Captain America #255
The Living Legend
June, 1941
A courier from G-2, military intelligence, reports to President Franklin Roosevelt about the progress they have made on Operation: Rebirth. Going over the file, the president learns that the subject chosen was a frail young man named Steve Rogers:
Rogers grew up in poverty in New York City during the Great Depression. After the death of his father, Steve was raised alone by his mother, Sarah, who struggled to keep them fed and a roof over their head.[1] As a young boy, Steve was an imaginative young man who was frequently bullied by other children. His mother earned a living washing clothes until she died of pneumonia when Steve was still a teenager.
Like his parents before him, Steve struggled to support himself and found an escape from his depressing life by going to the movies. This guilty pleasure would lead to Steve watching a news reel about the Nazi’s march across Europe. Disgusted by what he saw and knowing that America would eventually enter the war, Steve tried to enlist to do his part in the war effort. Unfortunately, Steve was ranked too frail and rejected by the military. Pleading to be allowed to do something, Steve was overheard by General Phillips who then recruited Rogers for a secret project the military was working on.[2][3]
Steve is taken to a curio shop in Washington which was a front for Operation: Rebirth. After clearing security — a lone female officer posing as an old lady — Steve is brought into the secret lab which was beyond his imagination.[4] Steve then meets with the lead scientists: Doctor Anderson and “Professor Reinstein”, however Steve recognizes “Reinstein” as famed scientist Abraham Erskine.[5] Rogers then underwent a battery of tests to prepare him for the experiment.[6]
When it came time to begin the experiment, a number of government operatives were called in to observe. Ereskine then began administering the super-soldier formula to Steve. This was a complex procedure: First, Steve was given an injection, then he had to drink an oral formula, and lastly he was exposed to vita-rays. This last process triggered a metabolic change in Steve Rogers, changing him from a frail weakling into the peak of human perfection.[7] That’s when tragedy struck, as one of the “government officials” was actually a Nazi spy named Heinz Krueger. After the experiment was completed, Krueger fatally shot Erskine. In response, Rogers tossed Heinz into one of the machines, electrocuting the spy. Unfortunately, Erskine did not keep any copies of the formula and so its secrets were lost to them, making Rogers the only super-soldier.[8]
… Finishing the report, Roosevelt is then is then given a second one that updates him on Project: Super-Soldier’s progress.
After being transformed by the super-soldier formula, Steve Rogers was put under a battery of tests and was educated on military strategy in order to make him the most effective soldier possible. That’s when reports began coming in about the Nazi operative called the Red Skull. It was then Rogers was told he was going to be molded into the Skull’s exact opposite. He was given a costume and a shield patterned off the flag and thus, Captain America was born. Rogers vowed to live up to the ideals of the American Dream and fight for the principals that the Founding Fathers had when they formed the country.
As Captain America, Steve Rogers went to work dismantling Nazi spy operations in the United States. However, on his first outing he found that his triangular shield was unwieldy and difficult to throw as an offensive weapon.
Later, when taking down a German Bund operating out of a warehouse, Cap had a wardrobe malfunction when his mask was knocked askew in battle, almost exposing his secret identity when a news photographer attempted to take his picture.
Still, despite these setbacks, Captain America succeeded in stopping Nazi saboteurs from blowing up an aircraft manufacturing plant, a naval ship yard, and foiled a plot to blow up Boulder Dam.
… Impressed by all this good news, the President then calls a meeting with Captain America. When Cap shows up, he is wearing a new modified uniform made out of chainmail with a mask that was attached to the rest of his outfit. Roosevelt then gives Captain America a gift, a new circular shield that is made of the strongest substance known to man.[8] It’s then that the President tells Captain America of his new cover he will be operating under in between missions as Captain America.
Steve Rogers is then stationed at Camp Lehigh as a private and where he acts like a bumbling idiot in order to maintain his cover, much to the chagrin of his commanding office Sergeant Mike Duffy. There, he meets Bucky Barnes, the camp mascot who was adopted by the unit after his father died in a training exercise. The boy is a huge fan of Captain America and one night accidentally stumbles upon Steve as he is changing into costume. Convincing Steve to let him become his sidekick, Captain America and Bucky became the scourge to the Axis powers all over the globe.[10]
Time Passes…
Over the next few years, Captain America and Bucky would fight the Nazis and their allies both on their own and as members of the first super-hero team of the era, the Invaders.[11] He faced down foes such as the Red Skull, Baron Zemo, Master Man, Warrior Woman, and Baron Blood.
Near the war’s end, Captain America and Bucky attempted to stop Baron Zemo from launching an explosive drone plane. In the ensuing explosion, Bucky was seemingly killed and Captain America plunged into the ocean where the super-soldier serum in his body put him in a state of suspended animation for decades. His body was found decades later by the Avengers who revived him. Joining the team, Captain America resumed fighting for truth, justice, and the American Dream.[12]
Now
It’s late at night and Captain America returns to his apartment in Brooklyn after going on patrol. Although he is exhausted he strips off his costume and gets to his drawing board because he has a deadline that is due in the morning. He turns on the television for some background noise. As he begins to worry about how he can juggle both his personal life and that of Captain America, the national anthem begins to play on TV. Hearing the Star-Spangled Banner confirms to Steve that all of his sacrifices are worth it.
Recurring Characters
Captain America, Bucky, Nazis (Heinz Krueger), Franklin Roosevelt, Chester Phillips, Cynthia Glass, Murray Anderson, Abraham Erskine, Homer Simms, Mike Duffy, Bucky
Continuity Notes
The information about Steve Rogers’ father is only glossed over here. Captain America (vol. 7) #1-2 reveals that his name was Joseph Rogers. Ol’ Joe became unemployed and fell into alcoholism and abuse until he died of influenza in 1926.
General Phillip’s first name is not given here. Adventures of Captain America #1 reveals that it is Chester.
This of course is retelling the origins of Captain America, adapted from the original tale in Captain America Comics #1.
This secret operative — identified as Agent X-9 — is unnamed here. Her real name is revealed to be Cynthia Glass in Adventures of Captain America #1.
When he first appeared, Professor Erskine was named Josef Reinstein in Captain America Comics #1 and Captain America #109, while Tales of Suspense #63 called him Erskine. This story confirms that Reinstein was a codename to hide his identity. Here, Steve states that he heard that Erskine died in a car accident but doesn’t go into much detail about it. As revealed in Marvels Project #1-2, Erskine was a German scientist who defected to the United States. Presumably, after he was extracted from Germany, the US military faked his death so he could work in secret.
This story suggests that Steve was the only person who was tested for Project: Rebirth. This is not the case. Adventures of Captain America #1 reveals that Steve was one of a pool of candidates. Other candidates included Dominic Fortune who was rejected due to his “questionable” life stye, as revealed in New Avengers (vol. 2) #10. Additionally, a number of Black soldiers were also used as guinea pigs as revealed in Truth: Red, White and Black #1-7.
This scene reconciles past versions of Captain America’s origins and how they all detailed different versions of how the formula was taken: Captain America Comics #1 stated it was an injection, Tales of Suspense #63 stated that it was a formula that he drank, while Captain America #109 stated that it was exposure to “vita-rays” that did the trick.
This actually turns out to not be the case. In fact, there are a lot of super-soldier formula copies and derivatives that come out around this time. It’s like the worst kept lost secret:
As detailed in Marvels Project #1-8, the super-soldier program was built off of the Nazi’s own Project: Nietzsche, which examined the American World War I soldier John Steel, arguably the first super-soldier.
One of the scientists on Nietzche, Eric Schmidt, ended up in a concentration camp and used a version of his formula to empower both Keen Marlow and Brain Falsworth, leading to both men becoming the Destroyer. See Invaders #18 and Marvels Project #7.
There are the African-American soldiers who were experimented upon before Steve Rogers. see Truth #1-7 (again)
Professor Anderson was later able to recreate the formula while captured by the Nazis, leading to the creation of Master Man in Giant-Size Invaders #1.
Anderson also — in possibly the stupidest move ever — also imparted some of this knowledge to his friend Privat Biljo White, who was also captured by the Nazis and his knowledge went into creating Warrior Woman. See Invaders #16-17.
Heinz Krueger managed to steal secrets about Project: Rebirth and relay them back to his handler, Major Albrech Kerfoot. Kerfoot wrote down the formula before his death and the formula ended up lost in Nazi Germany’s archives where it would be found in the 1950s by William Burnside, Burnside would use this to turn himself and his friend Jack Monroe into super-soldiers. See Marvels Project #5 and Captain America #155.
In Avengers 1959 #1-5, ICON (an organization of Nazi war criminals) recreated the formula and combined it with the life extending Infinity Formula.
The Black Widow Ops Program was a Russian program that also created its own version of the formula, the first recipient of it being Natasha Romanoff. See Black Widow (vol. 3) #5.
Project: Sentry was yet another attempt to recreate the formula. It instead created the Sentry. See Sentry (vol. 2) #8.
As explained in Marvels Project #5, a relative of Noah Burstein was involved in Project Rebirth. In the modern age, Noah attempted to recreate this work, giving powers to both Luke Cage and Warhawk. See Luke Cage: Hero for Hir #1, and Powerman and Iron Fist #83.
Also in the modern age, the Navy attempted to create their own version of the serum. Their test subject became the mentally unhinged Anti-Cap. See Captain America and the Falcon #1.
Jacob Erskine, a descendant of Abraham later attempted to recreate the Super Soldier serum as a cure for cancer. However, this ended when he was murdered. See Steve Rogers: Super Soldier #1.
Most recently, another Super Soldier Serum derivative turned Todd Ziller into American Kaiju. See New Avengers (vol. 4) #9.
It’s later revealed that the shield is so invincible because it is made out of a fusion of Vibranium and Adamantium, as detailed in Captain America #303. It’s later revealed that Captain America actually went on a mission to procure the Vibranium used to create his trademark weapon. See Black Panther (vol. 3) #30 and Black Panther/Captain America: Flags of our Fathers #1-4.
It’s later revealed that Bucky’s “stumbling upon Captain America’s secret” was merely propaganda as Bucky was being poised as counter response to the Hitler Youth. Captain America #620-622 reveals that he was actually trained by the military to be Captain America’s partner. In fact, Wolverine: Origins #17-20 reveals that Bucky’s primary purpose was to undertake wetwork operations that Captain America — as the military’s symbol — could not undertake.
The Invaders were formed in Giant-Size Invaders #1 and their clashes with Master Man, Warrior Woman and Baron Blood were chronicled in issues #1-41 of the Invaders.
Captain America going into suspended animation and being revived in the present day was detailed in Avengers #4. Although it is stated here that Bucky died, he actually survived and was transformed into the Russian assassin known as the Winter Soldier. Cap won’t learn the truth until Captain America (vol. 5) #14.
Topical References
In the present day, Steve Rogers is depicted as having a CRT television that has dials and knobs that picks up signals using an antenna. This should be considered topical because such technology is obsolete.
