When Did Captain America First Appear?

Captain America has become a very popular super hero in the 21st century, due in part to the blockbuster Marvel movies that began with Captain America: The First Avenger. Although he had been well-known in earlier decades, the MCU gave a boost to his status. His likeness can be found on all kinds of merchandise – clothing, mugs, lunchboxes and posters. He represented an unapologetic patriot ideal that resounds with many people, making him their favorite super hero. In an earlier article, I have already answered the question of who was the first Avenger; but we need to explore this famous super hero and his alter ego Steve Rogers a bit further. As we look at his history, we want to explore the question: When did Captain America first appear? We will take a look at his creation in the comics and how his adventures differed in the medium compared to the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

His Story Was First Published Before U.S. Entered World War II

Captain America #1 (cover dated March, 1941) hit the stands in December 1940 from Timely Comics, the predecessor of Marvel Comics. This was Captain America’s first appearance and was created by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby. Simon first had the idea in 1940 and originally wrote down the name Super American. He soon decided that just didn’t fit. “There were too many ‘supers,'” he said. Then realizing there weren’t any captains in the comics, he thought Captain America just sounded right. So Captain America it would be!

Captain America was created as a consciously political character. The cover of that first issue, published a full year before Pearl Harbor but one year into the World War, showed Captain America punching Adolf Hitler. Simon and Kirby were both repulsed by the actions of the Nazis and wanted to have an outlet to show their oppositions. That first issue sold over a million copies!

Captain America Wasn’t the First Patriotic Super Hero

That distinction goes to The Shield published by M.L.J. Publications. The Shield was the first superhero donning a costume based on United States patriotic iconography. He first appeared in Pep Comics #1 (January 1940), months before Captain America would appear. As is true with most super heroes, The Shield had an alter ego – chemist Joe Higgins. Joe continued the work of his slain father who had been experimenting with a super formula. Joe finally figures out the formula which requires that he apply the formula to certain parts of his anatomy and expose himself to x-rays. This gave him super strength, the ability to make great leaps, and invulnerability. He adopted the initials S.H.I.E.L.D. as his identity.

Captain America’s beginning was different. Steve Rogers was a frail young man born in East Manhattan, New York. He is disturbed by the devastation of the Nazis and tried to enlist in the army. He is refused because he was a scrawny young man. He was recruited into “Project: Rebirth” and became a test subject for the Super Soldier project, receiving a serum formulated by scientist Dr. Josef Reinstein, later to be revealed a code name for Abraham Erskine. The serum is a success and transforms Steve into a nearly perfect human being with peak strength, agility, stamina, and intelligence.

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Captain America quickly became the most popular of this genre of patriotic super heroes that were introduced prior to and during World War II. Comic book characters are usually premiered in an anthology issue first, but Cap appeared in his own title issue Captain America #1. A very unusual move! His popularity caught the attention of MLJ Publications who said that Captain America’s triangular shield was too much of a resemblance of The Shield’s chest emblem. In response, Simon and Kirby designed a new round shield, which went on to become an iconic element of the character. Stanley Lieber, now better known as Stan Lee, as his first professional fiction writing task, contributed to the story line “Captain America Foils the Traitor’s Revenge” in issue #3. It was in this story that Stan Lee introduced the character’s use of his shield as a returning throwing weapon. Captain America became Timely’s most popular character and even had his own fan club called the Sentinels of Liberty.

Circulation remained close to a million copies after the circulation of the first issue. This surpassed the circulation of news magazines, such as Times.

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Captain America Continues into the Post-War Era

Cap’s popularity continued throughout the war. There were even many attempts by other publishers to capitalize on the craze by offering copy cats. There were around 40 red-white-and-blue heroes debuting in 1941 alone! By the time Simon and Kirby moved to DC Comics in late 1941, they had published Captain America Comics through issue #10 (January 1942). At that time, Al Avison and Syd Shores became regular pencillers of the popular character. Captain America was featured in All Winders Comics #1–19 (Summer 1941 – Fall 1946), Marvel Mystery Comics #80–84 and #86–92, USA Comics #6–17 (Dec. 1942 – Fall 1945), and All Select Comics #1–10 (Fall 1943 – Summer 1946). These were all published by Marvel Comics predecessor Timely Comics a division of Timely Publications. Throughout the war, Captain America and his sidekick Bucky battled America’s foes – Nazis, Imperial Japan, and other threats to America and her allies.

In the post-war era, as the popularity of super heroes waned, Captain America led Timely’s first super hero team the All Winners Squad in two adventures in All Winners Comics #19 and 21 (Fall–Winter 1946; there was no issue #20). When his sidekick Bucky was wounded in a 1948 story, he was succeeded by Cap’s girlfriend Betsy Ross (now there’s a patriotic name!) who became the super heroine Golden Girl. Captain America Comics ran until issue #73 (July 1949), at which time the title switched to Captain America’s Weird Tales for 2 issues, with the finale being a horror/suspense anthology issue with no superheroes.

Atlas Comics, which later evolved into Marvel Comics, attempted to revive the superhero when it reintroduced Captain America, along with the original Human Torch and the Sub-Mariner, in Young Men #24 (Dec. 1953). He was then billed as “Captain America: Commie Smasher!” Captain America appeared during the next year in Young Men #24–28 and Men’s Adventures #27–28, as well as in issues #76–78. Atlas Comics attempted superhero revival was a commercial failure, and Captain America was canceled with Captain America #78 (Sept. 1954).

Captain America’s Resurrection

As we all know, Captain America’s story didn’t just die away in 1954. In my post “Who Was Marvel’s First Super Hero?” we saw that Marvel Comics had published Strange Tales where they introduced the Fantastic Four. In the Human Torch story titled “Captain America,” in Strange Tales #114 (November 1963) writers Stan Lee and Jack Kirby illustrated the young Johnny Storm, the Human Torch, in an exhibition with Captain America. In the story, he is presented as a legendary war hero and super hero of the 1950s who has returned after apparent retirement. By the end of the 18-page issue, it is revealed that this Captain America is actually an impostor. He is really a villain know as the Acrobat, a former circus performer, that the Torch had captured in Strange Tales #106. Afterwards, Johnny Storm digs out an old comic book where Captain America is revealed to be Steve Rogers. A caption in the final panel says this story was a test to see if readers would like Captain America to return. According to Lee, fan response to the tryout was very enthusiastic.

Captain America was then formerly reintroduced in The Avengers #4 (March 1964). In this issue it is explained that in the final days of World War II, the hero had fallen from a plane into the icy waters of the North Atlantic. There he remained in a state of suspended animation. Cap found a new generation of readers as he led the Avengers. Following the success of other super heroes introduced by Marvel as “heroes with problems,” Captain America was now introduced as a man “haunted by past memories, and trying to adapt to 1960s society.”

The Hero Faced Many Perilous Adventures

Cap and the ever-changing Avengers team has faced many adventures over the decades. There are so many stories that we can’t dive into in this article, but hopefully we can explore in the future. I know this article will leave a multitude of unanswered questions that you may have. When did he fight Hydra? Who discovered him in the North Atlantic? How do his comic book adventures differ from the adventures in the Marvel Cinematic Universe? Just as all the movies leave these questions unanswered, I will do the same… at least for now!

For more information and history of Captain America, click here.

Comment below any questions you have that you would like to see answered in future posts. I would love to hear from you!.