Captain America is a superhero created by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby who appears in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character first appeared in Captain America Comics #1, published on December 20, 1940, by Timely Publications, a corporate predecessor to Marvel. Captain America's civilian identity is Steven "Steve" Rogers, a frail man rejected by the United States Army for physical unfitness who is enhanced to the peak of human physical perfection by an experimental "super-soldier serum". Equipped with an American flag–inspired costume and a virtually indestructible shield, Captain America and his sidekick Bucky Barnes clashed frequently with the villainous Red Skull and other agents of the Axis powers amid World War II. In the war's final days, an accident left Captain America frozen in a state of suspended animation until he was revived in modern times. He resumes his exploits as a costumed hero and becomes a leader of the superhero team the Avengers, while frequently struggling as a "man out of time" to adjust to the new era.
The character quickly emerged as Timely's most popular and commercially successful creation of the Golden Age of Comic Books, though the popularity of superheroes declined in the post-war period and Captain America Comics was discontinued in 1950. The character saw a short-lived revival in 1953 before returning to comics in 1964 and has since remained in continuous publication. Captain America's creation as an explicitly anti-Nazi figure was a deliberately political undertaking, inspired by Simon and Kirby's strong opposition to Nazi Germany and its supporters in the United States. Political messages have subsequently remained a defining feature of Captain America stories, with writers regularly using the character to comment on the state of American society and government.
Having appeared in more than ten thousand stories, Captain America is one of the most popular and recognized Marvel Comics characters, and has been described as an icon of American popular culture. Though Captain America was not the first United States–themed superhero, he would become the most popular and enduring of the many patriotic American superheroes created during World War II. Captain America was the first Marvel character to appear in a medium outside of comic books, in the 1944 movie serial Captain America; the character has subsequently appeared in a variety of films and other media, including the Marvel Cinematic Universe, where he is portrayed by actor Chris Evans.
Publication history
Creation and development
Accounts of Captain America's creation are not entirely consistent, but it is generally accepted that in 1940, Timely Comics publisher Martin Goodman responded to the growing popularity of superhero comics – particularly Superman at rival publisher National Comics Publications, the corporate predecessor to DC Comics – by asking editor Joe Simon to create a new patriotic wartime superhero to add to Timely's existing superhero line. According to Simon, he began to develop the character by determining who his nemesis could be and, noting that the most successful superheroes were defined by their relationship with a compelling villain, eventually settled on Adolf Hitler. He rationalized that Hitler was the "best villain of them all" as he was "hated by everyone in the free world", and that it would be a unique approach for a superhero to face a real-life adversary rather than a fictional one. According to Simon's recollections, he sought to have Jack Kirby be the primary artist on the series: the two developed a working relationship and friendship in the late 1930s after working together at Fox Feature Syndicate, and had previously developed characters for Timely together.
Captain America's development as an explicitly anti-Nazi character was intentionally political: though the United States had not yet entered the war, Goodman's superhero line had already taken a strong anti-Nazi stance, and Simon and Kirby were similarly opposed to the actions of Nazi Germany and its domestic supporters. Simon claimed that he worked out the details of the character, who was eventually named "Captain America", after he completed sketches in consultation with Goodman. Simon stated that he initially considered "Super American" for the hero's name, but felt there were already multiple comic book characters with "super" in their names. The hero's civilian name "Steve Rogers" was derived from the telegraphy term "roger", meaning "message received".
Goodman elected to launch Captain America with his own self-titled comic book, making him the first Timely character to debut with his own ongoing series without having first appeared in an anthology. Despite Simon's wishes to have Kirby as sole artist, Goodman wanted a team of artists on the series in order to rush the first issue to publication, expressing concern that Hitler might be killed before the first issue could reach the newsstands. Ultimately Kirby did serve as penciller, working from Simon's roughly sketched layouts of figures and backgrounds. Inking of Kirby's pencils has been attributed to Al Avison and Al Gabriele, although Simon himself says the book was inked by cartoonist Al Liederman. Simon additionally negotiated a 25 percent share of the profits for the comic: 15% for himself, and 10% for the artists.
Debut and early success (early 1940s)
Captain America Comics #1 was published on December 20, 1940, with a cover date of March 1941. While the front cover of the issue featured Captain America punching Hitler, the comic itself established the Red Skull as Captain America's primary adversary, and also introduced Bucky Barnes as Captain America's teenaged sidekick. Simon stated that he personally regarded Captain America's origin story, in which the frail Steve Rogers becomes a supersoldier after receiving an experimental serum, as "the weakest part of the character", and that he and Kirby "didn't put too much thought into the origin. We just wanted to get to the action." Kirby designed the series' action scenes with an emphasis on a sense of continuity across panels, saying that he "choreographed" the sequences as one would a ballet, with a focus on exaggerated character movement. Kirby's layouts in Captain America Comics are characterized by their distorted perspectives, irregularly shaped panels, and the heavy use of speed lines.
The first issue of Captain America Comics sold out in a matter of days, and the second issue's print run was set at over one million copies. Captain America quickly became Timely's most popular character, with the publisher creating an official Captain America fan club called the "Sentinels of Liberty". Circulation figures remained close to a million copies per month after the debut issue, which outstripped even the circulation of news magazines such as Time during the same period. Captain America Comics was additionally one of 189 periodicals that the US Department of War deemed appropriate to distribute to its soldiers without prior screening. The character would also make appearances in several of Timely's other comic titles, including All Winners Comics, Marvel Mystery Comics, U.S.A. Comics, and All Select Comics.
Though Captain America was not the first United States-themed superhero – a distinction that belongs to The Shield at MLJ Comics – he would become the most popular patriotic American superhero of those created during World War II. Captain America's popularity drew a complaint from MLJ that the character's triangular heater shield too closely resembled the chest symbol of The Shield. This prompted Goodman to direct Simon and Kirby to change the design beginning with Captain America Comics #2. The revised round shield went on to become an iconic element of the character; its use as a discus-like throwing weapon originated in a short prose story in Captain America Comics #3, written by Stan Lee in his professional debut as a writer. Timely's publication of Captain America Comics led the company to be targeted with threatening letters and phone calls from the German American Bund, an American Nazi organization. When members began loitering on the streets outside the company's office, police protection was posted and New York mayor Fiorello La Guardia personally contacted Simon and Kirby to guarantee the safety of the publisher's employees.
Simon wrote the first two issues of Captain America Comics before becoming the editor for the series; they were the only Captain America stories he would ever directly write. While Captain America generated acclaim and industry fame for Simon and Kirby, the pair believed that Goodman was withholding the promised percentage of profits for the series, prompting Simon to seek employment for himself and Kirby at National Comics Publications. When Goodman learned of Simon and Kirby's intentions, he effectively fired them from Timely Comics, telling them they were to leave the company after they completed work on Captain America Comics #10. The authorship of Captain America Comics was subsequently assumed by a variety of individuals, including Otto Binder, Bill Finger, and Manly Wade Wellman as writers, and Al Avison, Vince Alascia, and Syd Shores as pencilers.
Decline in popularity (mid-1940s and 1950s) Superhero comics began to decline in popularity in the post-war period. This prompted a variety of attempts to reposition Captain America, including having the character fight gangsters rather than wartime enemies in Captain America Comics #42 (October 1944), having Steve Rogers become a high school teacher after getting out of the army beginning in Captain America Comics #59 (August 1946), and joining Timely's first superhero team, the All-Winners Squad, in All Winners Comics #19 (Fall 1946). The series nevertheless continued to face dwindling sales, and Captain America Comics ended with its 75th issue in February 1950. Horror comics were ascendant as a popular comic genre during this period; in keeping with the trend, the final two issues of Captain America Comics were published under the title Captain America's Weird Tales.
Timely's corporate successor Atlas Comics relaunched the character in 1953 in Young Men #24, where a new Captain America story appears alongside stories reviving two of Timely's other popular wartime heroes, the Human Torch and the Sub-Mariner. It was followed by a revival of Captain America Comics in 1954 drawn primarily by John Romita. In the spirit of the Cold War and McCarthyism, the character was billed as "Captain America, Commie Smasher" and faced enemies associated with the Soviet Union. The series was a commercial failure, and was cancelled after just three issues. Romita attributed the series' failure to the changing political climate, particularly the public opposition to the Korean War; the character subsequently fell out of active publication for nearly a decade, with Romita noting that "for a while, 'Captain America' was a dirty word".
Return to comics (1960s)
Captain America made his ostensible return in the anthology Strange Tales #114 (November 1963), published by Atlas' corporate successor Marvel Comics. In an 18-page story written by Lee and illustrated by Kirby, Captain America apparently reemerges following years of retirement, only to be revealed as an impostor who is defeated by Human Torch of the Fantastic Four. A caption in the final panel indicates that the story was a "test" to gauge interest in a potential return for Captain America; the reader response to the story was enthusiastic and the character was formally reintroduced in The Avengers #4 (March 1964).