Monday, 16 June 2025

22 June: Captain America

On this date in 1943 (according to the 2016 TV show Dates in Movie & TV History with Brandon Hardesty) Super Soldier Serum is injected into Steve Rogers, turning him into Captain America. 10 things you might not know about Captain America.

  1. Steve Rogers was born on July 4, 1918, in Brooklyn, New York. He was orphaned at the age of 18 when his mother died of TB, his father having been killed during the first world war, so presumably Steve never knew him at all. Steve was only 5-foot-4-inch (1.63 m) tall, weighed only 90 pounds (41 kg) and had a number of medical conditions including asthma, scoliosis, heart arrhythmia, partial deafness, stomach ulcers, and pernicious anaemia. He studied fine art and illustration, and his day job was writing and drawing comic books. Living the fantasy of any number of comic book artists and writers, perhaps, to be turned into a real life superhero!

  2. When the second world war broke out, Steve tried to enlist, and needless to say was turned down because of his small physique and medical issues. In 1942 he tried again, and this time, he came to the attention of Dr. Abraham Erskine, who is working on a super soldier experiment with U.S. Army Colonel Chester Phillips, and British MI6 agent Peggy Carter. Even when he learned that Nazi officer Johann Schmidt, head of the science division called Hydra, underwent an imperfect version of the procedure and suffered permanent side-effects, Rogers agreed to be injected with the serum and doused with vita-rays. After the treatment, he is over 6 feet tall and pretty buff. In the film, Chris Evans is shrunk by digital technology for the scenes before he’s injected.

  3. Chris Evans was the first choice to play Captain America. In fact, the movie makers were so keen to have him that he didn’t even have to audition before being offered the role, which, incidentally, he turned down three times. This wasn’t because he didn’t like the role, but rather because he was concerned about the effect the fame it would bring would have on his private life, and the potential long term commitment. Robert Downey Jr. eventually convinced him to take the part. Had RDJ failed, Ryan Phillippe, Channing Tatum, Chace Crawford, John Krasinski and Sebastian Stan were potentially in the running. The latter was was chosen to play Bucky Barnes.

  4. Captain America was first created by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby, fighting in World War II, before being frozen and waking up in the modern day. This meant the Cap was the first superhero to exist in the Marvel timeline, although he wasn’t the first to be created. The first comic book story penned by the great Stan Lee was a Captain America story, when Lee was 19 years old. It was called Traitor’s Revenge, and appeared in Captain America Comics #3.

  5. In the comics, Captain America’s shield is made from Vibranium (which absorbs vibrations) and Adamantium (making it indestructible). In the films, however, they couldn’t include adamantium because that was what Wolverine’s skeleton is made from and the makers of The X-Men films owned the rights to the fictional metal. So in the Marvel films, Captain America’s shield is pure vibranium. Black Panther’s suit, the Vision, Sam Wilson's Captain America suit and the Winter Soldier's cybernetic arm are all made from the same stuff, which came from a meteorite which fell to Earth and is regarded as the strongest metal in the world, stronger than steel and a third of the weight.

  6. Having been injected with experimental serum once, it’s not difficult to imagine that he might be up for it again. In a comic book tale called Queen of the Werewolves, he gets injected with a serum that turns him into a werewolf (temporarily, one assumes) and in this state, wins a fight with Wolverine in one of his berserker rages.

  7. Captain America can wield Thor's Hammer. When Thor is separated from his hammer, Captain America’s pure heart and his reason for wanting to wield the hammer (to defeat the bad guys and get the hammer back to its rightful owner) mean he is able to lift it and use it.

  8. Marvel planned to kill Captain America off in the 1960s in a storyline in which he grew tired of being a hero and even teams up with Dr. Doom. The world then turns against him and he gets killed. Clearly, they shelved that story. Instead, they went with him being frozen and waking up in the present day. In the film Captain America: The Winter Soldier, he has a written list of things to check out in modern times. This list differs depending on which country the film is being shown in. The US list includes includes I Love LucySteve Jobs, and disco, in France it includes the 1998 World Cup, The Fifth Element, and Daft Punk, and in the UK The Beatles, 1966 world cup final, Sean Connery, and Nirvana the band. When Captain America is missing and presumed dead, other heroes take on the role. These include Bucky Barnes and Sam Wilson (formerly The Falcon).

  9. He wasn’t a founding member of The Avengers. Iron Man, Ant-Man, Thor, Hulk and The Wasp were the original line up. Captain America came along later and became the leader and voice of reason.

  10. There have been times when Captain America has lost faith in the American government. In the 1970s, in the wake of the Watergate scandal, a similar scenario happened in the Marvel Universe, and Captain America temporarily took on a new costume and a new name: The Nomad. In the late 90's he lost faith again and was simply known as the Captain for a time. I wonder what name he will go under in 2025 as I can’t imagine that anyone worthy of wielding Thor’s hammer would support the big orange baby and his minions!


Beta

(Combat Team Series #2)


Steff was abducted by an evil alien race, the Orbs, at fourteen. Used as a weapon for years, he eventually escapes, but his problems are just beginning. How does a man support himself when his only work experience is a paper round and using an Orb bio-integrated gun?

Warlord is an alien soldier who knows little but war. When the centuries-old conflict which ravaged his planet ends, he seeks out another world where his skills are still relevant. There are always wars on Earth, it seems. However, none of Earth's powerful armies want him.

Natalie has always wanted to visit England and sees a chance to do so while using her martial arts skills, but there are sacrifices she must make in order to fulfil her dream. 

Maggie resorted to crime to fund her sister's medical care. She uses her genetic variant abilities to gain access to the rooms of wealthy hotel guests. The Ballards look like rich pickings, but they are not what they seem. When Maggie targets them, little does she know that she is walking into a trap.

Hotel owner Hamilton Lonsdale puts together a combat team to pit against those of other multi-millionaires. He recruits Warlord, Natalie, Maggie and Steff along with a trained gorilla, a probability-altering alien, a stockbroker whose work of art proved to be much more than he'd bargained for, a marketing officer who can create psionic forcefields, a teleporting member of the landed gentry, and a socially awkward fixer. This is Combat Team Beta.

Steff never talks about his time with the Orbs, until he finds a woman who lived through it, too. Steff believes he has finally found happiness, but it is destined to be short-lived. He is left with an unusual legacy which he and Team Beta struggle to comprehend; including why something out there seems determined to destroy it.


Paperback

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