All-American hero is still soldiering on
HAPPY BIRTHDAY CAPTAIN AMERICA. MARION McMULLEN LOOKS AT THE SUPERHERO WHO IS TURNING 80
HE wasn’t bitten by a spider, pounded by gamma radiation or born with the power of a Viking god.
Steve Rogers was just a skinny kid from Brooklyn with no super-power whatsoever until he was injected with a secret serum that led to him becoming Captain America.
He made his first appearance in 1941, in Timely Comics, which later became Marvel Comics, and the patriotic super-soldier was the creation of Jack Kirby and Joe Simon.
Joe, who passed away in 2011 at the age of 98, once explained: “I was 24 when I started creating Captain America. It’s been a guardian angel hanging over my whole life.
“Everywhere I went, in the service or wherever, I wasn’t Joe Simon. I was Captain America.”
Co-creator Jack, who also brought to life comic favourites like the Incredible Hulk, Thor, Fantastic Four, Black Panther and the X-Men, was 22 when he introduced Steve Rogers to the public for the first time. He explained the appeal of the character, saying: “I don’t think Captain America would do anything wrong. He wouldn’t... even at the cost of his life.”
Captain America proved a hit with fans from the very start, with the first March issue selling nearly a million copies. The front cover of the launch issue saw him punching Hitler in the face and standing up for all-American virtues. The comic has since become a highly-prized collectors item and a few years ago was fetching £278,142.
Stan Lee began working on the comic from the third issue, with a story called Captain America Foils The Traitor’s Revenge, which saw Captain America throwing his shield and using it as a weapon for the first time.
You can’t keep a good superhero down, and Stan Lee and Jack revived the character once more in 1964. “I found a way to help the war effort by portraying the times in the form of comic characters,” said Jack. “I was saying what was on my mind. I was extremely patriotic.”
It was not long before Captain America made the move to TV and cinema. Dick Purcell played him in the 1944 cinema serial, which changed the comic book story, so that a city district attorney by the name of Grant Gardner put on the star-spangled costume to tackle a villain called the Scarab.
Marvel Comics gave Republic Pictures the rights for free in the hope that it would boost sales of the comic. The cliffhanger movie episodes featured titles like The Purple Death, Scarlet Shroud and The Avenging Corpse before
Captain America finally triumphed in Toll Of Doom. The city commissioner ended up saying: “Thanks to Captain America, who we now know to be our fighting district attorney, the Scarab and his murderous gang will pay the supreme penalty in the electric chair at the stroke of midnight.”
A TV movie followed in 1979, with Reb Brown in the title role. He would go on to star in Captain America II: Death Too Soon the same year.
His version of Steve Rogers rode on a gadget-packed motorcycle and so he wore a helmet instead of the traditional mask, and sometimes he used his shield as a windshield while driving.
Matt Salinger took on the mantle next, in 1990.
The movie saw Captain America freed from the ice after decades, to tackle arch villain the Red Skull and stop him kidnapping the US president. “I want to get back into the fight, sir, “he says.
Matt beat Dolph Lundgren and Arnold Schwarzenegger to the role and filming took place in Yugoslavia.
Chris Evans has appeared as Captain America in 11 films, but turned down the role three times because of worries about the impact it would have on his private life. Robert Downey Jr, who plays Iron Man, eventually convinced him to take the part and much of the filming took place in Britain.
Chris, who also played comic book character the Human Torch in the Fantastic Four movies, said: “Even if it wasn’t a comic book, I think the story of Steve Rogers is great. He’s a great guy. He’s a great character to play. He just happens to be a comic book character.”
The comic book that appears in the movie also harks back to the birth of Captain America and features a modified version of the original front cover from 1941. Stan Lee also made one of his famous cameo appearance in the 2011 film, as a general, and the officer sitting next to him was none other than actor Reb Brown from the 1979 films.
Screenwriter David Self who wrote a draft of Captain America: The First Avenger admitted the character had been his favourite superhero as a child. He said: “My Dad told me I could one day be Captain America.”
I found a way to help the war effort in the form of comic characters Co-creator
Jack Kirby