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Captain America

Captain America Marvel Now

Real Name
Steve Rogers
First Appearance
Captain America Comics #1 (July, 1940)
Creators
Joe Simon, Jack Kirby
Team Affiliations
Avengers, S.H.I.E.L.D., Avengers Unity Division, Illuminati, Invaders, U.S. Army, Operation Rebirth, Secret Avengers, Captain America Corps, New Avengers, Secret Defenders, Crazy S.U.E.S., Landau, Luckman & Lake, Redeemers
Aliases
"Winghead," "Shield-Slinger," The First Avenger, Sentinel of Liberty, The Living Legend, Nomad, Stevie, The Captain, Buck Jones, Roger Stevens, Yeoman America, Crossbones, Expatriate, Brett Hendrick, Nathan Hale, Anthony Schwarz, Roger Grant, Steven Grant Rogers, The Man Without a Country, Man Out of Time, Lord of the Frozen Ice, "Blondie," Granny, The Brooklyn Project, Weapon I, Super-Soldier, "Rembrandt," Eagle, Subject 223, Spider-King, Cap-Wolf, "Kapitan Amerika," "The Blue Devil," Captain Flagpole
Base of Operations
New York, USA
Powers
Peak-Human Condition, Accelerated Healing Factor, Enhanced Intelligence, Longevity
Skills and Abilities
Master Tactician and Strategist, Master Martial Artist, Master Shield Fighter, Advanced Military Operator, Master Acrobat, Indomitable Will, Professional Sketch Artist, Expert Marksman, Expert Swordsman, Weapons Proficiency, Multilingual, Expert Vehicular Driver
Paraphernalia
Chainmail uniform, Utility Belt, Shield

Captain America is a prominent superhero who appears in the Marvel Universe and is one of Marvel’s first publicly known heroes.

Origin

Steve Rogers was a scrawny young man who desperately wanted to fight for his country. When given the opportunity by Dr. Eskine and the U.S. government, they used the Super Soldier formula to transform Sonny Rogers' physique into peak physical condition. However, Dr. Erskine was murdered almost immediately afterwards, making Sonny the only super soldier of his kind. Dedicated to fighting for freedom and the values of his homeland, Sonny Rogers dedicated his life to fighting evil and tyranny at home and abroad as Captain America.

Biography

Early Life

Steve Rogers was born on July 4th, 1920 to Joseph and Sarah Rogers, two poor Irish immigrants. A frail child, Steve grew up during the Great Depression, losing his father as a child and his mother to pneumonia during his teen years. Steve would soon move to a rooming house, becoming a delivery boy to make ends meet and was often picked on by other children for his frail and weak body. He was also an accomplished amatuer artist, even winning an "art of the future" drawing contest.

During a trip to the movies in the fall of the 1940s, Steve Rogers saw a newsreel that showed the horrors of the Nazi invasion of Europe. Rogers was moved to action and was determined to join the American army in the hopes of doing his part to oppose this threat.

Operation: Rebirth

Steve attempted to join the army but soon found himself ineligible to become a soldier due to his frail body. Nonetheless, he tried multiple times to join, only to be rejected again and again under class 4-F. His last ejection gained him the attention of General Chester Phillips, believing him to be the perfect candidate for an experimental procedure. Steve accepted the offer and became part of Operation: Rebirth, a project aiming to create an army of super soldiers. Abraham Erskine, the mastermind behind the project, met with Steve and had him undergo a number of tests.

In the winter of 1941, with the initial tests complete, Operation: Rebirth reached its conclusion. Erskine had Steve ingest and injected with his "super soldier" formula, a substance that would turn weak Steve into the ultimate soldier. Steve was then bombarded with "vita-rays", a combination of strange wavelengths that would stabilize and accelerate the effects of the Super Soldier Serum. When the process was complete, Stevie found that his physiology became nearly superhuman,

However, almost immediately after the process was completed, Erskine was assassinated by a Nazi spy in their midst. Erskine died and never having shared the Super Soldier Serum formula with anyone else nor having it written down, left Steve Rogers the only Super Soldier left. Now gifted with a powerful, optimal physique, Rogers was given three months of intense training, where he was able to absorb a regiment of gymnastics, hand-to-hand fighting, and military strategy. When he was deemed ready, he was given a mission to stop a Nazi agent named the Red Skull and outfitted Steve with a red, white and blue flag-like suit as a symbol of the American glory.

Powers, Abilities, and Equipment

Captain America has no superhuman powers, although as a result of the Super-Soldier Serum and "Vita-Ray" treatment, he is transformed from a frail young man into a "perfect" specimen of human development and conditioning.[84] Captain America's strength, endurance, agility, speed, reflexes, durability, and healing are at the zenith of natural human potential. Rogers' body regularly replenishes the super-soldier serum; it does not wear off.

Cap

Captain America, The First Avenger

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 bench pressing 1201.5 pounds (545 kg) and running a mile (1.6 km) in 73 seconds (48 mph/78 kph).[86] Furthermore, his enhancements are the reason why he was able to survive being frozen in suspended animation for decades. Rogers cannot become intoxicated by drugs, including alcohol, or by impurities in the air and is immune to terrestrial diseases.[citation needed] He is also highly resistant to hypnosis or gases that could limit his focus.[87] The secrets of creating a super-soldier were lost with the death of its creator, Dr. Abraham Erskine.[88] However, in the ensuing decades there have been numerous secret attempts to recreate Erskine's treatment, only to have them end in failure. Even worse, the attempts have instead often created psychopathic supervillains of which Captain America's 1950s imitator and Nuke are the most notorious examples.

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. Thor so highly regards Rogers' courage, leadership, and combat abilities that he has stated that Rogers is one of the very few humans he will take orders from and follow "through the gates of Hades".[89] Rogers' reflexes and senses are also extraordinarily keen. He has blended judo, western boxing, kickboxing, and gymnastics into his own unique fighting style and is a master of multiple martial arts. Years of practice with his near-indestructible shield make him able to aim and throw it with almost unerring accuracy. His skill with his shield is such that he can attack multiple targets in succession with a single throw or even cause a boomerang-like return from a throw to attack an enemy from behind. In canon, he is regarded by other skilled fighters as one of the best hand-to-hand combatants in the Marvel Universe, limited only by his human physique.[90][91] Although the super-soldier serum is an important part of his strength, Rogers has shown himself still sufficiently capable against stronger opponents, even when the serum has been deactivated reverting him to his pre-Captain America physique.[92]

Rogers has vast U.S. military knowledge and is often shown to be familiar with ongoing, classified Defense Department operations. He is an expert in combat strategy, survival, acrobatics, military strategy, piloting, and demolitions. 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 is a talented artist, and has worked on the Captain America comic book published in the Marvel universe. Other career fields include commercial arts, teaching high school history, and law enforcement.

Although he lacks superhuman strength, Captain America is one of the few mortal beings who has been deemed worthy enough to wield Thor's hammer.[93]

Captain America uses several shields throughout his history, the most prevalent of which is a nigh-indestructible disc-shaped shield made from an experimental alloy of steel and the fictional vibranium.[94] The shield was cast by American metallurgist Dr. Myron MacLain, who was contracted by the U.S. government, from orders of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, to create an impenetrable substance to use for tanks during World War II.[citation needed] This alloy was created by accident and never duplicated, although efforts to reverse-engineer it resulted in the discovery of adamantium.[citation needed]

Captain America often uses his shield as an offensive throwing weapon. The first instance of Captain America's trademark ricocheting shield-toss occurs in Stan Lee's first comics writing, the two-page text story "Captain America Foils the Traitor's Revenge" in Captain America Comics #3 (May 1941).[95]

The legacy of the shield among other comics characters includes the time-traveling mutant superhero Cable telling Captain America that his shield still exists in one of the possible futures; Cable carries it into battle and brandishes it as a symbol.[96]

When without his trademark shield, Captain America sometimes uses other shields made from less durable metals such as steel,[volume & issue needed] or even a photonic energy shield designed to mimic a vibranium matrix.[volume & issue needed] Rogers, having relinquished his regular shield to Barnes, carried a variant of the energy shield which can be used with either arm, and used to either block attacks or as an improvised offensive weapon able to cut through metal with relative ease.[97] Much like his vibranium shield, the energy shield can also be thrown, including ricocheting off multiple surfaces and returning to his hand.[98]

Captain America's uniform is made of a fire-retardant material, and he wears a lightweight, bulletproof "duralumin" scale armor beneath his uniform for added protection.[36] Originally, Rogers' mask was a separate piece of material, but an early engagement had it dislodged, thus almost exposing his identity. To prevent a recurrence of the situation, Rogers modified the mask with connecting material to his uniform, an added benefit of which was extending his armor to cover his previously exposed neck. As a member of the Avengers, Rogers has an Avengers priority card, which serves as a communications device.

Captain America has also used a custom specialized motorcycle, modified by the S.H.I.E.L.D. weapons laboratory, as well as a custom-built battle van, constructed by the Wakanda Design Group with the ability to change its color for disguise purposes (red, white and blue), and fitted to store and conceal the custom motorcycle in its rear section with a frame that allows Rogers to launch from the vehicle riding it.

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