume and shield in 1901 as Captain America. In the Marvel Knights reality, robots made their own artificial Captain America to fight for AI rights, which is an honorable mention winner at the weird idea science fair.
In one of the X-Men’s crappy futures there is a mutant Captain America who has to be put down. Jack Monroe, who was Bucky to William Burnside’s Captain America becomes the actual Captain in another alternate reality.
In yet another it is Hulk sidekick Rick Jones who plays Bucky and, then, Captain America. In at least one reality the Hulk with adamantium claws is Captain America. If the Kree conquered the world, one of them would for sure take on the title just to rub everyone’s nose in it.
Recently a universe was revealed where Miles Morales got to become Captain America, because he gets to be everyone. And if you squint hard enough you can find a place where even Deadpool gets to be Captain America.
There are also a number of flat-out artificial Captain Americas – androids, life model decoys and the like – sprinkled in amid the “real” things. Hank Pym built a whole fake Avengers team and it had a couple of different Captain Americas. Somewhere out there was also an artificial android copy of the Captain kept in reserve by the government. Ultron compulsively creates android copies of the Avengers, including a few Captain America knock-offs. Even the Taskmaster got ahold of a replica he could sic on people. Like most Captain America copies, none of these last long.
Then there is a crowd of folks who don’t claim to be THE Captain America, just A Captain America, inspired by the original, making the name into a franchise. Aaron Fischer is the Captain America of the Railways, hero to the hobo set. Joe Gomez is Captain America of the Kickapoo Tribe.
Nichelle Wright is the Captain America of Harrisburg. Arielle Agbayani serves as the Campus Captain America. In an alternate timeline there is a whole Captain Americorps with a Captain for every need. In that world it seems as though more people were Captain America than who weren’t.
Lastly a gaggle of movie interpretations.
A good percentage of the planet is familiar with the most recent cinematic version, but there have been previous attempts. In the 40s Captain America wasn’t Steve Rogers at all, but district attorney Grant Gardner. When the 70s movie came out Steve Rogers was back, now with feathered hair.
I suppose it’s also worth mentioning the in-continuity movie version and the MCU’s on-Broadway example who is super happy to be here.
If this is not enough Captain America for you, then: First, admit you have a problem, and second, look to marvel.fandom.com for a really comprehensive list of every time someone has dressed like or mentioned Captain America in conversation.
References: [wikipedia.org: Captain America]
[marvel.fandom.com: Captain America]
[marvel.fandom.com: William Nasland]
[marvel.fandom.com: Jeffrey Mace] [avengersalliance2.fandom.com: Captain America 1901: “When Incursions erupted across the battlefields of the American Civil War in the mid 1800s, the course of a parallel reality’s history was shifted forever. On that world, Jeremiah Rogers, a volunteer cavalryman under Theodore Roosevelt, took up an Iso-8-driven armor-and-shield Combo and became a symbol of American strength and resilience. Your beacon has reached him, and he’s ready to heed the call.”]
[patriot]
Metahuman Database 