Changes

==Comics lore==

==Comics lore==

In Europe, [[Adolf Hitler]] was over-running the continent, and American soldiers were getting ready for the eventual conflict.  One of the young men making repeated attempts to enlist - and repeatedly rejected - was Steven Rogers, an orphaned, physically-frail fine-arts student and comic book artist who was aware of the atrocities committed by the Nazis and wanted to do something about it.<ref>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g17s9yxCicM</ref>  Dr. Josef Reinstein would see the young man's determination and offer him an opportunity as a test subject in a proposed "Super Soldier Project", the idea of which would be to have a unit of specially-enhanced, physically strong soldiers who be potentially dropped behind enemy lines to carry out missions considered too dangerous for lesser men.  The effect of the test - a serum combined with "vita-rays" - turns Rogers into a super-soldier, but before it could be replicated Reinstein is killed by a Nazi infiltrator who, it is later discovered, works for the leader of the German terror and espionage apparatus, Johann Schmidt, whose disfigured head gave him the byname "Red Skull".

In Europe, [[Adolf Hitler]] was over-running the continent, and American soldiers were getting ready for the eventual conflict.  One of the young men making repeated attempts to enlist - and repeatedly rejected - was Steven Rogers, an orphaned, physically-frail fine-arts student and comic book artist who was aware of the atrocities committed by the Nazis and wanted to do something about it.<ref>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g17s9yxCicM</ref>  Dr. Josef Reinstein would see the young man's determination and offer him an opportunity as a test subject in a proposed "Super Soldier Project", the idea of which would be to have a unit of specially-enhanced, physically strong soldiers who be potentially dropped behind enemy lines to carry out missions considered too dangerous for lesser men.  The effect of the test - a serum combined with "vita-rays" - turns Rogers into a super-soldier, but before it could be replicated Reinstein is killed by a Nazi infiltrator who, it is later discovered, works for the leader of the German terror and espionage apparatus, Johann Schmidt, whose disfigured head gave him the byname "Red Skull".

Captain America's costume is the colors of the American flag: predominately blue, with vertical red-and-white stripes at the midsection, a large white star on the chest, and red "pirate-style" boots.  A mask with white winglets and a large letter "A" would hide his identity, and an indestructible shield would give him protection in battle.  He would be joined by a nucleus of commandos at Camp Lehigh, forming a team called the Invaders, going into action around the world to thwart the attempts of the Nazis in general, and the Red Skull in particular.  Among the group was the camp's young mascot, James Buchanan "Bucky" Barnes, who accidentally learned of Cap's identity and used that knowledge to become his sidekick.

Captain America's costume is the colors of the American flag: predominately blue, with vertical red-and-white stripes at the midsection, a large white star on the chest, and red "pirate-style" boots.  A mask with white winglets and a large letter "A" would hide his identity, and an indestructible shield would give him protection in battle.  He would be joined by a nucleus of commandos at Camp Lehigh, forming a team called the Invaders, going into action around the world to thwart the attempts of the Nazis in general, and the Red Skull in particular.  Among the group was the camp's young mascot, James Buchanan "Bucky" Barnes, who accidentally learned of Cap's identity and used that knowledge to become his sidekick.

What came out in in December, 1940 was the first issue of ''Captain America'', whose shield-bearing character made no bones about which side he was on, leaping into the scene to strike Hitler in the face.  This first issue sold over a million copies, with many more to come.  The one major change which had to take place within the first few issues was the design of the shield.  Originally triangular, they discovered that it bore too close an appearance to an earlier character from a rival magazine,<ref>http://www.comics.org/issue/609/cover/4/</ref> so the shape became round.  This proved beneficial to the creators, who now felt that Captain America had a new weapon, one which could be flung at an enemy to great effect, and return like a boomerang.

What came out in in December, 1940 was the first issue of ''Captain America'', whose shield-bearing character made no bones about which side he was on, leaping into the scene to strike Hitler in the face.  This first issue sold over a million copies, with many more to come.  The one major change which had to take place within the first few issues was the design of the shield.  Originally triangular, they discovered that it bore too close an appearance to an earlier character from a rival magazine,<ref>http://www.comics.org/issue/609/cover/4/</ref> so the shape became round.  This proved beneficial to the creators, who now felt that Captain America had a new weapon, one which could be flung at an enemy to great effect, and return like a boomerang.

Since the [[September 11, 2001 attacks]] Captain America is often used as [[liberal]] [[Antiamericanism|anti-American]] propaganda. In the new comics he supports the [[Anti-war|Anti-war movement]],<ref>https://web.archive.org/web/20110809010947/https://www.nationalreview.com/articles/206451/captain-america-traitor/michael-medved#</ref> and on February 10, 2010, Captain America was seen fighting the Tea Party Movement (later editions eliminated the reference to the Tea Party, although they nonetheless had Captain America and Falcon referring to them as "Angry White Folks.").<ref>http://www.washingtontimes.com/blog/watercooler/2010/feb/10/marvel-admits-mistake-captain-america-comic/</ref><ref>http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/02/09/tea-party-reference-captain-america-removed.html?test=latestnews</ref> This eventually came to a head on May 25, 2016 when the debut issue of a new comic arc, ''Steve Rogers: Captain America'' revealed that Captain America had in fact been an agent of the Nazi branch HYDRA since his youth, with the writer of the arc, Nick Spencer, making clear that he intends to keep Captain America a HYDRA agent, with the next issue explaining how he came to join them.<ref>http://time.com/4347224/captain-america-hydra-agent-marvel-tom-brevoort/</ref> This revelation received extremely negative reception from its readers, with several stating that it acted as a slight towards Captain America's creators, Joe Simon and Jack Kirby (who were Jewish), as well as Chris Evans, the actor who played Captain America in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, being shocked and disapproving of the twist,<ref>http://www.jpost.com/Not-Just-News/Captain-America-revealed-as-a-secret-Nazi-in-new-comic-455305</ref> and it even going as far as to have Nick Spencer get a lot of death threats on social media as a response to the issue's ending twist.<ref>http://www.bleedingcool.com/2016/05/25/captain-america-writer-nick-spencer-gets-death-threats-on-social-media/</ref> On a related note, the same issue that revealed Captain America as being a secret HYDRA agent had Captain America's arch-nemesis, HYDRA leader and Nazi Red Skull giving a stump speech that had deliberate similarities to those of critics of the Syrian Refugees, and more specifically Donald Trump's pledge to end illegal immigration during the 2016 presidential campaign in a clear attempt at demonizing both.<ref>https://www.bleedingcool.com/2017/01/04/marvels-ann-coulter-vs-safe-space-terrorists-todays-captain-america/</ref><ref>http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2016/may/23/captain-america-comic-likens-critics-of-syrian-ref/</ref>

Since the [[September 11, 2001 attacks]] Captain America is often used as [[liberal]] [[Antiamericanism|anti-American]] propaganda. In the new comics he supports the [[Anti-war|Anti-war movement]],<ref>https://web.archive.org/web/20110809010947/https://www.nationalreview.com/articles/206451/captain-america-traitor/michael-medved#</ref> and on February 10, 2010, Captain America was seen fighting the Tea Party Movement (later editions eliminated the reference to the Tea Party, although they nonetheless had Captain America and Falcon referring to them as "Angry White Folks.").<ref>https://www.washingtontimes.com/blog/watercooler/2010/feb/10/marvel-admits-mistake-captain-america-comic/</ref><ref>http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/02/09/tea-party-reference-captain-america-removed.html?test=latestnews</ref> This eventually came to a head on May 25, 2016 when the debut issue of a new comic arc, ''Steve Rogers: Captain America'' revealed that Captain America had in fact been an agent of the Nazi branch HYDRA since his youth, with the writer of the arc, Nick Spencer, making clear that he intends to keep Captain America a HYDRA agent, with the next issue explaining how he came to join them.<ref>http://time.com/4347224/captain-america-hydra-agent-marvel-tom-brevoort/</ref> This revelation received extremely negative reception from its readers, with several stating that it acted as a slight towards Captain America's creators, Joe Simon and Jack Kirby (who were Jewish), as well as Chris Evans, the actor who played Captain America in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, being shocked and disapproving of the twist,<ref>http://www.jpost.com/Not-Just-News/Captain-America-revealed-as-a-secret-Nazi-in-new-comic-455305</ref> and it even going as far as to have Nick Spencer get a lot of death threats on social media as a response to the issue's ending twist.<ref>http://www.bleedingcool.com/2016/05/25/captain-america-writer-nick-spencer-gets-death-threats-on-social-media/</ref> On a related note, the same issue that revealed Captain America as being a secret HYDRA agent had Captain America's arch-nemesis, HYDRA leader and Nazi Red Skull giving a stump speech that had deliberate similarities to those of critics of the Syrian Refugees, and more specifically Donald Trump's pledge to end illegal immigration during the 2016 presidential campaign in a clear attempt at demonizing both.<ref>https://www.bleedingcool.com/2017/01/04/marvels-ann-coulter-vs-safe-space-terrorists-todays-captain-america/</ref><ref>https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2016/may/23/captain-america-comic-likens-critics-of-syrian-ref/</ref>

==Films==

==Films==

[[File:Captain-america-1991.jpg|right|150px|thumb|Matt Salinger battles the Red Skull (Scott Paulin) in ''Captain America'' (c. 1990, 21st Century Film Corporation)]]

[[File:Captain-america-1991.jpg|right|150px|thumb|Matt Salinger battles the Red Skull (Scott Paulin) in ''Captain America'' (c. 1990, 21st Century Film Corporation)]]

[[File:CapAmericaEvans.JPG|right|150px|thumb|Chris Evans in ''Captain America: The First Avenger'' (c. 2011, Paramount Pictures/Marvel Studios)]]

[[File:CapAmericaEvans.JPG|right|150px|thumb|Chris Evans in ''Captain America: The First Avenger'' (c. 2011, Paramount Pictures/Marvel Studios)]]

The character first appeared in ''Captain America'',<ref>http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0036697/</ref> a fifteen-episode serial released in February, 1944 by Republic Pictures, and starred Dick Purcell, Lorna Gray, and Lionel Atwill.  The plot involved the attempts of Dr. Cyrus Maldor and his alter-ego the "Scarab" to steal several devices which could be constructed into weapons that he would use to conquer the world; standing in his way is a district attorney whose secret identity is Captain America.   

The character first appeared in ''Captain America'',<ref>https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0036697/</ref> a fifteen-episode serial released in February, 1944 by Republic Pictures, and starred Dick Purcell, Lorna Gray, and Lionel Atwill.  The plot involved the attempts of Dr. Cyrus Maldor and his alter-ego the "Scarab" to steal several devices which could be constructed into weapons that he would use to conquer the world; standing in his way is a district attorney whose secret identity is Captain America.   

Although a success on the screen, Timely Comics was extremely unhappy with ''Captain America''.  Gone were certain costume elements, such as the head "wings" and the pirate boots; the iconic shield was reduced in size to a mere belt buckle.  Most alarming was the change in name and job: Private Steve Rogers was turned into District Attorney Grant Gardner; instead of the Nazis it was an sinister organization with no references either to Naziism or World War II.

Although a success on the screen, Timely Comics was extremely unhappy with ''Captain America''.  Gone were certain costume elements, such as the head "wings" and the pirate boots; the iconic shield was reduced in size to a mere belt buckle.  Most alarming was the change in name and job: Private Steve Rogers was turned into District Attorney Grant Gardner; instead of the Nazis it was an sinister organization with no references either to Naziism or World War II.

====1979 television films====

====1979 television films====

Reb Brown donned the uniform for two films broadcast by the television network CBS.  The first, ''Captain America'',<ref>http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0078937/</ref> was shown on January 19, 1979, and like the serial had substantial changes made to the character.  Set in the time period in which it was filmed, this version of Rogers was not frail at all; in fact, the updated version was a former Marine making a living as a minor graphic artist in southern California.  Sent to a hospital as a result of a deliberately-set auto accident, he is given a serum called "FLAG" ("Full Latent Ability Gain") by Dr. Simon Mills (Len Birman), a man who had known his father, an intelligence agent who was the original Captain America.  A sequel, ''Captain America II: Death Too Soon'' was broadcast the following November, pitting Cap against a South American mercenary.

Reb Brown donned the uniform for two films broadcast by the television network CBS.  The first, ''Captain America'',<ref>https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0078937/</ref> was shown on January 19, 1979, and like the serial had substantial changes made to the character.  Set in the time period in which it was filmed, this version of Rogers was not frail at all; in fact, the updated version was a former Marine making a living as a minor graphic artist in southern California.  Sent to a hospital as a result of a deliberately-set auto accident, he is given a serum called "FLAG" ("Full Latent Ability Gain") by Dr. Simon Mills (Len Birman), a man who had known his father, an intelligence agent who was the original Captain America.  A sequel, ''Captain America II: Death Too Soon'' was broadcast the following November, pitting Cap against a South American mercenary.

====1990 film====

====1990 film====