History YMMV / CaptainAmerica

** An image of Cap punching Red Skull, with the latter saying [[https://www.indiependent.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/tolerant-left-1.jpg "So much for the Tolerant Left"]] has been circulating on Social Media. It's often used to mock Right Wing or "Centrist" posters who chide Leftists or members of minorities for being justifiably angry at the former two groups' bigotry.

* SmurfetteBreakout: Peggy Carter started as the love interest and only non-bit female character in ''Film/CaptainAmericaTheFirstAvenger''. After her popularity with fans became clear (due in no small part to her actress, Creator/HayleyAtwell), Marvel Studios has tried to include her wherever possible. Creator/JossWhedon wrote a deleted scene for her in ''Film/{{The Avengers|2012}}'', [[Film/AgentCarter she's the subject of one of the]] ''Film/MarvelOneShots'', and she has cameos in ''Film/CaptainAmericaTheWinterSoldier'', ''Film/AvengersAgeOfUltron'', ''Series/AgentsOfSHIELD'', and ''Film/AntMan1''. To top it off, she was given her very own television miniseries, ''Series/AgentCarter'', making her the first leading lady of the Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse. Even after her death in the present, no look at the past in the MCU is complete without her, and the first episode of ''WesternAnimation/WhatIf'' focused on [[ADayInTheLimelight her getting the Super-Soldier Serum]]. She’s has more appearances across the franchise than ComicBook/CaptainAmerica himself!

* WhatDoYouMeanItWasntMadeOnDrugs: The art in ''Bucky Barnes: The Winter Soldier''. Full stop.
* TheWoobie: Many. Steve himself, Bucky, Sharon, Sam, Diamondback, US Agent, the list goes on.

* LoveToHate: Although the Red Skull is an [[CompleteMonster utter]] [[HateSink scumbag]], he's such a charismatic and three-dimensional villain you can't help but like him at the same time.

* EvilIsCool: Red Skull,Crossbones, Batroc and Baron Zemo. And Cap as a HYDRA mole.

* LoveToHate: The Red Skull. Despite being a thoroughly despicable individual (variously depicted as TheSociopath, a HateSink, or a CompleteMonster), he is such a charismatic and three-dimensional villain you can't help but like him at the same time.

* AssPull: Cap saying "Hail Hydra." in the first issue of Nick Spencer's 2016 series and revealing that he was a HYDRA spy came right out of nowhere.

* EvilIsCool: Crossbones, Batroc and Baron Zemo. And Cap as a HYDRA mole.

** Captain America's red, white, and blue shield is a design ripped straight from the ''Art/TheApotheosisOfWashington'', where Lady Liberty uses a similar shield to protect UsefulNotes/GeorgeWashington's seat in {{Heaven}}.

** Helmut Zemo renounced Nazism and even punched his father in the face via time-travel. Even before that, when he was still trying to take over the world "to save it", his politics were neutral and he ''genuinely'' just wanted to help the world, and even took a blast aimed for Steve. He genuinely seemed to love Songbird (a Jewish woman) and during his time-travel trip down his family's history, he saved the Jewish lover of one of his ancestors (and their unborn child) during a pogrom, and by the time he got to his father/WW2 he couldn't ''bear'' to listen to the Nazi spiel. But alas, despite his character development, being a (former) Nazi is all most people know about him, which lead to writers returning him to villainy in the 2010s and for many fans to decry him as an irredeemable Nazi. In-part this is somewhat made worse by the fact Neo-Nazism made a resurgence in the late-2010s, thus making the idea of a former Neo-Nazi being sympathetic detestable to people.

** Probably the ultimate Audience-Alienating Era (so much so even people on this very wiki seem to have forgotten it) is the attempt to keep Cap relevant once World War II ended... "Captain America: Commie Smasher!" It didn't take due to Steve's out-of-character fascistic behavior, and the run ended in 1955. The Commie Smasher stories were rendered non-canon in 1964 when the original Captain America was brought back and revealed fallen into suspended animation not long before the war ended, and a 1972 retcon designed to reintroduce these stories to the main canon established this Cap as an imposter, explaining why "Steve" was so out-of-character.

** Probably the ultimate Audience-Alienating Era (so much so even people on this very wiki seem to have forgotten it) is the attempt to keep Cap relevant once World War II ended... "Captain America: Commie Smasher!" It didn't take due to extreme CharacterDerailment, and the run ended in 1955. The Commie Smasher stories were rendered non-canon in 1964 when the original Captain America was brought back and revealed fallen into suspended animation not long before the war ended, and a 1972 retcon designed to reintroduce these stories to the main canon established this Cap as an imposter, explaining why "Steve" was so out-of-character.

** Probably the ultimate Audience-Alienating Era (so much so even people on this very wiki seem to have forgotten it) is the attempt to keep Cap relevant once World War II ended... "Captain America: Commie Smasher!" It didn't take, the Commie Smasher stories were rendered non-canon for a few years when the original Captain America was brought back having fallen into suspended animation not long before the war ended, and a 1972 retcon designed to reconcile these stories with the main canon established this Cap as an imposter.

** Probably the ultimate Audience-Alienating Era (so much so even people on this very wiki seem to have forgotten it) is the attempt to keep Cap relevant once World War II ended... "Captain America: Commie Smasher!" It didn't take, the Commie Smasher stories were rendered non-canon for a few years when the original Captain America was brought back having fallen into suspended animation not long before the war ended, and they would be returned to canon through a 1972 retcon establishing that this Cap was an imposter.

** Probably the ultimate Dork Age (so much so even people on this very wiki seem to have forgotten it) is the attempt to keep Cap relevant once World War II ended... "Captain America: Commie Smasher!" It didn't take, and later retcons would say this was an imposter.

* OneSceneWonder: Americop. A one-off character introduced during the DorkAge arc "Fighting Chance", the character has retained a fan following due to his connection to the Marvel 2099 line (grandfather of Punisher 2099) and his cool visual look.

* UnfortunateImplications:
** Rick Remender's run [[https://web.archive.org/web/20140301024011/http://www.therainbowhub.com/why-rick-remender-needs-to-stop/ ran into a number of criticisms]], mostly relating to the portrayal of women. In particular, the relationship between Falcon and new character Jet Black was exceedingly controversial due to Jet debuting as a young teenager; she had experienced a PlotRelevantAgeUp before the relationship began, but was still drawn more or less the same way. Leading to accusations of Remender promoting statutory rape.
** The first issue of Nick Spencer's run generated an enormous backlash, to say the least. While absolutely no-one expects this to actually stick, [[spoiler: Steve going "Hail Hydra" is regarded as lazy, shock-value storytelling at best]]. [[https://web.archive.org/web/20160526231741/http://panels.net/2016/05/26/on-steve-rogers-1-antisemitism-and-publicity-stunts/ At worst, it has been called an insult to Cap's creators, given the origins of MCU [=HYDRA=]]] (which is what most people will be familiar with).
** Brought up in [[http://www.cracked.com/article_18502_the-5-most-unintentionally-offensive-comic-book-characters_p2.html The 5 Most Unintentionally Offensive Comic Book Characters]], in regards to Steve Englehart's {{Retcon}} of The Falcon's origin. Basically, when Creator/StanLee and Gene Colan introduced the Falcon, he was a kindhearted young social worker who became a superhero because it was the right thing to do. After years as a dignified and mostly non-stereotyped black hero (rare [[FairForItsDay for its time]]), Falcon got hit with a massive retcon in 1975: Englehart introduced a "never-before-seen" backstory mentioned above, which suggested that Falcon had secretly been a drug-dealing pimp who had been {{brainwashed}} into becoming a superhero so that he could serve as TheMole for the Red Skull... Yikes! Fans and writers alike have ''not'' been amused by this, Falcon's supposed "mole" status was never used in any meaningful capacity. As stated above it has become CanonDiscontinuity, and was not implemented as part of Sam Wilson's backstory when he entered the Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse in ''Film/CaptainAmericaTheWinterSoldier''.
** Notably, Rick Remender, the writer of All-New Captain America, completely ignored it when he gave a [[http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=54167 brief rundown]] of Sam's origin.
--->''Then, his community service becomes trying to bring relief supplies to third-world nations, which leads to him being shot down and landing on the Isle of Exiles. That leads to him teaming up with Steve Rogers who trained him to be the Falcon and take down the Red Skull. That choice to be a good man lead him to Steve and super heroics.''
--->''It was such a unique and wonderful origin.''

* DorkAge:
** We can't forget the brief period time where Cap was forced to wear [[PoweredArmor a suit of armor]] after the Super-Soldier Serum was breaking down inside Cap's body and leaving him paralyzed. It was the [[UsefulNotes/TheDarkAgeOfComicBooks 90s, after all.]]
** 'Capwolf' (Cap was infected with some lycanthropy serum) would be considered this if not for a strong dose of NarmCharm.
** With the severe BrokenBase that has been the new ''ComicBook/SecretEmpire'' arc (to the point that ''people have burnt the Free Comic Book Day prelude issue'', so hard the UnfortunateImplications hit them), it's easy to say that many are now firmly convinced that Nick Spencer's "HYDRA Cap" StoryArc is this.
** Probably the ultimate Dork Age (so much so even people on this very wiki seem to have forgotten it) is the attempt to keep Cap relevant once World War II ended... "Captain America: Commie Smasher!" It didn't take, and later retcons would say this was an imposter.
** Sometime around the 1990s, the Red Skull openly denounced Nazism, supposedly because it was getting old-fashioned: In the future, he would be a much more dynamic villain. In other words, the guy who had previously spent most of his adult life fighting fanatically for Hitler's dream, suddenly and for little reason threw it all away, in order to indulge in pure, sadistic ForTheEvulz villainy. Later characterizations have since reverted to the Nazi Skull, though there is still considerable [[DependingOnTheWriter flip-flopping]] on whether he is ''primarily'' a Nazi TautologicalTemplar or merely a [[TheCaligula crazy sadist scumbag]] who likes PuttingOnTheReich.
** A miniseries by Greg Pak heavily rewrites the Skull's original origin story, which was substantially based on the real Hitler's early life, and attempts to establish him more firmly as TheSociopath, among other things showing him as a mass murderer long before he became the Red Skull. Fan opinion is [[BrokenBase divided]] on whether this is a good thing.

* AuthorsSavingThrow:
** The "Snap" Wilson re-retcon. Falcon's social worker background was retconned into being FakeMemories implanted by the ComicBook/RedSkull, and his true identity was a pimp and a criminal. Rick Remender, whatever else he may have done, wrote it into canon that the ''truly'' FakeMemories were that of being a pimp, Sam had always been a good, heroic man, and the Red Skull was not only trying to discredit him, he was counting on ''everyone else'' being racist enough to ''believe'' that Sam ''must have'' been a horrible criminal before meeting Cap. And just like that, a slew of UnfortunateImplications is mended without disregarding previous canon (as Red Skull is established as more racist than ''Hitler'', meaning this isn't out of character for him).
** According to Creator/EdBrubaker, a lot of people were pissed [[spoiler: at [[DroppedABridgeOnHim the way Bucky died]] in ''ComicBook/FearItself'' #3, especially since it wasted a lot of the character development he had put in for a character he had recently [[{{Retcon}} brought back from the dead]]. Cue Issue 7.1 where Brubaker reveals that he survived and that he will be returning to the Winter Soldier identity in his own ongoing series in 2012.]]

* CriticalResearchFailure: The 2017 Falcon series has a brief team-up with Daimon Hellstrom, Son of Satan, who helps Sam fight his father, Mephisto. Except Mephisto ''isn't'' Daimon's father, his father is the demon Marduk Kurios, ''another'' SatanicArchetype in Marvel. This is ''possibly'' justified by the fact Marduk, Mephisto, and many other Hell Lords ''were'' once all one being, but there's no reference to this and the writing just assumes Mephisto is the Satan who sired Daimon.

* SequelDisplacement: If you use the name "Baron Zemo", you are most likely referring to Helmut, who did not appear until nearly a decade after his father, and did not actually become Baron Zemo until nearly two decades after. If you refer to Heinrich, you are going to have to specify his name to avoid confusion.

** Sometime around the 1990s, the Red Skull openly denounced Nazism, supposedly because it was getting old-fashioned: In the future, he would be a [[WereStillRelevantDammit much more dynamic]] villain. In other words, the guy who had previously spent most of his adult life fighting fanatically for Hitler's dream, suddenly and for little reason threw it all away, in order to indulge in pure, sadistic ForTheEvulz villainy. Later characterizations have since reverted to the Nazi Skull, though there is still considerable [[DependingOnTheWriter flip-flopping]] on whether he is ''primarily'' a Nazi TautologicalTemplar or merely a [[TheCaligula crazy sadist scumbag]] who likes PuttingOnTheReich.

** After decades of largely being treated as either a joke character or a source for Captain America's {{mangst}}, Bucky became one as the Winter Soldier, who went on to become a BreakoutCharacter under Brubaker's pen. Him taking over as Captain America was so beloved that for a while, he remained Captain America while Steve Rogers operated without a codename. When it comes to the movie fandom, this got turned UpToEleven after ''Film/CaptainAmericaTheWinterSoldier'' -- Bucky is currently one of the most popular characters in the MCU.

** A miniseries by Greg Pak heavily rewrites the Skull's original origin story, which was substantially based on the real Hitler's early life, and attempts to establish him more firmly as TheSociopath, among other things showing him as a mass murderer and KnifeNut long before he became the Red Skull. Fan opinion is [[BrokenBase divided]] on whether this is a good thing.

** Captain America in general tends to have a weird case of this with how, because of the book being used as war-time propaganda and the patriotic imagery, there's a strong conservative following, leading to controversy whenever the writers pen something that is left-of-centre, or when a far-right villain shows up. One time, the Sons of the Serpent got a very sympathetic AlternateCharacterInterpretation from ''Fox News'' when reporting on the debut issue of ''Sam Wilson: Captain America'', which depicts them attacking and kidnapping illegal immigrants. One commenter even described them as "patriots". These are the same Sons of the Serpent who are literally a hate-group used as a stand-in for The Klan. Similarly, the first issue of ''United States of Captain America'' had Steve narrate how the American Dream isn't "real" for some people due to poverty or misfortune, while others use it as a justification for bigotry and abuse. Fox News equated this as "Captain America hates America". [[OlderThanTheyThink This is something that's been going on since the very first issue]], where Cap punching Hitler (at-the-time, Hitler was just the far-right fascist leader of another country, one which had a lot of sympathy from many Americans; this was before America had joined the war, and thus before the Nazis' atrocities had come to light), resulting in harassment from readers who took issue with the bold politics.

---> '''Red Skull''': Your entire culture is under siege. The principles your country was founded upon lost in the name of "tolerance." Your religion, your beliefs, your sense of community -- all tossed aside like trash. And you cannot even speak out against it, lest you be called a '''[[PoliticalCorrectnessGoneMad bigot!]]'''