56 Fun Facts About Captain America

After ten issues of Captain America Comics, its creators left Timely for which rival publisher?

DC Comics offered the pair far more after Simon decided Goodman was holding back their promised share of the profits, and Goodman fired them when he learned of the talks.

Who made his comics debut with a two-page prose story in Captain America Comics #3?

Stan Lee was a teenage office assistant then, and when Simon and Kirby left later in 1941, Goodman made him interim editor.

Who is Captain America shown punching on the cover of his first issue?

Adolf Hitler was the greatest villain you could think of, Simon said, and the pro-Nazi German American Bund objected to the comic mocking their leader.

Roughly how many copies did Captain America Comics #1 sell?

About 1,000,000 copies sold, and the series kept selling a million a month, yet Simon and Kirby saw little of the profits.

In The First Avenger, what job is the newly enhanced Captain America given before he sees combat?

Selling war bonds on tour kept him from the front until he learned Bucky's unit was missing in Italy and went behind enemy lines to rescue them himself.

Which secret wartime programme turned Steve Rogers into a super-soldier?

Project Rebirth was meant to turn out more super-soldiers, but a Nazi spy shot the serum's creator, Abraham Erskine, just after Rogers was treated.

In the comics, which fictional metal went into the alloy of Captain America's shield?

Vibranium was fused into the alloy by a process no one could repeat, and metallurgist Myron MacLain's attempts to recreate it produced adamantium instead.

In The First Avenger, which act finally convinces Colonel Phillips that frail Steve Rogers is worth choosing?

Jumping on a grenade won Phillips over, though it was a dummy he had tossed to test the recruits, and every other man ran for cover.

When the Avengers found Captain America in 1964, how had he survived since the war?

Frozen in ice after a drone plane exploded in the war's last days, he had survived the blast that apparently killed Bucky.

The Falcon, introduced in 1969, was mainstream comics' first what?

African-American superhero is the exact first: Black Panther reached comics three years earlier, in 1966, but he is an African king from fictional Wakanda.

In a 1974 Watergate-inspired storyline, Rogers briefly dropped the Captain America identity to become whom?

Nomad, 'the man without a country', lasted only four issues, long enough for Rogers to trip over his own new cape in the middle of a fight.

Ed Brubaker's 2005 relaunch revealed that which country had turned Bucky into its assassin, the Winter Soldier?

Soviet Union forces found Bucky and brainwashed him, breaking the old joke that no one in comics stays dead except Bucky, Jason Todd and Uncle Ben.

Which actor plays Bucky Barnes, the Winter Soldier, in the Marvel films?

Sebastian Stan first auditioned to play Steve Rogers himself and was handed the role of Bucky instead.

In Nick Spencer's 2016 run, Cap was replaced by a version loyal to which organisation?

Hydra's Cap came from Kobik, a living reality-warping artifact who rewrote his memories; the original Rogers returned to beat his double in 2017's Secret Empire.

Under which name did John Walker, later U.S. Agent, debut in Captain America #323 in 1986?

Super-Patriot vowed to prove he would make a better symbol of America than Rogers, and in 1987 he got the chance as the new Captain America.

Isaiah Bradley's 2003 origin series Truth: Red, White & Black drew on which real-life episode?

The Tuskegee Study inspired its story of 300 Black soldiers used as serum test subjects; sole survivor Bradley is court-martialed and jailed for taking Cap's costume.

In Republic's 1944 Captain America serial, the hero's first screen appearance, what replaced his shield?

A revolver stood in for the shield, and the serial also dropped Steve Rogers and the army; publisher Timely objected, but Republic was already deep into filming.

In the 1979 Captain America TV movies, Cap's shield doubled as what on his motorcycle?

The windscreen was the shield itself: clear plexiglass with red stripes that Cap unclipped to throw, on a rocket bike that launched from the back of his van.

Who played Captain America in the 1990 film?

It got a theatrical release abroad but went direct-to-video in the US.

Who directed Captain America: The First Avenger (2011)?

Joe Johnston got the job for The Rocketeer, his earlier comic-book adventure, and for the ships he designed for the original Star Wars.

Who plays the Red Skull in The First Avenger?

Hugo Weaving played him only once: when the Skull resurfaced guarding the Soul Stone in Infinity War and Endgame, Ross Marquand had taken over.

In The First Avenger, the Red Skull seizes the Tesseract, hidden on Earth by Odin, from a town in which country?

Norway's Tønsberg guarded the cube for centuries, and the same town returns in Endgame as New Asgard, home of Thor's surviving people.

Who plays Dr. Abraham Erskine, the scientist who lets Rogers enlist?

Stanley Tucci says he took the part for the chance to do a German accent, something he had always wanted to try.

Which actress plays Peggy Carter?

Hayley Atwell's Peggy outgrew the films: she led her own ABC series, Agent Carter, for two seasons in 2015 and 2016, set just after the war.

Who directed The Winter Soldier and Civil War?

The Russo brothers came from TV comedy, best known for directing the sitcom Community before Marvel trusted them with a political thriller.

Which Hollywood legend plays Alexander Pierce, a senior S.H.I.E.L.D. official, in The Winter Soldier?

Robert Redford was cast partly as a nod to the 1970s conspiracy thrillers the film copies, above all his own Three Days of the Condor.

What is Project Insight in The Winter Soldier?

Three helicarriers linked to spy satellites would kill anyone an algorithm flagged as a future threat, judged from records as ordinary as bank statements and test scores.

Whose preserved consciousness lives in a supercomputer in a New Jersey bunker in The Winter Soldier?

Arnim Zola's face on the monitors nods to the comics, where the scientist's mind lives in a robot body that shows his face on a screen in its chest.

What UN framework divides the Avengers in Civil War?

The Sokovia Accords are the films' version of the comics' Superhuman Registration Act, a US law that made every hero register with the government.

The Avengers' airport battle in Civil War takes place in which country?

Germany's Leipzig/Halle Airport hosts the fight, though the actors were filmed partly at a studio near Atlanta and set inside a digital copy of the airport.

Civil War, 2016's highest-grossing film, has Tony Stark recruit which new hero from a Queens apartment?

Spider-Man could only appear because Marvel and Sony, which holds his film rights, struck a deal in February 2015, two months before filming began.

Which actor plays Helmut Zemo?

Daniel Brühl's Zemo knows he is no match for the Avengers, so he turns them on each other to avenge the family he lost when their battle wrecked his city.

In Avengers: Endgame, Rogers proves worthy to wield what?

Mjolnir had been destroyed in Thor: Ragnarok, so the hammer Rogers swings at Thanos is one Thor carried back from a time-travel trip to 2013.

At the end of Endgame, whom does the aged Rogers choose as his successor?

Sam Wilson is handed the shield by an elderly Rogers, who returned the Infinity Stones and then stayed in the past to live out his life with Peggy Carter.

Which song does Rogers dance to with Peggy at the end of Endgame?

It's Been a Long, Long Time, a 1945 hit, plays in Steve's apartment in The Winter Soldier, and the dance is the one he promised Peggy in The First Avenger.

At the start of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, Captain America's shield is given away to which institution?

The Smithsonian gets it for a Captain America exhibit, but the government soon takes it back and hands it to a new Cap, John Walker.

Who plays John Walker, the replacement Captain America, in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier?

Wyatt Russell once auditioned to play Captain America himself, a part that went to Chris Evans; years later he was cast as the man handed the shield instead.

Karli Morgenthau leads which group of rogue super soldiers in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier?

The Flag Smashers want the borderless world of the Blip years back; in the comics Flag-Smasher is a single villain, Karl Morgenthau.

In The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, Sharon Carter is revealed to be which criminal figure?

The Power Broker runs the lawless island city of Madripoor; in the comics the name belongs to a man who sells superhuman strength to paying customers.

In Captain America: Brave New World, President Ross transforms into which creature?

Red Hulk erupts at a press conference and wrecks part of the White House; the pills keeping Ross alive had been secretly laced with gamma radiation.

Which star plays President Thaddeus Ross in Brave New World?

Harrison Ford took the part after the death of William Hurt, who had played Ross on and off since 2008's The Incredible Hulk.

Which line does Steve Rogers first say to a back-alley bully, then repeat across the Marvel films?

I can do this all day comes back at him in Endgame: his 2012 self says it mid-fight, and the older, wearier Rogers just mutters that he knows.

Who plays Joaquin Torres, the Falcon, in Captain America: Brave New World (2025)?

Their first mission is in Oaxaca, Mexico, against Sidewinder's mercenaries.

What name did Joe Simon say he first considered for the hero before settling on Captain America?

Super American went in the bin because, Simon said, there were too many 'Supers' around, while comics had hardly any captains.

Captain America first went into action in print at what point in the Second World War?

Before the US had joined, a year ahead of Pearl Harbor, the issue amounted to Simon and Kirby's argument for entering the war.

In the comics, where had scrawny Steve Rogers been studying before the super-soldier serum?

Art school stuck with him: later stories have Rogers earning a living out of costume as a freelance illustrator.

For its last two issues, Captain America Comics was retitled Captain America's what?

Weird Tales chased the horror boom, and the final issue was a pure horror anthology in which Captain America never appears at all.

How was Captain America billed during his short-lived 1954 revival?

Commie Smasher was cancelled after three issues, and Marvel later disowned him: that Cap was rewritten as a paranoid impostor, not Steve Rogers.

In 1963, Marvel tested interest in Captain America with an impostor who fought which Fantastic Four member?

The Human Torch exposes the fake in a story written to test reader interest, and it worked: the real hero was back in print within months.

From 1964, Cap's solo stories shared which anthology with Iron Man, who had debuted in its pages?

Tales of Suspense split every issue between the two heroes until 1968, when it was renamed Captain America and Iron Man got a title of his own.

Which artist drew and co-wrote a brief but influential three-issue run in 1969?

He re-established Cap's secret identity and brought a more experimental art style.

In Stern and Byrne's 1980–81 issues, what offer does Captain America turn down?

To run for president was a plot Stern had turned down as editor when Roger McKenzie and Don Perlin pitched it; he later wrote it himself and credited them.

In Mark Gruenwald's 1987 storyline 'The Choice', what new identity does Rogers adopt?

The Captain was his name after he handed in his uniform and shield rather than work directly for a government commission, which made John Walker the new Captain America.

Which artist drew and co-wrote the first six issues of the 1996 'Heroes Reborn' Captain America?

Rob Liefeld says Marvel removed him after he refused a pay cut during its bankruptcy, though Marvel blamed low sales.

Why did Timely reshape Captain America's shield after his first issue?

A competitor complained: MLJ said it copied The Shield, its flag-costumed hero who debuted 14 months before Cap, so Timely redesigned it for issue #2.

Which patriotic hero did Simon and Kirby create for Prize Comics in 1954 after leaving Timely?

Fighting American started out deadly serious, but Simon and Kirby soon turned it into a superhero satire.