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Captain America: Then and Now

Captain America is easily one of the most recognizable superheroes in comic book

history. He has one of the most iconic costumes that just screams “America.” When most

people think of Captain America today they think about the Chris Evens version of Captain

America from the recent Marvel films like The Avengers. There are parts of Captain America’s

history that modern adaptions tend to ignore. He has had to go up against enemies like Red

Skull, Adolf Hitler, and even Communism. Looking back at some old Captain America comics

from different decades in history can teach you a lot about what the United States of America, as

a country, thought was important at the time. Even some of the villains that Captain America

fought in different time periods reflect who the United State considered to be the enemy during

that time in history. Although his costume has not changed much since his debut in the comic

book series Captain America Comics the message behind his adventures has changed drastically

over the years.

The movie adaptation of Captain America’s origin stays pretty faithful to the comic book

story up until he is sent to fight in World War II. Both Captain America: The First Avenger and

Captain America Comics #1 – Meet Captain America start with a scrawny young man named

Steven Rogers that only wants to help people and serve his country. In both adaptations young

Steve is finally allowed to join the army after taking part in Project Rebirth where he is injected

with a serum that turns him into the ultimate soldier. In the comic book, Cap is given a young

side kick named Bucky to help him in battle. In the movie Bucky is Steve’s best friend and acts

more like a fellow soldier rather than a side kick and is killed off towards the end of the film. In

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the movie Cap is originally sent to Europe to pump up the troops as a sort of mascot for America

but in the comic book he is sent straight into battle. The comic book variation of Captain

America is a much more cartoon-like and has a lot more cheesy quotes, for example, “Mister

"Friend", I don't know about your God, but a God of Love is Mine!” (Avengers Volume 1 #113).

The reason why the comics were so light hearted and cartoon-like compared to the modern

adaptation is because World War II was a very dark time already and Americans needed

something that would keep their minds off of the horrible things that were happening in reality.

The movie version of Captain America is much more realistic and has a more dark tone. In the

movie Captain America’s costume is more like armor while the early comic book version just

looks like a spandex suit.

The first Captain America comic was released in March of 1941. The comic was titled

Captain America Comics #1 – Meet Captain America. The

superhero was created by Jack Kirby and Joe Simon during World

War II. The cover art for this comic book shows Captain America

punching Hitler while very sinister-looking Nazis are shooting at

him. There are also plenty of swastikas in the background to

reinforce the fact that Captain America is fighting Nazis. For

obvious reasons the three prominent colors on the cover are red,

white, and blue. The cover also includes a small map of the

United States of America on a desk with a folder labeled

“Sabotage plans for USA”. This little detail let the reader know, even before opening the comic

book, that the Nazis were horrible people and that Captain America was going to have to do

something to stop them from sabotaging his country. The main attention grabber on this cover

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was Hitler being socked in the mouth. Since the United States was currently involved in World

War II and Hitler was pretty much the face of evil at the time, what better way was there to show

how great the United States of America was than to have this new symbol of America punch this

symbol of evil right in the face. You could also say that Hitler is representing dictatorship in this

illustration and Captain America is representing justice and democracy. It does not matter what

you say each thing represents on this comic book cover because no matter how you look at it the

message is always the same, “America is the best.” Throughout the comic the Nazis are

illustrated as dark and almost troll-like people to show the audience that they are nasty people

that are full of evil. This comic series was used as a way to get people excited about the United

States of America and help make people more patriotic in this dark time in history. Captain

America was a symbol for everything good and was used to give people hope during the years of

World War II.

After his first debut in the comic book universe, Captain America quickly became a fan

favorite throughout the United States. A lot of his popularity came from the fact that he was

fighting villains that reflected the United States of America’s actual enemies at the time. The

United States of America in the 1950’s had just finished up World War II and was about to get

into the Cold War. America had gone for hating Nazis to hating communism in a pretty short

amount of time and the comic book universe reflected America’s hatred every step of the way.

After the end of World War II the popularity of Captain America comic slowly started to

diminish until Captain America Comics brought him back in the 1950’s. Only this time instead

of hunting down Nazis he was the “Commie Smasher” (Captain America Comics Vol 1 issue

78). The writers even brought back his old Nazi nemesis, Red Skull, but instead of working for

the Nazis he had joined the forces with the communists in the Soviet Union. This change was

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made to keep the audience up to date with who was the “bad guy” of the world at the time.

During one of Captain America’s adventures he even says that Communists are “the Nazis of the

1950s” (Young Men #24).

Captain America Comics Volume 1 issue 78, is the last issue of Captain America Comics

from the 1950’s and was titled “His Touch Is Death”. This issue sticks to the common Captain

America theme of having a super villain that reflects the United States’ enemies at the time.

The cover of issue 78 is a perfect example of how America felt about communism during the

time period. First of all, right at the top of the cover it says “Captain

America… Commie Smasher”. Even if this phrase was not included

on the cover I would still get the same impression by just looking at

the illustration depicted. The cover shows Captain America in the

middle of throwing a man that is wearing a Soviet Union uniform.

The man that is about to be thrown has the hammer and sickle

symbol on his jacket to tell you that he is from the Soviet Union. On

the right side of the cover you can see a strange-looking, green man shooting a lightning bolt at

Captain America. This strange man is called Electro and is the main villain of the issue. Electro

is a Soviet agent who is powered by electricity that is sent to America to kill Captain America

and Bucky. He was created by Soviet officials for the sole purpose of eliminating Captain

America and his sidekick. On the cover, Electro is holding Bucky by the head. This is a

foreshadowing of what is going to happen in the comic because in this issue, Bucky is captured

by Electro and it is up to Captain America to save him. Behind the Captain America and Electro

there is a group of dark, menacing-looking men with guns. The artist of this cover wanted to

make sure that the audience knew who the enemy was by adding either a red star or the hammer

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and sickle symbol to the character to tell you that they are communist. This addition of the

hammer and sickle to the chest of Electro told kids or anyone that read the comic at the time that

the Soviet Union was the enemy. One of the first things that you will read on this cover is “See

Captain America defy Communist hordes!!” Including this phrase on the cover only reinforces

the American idea of communism being evil.

After Captain America’s fight with communism in the ‘50s he disappeared for a while.

With the Red Scare dying down people were becoming less paranoid about communist invaders

and the need for Captain America was fading away. The revival of this Nazi fighting, World

War II hero as the “Commie Smasher” was short lived. When he was finally brought back again

in 1964, in the first Avengers comic, his past of being a communism-fighting hero in the ‘50s

was completely forgotten. In fact when he appeared in the Avengers comic, his past had to be

rewritten because his commie smashing days were conflicting with his current backstory of

being frozen at the end of World War II. The Captain America that was known in the ‘50s was

revealed to be a Captain America fan that got a hold of the super soldier serum and assumed the

position of Steve Rogers as Captain America. Captain America was no longer fighting the

enemies of America like Nazis or commies, he was fighting the problems that America had. The

theme of anti-communism slowly disappeared from Marvel comics all together by the end of the

‘60s. They even brought back Red Skull again, but this time he was resurrected by the Soviet

Union and was a Nazi again. It was almost like the writers were afraid to have anti-communist

themes in their comics. Captain America began to fight villains like the anti-nationalist, Flag-

Smasher.

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Depending on the time period, different ethnicities and nationalities were illustrated in

many different ways. Around the time of the first Captain America comic book, racial

stereotypes were being used to depict African-Americans, Japanese, Italians, and Germans.

Russian and Chinese stereotypes were used after World War II when communism start to

become a problem for the United States of America. In early Captain America comic books

African-Americans were often illustrated as extremely dark skinned with thick, red lips and large

eyes. Because racial slurs were not yet considered offensive the African-Americans that were in

these comic books were usually referred to as “blacks” or “Negros”. African-Americans that

appeared in these early comic books usually spoke in Ebonics. At this time African Americans

were usually thought to be not well educated by most white Americans but the authors did not

think that was right and chose to keep black characters from acting like fools in their comics.

Even though African-Americans were illustrated in such a stereotypical way in early Captain

America comics, they are still depicted as nice, caring people. The Germans on the other hand

were not so lucky with how the authors chose to depict them. Just about every German that

made an appearance in a Captain America comic book during World War II was depicted as a

Nazi stooge. Germans were made out to look like cowards and act child-like. Adolf Hitler

himself was shown throwing a temper tantrum and acting childish just to tell the American

audience that the Nazis, as an enemy, were a joke. Both Japanese and Chinese people were both

illustrated similarly. Both were drawn with yellow skin and slanted eyes. The artists even added

bucked teeth to almost every Chinese or Japanese character in Captain America comic books

during World War II. The authors often switch the pronunciations of the letters “r” and “l” when

writing dialogue for Eastern Asian characters. Because of the events that took place at Pearl

Harbor, Japanese comic book characters were usually characterized as backstabbers or sneaky

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(marvel.wikia.com). These small but offensive details were added to mock Japanese people

because we were at war with them. During the ‘50s and ‘60s Captain America comics featured a

lot more Chinese and Russian villains because of the Red Scare and the Cold War. Russians

were usually illustrated as espionage agents or spies and were given a sinister look that made

them easier to hate. Most of these stereotypes disappeared from Captain America comic books

by the end of the 1960s because of the Civil Rights movement. The Captain America comic

books that followed the Civil Rights movement introduced new heroes from many different races

and nationalities.

The character of Captain America has a very unique history. Captain America has come

from being used as form of propaganda to get people pumped for war to being the star in several

multimillion dollar movies. He started out fighting Nazis then moved on to communism, and

now he just fights anything that gets in the way of freedom and living the American dream. He

is pretty much a reflection of how America sees the world during that time period. The way this

character has evolved since his creation is unlike any other character that I have heard of. As

long as the ideologies of America keep changing Captain America’s ideologies will continue

change along with them.

Works Cited

"‘Captain America’ Comic Book & Movie Comparison Guide." Screen Rant. N.p., 26 July 2011.

Web. 06 Mar. 2015.

"Captain America Comics Vol 1 78." Marvel Database. N.p., n.d. Web. 06 Mar. 2015.

"Race and Racism in Marvel Comics." Marvel Database. N.p., n.d. Web. 06 Mar. 2015.