10 Shocking Secrets You Didn't Know About Captain America
Ever since his first appearance on panel in 1941's Captain America Comics #1, Captain
America has been one of Marvel's most popular characters - although Marvel was known as
Timely Comics back when Cap was created - but he's never been as popular as he is today.Cap
now has major mainstream popularity, thanks to his hugely successful live action forays
in the insanely profitable Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Chris Evans has portrayed the superhero otherwise known as Steve Rogers in five MCU movies to
date - six including his cameo in Thor: The Dark World - and will continue to do so in
future movies, such as the eagerly anticipated Infinity War offerings.Even bearing all that
in mind, there is still a lot that the vast majority of people don't know about the World
War II hero.
10 Shocking Secrets You Didn't Know About Captain America
He Was Almost Called "Super American" When the idea for Captain America was first
conceived by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby, it was in response to World War II.
America hadn't yet entered the war, and Simon and Kirby wanted to express their pro-war
feelings with a character who emphasised just why their country should get involved.The
first drawing for the character had the words "Super American" written under it - possibly
also in response to DC's Superman gaining popularity at the time - but the name was
dropped because too many characters already had "Super" in their name and because there
were protests against the character's pro-war sentiments.
In fact, the offices in which the Captain America comics were produced had to be put
under police protection as a consequence!
He's Appeared On Film Before The MCU You may think that Captain America's first
live action movie appearance was in 2011's Captain America: The First Avenger, but that's
not actually the case at all.
There were Captain America movies before that - albeit it smaller-budget, lesser-known productions
- but they don't stand up to the recent adaptations in terms of quality.First of all, way back
in 1944, he appeared in a 15-part black-and-white serial film that was simply called "Captain
America".
More recently, in 1990, another movie simply called "Captain America" was released.
Initially, it went direct-to-video, but it was given a limited international theatrical
release a couple of years later.
He Lost A Fight Against Batman In spite of the fact that they originate from,
and star in, comic books published by different companies, the wonders of the crossover concept
have enabled Captain America to mingle with characters from the world of DC Comics - including
an ill-fated fight against Batman.The two peak-human heroes locked horns in 1996's Marvel
Comics vs. DC limited series, in which two godly brothers - each of whom personify the
Marvel and DC universes - challenge each other to a series of duels involving the heroes
from their respective universes.
Cap and the Dark Knight fought evenly for hours, but Batman ultimately got the better
of the fight after knocking Cap out with a Batarang when the Super-Soldier inadvertently
lost his balance.
He Wasn't A Founding Member Of The Avengers He might have been a founding member of the
team in the MCU, and his first MCU movie might even have been called "The First Avenger",
but Captain America wasn't actually a member of the original team in the comic books.The
original 1963 team actually consisted of Iron Man, Thor, Ant-Man, Wasp and Hulk.
Captain America was the next member to join up with the original quintet, but it wasn't
until around half a year later in March of 1964's Avengers #4.
He has, of course, been an almost omnipresent member of the team since, but he certainly
hasn't been there from the very beginning.
Steve Rogers Isn't The Only Captain America Although most people think only of Steve Rogers
when they hear the name "Captain America", a number of other characters have taken on
the mantle in the comic books.
A character named William Nasland took the name on after Rogers disappeared at the end
of World War II, while Bucky Barnes and Sam Wilson - played by Sebastian Stan and Anthony
Mackie in the MCU respectively - have also donned the famous red, white and blue costume.
On a related note, Captain America isn't the only alter-ego that Steve Rogers has gone
by.
He has also been known as Nomad, after he abandoned his title, costume and shield - and
that's what he might be called in the next MCU movie he appears in, having left his shield
with Tony Stark at the end of 2016's Captain America: Civil War.
He's Been In The Illuminati When you think of the secret organisation
known as the Illuminati, you generally tend to imagine that its members are all extremely
influential intellectuals and people in positions of power; like politicians, world leaders
and high-ranking diplomats - but no, in Marvel Comics, Captain America has been a very prominent
member of the group as well.In the company of great minds like Reed Richards, Tony Stark,
Charles Xavier and Stephen Strange, Cap might seem a little out of place and redundant,
but that's not the case at all.
His expertise in strategy has made him an important member - and he often acted as their
leader, arranging meetings, such as when he called the group together during the Avengers
Vs X-Men story.
He Lived In Another Dimension For 12 Years Yup, it's true, Captain America lived in an
alternate dimension for twelve years.
You might be thinking "but there was never a twelve year period in which Cap was missing
from Earth 616" - and you'd be right - time flowed differently in that dimension, so he
was actually only gone for what seemed like a couple of minutes.It happened over the course
of several issues in 2013's Captain America Vol. 7, and the dimension in question was
called "Dimension Z".
Cap's friends back on Earth 616 barely had time to realise he was missing but, while
he was in Dimension Z, he raised a foster child called Ian, fought against Red Skull’s
ally Arnim Zola, and spent a difficult time thinking that he'd lost both Sharon Carter
and his foster child.
He Was Turned Into A Werewolf The Marvel comic book universe is absolutely
teaming with creatures, powers, technologies and serums that can have strange transformative
effects on characters - you only have to look at characters like the Hulk for proof of that
- but you probably didn't know that Captain America himself underwent one of the most
extreme transformations; he was turned into a werewolf.It happened in 1992's Captain America
#405, when Cap was fighting against Nightshade - a character known as the "Queen of Werewolves"
who possesses the ability to turn people into the furry supernatural creatures.
The Super-Soldier was briefly known as "Cap Wolf" as a result, and fought against the
likes of Wolverine in his new lycanthrope form.
He Has Wielded Mjolnir If you've seen 2015's Avengers: Age of Ultron,
you'll probably recall that Chris Evans' Captain America came closest to picking up Mjolnir
out of everyone - apart from Thor himself and the android Vision - but he didn't quite
manage it, only succeeding in making it move a millimetre or so.However, in the comic books,
Cap has full-on wielded the mighty Asgardian weapon on two separate occasions.
The first time was in 1988's The Mighty Thor #390 and the second was in 2011's Fear Itself
#7.
On the first occasion, he held it long enough to hand it back to Thor, who had been subdued
by Grog and the Demons of Death and, on the second occasion, he used it to battle the
minions of the Serpent, after the Asgardian villain had shattered his iconic shield.
He Was Revealed To Be A HYDRA Agent!
Okay, if you've paid any attention to comic books of late, you're certain to know this
particular fact, but the casual movie-goer who is only interested in the live action
version of Captain America probably isn't aware that he was recently revealed to have
been an undercover HYDRA agent since his youth.It happened in 2016's Captain America: Steve
Rogers #1, but we confess that there was a catch to this - it was later revealed that
this was due to false memories being implanted in Cap's mind by the Cosmic Cube being known
as Kobik, who was under the control of Red Skull at the time.
Regardless, the initial revelation was one of the most shocking in comic book history
and had Captain America fans all over the globe in a frenzy.
Thanks for watching our video of ten facts you probably didn't know about Captain America.
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