History COmicBook / CaptainAmerica

* BadassAbnormal: [[BuckyBarnes James "Bucky" Barnes]] since getting a cyborg arm. He was BadassNormal before that.
** Steve, himself, when you consider that although none of his physical abilities reach superhuman levels ([[DependingOnTheWriter depending on the continuity]]), no unenhanced human can be as fast AND as strong AND as agile, etc. as Steve Rogers, at the same time.
*** Steve Rogers does have at least one 'power' though it's not good in a fight. Even the flawed super-soldier variants like Nick Fury's greatly increases their life span. Years after his deep freeze, Cap's really not getting much older than his WWII days.

* SecondSuperIdentity: Captain America went undercover as The Captain on two different occasions.

** Kinda applies to [[BuckyBarnes Bucky Cap]], though technically, he's a [[SlidingScaleOfAntiHeroes Type 1]]. Ignoring his DarkAndTroubledPast, his [[SuperheroPackingHeat tricked-out gun]], or his costume being [[DarkIsNotEvil more black than red-white-and-blue]], he genuinely does try to be a traditional superhero, but a large source of his {{Mangst}} is his doubt as to whether or not he can do the mantle justice.

* The animated series ''WesternAnimation/AvengersEarthsMightiestHeroes'' (2010) includes Captain America as one of the major characters. In a manner paralleling {{the Silver Age|OfComicBooks}} ''Avengers'' comics, he became the sixth superhero to join the team.
* A film - titled ''Film/CaptainAmericaTheFirstAvenger'' - was released in July 2011; it takes place in the Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse being laid out by ''Film/IronMan'' and ''Film/TheIncredibleHulk.'' It's a period piece set almost entirely during World War II, and ends with the Captain being frozen and waking up in modern times, while segueing directly into ''Film/TheAvengers'' movie (released in summer 2012)
* A sequel, ''Film/CaptainAmericaTheWinterSoldier'', is coming for 2014 where Rogers will obviously being forced into the wrenching task of tracking down [[spoiler:Bucky]] as a brainwashed assassin, but at least he will also have TheFalcon and [[{{Agent 13}} Sharon Carter]] by his side.

* StrawFeminist: The villain Superia.

* SuperheroPackingHeat: Cap's original incarnation used guns in addition to his nigh-invulnerable shield, in keeping with his status as a SuperSoldier fighting Nazis in WorldWarII. It wasn't until TheSilverAgeOfComicBooks that Cap ditched the guns and just stuck to just using his shield. The 2011 movie based on him is set DuringTheWar, and looks to be a return to his [[TheGoldenAgeOfComicBooks Golden Age]] roots (Makes sense since it's during the war). Fan reactions are...somewhat mixed.
** Recently he once again carries a piece (but prefers not to use it). Bucky plays this straight.

* PsychoSerum: Cap has discovered there have been multiple attempts create his Project Rebirth enhancements and the results have typically produced murderous psychotics.

[[Comicbook/TheAvengers The First Avenger]]. [[Film/CaptainAmericaTheFirstAvenger The Star-Spangled Man with a Plan]]. The Franchise/MarvelUniverse's BigGood. \\

** And again in ''Comicbook/{{Nextwave}}'' by Elsa Bloodstone, who is English; for one issue, she wore a European Union t-shirt with the € symbol encircled by stars, and at one point, when described as "my victim" by a villain, (a villain wearing a costume that was apparently stolen from Cap's wardrobe, no less) shouted "Victim? ''Victim?!'' Do you think this letter on my chest stands for ''America''?!"
** The regular Marvel Universe Cap even got in on it, while talking about fighting alongside the Maquis Rebellion in WWII, Steve explains how disgusted he is with the way modern Americans belittle the French with claims of cowardice. It's been suggested this was in response to the Ultimate version's statement.

** It even goes back to the Golden Age. [[http://scans-daily.dreamwidth.org/4049319.html#cutid1 Here]] is the time where he faced off against Satan himself and actually ''won''.

While Cap's adventures were written and published throughout the [[TheForties 1940s]] and early [[TheFifties 1950s]], StanLee and a returning Jack Kirby {{retcon}}ned his history in 1964: the post-War Cap who fought Communism were impostors (first other superheroes and then an AscendedFanboy who went insane with a flawed imitation of the Super Serum), and the "original" Cap was killed in action, but they NeverFoundTheBody. Naturally, he came back from [[HumanPopsicle suspended animation]] to join Comicbook/TheAvengers, bringing his old-style patriotism and battle tactics to the table, eventually ascending to leadership. [[MyGreatestFailure His greatest failure]] was not being able to save his sidekick's life in their final fight against Baron Zemo, until Rick Jones finally told him to [[QuitYourWhining quit his whining]] and move on. Cap took that advice and while the RedSkull drove Rick away when impersonating Cap, Rogers got a new partner, TheFalcon, who was with him for years.

As a skinny orphan artist who grew up in TheGreatDepression, Steve Rogers JumpedAtTheCall, but the US Army declared him 4-F (unfit for service), and handed him over to Operation: Rebirth, an Allied Powers project to create a SuperSoldier for the war effort. Injected with SuperSerum, bombarded with radiation, appropriately trained and given a [[ExoticWeaponSupremacy signature shield]], Cap fought the Axis, [[http://www.coverbrowser.com/image/captain-america/1-2.jpg memorably punching]] AdolfHitler [[EstablishingCharacterMoment in the face on the cover of his first comic]]. An Axis spy killed the project's director, who [[NoPlansNoPrototypeNoBackUp had it all in his head]], shortly after Cap's creation.

* HairOfGold: Along with InnocentBlueEyes, befitting of one of the purest people in the Marvel Universe.

* UpbringingMakesTheHero: It's heavily implied that Steve's moral fiber was heavily inspired by that of his mother, Sarah, whom Steve holds in such a high regard.

* TheSpymaster: Steve's recent stint as Commander of S.H.I.E.L.D.

The First Avenger. [[Film/CaptainAmericaTheFirstAvenger The Star-Spangled Man with a Plan]]. The Franchise/MarvelUniverse's BigGood. \\

* ActionGirl: Two of Cap's three major love interests: Sharon Carter and Diamondback. Not to mention Comicbook/BlackWidow (who is Bucky's main love interest)

* A sequel, ''Film/CaptainAmericaTheWinterSoldier'', is coming for 2014 where Rogers will obviously being forced into the wrenching task of tracking down [[spoiler:Bucky]] as a brainwashed assassin, but at least he will also have TheFalcon and Sharon Carter by his side.

** [[spoiler: BuckyBarnes, then-current CaptainAmerica was supposedly killed in battle by Sin/Skadi, but actually survived and had his death faked by [[ComicBook.BlackWidow Black Widow]] and NickFury in order to [[StatusQuoIsGod convince Steve to return]] to the CaptainAmerica mantle and give him the PlausibleDeniability to return to the Winter Soldier identity and attend to his own matters.]]

* RightMakesMight: Whenever CaptainAmerica throws his shield, you can see this written on it in six-inch letters. His NighInvulnerable {{Unobtainium}} shield is literally reinforced with American Righteous Might - not [[ClapYourHandsIfYouBelieve Self-Righteous Might]]. America is the Greatest Country in the World - but only when it ''[[SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism maintains its idealism]].''

* SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism: The strongest appeal of the ''CaptainAmerica'' franchise is its stalwart refusal to stop believing in love, kindness, faith and fundamental human decency. Which in turn is why so many Captain America fans hate Ultimate Captain America, as Mark Millar designed that alternate version of the character as a parody of jingoistic Bush-era conservatism.

* FromNobodyToNightmare: The Red Skull is one of the best examples in comics: Johann Schmidt was an ordinary teenage petty thief growing up in Germany during the rise of the Third Reich. He eventually managed to land a job as a bellhop at a luxury hotel frequented by Hitler himself. By pure chance, he happened to be in Hitler's room while the latter was berating an officer, prompting Hitler to claim he could turn the bellhop into a better Nazi. [[GoneHorriblyRight He did]]. And it went FromBadToWorse. He went from petty hooligan to being listed by {{SHIELD}} as one of the ''greatest existing threats to humanity'' despite being a BadassNormal most of the time in a setting that includes things like a planet eating EldritchAbomination. If that isn't a perfect example of this trope, then nothing is.

* HumbleHero: Part of the point of him. He wasn't anything too special before he got his injection, and he's pointed out he wasn't ''supposed'' to be unique, just the first of many. His humility is one of the reasons he's the embodiment of the American Dream: he's a nobody who became a somebody, and he's eternally thankful for it. Perhaps best summed up by the following exchange from CaptainAmericaTheFirstAvenger:

* SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism: The strongest appeal of the ''CaptainAmerica'' franchise is its stalwart refusal to stop believing in love, kindness, faith and fundamental human decency. Which in turn is why so many Captain America fans hate Ultimate Captain Amerca, as Mark Millar designed that alternate version of the character as a parody of jingoistic Bush-era conservatism.

* A sequel, ''The Winter Soldier'', is coming for 2014 where Rogers will obviously being forced into the wrenching task of tracking down [[spoiler:Bucky]] as a brainwashed assassin, but at least he will also have TheFalcon and Sharon Carter by his side.