CAPTAIN AMERICA

RECIPE FOR A HERO
BORN ON THE 4th OF JULY
A HERO EMERGES
A HERO’S JOURNEY
SUPERHERO TRIVIA
CAPTAIN AMERICA COMICS #1
AMERICA’S CAPTAIN
SHIELD SLINGER OR GUNSLINGER?
GET ANIMATED
A LEGEND COMES TO LIFE
CATCHER IN THE RYE
RIKER’S ISLAND
SIX DEGREES OF CAPTAIN AMERICA

 

RECIPE FOR A HERO

Take equal portions of:

- John Wayne’s war hero mentality

- The Lone Ranger’s code of ethics

- Jackie Chan’s karate-chopping acrobatics

- Indiana Jones swashbuckling adventures

Mix with Marvel sensibility and presto, you have one of the greatest American heroes – Captain America!

 

BORN ON THE 4th OF JULY

Steve Rogers was born on July 4th, 1917 in New York City to Joseph and Sarah Rogers. His father died just three years later and his mother also passed away in 1934. If things weren’t bad enough Steve was a small, sickly boy and not much seemed to go his way. By 1940 Steve was a moderately accomplished mural artist and had landed a gig with the Works Progress Administration. The growing threat of another world war lingered around every corner, outraged by pictures he saw from the field, Steve signed up for duty. Again, things did not go his way and he was labeled a 4f and rejected for military service.

 

A HERO EMERGES

After his rejection, Steve was approached by General Chester Phillips to be a test subject for a top-secret experimental process codenamed: REBIRTH. The process had the miraculous ability of transforming a sickly boy such as Steve into the ultimate soldier. Seeing this as his only possibility to serve his country in the war, Steve agreed. After undergoing preliminary tests, Steve was injected with the ‘super soldier’ formula and exposed to a special radiation treatment to bond the formula to his blood. The process was a success and Steve was instantly stronger, faster and more agile than Olympic athlete. If that weren’t enough, the process also removed fatigue causing poisons from his body, making him virtually tireless and relentless.

 

A HERO’S JOURNEY

During World War 2, Cap and his sidekick, Bucky fought Nazis and Cap’s evil nemesis, The Red Skull. During one particularly daring adventure near the end of the war, Cap and Bucky were hot on the trail of Baron Heinrich Zemo, who was attempting to smuggle an experimental drone plane to his masters. Cap and Bucky caught up with him only to fall into a deadly booby trap, killing Bucky and sending Cap into the freezing cold waters of the English channel. There in the frigid water, Cap was frozen in suspended animation. Much later he was discovered and rescued by the Avengers who were on the trail of the Sub-Mariner and found the frozen Captain America being worshipped by Eskimos. Cap joined his saviors and would later be a leader of the Avengers.

 

SUPERHERO TRIVIA

Captain America and Wonder Woman have much in common. They were both started as World War 2 superheroes and both in the same year, 1941.

 

CAPTAIN AMERICA COMICS #1

The original Captain America #1 comic, that came out in March 1941 had a cover depicting Captain America punching Adolf Hitler in the mouth. The issue had a 10 cent original cover price and is now valued at $115,000. The second issue garners a paltry, $17,000 in comparison. The modern version of Cap that most of us are now familiar with debuted with Captain America #100 for Marvel Comics in 1968. That issue is now worth $525.

 

AMERICA’S CAPTAIN

In the mid 1990’s, before the current onslaught of superhero films, Stan Lee was saying he fervently believed there would be a major motion picture for Captain America. And even though other Marvel superheroes like Spider-Man, Daredevil, X-Men and The Hulk have come before him, it looks like Cap just might make it, too. It appears at this time that the producers behind the new Punisher film also have the handle on getting the Captain America film to the big screen. Who might done the tights and brandish the shield? Well, it seems Tom Cruise is out, since he is set to portray Iron Man, but his ‘Interview with the Vampire’ co-star, Brad Pitt has been mulling over the meaty role of Captain America.

 

SHIELD SLINGER OR GUNSLINGER?

Back in the early days of movie serials, there were the Captain America cliffhangers. However, it only resembled the comic book superhero in name alone. You see, instead of super solider Steve Rogers, it was lawyer Grant Gardner. And instead of the nifty outfit and trademark shield, he carried a gun. A gun! Something, the true Captain America would sooner do without.

 

GET ANIMATED

In 1966, Cap got animated for the first time. This first cartoon series had a choppy style with limited movement, but it was the first time the colorful Cap was transformed into motion. Later Cap would appear the Spider-Man cartoons and Fox’s cartoon, The Avengers.

 

A LEGEND COMES TO LIFE

Sci-fi was hot in the late seventies, which brought out a resurgence in superhero movies and TV shows. This time out, Reb Brown portrayed Cap in a series of TV movies in 1979. These shows really made Captain America a household name all over again. A dead on costume and a supercool semi-transparent shield had kids all over the land tossing around trash can lids in the backyard.

 

CATCHER IN THE RYE

In 1991 a Captain America feature film briefly saw the light of day. While made with great intentions, it was a stinker. ‘Howard the Duck’ which is another Marvel comic movie, far out weighed this weakest of entries in superhero filmmaking. The story has Cap being frozen during World War 2 and thawed out in the 90’s to once again take on the Red Skull. The storyline is the same as the modern comic, but that is where the similarities end. Interestingly so, Cap was played by actor Matt Salinger. Matt’s dad is J.D. Salinger, the
author of ‘Catcher in the Rye’.

 

RIKER’S ISLAND

Star Trek’s very own Jonathan Frakes, better known as Commander William T. Riker aboard the next generation’s Enterprise, once paid the bills by doing public appearances as known other than, Captain America. Seriously, I’ve seen the photo in Starlog Magazine.

 

SIX DEGREES OF CAPTAIN AMERICA

Stan Lee masterminded the relaunch of Timely Comics into Marvel Comics in 1961. Since then numerous characters have been created and now live in the Marvel Universe. This elaborate literary universe has gone under the microscope of scientist Ricardo Alberich and his co-workers at the University of the Balearic Isles in Spain. By doing so, they hope to understand which non-random features of real social networks are a consequence of the way people interact and which follow from more general principles about network growth. Whoa, whatever that means. Anyway, they hope to understand the real world by closely examining the vast array of superheroes and their interactions and collaborations and cross-overs. You see, heroes and villains alike have appeared in one another’s title series, formed allegiances, fuelled new alliances and all of this gives the impression of an entire universe of interlinked stories and lives. You might be wondering, which of these characters is the most connected in the Marvel Universe…well you guessed it, it’s our very own Captain America, the Kevin Bacon of superheroes.