Characters / MCU: Steve Rogers

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Spoilers for all works set prior to Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame are unmarked.

Captain Steve Rogers, US Army / Captain America

"I can do this all day."

^{Click here to see him in Infinity War}
"I'm not looking for forgiveness, and I'm way past asking for permission."

Birth Name: Steven Grant Rogers

Known Aliases: Captain America

Species: Enhanced human

Citizenship: American

Affiliation(s): US Army (formerly), Howling Commandos (formerly), Avengers, S.H.I.E.L.D.

Portrayed By: Chris Evans

Voiced By: Walker Roach (fictionalized version in Agent Carter)^{Foreign voice actors}José Antonio Macías (Latin-American Spanish dub), Raúl Llorens (European Spanish dub), Yūichi Nakamura (Japanese dub), Maël Davan-Soulas [Phase 1], Alexandre Gillet [Phase 2 onwards] (European French dub), Alexandre Fortin (Canadian French dub), Clécio Souto, Duda Espinoza (Brazilian Portuguese dub), Daniel Eldarov (Russian dub)

Appearances: Captain America: The First Avenger | The Avengers | Thor: The Dark World ^note As an illusion made by Loki | Captain America: The Winter Soldier | Agent Carter ^note  Archive footage from Captain America: The First Avenger | Avengers: Age of Ultron | Ant-Man ^note In The Stinger | Captain America: Civil War | Spider-Man: Homecoming ^note  In video recordings | Avengers: Infinity War | Captain Marvel ^note In The Stinger | Avengers: Endgame | Spider-Man: Far From Home ^note Archive photography | The Falcon and the Winter Soldier ^note  Archive audio from Endgame and flashback with archive footage from The Winter Soldier | Loki ^note Archive footage | Deadpool & Wolverine ^note Archive footage

Red Skull: So what made you so special?
Captain America: Nothing. I'm just a kid from Brooklyn.

Steven Grant "Steve" Rogers was born on July 4th, 1918 in Brooklyn, New York. He was a sickly young man turned into a perfect soldier by a government project during World War II. Unfortunately, the creator of the project was murdered, leaving Rogers as the only result of the experiment. Because of this, he was initially used as a propaganda tool to sell war bonds. He eventually earned his stripes as a soldier by rescuing an entire platoon from a HYDRA factory, where he first encountered the Red Skull.

After defeating the Red Skull, Cap crashed his Valkyrie aircraft into a glacier where he went into a hibernation state and was written off as KIA for nearly 70 years ^note If you want Ludicrous Precision, he crashed the Valkyrie into the Arctic on March 4th, 1945, and was thawed out on April 16, 2012, which is an absence of 67 years, 1 month, 13 days. before being found by S.H.I.E.L.D. in the modern day. His weapon of choice is a Vibranium shield designed by Howard Stark that can absorb all energy directed at it, making it ideal as both protection and as a projectile (as it does not lose energy when it makes contact with another surface when thrown).

For tropes regarding the second Captain America, Sam Wilson, see his page For the third Captain America, John Walker, see his page.

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#-C

• 11th-Hour Superpower: In Avengers: Endgame, he proves himself worthy of wielding Mjölnir and with it gains all of Thor's abilities combined with his own skills.
  • However, it's played with to some extent, as it's unclear whether Steve had always been worthy, and only chose to lift Mjölnir in the Final Battle with Thanos because of how dire the situation was. In particular, there's conflicting interpretations of Steve's actions during the hammer-lifting scene of Avengers: Age of Ultron - the directors of Endgame have stated that Steve could have lifted the hammer at that time, but didn't to avoid humiliating Thor, while the writers claim he actually wasn't worthy yet at that point. Regardless, however, Steve wielding Mjölnir against Thanos in Endgame still plays as a last-minute power-up, since he had never displayed his ability to do so until the proverbial 11th hour.
• Abandoned Catchphrase: Early on in the series, Steve often tells his opponent, "I can do this all day" to reflect his stubbornness. After the events of Civil War however, Cap stopped using said phrase, and is nothing short of exasperated upon hearing his younger self say it in Avengers: Endgame. Unfortunately for him, his adoring public has not abandoned it. It shows up in Rogers: The Musical in Hawkeye in the chorus of a song, and then on merchandise featuring him in the AvengerCon of Ms. Marvel.
• The Ace: Strong, smart, fast, adaptable, skilled, charismatic, and a heart of gold that won't quit fighting for justice as long as he still draws breath, all these qualities make Steve one of the greatest battlefield commanders in likely the whole universe.
• Adaptational Angst Downgrade: Two cases regarding his background.
  • First for his parents. Steve's father was an abusive alcoholic who beat him and his mother in the comics. Here, he died before Steve was born and is noted to have been a good man who Steve very much resembles.
  • Also for his childhood in general. In the comics, Steve's Irish heritage made him the target of a lot of period-typical racism. In the MCU, however, we don't see this once, implying that he and his parents probably underwent a very discreet Adaptational Nationality. The fact that both of his parents were employed (his father as a soldier, his mother as a nurse) only further supports this, since the Irish were generally rejected for work in the early 1900s.
• Adaptational Angst Upgrade: His Fish out of Temporal Water characterization. Steve does adapt a bit to the modern age and even acquires a few companions. However, he still feels incredibly lonely because his former companions from the Howling Commandos are almost all dead and he dearly regrets that he missed out on a life with Peggy. Once he finds out Bucky is still alive, Steve goes very far to preserve the last relic of his happy past. In the comics, Cap has more rapidly moved past the shock of being a man from The '40s frozen into modern times mainly because his progressive politics clashed with the social norms of his day.
• Adaptational Badass: In the comics, the Super Serum enhances his abilities to reach the peak of what would be possible for a human being. In the MCU, he clearly has Super-Strength, best shown when he stops a helicopter with his bare hands in Civil War and catches a hit by Thanos in Endgame after the latter proved even the Hulk is no match for him.
• Adaptational Early Appearance: In regards to his career as an Avenger. In the comics, Captain America hasn't joined the team until well after its creation by Thor, Iron Man, Hulk, Ant-Man, and the Wasp. In the films, he is one of the Avengers' founding members as well as their first leader.
• Adaptational Nationality: A very discreet one. In the comics, Steve's Irish heritage (and the status of his parents as Irish immigrants) made him the target of a lot of period-typical racism. In the movies, we don't see that at all, implying that Steve's parents were likely English or some other accepted Western European race. It's further supported by the fact that his parents were both employed, since the Irish were generally rejected from work in the early 1900s.
• Adaptation Name Change: A mild example. In the comics, Steve has no middle name, though for a while, he thought he was an upper-middle-class kid from Maryland called Steven Grant Rogers, which turned out to be fake memory implants. The movies make Grant his actual middle name, being mentioned as an initial in the first film and showing up in supplementary material.
• Adaptation Personality Change: Steve Rogers is mostly the same as his comic book counterpart, but there are some key changes. MCU Steve is slightly more of a realist willing to concede and even compromise for the greater good, whilst comic Steve is adamantly idealistic and rarely wavers from his righteous attitude and beliefs. The Russo Brothers in particular intentionally made Cap quite the Rounded Character; he's still a fundamentally good man with a pure heart who despises bullies, but unlike in the comics, Steve isn't above making some selfish decisions (though the franchise balances this out by showing how selfless he otherwise is), performs morally questionable actions and even gets annoyed at his younger idealistic self, showing his Character Development during the Avengers' Time Heist in Endgame.
• Age Lift: He's exactly two years older than his comic counterpart, being born on July 4, 1918 instead of July 4, 1920.
• All for Nothing:
  • Averted in the first case involving HYDRA. He was fully prepared to go to his grave so that the world would be safe from HYDRA. Later on, this Heroic Sacrifice certainly paid off and, although he later learned of HYDRA's more long-term plans as an Ancient Conspiracy, the scenario can clearly be seen as an instance of Nothing Is the Same Anymore as, by modern times, HYDRA is now working underground and is unable to operate blatantly out in the open, and the situation would have no doubt been FAR worse if The Red Skull was still around.
  • He believed Zemo was planning to set the Winter Soldiers loose on the world, and he had to stop it immediately even if it meant defying the world's governments and the pro-Accord Avengers. It turned out that Zemo had no intention of releasing the other Winter Soldiers, and Tony was eventually able to get evidence that cleared Bucky. Along with Tony, Steve broke up the Avengers, got his friends sent to prison, blew up their friendship, and left the world vulnerable to Thanos to stop a threat that didn't exist.
  • He committed the Avengers and Wakanda to protect Vision, so they wouldn't have to sacrifice him to stop Thanos from getting the Mind Stone. Despite their valiant efforts they still had to sacrifice Vision, and even that was for nothing since Thanos was able to use the Time Stone to undo it.
  • After the snap, the Avengers spent weeks trying to track Thanos so they could get the stones and undo the blip. When they found him, he had already destroyed the stones. All they could do was kill a Retired Monster.
• All-Loving Hero: Just as he is in the comics, Steve is a very idealistic person who bears no prejudice towards anyone, and always tries to see the best in everyone. It's this trait that not only makes Dr. Erskine choose Steve for the super soldier program, but it also makes him worthy to at least budge Mjölnir. And in Avengers: Endgame, he does gain control of Mjölnir!!
• Alternate Self: There are several variants of Steve Rogers, at least one of whom didn't even become Captain America. He might exist on Earth-96823 as Captain America comics are mentioned to exist just like in the Sacred Timeline, though it isn't confirmed whether they were based on a real person.
• Always Someone Better: It's not given a lot of screentime, but Tony seems to think of Steve this way. Not hard to imagine why, since he grew up hearing stories about how great Captain America is from his father. Indeed, in Civil War, Tony notes that he used to hate Steve because of how Howard used to go on about him. Tony sees Steve as someone who was simply born a good person while Tony only wised up after his experience in captivity.
• Amazon Chaser:
  • He first notices Peggy when she punches a recruit square in the face after he made some sexist remarks. A smitten Steve smiles at her immediately after that.
  • Though they end up becoming Platonic Life-Partners, Steve certainly doesn't mind getting a kiss from Natasha (the Action Girl of the MCU) while undercover.
  • He later kisses Sharon Carter, a former agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. and Peggy's niece who fought with the Winter Soldier.
• Ambiguous Situation:
  • After Steve retires to the past to live with Peggy, it is unclear if he created a new timeline or if he was part of the original timeline all along. The directors claim it is the former, but the writers claim it is the latter, and it seems like it's up to the viewer to decide. While Quantum Realm-based time travel seems to create new timelines, it's also implied that removing an Infinity Stone is specifically what creates alternate timelines, and the fact that Steve is already waiting for Sam as an old man rather than emerging through the Quantum Tunnel implies that Steve took The Slow Path back to the present instead of traveling from a separate timeline. Loki seems to imply the writers were correct, given the presence of the "Sacred Timeline," meaning the TVA would have "pruned" Cap had he created an alternate reality. However, the TVA is also implied to be an Unreliable Expositor, so the ambiguity is left open.
  • His fate after Endgame is unclear after he passes his shield and handle off to Sam. Spider-Man: Far From Home implies that he died, but it's ambiguous if the powers that be faked his death and arranged for him to retire peacefully after a lifetime of service. A museum exhibit in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, which is set earlier, indicates that it's public knowledge that he retired, although Sam mentions that "he's gone" in a public speech, still drawing into question as to whether or not he is alive months after his final adventure.
  • When exactly did Steve become worthy of wielding Mjölnir? More specifically, was he already worthy by the party scene in Age of Ultron? While he was seemingly unable to lift it there, Thor does look a little nervous about it when he manages to make it budge a bit. And since being worthy of Mjölnir is generally presented as a binary in the MCU (you either are and can wield it, or aren't and can't), making it shift slightly suggests Steve could have lifted it but didn't. Adding to the confusion is the conflicting Word of God - the Russo brothers (who directed Infinity War, Endgame, The Winter Soldier, and Civil War) claim Steve could have lifted it in Age of Ultron, but chose not to out of respect to Thor. The Endgame writers, on the other hand, claim he was not yet worthy by that point, and only became worthy in Civil War, after coming clean to Tony about Bucky killing his parents.
  • It's unclear how much of his characterization as a Blood Knight comes from a genuine love of fighting the good fight, and how much is simply due to the fact that he has nothing else—after he woke up from the ice, pretty much everything about Steve Rogers' life has gone, leaving only Captain America.
  • On a related note, is his annoyance with Tony over the "cut the wire" line in the first Avengers movie because he didn't think of that option? Or does he feel like Tony is Comically Missing the Point?
• Apologetic Attacker: He's visibly disheartened at having to fight S.H.I.E.L.D. colleagues ordered to detain him in Winter Soldier, noticing one of them literally sweating from fear of confronting him.
  Steve: Before we get started, does anyone want to get out?
• Armor-Piercing Response: Tony angrily tells Steve at the airport that he's trying to keep Cap from tearing the Avengers apart. Steve's response is that Tony did that when he signed the Accords. Tony has no rebuttal to this, only continuing to demand that Steve and the others turn themselves in.
• Arrow Catch: When making his entrance in Avengers: Infinity War, he catches Proxima Midnight's spear when she throws it at him.
• As Long as There Is One Man: He never actually says it, but the spirit of that iconic trope-naming scene is conveyed perfectly in Endgame when he stands alone against Thanos and his entire army, even with a broken shield. Fortunately, he doesn't have to stand alone for long.
• Asskicking Leads to Leadership:
  • In his first movie, it takes Steve infiltrating a HYDRA base and rescuing a battalion's worth of soldiers for others to take him seriously.
  • In The Avengers, it takes him a brief skirmish (and a torn arm or two) with the invading aliens for the New York authorities to listen to what he's trying to tell them. During the climactic battle Steve earnestly rattles off a strategy to some NYPD officers on how best to evacuate some civilians and form a battle line:
    Cop: Why the hell should I take orders from you?
    [cue a horde of Chitauri warriors going berserker at Steve, and Steve effortlessly fending them off]
    [Beat]
    Cop: [begins repeating Steve's orders verbatim into his walkie-talkie]
  • On the other hand, his status as The Leader could be seen as an aversion of this trope, as it is by no means obvious that Steve kicks the most ass of all the Avengers. Of the original lineup, one could make convincing arguments for Thor, Hulk, or Iron Man having the edge on Cap in terms of pure power. Natasha even cautions him against tangling with Thor and Loki, who are "basically gods," next to whom Cap's practically Badass Normal. Yet the first Avengers movie establishes firmly that Steve is indeed The Captain, and no matter how many mind-bogglingly powerful beings later join the roster, his authority as such remains uncontested.
• Athletically Challenged: Steve Rogers was this prior to getting the Super Soldier serum and treatment. Barely able to do a single push-up, struggling to carry gear the other soldiers could easily handle, and always being dead last on runs. Interestingly, in the Golden Age comics published during World War Two, even after the treatment he pretended to be a soldier so incompetent and inept at everything that his Sergeant simply kept him assigned to garbage details, which gave him plenty of time to sneak off and fight the Axis as Captain America. However, a 1970s What If storyline revealed that of course his chain-of-command knew Steve Rogers was Captain America, which is why he got off with no punishment every time he was called out for being AWOL.
• Badass Adorable: A sweet-tempered, well-mannered, and kind-hearted Boy Next Door who just happens to also possess a body rebuilt to the pinnacle of human perfection.
• Badass Biker: He owned and used a Harley-Davidson WLA "Liberator" during his service in World War II. The motorcycle had several weapons and gadgets added to it for use in combat situations by Howard Stark and the SSR. After being frozen and revived in the modern age, Rogers continued using modern model of a Harley-Davidson for both personal use and during active missions as an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. and as a member of the Avengers.
• Bad Liar: Because he's so honest. This is lampshaded by Natasha in The Winter Soldier, then both played straight and subverted in Civil War: it's revealed that despite knowing for over two years that HYDRA was responsible for murdering Tony's parents, Steve never told him about it. While Steve deliberately didn't reveal the information, he isn't able to convincingly lie or pull off Exact Words when asked point-blank. Tony is as enraged by this deception as he is by the act itself.
• Bash Siblings:
  • He and Bucky have fought side-by-side in World War II, the Avengers' Civil War, Thanos' invasion of Wakanda, and the final confrontation with Thanos at the remains of Avengers Compound.
  • He and Sam have fought in the battle with HYDRA in Washington, DC; Lagos, Bucharest, and Liepzig while on the run; in Wakanda; and in the final battle with Thanos in Endgame.
  • This applies to basically all of his fellow Avengers, but it's especially prominent with Thor, the other paragon from another time and place. Nearly every climactic showdown features at least one bit that highlights their camaraderie and teamwork. Examples include using Mjölnir to launch the shield an even greater distance in Age of Ultron, complimenting each other's hair mid-fight in Infinity War, and Cap wielding Mjölnir in the final battle of Endgame as Thor cheers.
• Battle Couple: He and Peggy Carter fell in love while working together in taking down HYDRA.
• Beardness Protection Program: Grows a beard after the events of Civil War. Justified, as being on the run from the U.S. government probably hasn't given Cap a whole lot of time to keep his face cleanly shaven.
• Beard of Sorrow: Inverted in Endgame, where he shaves the beard he grew while in hiding, as he has bigger problems than keeping his face hidden.
• Because You Were Nice to Me: Deconstructed. The reason behind Steve's strong devotion to Bucky is because the latter was always there for him, especially in the hardest times. However, it's because of this that Steve also has Undying Loyalty towards his friend... which proves to be a Fatal Flaw for him.
• Beware the Nice Ones: He's one of the nicest, sweetest guys in the world, but may God help you if you decide to hurt innocents.
  Tony: I don't trust a guy without a dark side. Call me old-fashioned.
  Steve: Well, let's just say you haven't seen it yet.
• Big Brother Instinct: Steve is incredibly protective of his teammates, and will come to their aid regardless of the danger he is running into.
• Big Brother Mentor: The beginning of Captain America: Civil War shows him guiding Wanda through the process of staking out an area as they wait for the bad guys to show up. Later, when the mission goes awry and results in civilian deaths, Steve takes the time to console her over her role in the disaster.
• Big Good: Although he's far from the most powerful hero, Steve has proven to be principled to the point of being incorruptible, and serves as the leader of the Avengers thanks to his charisma, experience, and strategic prowess. This status all but became official following Winter Soldier, which saw even Nick Fury deferring to Cap's orders and led the Avengers to become the world's most important heroic organization following S.H.I.E.L.D.'s fall. It's only due to the Sokovia Accords that his authority is seriously questioned. Even in Wakanda and after years of being separated, it's Steve who's issuing orders to his fellow Avengers and leading the (futile) charge against Thanos. In Endgame, he is able to wield Mjölnir, exemplifying his purity and nobility.
• Birds of a Feather: Bird puns aside, he and Sam click almost immediately because of their common ground as returning war veterans, with Sam bringing up how something as mundane as a soft bed now seems foreign to them both. The similarities only deepen when Sam starts talking about Riley. However briefly, Steve also took up Sam's occupation as a therapist, helping people move on from traumatic experiences, which highlights their strong moral cores and determination to do right by the people they're saving. It's for this reason that Steve asks Sam to take up the shield in Endgame.
• Birth-Death Juxtaposition: In the MCU version of his origin story, Steve is born shortly after his father dies in combat and is raised solely by his mother.
• Black-and-White Morality: As always, he has a pretty firm moral code, which causes problems for him, as the world he wakes up to only believes in grey. This is also what makes him a Spanner in the Works to plotters and conspirators — in a world where everyone moves in curves, he travels in a straight line.
• Blessed with Suck: His metabolism is four times faster than the average human, so he Never Gets Drunk. This means he can't drown his sorrows in the bottle when Bucky "dies" in The First Avenger. This probably also means that he's not cheap to feed.
• Blood Knight: Downplayed, but present. He doesn't like killing anyone, but he's become dependent on having an enemy to fight. Rogers fears being a super soldier in a world that no longer needs soldiers: being a soldier is the only thing he has left.
  • In The First Avenger, pre-serum Steve keeps taking on bullies even though he's no physical match for them. Bucky even asks if he likes getting smacked into the pavement over and over again.
  • In The Winter Soldier, Steve admits to Sam that he doesn't know what makes him happy, but the parts when he's the happiest are when he's in the field leaping out of planes and beating up bad guys. Even Black Widow notes that when he learns HYDRA has survived to the modern day, he doesn't seem outraged or disillusioned.
    Natasha: Well you seem pretty chipper for someone who just found out they died for nothing.
    Steve: Well... guess I just like to know who I'm fighting.
  • In Age of Ultron, Ultron accuses Steve of lying to himself that he still matters without a war. Tony also keeps from telling Steve about his plan to automate world peace with Ultron because he knows Steve will object to disbanding the Avengers. Sure enough, when Scarlet Witch shows Steve a vision of his worst fear... it's a swinging '40s dance hall, with the war over and everyone celebrating, except him. Even dancing with Peggy can't cheer him up; he sees death and wounded soldiers everywhere. Towards the end of the film he admits to Tony that he probably once wanted a family, a home, and peace, but the man who wanted that was frozen more than 70 years ago and now he's Married to the Job.
  • In Captain America: Civil War, he's even asked by Natasha when she confronts him if he's "going to punch his way out" from the Accords, which more or less sums up his actions after that point. Spider-Man later lampshades it when they cross blows.
    Captain America: Did Stark tell you anything else?
    Spider-Man: That you're wrong. You think you're right. That makes you dangerous.
    [Spidey moves in to attack, but Cap kicks him into a gangway's leg]
    Captain America: Guess he has a point.
  • Indeed, his final outings in Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame goes to great lengths to show how his continued fighting is finally wearing him down psychologically, and it was only his defeat from Thanos (plus losing Bucky and Sam to the Snap) that makes him refocus on the small things (such as helping people move on with their lives). When the forces of the Avengers finally win their climactic battle with Thanos's army, he takes the first chance he gets to travel back to the 1940s and finally settle with Peggy.
• Blue Is Heroic: While his costumes◊ have red and white elements and the one in Infinity War is black, blue is his signature color.
• Boisterous Weakling: Before he gets the super soldier serum. Even as a 98-pound weakling, Steve never backs down from bullies...with predictable results. This is portrayed in a positive light, as courage and selflessness: Steve is well aware of how weak he is, and yet he's willing to stand up to tough odds for what he believes is right, rather than some delusional loudmouth who overestimates his strength. It's these qualities that get him picked for the serum.
• Boobs-and-Butt Pose: His official poster for Infinity War is a Rare Male Example. His best friend Bucky Barnes got a similar poster as well.
• Broken Pedestal: To Tony in Captain America: Civil War after revealing he knew about Bucky killing Howard and Maria Stark.
• Brooklyn Rage: While he's not bad-tempered or violent, Steve still has the absolute determination and utter refusal to turn down a challenge that goes with this trope. "If you start running, they'll never let you stop."
• Brought to You by the Letter "S": He always has the letter A on the front of the helmet of his every costume, which obviously stands for America.
• Bully Hunter: "I don't like bullies. I don't care where they're from."
• Cain and Abel: It's implied that this is one of the major reasons he and Tony Stark have so much tension in the movies. Although they're not directly related, the fact that Howard and Steve were friends essentially made Steve a part of the Stark family, and for Tony, being compared to Cap and stuck in his shadow during his childhood doesn't sit well with him, and it's one of the main reasons why they butt heads at every turn. In fact, their original argument in the first ''Avengers'' film essentially comes down to comparing them both to Howard. It comes to a head in Captain America: Civil War, as Zemo revealing Howard's true death causes Tony to attack Steve, dividing the two of them, and the Avengers as a result.
• Canon Character All Along: Maybe. If the writers' interpretation of his final scene with Peggy is correct, then he was the mystery husband referenced by Peggy in Captain America: The Winter Soldier. If the directors' interpretation is correct, then he isn't.
• The Cape: Initially invoked for the USO show and after the timeskip he wonders if this sort of hero is old-fashioned. Regardless, he's a great example of the honest and noble hero fighting For Great Justice.
• The Captain: He is the de facto leader of the Avengers, and Phillips refers to him as "Captain Rogers" in his letter to the Senator, so it's safe to assume he really does hold the rank, despite never having any formal officer training or education. Besides, after everything that he has been through, not to mention having led the Avengers through all of those things (and lived to tell the tale), Steve has more than earned it.
• Captain Geographic: Take a wild guess.^note What? No! Not Puerto Rico and Liberia!
• Captain Obvious: In The Avengers, he remarks that helicarrier equipment "runs on some form of electricity".
• Captain Patriotic: At first, the USO shuffles Steve into this role as a mascot for War Bonds sales, but he soon becomes the real thing after he "borrows" some military equipment and sneaks into a HYDRA prison camp to single-handedly free Bucky and other Allied troops.
• Captain Superhero: Aside from his title, "Captain" is also his military rank in World War II.
• Cassandra Truth: Subtle, but in The Avengers, Steve is the first to pinpoint both a) Loki's plan to divide and conquer the group and b) the scepter's connection to the Tesseract (noting it reminds him of HYDRA weaponry, which was derived from exactly that). He's dismissed amid the group's squabbling.
• Casual High Drop: Thanks to his Super-Toughness, he can survive falls and jumps that would kill anyone else.
• Celebrity Paradox: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles was referenced in an episode of Ms. Marvel. Chris Evans voiced Casey Jones in the 2007 TMNT film.
• Celebrity Superhero: He was highly marketed and merchandized by the US military before he even officially joined the war or did anything heroic. After his presumed death, he became a well-known superhero, so when he was defrosted from ice, everybody recognizes him. He even has his own set of trading cards and a museum dedicated to his history.
• Celibate Hero: During Winter Soldier, when Natasha tries to get him a date, again, he insists that he's "too busy" for a relationship. Civil War teases that he might not be too busy for Sharon Carter, but the films don't explore their relationship greatly. He definitely isn't this after the events of Avengers: Endgame, given that he married Peggy after time-travelling back to the '40s to be with her.
  • After repeated badgering from She-Hulk, Hulk indicates that Steve lost his virginity on a USO tour in '43.
• The Chains of Commanding: Not only does Steve have to adapt to a world where everything he knows is 70 years gone or dead, but has to get a Norse god, an egotistical genius who's jealous of the relationship between Cap and his father, and a scientist with... anger issues to work together as something resembling a team alongside two hard-nosed assassins, while earning all of their respect... and he succeeds.
• Character Catchphrase: "I can do this all day." Normally said after taking a beating and getting back up for another round.
• Character Development:
  • As the movies go on, Steve's uptight nature and goody-two-shoes naivety begin to change as Cap spends more time with characters like Iron Man and Black Widow, and he eventually becomes more comfortable with the modern day and what life is like in the present, in addition to becoming much more willing to commit morally grey actions in service to the mission. This is best seen when he confronts a past version of himself in Avengers: Endgame where he chafes over his past self's use of his catchphrase and uses dirty tactics to get away.
  • In Age of Ultron, Steve is repeatedly mocked by the others for calling Tony out on saying "Shit!" Come Avengers: Endgame, Steve now openly curses, using phrases such as "Let's go get this son of a bitch" before confronting Thanos and "You've gotta be shitting me" when he's left with no other option but to fight his past self during the Time Heist.
  • Another one is that various films, particularly Age of Ultron have characters bring up the possibility that Steve can't or refuses to move on from his life as a soldier. He even admits to Sam and Tony on different occasions that he felt that he's Married to the Job and can't bring himself to leave peacefully. By the time of Endgame, Steve chooses to live out the rest of his life with Peggy and pass the mantle on to Sam. It shows that he has finally brought himself to move on from a lifetime of heroics and fighting.
  • Ultimately, Steve's character development has to do with his change from trusting organizations and authority figures early on when he was desperate to join the army to his reliance on individuals he can trust to have high moral standings, so he rejects the Sokovia Accords and ultimately passes the shield to Sam (who left service so he could help others recover) rather than Bucky (who is still struggling after becoming a brainwashed tool of the worst kind of authoritarians).
• Chest Insignia: A white star, of course.
• Chick Magnet: Post-procedure Steve was able to catch the attention of a foxy secretary and a starstruck blond due to a combination of his stage celebrity, Greek God physique, courage, and Nice Guy attitude. Interestingly enough, Peggy was the only woman who was even slightly interested in him in any sense of the word before he got the hot body. This leads to an amusing moment where Bucky points out that he used to be the chick magnet while Steve was the one who had trouble getting girls to notice him, and that it's the other way around now that Steve is a Super-Soldier.
• Chronic Hero Syndrome: He is physically incapable of ignoring bullies and has been since he was a 90-pound asthmatic. After becoming a super soldier and waking up seventy years into the future, his lack of a life outside being an Avenger becomes a running theme. It's all but stated outright that Peggy Carter did not fall in love with Captain America, nor did Bucky agree to follow him. Both of them owe their Undying Loyalty to the scrawny Determinator who never ran from a fight, even if he couldn't possibly win. Lampshaded in this exchange.
  Steve: If I see a situation pointed south, I can't ignore it. Sometimes I wish I could.
  Tony: No, you don't.
  Steve: ...No, I don't.
• Combat Parkour: He performs numerous acrobatics while fighting.
• Combat Pragmatist: While Steve's weapon of choice is his shield and fists, he has no qualms with using a gun when needed, on top of other improvised weaponry.
• The Comically Serious: He's not trying to be funny about his pop cultural ignorance and that's why it's funny.
• Comic-Book Movies Don't Use Codenames: Played with. During World War II, "Captain America" is just his stage persona. On-duty he's simply Capt. Steve Rogers, US Army. However, after his disappearance, comics using the name "Captain America" start being published. This is the identity that gets passed down to the younger generations (like Phil Coulson), so it sticks when he returns.
• Composite Character:
  • Since he forms the Howling Commandos in The First Avenger, he serves as the MCU's counterpart to the original Nick Fury from World War II.
  • This version mixes his 616 and Ultimate counterparts together, basically having The Paragon/Nice Guy/The Cape values of the former with Adaptational Badass unambiguously Super-Soldier prowess of the latter, not to mention the costume that he used during the war.
• Cool Helmet: As part of his military-style clothes, Steve wears a form-fitting helmet recognizable by a big "A" on the forehead and winged insignia on the side. It also doubles as a Cool Mask since it covers the forehead and part of the cheeks, only letting Steve's jaw and nose in full view.
• Cool Old Guy: After deciding to go back to the past to be with Peggy and taking The Slow Path at the end of Endgame.
• Covert Pervert:
  • He's grabbed into a forceful kiss by a secretary, and while initially startled by the suddenness, isn't unhappy that it happened. He also immediately assumes that a French word ("Fondue") he's never heard before has something to do with sex. Though do cut the kid some slack; before becoming Mr. Muscles, Steve was invisible to and intimidated by women, and that kiss the secretary gave him is more than likely his first.
  • Years later, Black Widow kisses Steve as they're dissuading a search party. He says something with a slight implication that he really enjoyed the deal. When she points out that a scar on her stomach means "Bye-bye bikinis", he sarcastically says that she probably looks terrible in them now.
• Cultured Badass: Not only is Steve strong and tough, but he's also a great motorcyclist, draws great sketches, and speaks French. His upbringing having been in the '40s has also led him to collect music and clothing from that period, giving him a nice vintage feel. However, he can't dance.
• Cunning Linguist: He speaks his native English, as well as fluent French, which he used to communicate with Georges Batroc.
• Curb Stomp Cushion: Out of all the heroes who were trying to slow Thanos down so that Wanda can destroy the Mind Stone, Cap's the one who gives him the most trouble and the only one who managed to actually deal some damage, even if it was only minor. While Thanos ends up knocking him out with one punch, even the Mad Titan couldn't help but be impressed by his tenacity.
• Cursed with Awesome: His fast metabolism allows him to drink Thor's Asgardian mead with no issues, unlike muggles who become stupor-drunk after one sip.
• Cutting the Knot:
  • Part of what makes him Captain America is that he's not just strong enough to win every fight, he's smart enough to know when he doesn't have to.
  • Even before he's been accepted for Erskine's super-soldier program, a sergeant on his military base leads the recruits to a flag pole and tells them that anyone who can hand him the flag from the top of the pole gets a ride back to base. All the other recruits try and fail to climb it, while Steve just waits until they're done, pulls the pin out so the flag pole falls down, and hands the sergeant the flag.
  • He does this twice in quick succession in Endgame. When time-traveling back to the Battle of New York, he finds himself once again in an elevator with Brock Rumlow, Jack Rollins, Jasper Sitwell, and a bunch of assorted HYDRA operatives, and is trying to convince them to give him Loki's scepter. Rather than trying to fight them all for the Scepter again, he just whispers "Hail HYDRA" to a shocked Rumlow, and then walks out of the elevator with Loki's scepter. A few minutes later, he gets in a brawl with his past self that ends in a chokehold. Rather than trying to fight him further, Present Steve just whispers "Bucky is alive" to his past self, which shocks him enough for Present Steve to sucker-punch him.

D-H

• Dad's Off Fighting in the War: The MCU version of Steve's origin story has his dad die in combat shortly before he's born.
• Dance Battler: Chris Evans's mother is a theater director and taught him dance early on. The fight choreographers used this to help him with his moves. It's also why he does most of his own stunts — his dance training makes him move differently than others, so it's difficult to replicate how he does it.
• Deadpan Snarker: He's not above dry, ironic wit, and he's also one of the few characters in the MCU who can snark and be completely sincere about what he says at the same time.
  • The Avengers (2012):
    Captain America: [staring helplessly at a panel of circuits] It seems to run on some form of electricity!
  • Captain America: The Winter Soldier, when he realizes that a gang of S.H.I.E.L.D. agents is about to assault him in an elevator:
    Captain America: Before we get started, does anyone want to get out?
  • Captain America: The Winter Soldier again, after being told by Brock Rumlow that the attempt to detain Cap is "nothing personal":
    Captain America: [surrounded by the bodies of agents whose asses he kicked single-handedly] ...It kind of feels personal.
    • In the same movie, his repeated "on your left" to Sam at the beginning shows that while he's not Tony, he's definitely capable of playing The Gadfly on occasion.
• Defiant to the End: Thor and Iron Man are incapacitated, and while Steve has the power of Mjölnir on his side, his shield is half-broken and barely functional, and Thanos has summoned his entire army to make landfall on the Earth. So, what does he do? He stares the Mad Titan in the eye, fastens what's left of his shield to his arm, and prepares to go down swinging. Thankfully, The Cavalry arrives not a moment too soon. When he says, "I don't like bullies, I don't care where they're from," he means it.
• Delicate and Sickly: Before the serum, he had a Long List of medical problems, any of which would have kept him out of the army under normal circumstances. Noteworthy is that he grew up during The Great Depression, when having health conditions like stomach ulcers and irregular heartbeat while you had no guarantee of finding work to pay for treatment were effectively a death sentence. On top of that, effective let alone affordable treatments for many of those ailments hadn't been invented yet.^note Though penicillin was invented decades before, during the war it was still so rare that if both Churchill and Roosevelt had been dying for lack of it, only one could have been treated.
• Determinator: His signature trait — he doesn't give up. Ever. "I can do this all day" is a catchphrase of his that shows up in multiple films, usually while he is being soundly beaten but refusing to quit. It's what makes him Captain America. All in all, if innocent lives are at stake, Cap won't stop fighting as long as he's conscious.
  • He's shown this trait since his first appearances. While receiving the supersoldier serum, everyone else (Peggy, Erskine, Stark) is trying to shut down the infusion as he screams in pain, but he demands they continue. "I can do this!"
  • He even displays this trait in non-physical contexts, such as in The Winter Soldier, when he is clearly uncomfortable fighting Bucky, but doesn't let himself give in and wills himself to battle his friend for the greater good.
• Deuteragonist: Out of the MCU as a whole. Just like Tony Stark and Thor, Steve Rogers gets his own set of movies and is the de facto leader of the Avengers. However, Chris Evans doesn't get quite as much screentime and focus as RDJ. There is an argument to be made that Cap briefly shifted to the Protagonist role, but that was mainly for the events of Civil War. Afterwards, the focus shifts to Tony again, and he is the one to ultimately kill Thanos to complete his arc.
• Disappeared Dad: His father was killed in action during World War I before Steve was born.
• Distracted by My Own Sexy: A weird one in Endgame: Tony and Scott discuss the uniform on Steve's 2012 self not emphasizing his ass more, with Scott calling it "America's Ass". Steve then encounters his 2012 self and, after knocking him out of action, agrees with Scott.
  [Looking at his 2012 self face-down on the floor]
  Rogers: ...That is America's Ass.
• Do Not Go Gentle/Face Death with Dignity: With most of his allies incapacitated or trapped under the rubble and Thanos' army closing in, you'd think that he'd give up and just die. No.
• Dork Knight: Both absolutely noble and heroic and a huge puppy-dog of a man. Even post-defrosting (when he's obviously had a tough time coping with the modern day and the personal tragedies he suffered getting there), he's at all times earnest, humble, kind-hearted, and devoted to defending the innocent.
• The Dreaded: To any of his enemies familiar with his reputation. Even one highly trained S.H.I.E.L.D. agent was sweating in fear when attempting to detain him in Winter Soldier.
• Drowning My Sorrows: He tries it after Bucky is killed, but because of his accelerated metabolism he finds he's unable to get drunk.
• Dual Wielding:
  • Cap uses two smaller shields during the battle of Wakanda in Infinity War.
  • In Endgame, Captain America dual wields two of the most remarkable hand weapons of the Marvel Cinematic Universe — his iconic vibranium shield, and none other than Mjölnir. The awesome combinations of these two weapons allows him to stand up to Thanos for a time, using everything he knows about the hammer and shield to fight Thanos for as long as possible.
• Due to the Dead: He helps bury Peggy Carter after she dies in her sleep.
• Earn Your Happy Ending: Boy did he. After winning World War II against Hydra, being frozen for 70 years, spending the next decade fighting, fighting off Thanos' invasion, losing, seeing half of all life in the universe perish, fighting some more, facing Thanos again and winning this time, he finally takes his one and only chance to go back in time to live his life with Peggy - i.e. what he intended to do back then, at the end of The First Avenger.
  Steve: Well, after I put the stones back, I thought... Maybe I'd try some of that life Tony was telling me to get.
  Sam: And how'd that work out for you?
  Steve: ...It was beautiful.
• Endearingly Dorky:
  • Even after receiving the Super Soldier serum, he's so dorky, he has no idea how to spread propaganda, even for a cause he believes in.
  • See also: "fonduing".
    Howard Stark: Fondue is just cheese and bread, my friend.
  • The obvious joy he has in The Avengers when he finally gets a pop culture reference to The Wizard of Oz demonstrates this as well — he's just so honestly happy to finally get what people are talking about.
  • Despite the fact that he's quite popular with the ladies after his transformation, he barely knows how to respond to the attention and still gets tongue-tied around his one true love, Peggy Carter.
• Establishing Character Moment:
  • Calls out a jerk at the movie theater who is disrespecting America's military and ends up in a fight he's horribly outmatched in, yet Steve never quits or begs for mercy. Later there's also Erskine's Secret Test of Character where he asks him if he wants to kill Nazis. Steve responds that he doesn't want to kill anyone, but he can't just stand by and do nothing.
    Steve: I don't like bullies. I don't care where they're from.
  • Even before that, he's asked by a guy next to him in the enlistment line if all the horror stories from overseas make him think twice about joining the Army. Without skipping a beat, he answers "Nope", showing his innate courage.
  • Before the super soldier experiment is performed, Erskine and Col. Phillips are evaluating the platoon of recruits to see who might be the best candidate. Phillips tosses a grenade on the ground near the platoon; everyone else runs for cover while scrawny Steve jumps on top of the grenade to take the brunt of the blast, yelling at everyone to get away. Turns out the grenade was a dummy, but Steve had no way of knowing that.
• Even the Guys Want Him: General Ho Yay magnetism aside:
  • The interactions between Steve and Bucky at the Whip & Fiddle pub in Captain America: The First Avenger are heavy with Homoerotic Subtext due to the Suspiciously Apropos Music in the background about a woman whose lover/crush left her for another. The way the characters are deliberately lined up with the song lyrics results in a strong implication that Bucky harbors a one-sided crush on Steve.
  • In Agent Carter, Howard Stark tells Peggy: "I knew how much Steve meant to you, because I know how much he means to me." Basically equating himself with Steve's canon love interest.
  • During Civil War, Scott not only shakes his hand for an inordinate amount of time, but once he stops, he squishes Cap's arms with an appreciative "wow", reminiscent of Peggy's reaction after first seeing the results of the super-soldier treatment.
  • In Endgame, the first thing that Tony and Scott discuss upon seeing Steve's 2012 self is the fact that his uniform does not accentuate his ass more (with Scott even referring to it as "America's Ass"). Even Steve himself agrees ("That is America's Ass").
  • While Phil Coulson's interest in Steve Rogers already verged on a bit of a Stalker with a Crush, What If…? (2021) reveals that Coulson's password is #SteveSteveSteveIHeartSteve0704, which implies he really does have a crush on him.
• Expository Hairstyle Change: Sports a more modern haircut by The Winter Soldier, showing that he is beginning to adapt to the 21st Century.
• Fake Ultimate Hero: At first, after Steve takes the serum, he's paraded about as a hero on stage and in film. Then he becomes the mask.
• Fatal Flaw:
  • His Martyr Without a Cause tendencies, to the point that he neglects the possibility of another option that protects both him and others. This is highlighted in The Avengers, when he calls Tony out for not being the kind of person who would lay down on a wire and let other people crawl over him and Tony quickly points out that he could simply cut the wire. Cap's response (accusing Tony of always having a way out) implies that this would never have occurred to him, despite being a valid option.
  • Being Married to the Job is highlighted in The Winter Soldier and directly called out in Age of Ultron. After 70 years on ice, losing everything he cared about and waking up in a world that no longer fits his ideals, Steve can only define himself through conflict and would be lost without it.
  • His Undying Loyalty to Bucky. A major part of the reason the conflict in Civil War escalates to such extreme levels is because he refuses to give up on his old pal. Chris Evans has even said Steve is somewhat biased and selfish when it comes to matters involving Bucky.
• A Father to His Men: He holds the rank of Captain and is one of the co-leaders of the Avengers who cares for his comrades. In Civil War, after the anti-Accords Avengers who helped Rogers and Barnes escape get imprisoned in the Raft for their loyalty to him, Steve returns the favor at the end by breaking them out. The knowing smile on Sam's face says he didn't expect anything less.
• Female Gaze: In The First Avenger, there are some very nice shots of his bare chest post-serum, and Peggy Carter reaching out to touch it was not scripted. In The Avengers and The Winter Soldier, there are several shots of his rear.
• Fights Like a Normal: Captain America is easily confused for a Badass Normal, but he isn't — given that he has a super serum that gives him the ability to be at the peak of human condition.
• Fire-Forged Friends: With both The Avengers and his friends from the war, especially Tony Stark.
• First Girl Wins: Thanks to time travel, he finally gets the girl, and lives a long life with her.
• First Love: To Peggy Carter, who eventually moved on while he was frozen and married someone else in the prime timeline, at least.
• Fish out of Temporal Water: Since being defrosted by S.H.I.E.L.D., he was lost in a world he no longer knew. America had changed; though technology had greatly advanced, humane morals were constantly being compromised in favor of political expediency. To make matters worse, most of the people he loved from his past were gone, or greatly aged. Even while working with S.H.I.E.L.D. and the Avengers, he still had no real life outside of being a soldier. He didn't know how to belong and strives to uphold his code of honor in this new complicated world. Although he eventually reunited with both Peggy and Bucky, he was still a "man out of time". However, after the battle against Ultron, he finally realized that he was no longer the man he was before he was frozen. Hence, he decided to focus his life on just helping people, taking a permanent role as the leader of the second incarnation of the Avengers.
• Flaw Exploitation: Zemo and, to a much lesser extent, Rumlow use his devotion to Bucky to manipulate him. He later uses this particular weakness to take down his past self in Endgame. After he gets put in a chokehold, he tells his past self that Bucky is alive which causes him to stop the chokehold and drop his guard. Cap then the opportunity to defeat his past self by punching him and knocking him out with the Scepter.
• Foil:
  • To Tony Stark. Steve's an old-fashioned idealist who grew up poor and sickly, while Tony's a tech-savvy pragmatist who grew up in absurd wealth. For example, while both are shown to be dolls of the public (featured at big show events complete with dancing girls), Steve is visibly uncomfortable with the spotlight and would rather be on the front lines whereas Tony eats up the attention.
    • Steve and Tony serve as major foils to one another in their Character Development as well. Tony starts as an arrogant loner Ace, Steve starts as a desperate joiner loser. Tony's journey is a response to his guilt over not being able to save everyone by himself and his desire to join and build organizations so he can offload his responsibility. Steve's journey is to respond to disappointment and betrayal by trying to take apart organizations and build up individuals so that no organization can usurp power in his name.
  • To Natasha Romanoff. She lies for a living and he can't tell a lie to save his life, but their partnership in The Winter Soldier shows that they're still both agents with issues adjusting to their current lives.
  • Also to Thor, showcased in each of their premiere films. Steve Rogers is a frail but fearless weakling born into poverty, whose strong altruistic streak compels him to fight for what's right. Thor is a Boisterous Bruiser and Physical God designated to rule a powerful, cosmic kingdom, and is mainly motivated by ego, glory-seeking, and not a few Blood Knight tendencies. Rogers, by virtue of his humility, is gifted with great power, but Thor is stripped of his and must achieve humility and a self-sacrificing nature before he can regain his birthright of power and finally be recognized as a truly worthy inheritor of the throne.
• Folk Hero: Steve is this in the Marvel universe; he's a Living Legend with his own merchandise and even trading cards (as Coulson can attest). He seems taken aback by their existence in modern times and tours a Captain America exhibit at the Smithsonian while soul searching in The Winter Soldier.
• Form-Fitting Wardrobe: With the exception of his old-fashioned costume-uniform in The Avengers, all his modern day clothes hug his body very tightly. Lampshaded by Loki who briefly impersonates him in Thor: The Dark World:
  Loki-as-Steve: Costume's a bit much, it's so tight! But the confidence! I can feel the righteousness surging!
• From Zero to Hero: Steve starts off as a scrawny, weak kid from Brooklyn with poor health, but he really wants to be a soldier. Then, a doctor sees something in him and puts him through the Super Soldier program, giving him superhuman fitness. Donning a suit and a shield, he ends up defeating a lot of Nazis and saving even more people.
• The Gadfly: Underneath the seemingly strait-laced old soldier is a good-hearted guy who enjoys messing with others on occasion. Just ask Sam Wilson. "On your left!"
  Ultron: You'll neve-
  [Steve hits the Ultron sentry with the shield, then summons it back with his gauntlet. The sentry flies off the cliff]
  Steve: Never what?! YOU DIDN'T FINISH!
  • How does he get Loki's scepter away from several HYDRA agents during Endgame? By pretending to be a HYDRA agent himself!
• Genius Bruiser: Steve has intelligence to complement his physical ability. He's an excellent tactician, learns quickly, and in one case is instantly able to determine that he is being deceived by picking out a distinct moment of a baseball game that he had attended within seconds. His artistic skills come into play as well, as he's able to memorize all of HYDRA's bases on a map of Europe after a glimpse. Later on, when he discovers the Winter Soldier's identity, he quickly deduces that whatever Zola did to Bucky helped him survive his fall. His knowledge of NYC also lets him use side streets and shortcuts to catch up with Kruger who's in a speeding vehicle — while he's on foot — and immediately come up with a plan to contain the invading Chitauri in The Avengers ("captain" is in fact his U.S. Army rank, so presumably he did have to learn small-unit tactics).
• Genocide Survivor: He's one of the main characters to survive the Snap in Infinity War which fills him with guilt and shame as he was one of the people trying to stop it and he lost Sam, Bucky, and several other Avengers to it.
• Gentle Giant: Post-lab procedure, he's a tall, muscled, teddy bear of a man.
• The Good Captain: Gentle, heroic, and yes, he does hold the rank.
• Good Is Not Dumb: Despite being an idealist in a Grey-and-Gray Morality world, he's not naïve. He knows when to not trust certain people, and he can spot an ambush coming a mile away.
• Good Is Not Soft: A nice and sweet man, who over two movies, has shot, stabbed, and exploded villains, thrown bad guys out of airborne aircraft, set them on fire, and hacked opponents' arms off.
• Good Is Old-Fashioned: But not obsolete, as Coulson points out in The Avengers. In an often cynical world, Captain America is the incarnation of Greatest Generation, the idealized men and woman who won WWII, essentially the Goodest of the Good. His antiquated mannerisms only reinforce this, giving Steve a higher moral authority than anyone else. After the attack in New York, when people are fearmongering and pointing fingers, a common citizen says on TV that all she knows is that Captain America saved her life. That's good enough to reassure her everything will be alright. When Steve goes on air to expose HYDRA as having taken over S.H.I.E.L.D., with nothing but his own words to back him up, the loyal S.H.I.E.L.D. agents all side with him.
• Good Old Fisticuffs: When the time comes, Steve has no problem pounding away with his fists.
• Gosh Dang It to Heck!: Steve is the kind of person who swears when he needs to, and doesn't when he doesn't. He's not above using "damn" and "hell" to emphasize a point, but he conserves his usage of stronger language for when he really means it, and if he can get away with saying "Son of a gun" instead of "Son of a bitch," he will. This is delightfully played in Age of Ultron when he tells off Tony for shouting "Shit" in combat like a sweet-old schoolteacher ("Language!"). Afterwards, Tony just won't stop reminding everyone how dorky Steve is for refusing to use bad-language, but Steve later shows that if he feels the need to call someone a "son of a bitch," he'll do that, too.^note And get an earful from Nick Fury, of all people, about it.
• Grappling-Hook Pistol: Has one in his utility belt that he uses in Civil War to stop Tony from pursuing an escaping Bucky in the final fight.
• Guile Hero: Downplayed, but he's quite clever and isn't above using trickery when the situation demands it. It's at its most obvious in Endgame, in which he plays a group of HYDRA infiltrators for fools, uses a well-aimed Wham Line to distract his 2012 self and win their Mirror Match, and gets Dr. Pym out of his lab to smuggle some Pym Particles with what is basically a crank call.
• Guys Smash, Girls Shoot: Peggy is quite the crack shot while Steve prefers to use only his shield when in combat. The only exception to this being his war days, where he was armed with an M1911 most of the time, and during the helicarrier fight in The Avengers (2012) he picks up an AR-15 to use.
• Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: He fits this trope much better than 99% of all live-action blond-haired film protagonists. Steve is honestly noble, pure, selfless, and heroic; not to mention a total teddy-bear and sweetheart.
• Happily Married: To Peggy Carter in an alternate timeline, for many years after using the Pym particles in Endgame. It's implied that he only returned to the Prime timeline after he became a widower in 2016.
• Healing Factor: The Super-Soldier Serum granted his physiology an accelerated rate of healing and regeneration. Rogers is immune to earthly infections, diseases, and disorders; he also cannot become intoxicated by alcohol, drugs, toxins, or impurities, thus he can't get drunk like his friends. His metabolic rate is able to withstand the consumption of Asgardian ale which was aged for a millennium in the barrels built from the wreck of Grunhel's fleet and deemed by Thor to not be intended for mortal men to drink. He's capable of healing large cuts and bruises within hours and fatal gunshot wounds and fractures within several days. He was able to regenerate from being shot by a Chitauri gun directly in the abdomen in a matter of minutes. His injuries can heal rapidly without leaving a trace of injury. He's able to regain consciousness in a short amount of time after nearly dying.
• The Heart: On the Avengers.
  Captain America: We have to put that behind us and get this done.
• Heartbroken Badass: Captain Rogers was willing to start a literal civil war between heroes for Sergeant Barnes, his best friend, gazes on in horror in Infinity War as Thanos's Gauntlet-powered fingersnap causes him to disintegrate. Now truly the last relic to remain from an age of fading, forgotten glories, the star-spangled warrior who gave everything to save the world crumbles into an emotionally hollow husk, so broken he could not even shed tears, much less weep for the beloved brother who was always with him since boyhood. When given the chance to set things right, he and Natasha have this exchange:
  Natasha: This is gonna work, Steve.
  Steve: I know it is. Because I don't know what I'm gonna do if it doesn't.
• Helmets Are Hardly Heroic:
  • Averted in the first movie; Steve spends a fair amount of time wearing his helmet. Played straight in The Winter Soldier: he doesn't wear his stealth suit's helmet for long and then he spends most of the movie on the run in civilian clothes. He does don his World War II gear at the film's climax but still doesn't hold onto the helmet for the entire time.
  • The double he meets in 2012 wears his helmet during the entire brawl, most likely because the producers didn't want to confuse viewers as to who was who (and also to save on CGI for having to double-up Chris Evans' face).
• The Hero: A staple of the character. Of all the MCU protagonists introduced so far, Cap is the best example of the standard heroic archetype. The others are diverse anti-heroes.
• Heroic BSoD:
  • Hits one hard when he figures out that the figure he had been fighting, the Winter Soldier, is Bucky Barnes. He completely shuts down and allows himself to be caught.
  • He has another when Scarlet Witch uses her Mind Rape powers to incapacitate him that he has a nightmare that he's a living weapon made for war and does not know what to do next when the fighting stops, leading him (and Thor and Black Widow, who also had fallen victim) to go into a temporary catatonic state until he soon recovers the night later.
  • He has yet another one in Infinity War just after Thanos snaps his fingers and wipes out half the universe. He has to endure watching his best friend being reduced to dust right in front of him, along with most of his other friends, before finding Vision's broken body. As War Machine and the remaining Avengers all gather around him, looking to him for guidance, and all he can muster is a completely devastated and heartbroken "Oh God."
• Heroic Build: Thanks to the Super Serum.
• Heroic Sacrifice: A Late-Arrival Spoiler if you see The Avengers, but he pilots Red Skull's ailing HYDRA jet to crash somewhere in the Arctic Circle in order to avert a catastrophe on the coast of the United States.
• Hero with Bad Publicity: He's branded a traitor in The Winter Soldier, forcing him to go on the run. It's subverted in the end when he reveals that HYDRA is back, when he is instantly believed by the public. He comes back to this again in Civil War, due to his determination to protect Bucky from the world that's still pursuing him from the decades of terrorism he committed during his time as the Winter Soldier as well as refusing to outright sign the Accords which would heavily regulate how the Avengers operates. By the time of Endgame, however, Steve isn't a wanted criminal anymore, seeing as he even holds regular therapy sessions with the other survivors of Thanos' Snap and eats at a diner with Nat and Bruce without anyone arresting him.
• Heterosexual Life-Partners:
  • With Bucky Barnes. Pre-serum, Bucky used to defend Steve from bullies; post-serum, Steve breaks into Nazi strongholds to rescue him. Really exemplified in The Winter Soldier, after learning that the eponymous character is his best friend.
    Captain: Even when I had nothing — I had Bucky.
  • He also quickly becomes this with Sam Wilson, who notes on two occasions that he's unsure why people are asking for his input on the situation at hand, since he's just going to side with Cap. It helps that they're both shell-shocked veterans who share the mutual trauma of losing a close friend on the battlefield.
• Hidden Depths:
  • It's only shown once (twice if you count deleted scenes), but Steve's an excellent artist, and both scenes of him drawing while brooding are post-serum — he didn't lose his taste for softer pleasures afterward. Supplementary materials confirm he attended art school. Later in The Winter Soldier, he even claims he was part of a barbershop quartet.
  • The fact that he can date a particular baseball game he went to after only hearing a few snippets of the play-by-play also suggests he's a huge baseball fan. Since he grew up in the 1920s and 1930s, his home team would have been the Brooklyn Dodgers, who have since moved to Los Angeles. In Age of Ultron, he says his teammates are "not the '27 Yankees," referring to what is considered one of the best teams in the history of Major League Baseball.
  • As of The Winter Soldier, he apparently speaks French. Maybe he wanted to know what "fondue" means? He can also hotwire a car (both useful skills behind the lines in Nazi Germany and occupied Europe).
• Hopeless with Tech: Downplayed and justified, but Steve is this compared to his more technologically savvy companions, especially Tony. A running joke is that Steve has a somewhat outdated approach to technology, for instance smashing a screen only for the digitized Zola to call him out on the uselessness of the move, and Tony being appalled that Steve has found a way to send him a flip phone as a gift.
• Honor Before Reason: More like he believes reason and honor are the same thing, and you can't have one without the other.
• Hope Bringer: His greatest superpower: the ability to inspire courage and hope through his nobility and heroism. Rocket even lampshades it in Endgame after Cap gives yet another of his Rousing Speeches.
  Rocket: *lowkey impressed* He's pretty good at that.
  Scott: *clearly fanboying* Right?
• Human Popsicle: Or "Capsicle", as Tony puts it. He spent 66 years completely frozen, waking up only after being thawed out by S.H.I.E.L.D. agents. As in the source material, it's made clear that he only survived the process thanks to the serum — an ordinary human would've just died.
• Humble Hero: It's why the serum worked so well on him and why Dr. Erskine chose him. Steve isn't proud or arrogant, he's just a man who wants to serve his country and do the right thing for the sake of doing it. The following exchange sums it up perfectly:
  Schmidt: What makes you so special?
  Capt. Steve Rogers: Nothing; I'm just a kid from Brooklyn.
• Hunk: Post-serum, he becomes the tall, handsome, muscular form of the archetype.
• Hyper-Awareness: In Winter Soldier, he deduces that he's about to be attacked by several SHIELD agents by noticing small details such as body language and their movements.
• Hypocrite:
  • As Ultron points out, Steve preaches peace and love but deep down needs war and conflict to feel whole (rather, he's Married to the Job). This causes problems in Civil War, where Steve rejects the Sokovia Accords and insists that the heroes are best suited to protect people due to governments having agendas which might not be in their best interests. However, he states that he doesn't find oversight impossible but they would have to have safeguards.
  • Also, both Winter Soldier and Age of Ultron show that Steve doesn't like it when others keep secrets from him. However, Civil War reveals Steve has been keeping a secret from Tony: HYDRA was responsible for the death of his parents. Needless to say, Tony did not take the news well. Steve later apologizes to Tony by letter and phone, admitting responsibility and telling Tony to call him if he ever needs help.
  • Demonstrated in Endgame, to his own awareness. Though Steve runs group therapy sessions after Thanos snaps half of all living creatures out of existence to help others move on after all their losses, he is personally unable to move on from his losses, and is only pretending to move on to help other people cope. This drives him to go all-in on Scott's plan to use the Quantum Realm to go back in time since he can't accept life the way it is, and it causes him to remain in the past after returning all of the Infinity Stones, starting a life with Peggy, never having got over essentially losing her due to his Heroic Sacrifice during World War II that brought him to modern day times.
• Hypocritical Humor: More comically, the PSA videos he is forced to star in throughout Spider-Man: Homecoming frequently play on this for laughs. One of them involves sternly telling a detention class that "the only way to be truly cool is to follow the rules." This, from a man who is repeatedly demonstrated to break whatever rules he feels are unjust or that unnecessarily constrain him, to the point where by the events of the film in question, he's a wanted fugitive and exile from international law. Another which appears during the credits involves him extolling the virtues of patience, only to peevishly and impatiently ask the off-camera production team exactly how many more of these PSAs he has to do.

I-O

• Ideal Hero: He had the core from the start; it's why he was chosen to be Captain America because the super serum would only enhance his overwhelmingly positive qualities. In later films, Steve's idealism clashes with the pragmatism of the 21st century. Steve thinks in terms of black-and-white; even the slightest gray to him is immediately treated as black at the earliest opportunity. Whether this attitude is right or wrong is up for interpretation (in Civil War in particular), but Steve is trying as hard as he can to do good. Zemo notes in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier that the reason no one was ever able to create another hero like Steve was because no one else was as incorruptible as him.
• The Idealist: A key character point about Captain America is his firm idealism — he not only has ideals, he represents them. However, they are a product of a war that threw them away even before it was over and a time that was much less informed and cynical about the realities of warfare. He often wonders if the ideals he grew up with mean anything in today's world, or if they ever meant anything even in the old days. This is also why he finds Tony's materialistic cynicism twice as grating as most people would, and it causes some conflict with Nick Fury on more than one occasion, due to Fury's cynical attitude and Manipulative Bastard tendencies.
• Immune to Drugs: He shrugs off alcohol and can survive exposure to a room full of poison gas so long as it's brief. He simply tells Wanda to draw it out telekinetically, then goes in and starts kicking ass with no ill effects. Ordinary soldiers, by contrast, start choking as soon as he yanks off their gas masks.
• Improbable Aiming Skills: The precision feats he pulls off when throwing his shield are borderline impossible in real life, with him ricocheting his shield off multiple targets and it still returning to his hand.
• In a Single Bound: Well, he can't leap tall buildings, but he can make jumps no ordinary athlete could possibly do, such as leaping over a tall fence.
• Incorruptible Pure Pureness:
  • This is why the Super Serum was so effective; there's nothing bad in him to amplify, leaving only the good qualities.
  • This also comes into play throughout Civil War and previous modern-era films. Despite everything that has happened to him, he only fights to defend, and never goes more violent than necessary. Whether against a friend like Tony, or an enemy like Ultron, he never thinks of revenge or being overly aggressive. However, he has been shown to be willing to lie or omit the truth if it suits his own purposes, as he did about the real cause of Howard and Maria Stark's deaths.
  • In Avengers: Endgame, it's what allows him to be considered worthy to wield Mjölnir.
• I Need a Freaking Drink: Played for Drama. After Bucky's apparent death during WWII, Steve goes to (what is left of) their favorite pub to try and drown his sorrows, but discovers to his increasing despair that he can't get drunk, no matter how much he drinks.
• Informed Ability: In Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., it is mentioned that Captain America managed to push a bulldozer in less time than Deathlok. In the movies, the Captain has never been shown to have that level of super strength.
• In Harm's Way:
  • By the time of The Winter Soldier, Steve doesn't know what to do with himself if he's not in the field fighting bad guys. The problem is, he doesn't know who the bad guys are anymore. A flabbergasted Natasha flat out asks Steve why he looks so happy after finding out that his Heroic Sacrifice was for nothing, and that everything he believed in was crashing around him. He just says, "I guess I like to know who I'm fighting." For better or worse, fighting the good fight has become who Steve is.
  • In Age of Ultron, his greatest fear is shown to be victory: he's terrified of being a soldier in a world that no longer needs soldiers, and can't imagine being anything but a soldier. Word of God says that Steve is "comfortable with [chaos]". He doesn't know how to deal with a world in relative peace, but chaos is something he can throw himself into.
  • In Civil War, he becomes a fugitive in his defense of Bucky, because no one but him and those steadfastly loyal to him believe that Bucky is innocent of the crimes he's been framed for. At the end of the film, he's still a fugitive, along with nearly half the Avengers and their allies.
  • By Endgame, he privately comes to terms with the fact that his search for meaning in battle has not only been unhealthy, but detrimental to the wellbeing of those around him. This realization is what allows him to finally take Tony's advice and settle down.
• Innocent Blue Eyes: To match his Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold. Steve is the epitome of kindness and goodness.
• Innocently Insensitive: Bucky tells Sam in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier episode "Truth" that prior to making the final Quantum Realm journey, he and Steve talked it over and both decided to make Sam the next Captain America. However, being white men, the two never considered the implications and weight of a black man wielding the shield; with only Bucky realizing later.
  Bucky: When Steve told me what he was planning, I don't think we understood what it felt like for a black man to be handed the shield. How could we?
• In-Series Nickname: Friends and teammates tend to call Steve "Cap" on and off the battlefield.
• Instant Expert: When he wields Mjölnir for the first time against Thanos, he is able to expertly demonstrate a lot more skill and creativity with it than Thor ever did, including the lightning powers. Justifed, as he is an old soldier.
• Insult of Endearment: Trades this with Bucky to highlight their powerful friendship.
  Bucky: Don't do anything stupid 'til I get back.
  Steve: How can I? You're taking all the stupid with you.
  Bucky: [already going in for a hug] ...You're a punk.
  Steve: Jerk.
• I Regret Nothing: In Infinity War, when Steve confronts Secretary Ross, he makes it clear he doesn't regret his decisions from Civil War.
• Irony: A tall, muscular, blond, blue-eyed, ideal Aryan-Übermensch fighting Nazis. It's double ironic when you consider that this "ideal Aryan Übermensch" came from a sickly, physically unimpressive orphan — the exact type of human the Nazis would've deemed inferior. According to some interpretations, this is precisely the point.
• It's Personal: After losing Bucky on one of his missions, he becomes hellbent on taking down the Red Skull and finishing HYDRA off once and for all.
• Jack of All Stats: Non-game example, relative to the his position and strengths/weaknesses on the Avengers:
  • He's physically stronger and faster than human Bruce Banner, Tony Stark out of the suit, and other humans, but Thor, Iron Man, and Hulk out-rank him in raw damage output, speed, and strength.
  • He is intelligent and quick-thinking, not brilliant on-par with Bruce or Tony or cunning like Black Widow, but enough to assess a situation and develop a good solution in the heat of battle. He is also more culturally-adapted than Thor.
  • His shield is also a great weapon capable of offense and defense, but it isn't as strong as Thor's hammer Mjölnir (though it can withstand it) or Hulk's fists, and he lacks the variety of weapons Clint, Natasha, and Tony have.
• Jumped at the Call: He'll always answer the call to heroism, even if it initially means putting on a goofy outfit and doing a silly show about war bonds.
• Jumping on a Grenade: Does this when Phillips throws a dud grenade. In The Avengers, it serves as the central theme of a "The Reason You Suck" Speech as Steve asserts that Tony Stark doesn't have the sense of self sacrifice it would take to lie on top of barbed wire while others crawled over him. Tony counters by saying he would simply cut the wire... but in the climax of that film, Tony does "lay down on the wire."
• The Kirk: The best description of his leadership style. He'll always put lives first, but he maintains the rationale of a seasoned soldier, which enables him to make tough decisions, such as ordering Natasha to close the Tesseract portal with Tony still on the other side.
• Knight in Sour Armor: In Avengers: Infinity War, he sports a Beard of Sorrow and a beat-up costume after two years as a fugitive. While still polite to his friends and allies, he no longer hides his contempt for Secretary Ross, bluntly saying that he isn't looking for forgiveness or permission for doing the right thing.
• Lantern Jaw of Justice: Whedon considers "the greatest jaw in The Avengers" the main reason why Chris Evans can play a superhero and he himself can't.
• Large and in Charge: Officially in the MCU, he's 6'2". ^note Chris Evans, for what it's worth, is 6' even. Of the original Avengers, the only one taller than him is Thor (and Nick Fury; and the Hulk, but not Banner). Helps him be The Leader.
• Last Stand: In Endgame, Captain America faces off Thanos and his army alone. What does he do? Buckle up his broken shield and stand his ground. This is subverted, however, once the cavalry arrives.
• The Leader: Of the Avengers. Overlaps all Types. He's level-headed but also inspiring and capable of pushing a plan through opposition.
  • He was one to the Howling Commandos back in WWII.
  • In the modern era as New York City is invaded by the Chitauri, he gives orders to the other Avengers on how to contain the attack and to the NYPD on how to protect the civilians. The Avengers — who, aside from established Platonic Life-Partners Clint and Natasha and Bruce and Tony, have been squabbling like children for the whole movie — shut up and do exactly as they are told without a word of argument. Tony even says, "Call it, Cap," conceding command of the situation to Steve in three syllables.
  • During Ultron's attack on South Korea, he's quick to give orders to the newly defected Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch to stop a derailed train and prevent civilian casualties.
• Leitmotif: The Captain America March and its subtler variations, a modern-day Aaron Copland-esque theme that embodies the purity and patriotism that makes up Steven Grant Rogers. Also, The Star-Spangled Man has become a leitmotif for the legend of Captain America, used in-universe as the theme for the radio shows based on his adventures.
• Lightning Bruiser: The serum made him much faster, much stronger, and much tougher.
• Like Brother and Sister: How the Russos have described his relationship with Natasha. She'll playfully tease him about everything from his age to his dating life, but they care for each other deeply. She does her best to comfort him after Peggy's burial in Civil War, and he supports her when she becomes Mission Control for the Avengers in Endgame.
• Living Emotional Crutch: Bucky Barnes, who is probably the most important person in Steve's life. According to Bucky's actor, one of the main reasons why Bucky refuses to bite the bullet is because of how much it would hurt Steve. Steve himself is just about willing to do anything for Bucky, to the point that he'd (metaphorically) take a bullet for him, even if Bucky was the one behind the trigger.
• Living Legend: By the 21st century he has trading cards. Tony Stark even refers to him as "a Living Legend that kind of lives up to the legend." It also serves as a parallel to the Winter Soldier's own Shrouded in Myth reputation. Most of the intelligence community doesn't believe he exists, but the ones who do are terrified of him and his reputation as a near-supernaturally skilled, covert, and ruthless assassin established over five decades, contributing to modern-day paranoia. Compare that to Steve, who is known everywhere and helped inspire old-fashioned idealism due to his own heroic actions during World War II.
• Long-Lived: At 110 subjective years old, he's looks like a healthy octogenarian.
• Loving a Shadow: His attraction to Sharon Carter is partially due to her being Peggy's niece and when she becomes a victim of the Snap, Steve finds himself reflecting back on Peggy in his darkest hour. When Steve and Tony are forced to go back to the '70s, he finds a framed photo of his pre-serum self on Peggy's desk. Showing she never really got over him either. After he puts the Infinity Stones back into their respective timelines, he decides to retire into the past and be with Peggy rather than return to the present to be with Sharon.
• Magnetic Hero: In both Winter Soldier and Civil War he has recruited people to his cause on the strength of "Captain America needs your help."
• Manly Tears: Captain America is not afraid to cry, and is seen tearing up during Endgame when Sam Wilson returns with a huge army of reinforcements (some who survived the Snap and others who just returned) to form a standing force against Thanos in what was up until then going to become Cap's closest thing to a Despair Event Horizon. He's also in tears as he watches Tony Stark die after snapping away Thanos and his army.
• Married to the Job: Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Avengers: Age of Ultron, the latter moreso than the former, explore the idea that Steve can no longer see any role for himself except as a fighter after being frozen. He admits to Sam that he wouldn't know what to do with himself if he stopped, and a nightmare induced by Scarlet Witch shows him having nothing to do but share the dance he missed with Peggy. When the original Avengers disband at the end of Age of Ultron, Steve sticks around to lead the new recruits, telling Tony that he thinks of it as home. However, deep down, he never let go of the idealistic young man who was frozen in World War II. After years and years of hardship, conflict, self-sacrifice, and heroics, going back to 1970 and seeing a young Peggy Carter during Endgame reawakens his desire to just settle down and live the life he never got to live. Taking the chance to return the Infinity Stones/Mjölnir back to their respective periods, he doesn't return to the present and instead reunites with Peggy in the '40s, living out his days in quiet suburbia.
• Martial Pacifist: As the embodiment of freedom and justice, Captain America tries to let his enemies live when possible. However, unlike most superheroes, he is a soldier and kills when necessary, nor will he interfere if his more morally ambiguous teammates decide that somebody must die.
• Martyr Without a Cause: Steve has the tendency (left over from his skinny and sickly days) to consider his own life expendable, and risk it without considering another solution first. Best emphasized in The Avengers.
  Steve: You're not the guy to make the sacrifice play, to lay down on a wire and let the other guy crawl over you.
  Tony: I think I would just cut the wire.
• Messianic Archetype: Born of humble origins, sacrificed himself for the good of the world, and returned in our Darkest Hour.
• Military Brat: It's mentioned in the comic Captain America: First Vengeance that his father fought with the 107th during World War I and was killed during a mustard gas attack.
• Military Superhero: Joined the military as a shrimpy kid from Brooklyn, was transformed into the Super-Soldier Captain Patriotic that punches HYDRA in the nose. In the 21st century he becomes a S.H.I.E.L.D. operative but goes rogue after discovering HYDRA has infiltrated S.H.I.E.L.D. from the off. After that point he allies purely with The Avengers, an NGO superhero organization.
• Mirror Character:
  • Bucky, who was never disabled prior to becoming a supersoldier, is this to Steve, who was disabled prior to becoming a super-soldier, but never after.
  • Sam also lost a friend on a military mission they were both on; the difference is that Sam doesn't have enhanced abilities, nor was he ever disabled, but he does have tech-based "powers".
• Moment of Weakness: Ninety percent of the time, Steve dislikes keeping secrets and won't hesitate to jump on a grenade for you (literally). The one time he does keep a secret for personal reasons, it blows up in his face. He knew HYDRA had Tony's parents killed and convinced himself telling Tony wouldn't fix anything. As he admits, he was really sparing himself — he knew that they'd most likely used Bucky to do it.
• Mook Horror Show: While he's not as sinister a character as the trope usually displays, any time he goes up against ordinary humans makes it clear how brutal Captain America can be. In The First Avenger, he kills a HYDRA mook with a throwing knife, tosses two more out of the plane to their deaths, and knocks another into the spinning propeller of a plane in one fight scene alone.
• Morality Chain: A non-villainous example, as in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, he turned out to be this for Bucky and Sam for them to fully cooperate and remain friends. In his absence, both the latter two's relationship began to deteriorate.
• Movie Superheroes Wear Black: While most of the time he wears a costume similar to his comic counterpart, the SHIELD-uniform he wears in the beginning of Captain America: The Winter Soldier before switching back to his classic costume from WWII is notably darker in its blue. Also, the costume he wears when being a fugitive in Avengers: War is dark blue, nearly black, and lacks the iconic white star on the chest.
• Mr. Fanservice:
  • Fun fact: the pre-super-serum Steve Rogers was the CGI one. Chris Evans earned those abs to make that Shirtless Scene work. While it isn't quite a case of the Head-Turning Beauty trope, women in-universe definitely notice Steve/Cap.
  • Why does Steve ditch his jacket right before the helicopter scene in Civil War? Because the directors insisted Chris Evans do that scene with exposed biceps.
• Mundane Utility: Being worthy of Mjölnir allows Steve to wield a mighty weapon and receive the power of Thor. It also means that he can return the hammer to its own time after Thor takes it during the Time Heist, so Thor doesn't need to stick around for the "Infinity Stones go to this era" trip.
• Muscle Angst: Until he becomes a Super-Soldier, he's insecure about his scrawniness, unable to believe he has anything to offer the world.
• Neck Lift: Does this to the Winter Soldier in their final fight before slamming him to the ground.
• Nerves of Steel: No-one is braver than Captain America, not a man in Powered Armor, nor a green humanoid beast who can punch through mountains, or even a thunder god, and hence it is he, a mere mortal in comparison, who leads the Avengers. Best of all? He was already this brave when he was still a ninety-pound asthmatic weakling.
• Never Gets Drunk: A side effect of the serum's effects on his body, mentioning that his metabolism burns through it too fast. He tries to drown his sorrows only to find out it won't work.
• Nice Guy: He's not just "nice", he's the paragon of traditional American virtue.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Steve finds out in The Winter Soldier that Howard and Maria Stark were killed by HYDRA and, as discovered in Civil War, by Bucky himself. While Steve only suspected the fact that HYDRA used Bucky do it, the fact is that he knew how Tony's parents died for about two years and never told him. Sure enough, Tony eventually learns the truth in the worst way possible, goes ballistic, and tries to murder Bucky right there and then, which demolishes their friendship.
• No One Gets Left Behind: When he rescues prisoners of war from HYDRA, refuses to leave any civilians on the floating Sokovian city, and breaks into the Raft to rescue the friends who fought alongside him.
• Normal Fish in a Tiny Pond: With Bucky in The Winter Soldier. By the standards of superheroes they are not that strong, but as they are the only characters with superpowers in this movie, they are practically unstoppable in any fight they are in, except between themselves.
• Not So Above It All:
  • Steve sheds his uptight and serious side during the party in Avengers: Age of Ultron, where he's shown helping himself to a thousand-year old alcoholic drink of Thor's and later participates in trying to lift Mjölnir just to get in on the fun.
  • In Avengers: Endgame, he allows himself to have a rare moment of vanity for once, when he secretly agrees with Scott that he does have a nice butt.
• Now, Let Me Carry You:
  • Pre-serum, Bucky always protected Steve from bullies. Post-serum, Steve protected Bucky by getting him out of the HYDRA facility where he'd been captured.
  • In Endgame, despite being badly wounded, bleeding, shellshocked, and having his shield broken, Steve still stands alone, ready to face Thanos and his entire army despite having his shield and his arm badly broken. Then, he hears a very familiar voice on the radio...
  Sam Wilson: Hey Cap, do you read me? ...Cap, it's Sam. Do you hear me? On your left.
• Odd Friendship: With Natasha Romanoff by The Winter Soldier. He's a straightforward soldier and she's a chameleon-like spy.
• Officer and a Gentleman: Atypically, not upper-class, but a common man of the people. He is, however, certainly a gentleman and most assuredly an officer, although he doesn't have the formal education or officer training.
• Older Than They Look: By the time he wakes up in the 21st century, he's chronologically in his 90s though biologically in his late 20s; he's 100 by the time of Avengers: Infinity War. And even in Avengers: Endgame, when he returns to the present as an old man after living with Peggy in an alternate timeline, he's somewhere in the neighborhood of 176 years old in totality, or 110 years old biologically. Likely due to the super serum he still looks like he's in his 70s or 80s at the most.
• Old Hero, New Pals: After waking up in the 21st century, he's saddened to find that all of his friends, including the woman that he loves, have either gotten very old or died before he was defrosted. Fortunately, he's able to make new companions with The Avengers.
• Once Done, Never Forgotten: His disapproval of profanity. In the opening of Age of Ultron he chastises Tony for shouting "Shit!" in a battle, and Tony holds it over him. After Tony tells the other Avengers about the moment, they all get in on making fun of him too. Even Fury of all people can't resist teasing him.
• One-Man Army: There's a really good reason as to why he's the page image.
  • Ten highly-trained agents ambush him at close-quarters in an Elevator Action Sequence. They have tasers, he can't use his shield. Exactly one minute later, they're unconscious on the floor and Steve is barely winded.
  • In Avengers: Endgame, he was about to be the last man standing while Thor and Iron Man were unconscious, facing Thanos and his entire army alone, until the resurrected Avengers join in.
• One True Love:
  • Believes in this to an extent. Part of why Steve was so nervous and awkward around women is because he, unlike Bucky, was not the type to have short flings — rather, he was waiting for, as he put it, "the right partner". He could've tried with Peggy Carter, but he never found out what could've been because it was never the right time and they only made a move right before he crashed his plane into the Arctic. It's possible he might have a second chance with Sharon Carter, but after Civil War, Sharon quietly disappears from the MCU, so we never really see where their relationship goes.
  • Ultimately, Endgame cements Peggy as the true love of his life. Having never been able to truly let her go, Steve travels back to the 1940s after Thanos's defeat, and spends the rest of his life with an Alternate Timeline version of her.
• Only the Chosen May Wield: Though he is not judged worthy enough to wield Thor's hammer Mjölnir, Steve is just worthy enough to make it budge slightly. He finally gets to use Mjölnir in Endgame, with it retroactively being explained that he could always wield the weapon, but chose not to in Age of Ultron to not embarrass his friend Thor. Or he wasn't worthy yet.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: One moment in Avengers: Age of Ultron that was notable for Steve was his disapproval for profanity, in which he calls out Tony for swearing, resulting in a joke that he would not be able to live down for the entire movie, and then it gets thrown back at him by Fury after Steve himself lets a swear slip out. Avengers: Endgame shows him significantly loosening up—taking into account the situation that the remaining Avengers are in (plus the general insanity/improvisation they're all forced to do by this point):
  Steve: [after the remaining Avengers decide to take out post-Snap Thanos] Let's go get this son of a bitch.
  Steve: [after unexpectedly encountering his 2012-era self] You've gotta to be shitting me.
• Outdated Outfit: In The Avengers, his fashion is hopelessly out of date (long-sleeve collared shirts, maybe with the sleeves rolled up and slacks) which makes him look stuffy and formal compared to Tony or Clint. Justified, given that he spent the last 70 years as a Capsicle. He himself suggests that his old stripes and stars uniform is a bit old-fashioned. Coulson suggests instead that with everything that has happened, people "might need a little old-fashioned." After The Avengers, Steve adopts a more modern haircut and wardrobe to symbolize him becoming more acclimated to the present day.
• Out of Focus: After having the most screen-time in the first two Avengers films, his role in Infinity War is limited to preparation for and leading the Battle of Wakanda, with the teams of Iron Man/Spider-Man/Doctor Strange and Thor and the Guardians of the Galaxy having a much more significant role in the plot.

P-S

• Painful Transformation: During Project Rebirth, he has the serum and Vita-Rays pumped through his body — about halfway through the procedure it becomes a lot more intense and he is heard screaming from within the pod. The scientists immediately get up to shut down the machine — but Steve yells at them to keep going despite the pain. Fortunately, it pays off.
• The Paragon: Steve is such an ideal of heroism and justice that when he outs HYDRA's presence within S.H.I.E.L.D., everyone who isn't a HYDRA agent immediately takes action against the villains. No one doubts Steve's word for a second. Deconstructed in Civil War, where Steve is shown going to questionable extremes to protect Bucky, which plays a major role in ripping the Avengers apart. He becomes this once more for the events of Avengers: Endgame, with his unyielding refusal to back down and find a way to resurrect the fallen being the main drive behind the Avengers reuniting to do just that. Best summed up with this exchange in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier:
  Bucky: Maybe you're wrong, Zemo. The [Super Soldier] serum never corrupted Steve.
  Zemo: Touché. But there has never been another Steve Rogers, has there?
• Parental Abandonment: His father died of mustard gas in the first World War, while Steve wasn't even born yet. His mother was a nurse for patients with tuberculosis, caught it herself, and died when her son was a teenager.
• Parental Favoritism: He's not Howard Stark's biological son or even related to him, but Steve meant a great deal to the man who would father Tony Stark. Tony in turn would eventually come to resent Steve; according to Robert Downey Jr., Steve is "the brother Tony could never live up to." To make things worse, Steve is ostensibly oblivious to this dynamic, given that he was frozen at the time.
  Tony: Oh, really? You two knew each other? He never mentioned that. Only a thousand times. God, I hated you...
• Passing the Torch: Following Thanos's defeat in Endgame, an elderly Steve, having returned to the past to marry Peggy Carter, passes on his shield and the mantle of Captain America to Sam Wilson after they are reunited a few seconds after Steve uses the time machine.
• Patriotic Fervor: Played with considerable nuance. While Steve does love the American Way and is willing to protect his fellow Americans, he's not the jingoistic type who's in it to kill Nazis or force his patriotism down everyone's throat. This means that he's not an example of My Country, Right or Wrong the trope, but rather the original quote; "My Country, Right or Wrong. If Right, to be kept Right, if Wrong, to be set Right."^note This was 1870s US Senator Carl Schurz's interpretation of military sailor Stephen Decatur's famous toast in 1816 which more or less introduced the "right or wrong" expression; "Our country! In her intercourse with foreign nations, may she always be in the right; but our country, right or wrong." This is best demonstrated in his second film, where Steve is happy to fight for virtues like freedom and human life, but is not so keen about over-policing and Realpolitik. His third film also demonstrates it aptly as he willingly becomes a fugitive in service to his beliefs.
• Peggy Sue: At the end of Endgame, he travels back to 1948 in an alternate timeline and marries Peggy Carter.
• Personality Powers: The Super Soldier Serum "...amplifies everything inside. Good becomes great. Bad becomes worse." While Schmidt's megalomania escalated to full-on world domination, Steve is basically the same Bully Hunter as before, only now he can kick the bullies' asses.
• Perspective Reversal: Early in the films, Steve just wants to join the Army and do his part for his country, and Tony Stark is an egotist who has little use for authority. By the time of Civil War, the fallout from his reckless actions have made Tony believe that the Avengers need to be subject to oversight while Steve, having witnessed how corrupted and obstructive governing bodies have become in the modern day, distrusts the idea, to the point where the two end up leading opposing factions of the team.
• Platonic Life-Partners: He becomes this with Black Widow during The Winter Soldier. They open up emotionally to each other and end up as close friends.
• Pop-Cultural Osmosis Failure: A side effect from being frozen in the Arctic for nearly seventy years. Except when talking about flying monkeys, he has no idea what anyone's talking about in The Avengers. He's taking steps to mend this problem in Captain America: The Winter Soldier. He has a bucket list that he apparently takes everywhere and updates as needed, and when Natasha makes a WarGames joke, he cuts off her explanation with, "I've seen it."
• Power Fist: During Thanos' invasion of Wakanda, Shuri provides him with two new "shields" — expandable armguards, complete with claws. He puts them to good use against the Outriders.
• The Power of Acting: In Endgame, Steve shows some very good acting skill as he effortlessly takes Loki's Scepter from Sitwell and Rumlow by pretending to be a Hydra agent. Likewise, in the 1970s, he manages to weave out a convincing lie to get Hank Pym out of his lab and steal his particles without a hitch. After all, he was an actor before he started out as a soldier.
• Preemptive "Shut Up": He does this to a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent who tries to keep him, Hawkeye, and Black Widow from stealing a jet to pilot to New York.
  Steve: Son, just don't.
• Primary-Color Champion: Invoked by the guys designing his costume. He's a PR guy selling war bonds so the colors are important to connect with the in-universe audience. Steve keeps the color scheme even after switching to more practical gear, admitting to Bucky that it's at least partly grown on him.
• Profanity Police: In Age Of Ultron, he chides Tony for swearing on a mission, and is subsequently roasted by all of his friends for it for the remainder of the movie.
  Clint: You bet your ass.
  Maria: Steve, he said a bad language word.
• Propaganda Hero:
  • In The First Avenger, he's set up as the poster boy for the American troops, mostly to sell war bonds. For the general population, it works like a charm and he becomes the darling of the press and people alike. Ironically, the men actually on the front line have no respect for a leotard-wearing shill who has never seen combat. That changes once he actually gets to put his boots on the ground.
  • Still alluded to in Spider-Man: Homecoming as it is revealed Cap is also the reluctant host of a good number of PSA videos, still reciting corny messages about health and obeying the rules, the latter of which directly contradicts what he's done since being defrosted.
• The Protagonist: Of his own trilogy, but one of two main contenders for this for the first three phases of the Marvel Cinematic Universe as a whole, the other being Iron Man. Steve is chronologically the first superhero in the MCU. In addition, he serves as The Leader in the four Avengers films that take place during the Infinity Stone saga.
• Put on a Bus: While Steve ultimately survives Endgame, he's become aged and elderly after living in the past for decades. Steve retires as a superhero and passes his shield to Sam, but nothing rules out a future appearance from the character.
• Really 700 Years Old: Thanks to his 70-year slumber keeping him frozen at a biological age of 27, Cap is technically the oldest of the Avengers (not counting Thor, who's a centuries-old Asgardian), but was physically the youngest until Scarlet Witch joined. After the Time Skip in Endgame, he's 105 years old, is biologically 39, and still looks like he's in his early thirties. He finally starts to look his age in the end of Endgame, having gone back to 1948 to live a quiet, peaceful life with Peggy and only returning to his own timeline after her death in 2016. However, even though he looks like an octogenarian when he passes the shield to Sam, he is biologically 107 years old and chronologically 173.
• Real Men Love Jesus: Although his comic incarnation is the son of Irish Catholic immigrants, his dog tags mark him as a Protestant. The appearance of Thor invites Cap to express his Christian monotheism.
  Black Widow: These people come from legend. They're basically gods.
  Steve: There's only one God, ma'am, and I'm pretty sure He doesn't dress like that.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: The Blue to Tony Stark's Red. Boy, does it show between the two. Heck, looking at their suit colors can make this become more visual/literal of an approach to the trope.
• Refreshingly Normal Life-Choice: At the end of Endgame, Steve goes back to the '40s to live out his life, in honor of Tony's sacrificing his own happy family life. It's implied he married Peggy Carter.
• Refuge in Audacity: The best way to get Loki's scepter from a bunch of HYDRA agents, as seen in Endgame? Pretend to be a HYDRA agent yourself!
• Related in the Adaptation: Endgame ends with him having hooked up with Peggy.
• Religious Bruiser: It doesn't come up often but MCU Steve is evidently Protestant (as judged by his dogtags), and this is part of his belief that he handle both Thor and Loki in a fight because they aren't actually gods. Ultron mocks him for this by calling him "God's righteous man, pretending that [he] can live without a war."
• Reports of My Death Were Greatly Exaggerated: If Spider-Man: Far From Home is of any indication, the world at large believes that he died saving the world from Thanos. However, he's simply old and retired.
• Retired Badass:
  • Based on Word of God, when he left his shield behind in Civil War, it symbolizes that he gives up being Captain America, though he picks the shield back up in Endgame when Tony returns it to him.
  • He retires properly in Endgame having lived out his life in the past and become elderly in the present, and even has a Passing the Torch moment where he gives his shield to Sam.
• Returning War Vet: Leading Commando units in WWII preps you for leading superheroes against invading alien hordes.
• Rogues Gallery: Most members of his comic book rogues gallery are present and have ties to him personally more than any other hero. They are Red Skull, Arnim Zola, Batroc, Crossbones, Winter Soldier, Alexander Pierce (an expy of Aleksander Lukin), Baron von Strucker, Zemo, and HYDRA in general. Some of his other villains like Doctor Faustus, Madame Hydra, and Nuke appear in the universe as well but have no contact with him.
• Rousing Speech: Coupled with his earnestness, charisma, and (generally) well-meaning nature, he manages to deliver inspiring words and actually sell them. It gets lampshaded more than once (particularly by Sam, Rocket, and Scott.
  Rocket: He's pretty good at that.
  Scott: Right?!
• Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right!: When the situation calls for it he will ignore orders to do what he thinks is the best course of action. But he still honors those rules: when he returns from singlehandedly rescuing the POWs, the very first thing he does is submit himself for disciplinary action. The fact he doesn't turn himself in at the end of Civil War shows you how serious the situation is. Best summed up in this exchange with Tony:
  Steve: When I see a situation pointed south, I can't ignore it. Sometimes I wish I could.
  Tony: No, you don't.
  Steve: [smiling apologetically] No, I don't.
• Sealed Badass in a Can/Sealed Good in a Can: He was frozen in the Arctic for almost 70 years before being found and defrosted by a team of S.H.I.E.L.D. Agents.
• Secret-Keeper: By the end of The Winter Soldier, he is one of the few who know that Nick Fury is still alive.
• Seen It All: After being asleep for seventy years and, before that, everything he saw on the front-lines, he thinks he has. In a conversation with Nick Fury, Fury bets him ten bucks that he'd prove him wrong. Cap then witnesses an entire aircraft carrier sprout propellers and take to the skies. Fury wins the bet.
• Set Right What Once Went Wrong: After the events of Endgame, Steve ("the man out of time") is tasked with returning all the Infinity Stones and the hammer Mjölnir to the moments in time when they were taken. Steve does so, but also decides to return himself to the past and take a second chance to live the life with Peggy that he might have had if he had never been frozen for decades.
• Shell-Shocked Veteran: Emphasized in The Winter Soldier. Even before waking up seventy years in the future, Steve spent years fighting on the front lines of World War II and has never had a real opportunity to decompress. One interpretation of his hallucination in Age of Ultron is the fear that he'll never be able to leave the war behind him.
• Sherlock Scan: He first shows this in the epilogue of The First Avenger where he quickly deduces that the reality of "'40s New York" is a simulation and that he's out of his time. By The Winter Soldier he's shown to easily survey his surroundings for any tactical threats, even in a seemingly safe environment, such as a S.H.I.E.L.D. HQ elevator.
• Shipper on Deck: He gently but bluntly encourages Banner to try for a relationship with Natasha, knowing how much it hurts to wait too long and miss your chance altogether.
• The Shrink: In Endgame, Steve has become part of or/and leads group therapy sessions to cope with the Decimation. Although he is very supportive of everyone in the room, he himself cannot move on, and only maintains the illusion to help everyone else.
• Signature Move: As always, throwing his shield. He also likes to use a forward push kick to knock bad guys across the room.
• Significant Birth Date: According to his army enlistment form, his birthday is July 4, 1918. Destiny much?
• Significant Wardrobe Shift: His costume loses its red highlights in Captain America: The Winter Soldier and the blue and silver are significantly darker, reflecting the moral ambiguity of S.H.I.E.L.D. at that point. The colors on his shield are also buried under a matte black veneer.
  • Undergoes another one in Infinity War. His costume is a lot darker, and no longer possesses the white and red accents, signifying how cynical he's become after being forced to betray the government for the sake of doing what's right.
  • And it circles back around in Endgame, as he goes back to his traditional colors, with a very close adaptation of his comics uniform being worn by him during the movie.
• The Slow Path: A variation occurs in Avengers: Endgame. After finally defeating Thanos and undoing the disaster he wrought, Steve volunteers to return the time-displaced Infinity Stones to their proper points in the timeline, as well as the copy of Mjölnir that Thor borrowed (since he has proven worthy to wield it). However, he doesn't reappear on the quantum tunneling pad when he's supposed to, leading to Sam, Bruce, and Bucky to have a minor freak-out before they notice a man sitting on a nearby bench. This man is a now-elderly Steve Rogers, who came back to that moment in time after traveling to 1945. He decided that, after finishing his task, he took the opportunity to live a normal life free of war. So he finally had a dance with Peggy, married her, and grew old with her, only returning to his original timeline after her death in 2016. He then hands Sam his shield, passing the mantle of Captain America to him. It's still not clear, however, if his choice created an alternate timeline or if he was part of the original timeline all along.
• Small Steps Hero:
  • Attempts to rescue a boy held at gunpoint by a Nazi spy and is willing to let the spy shoot him. (The spy is out of bullets.) Then he tries to rescue the drowning boy at the risk of letting a Nazi escape with the Super Serum. (Luckily, the boy can swim.)
  • Saves 400 POWs, risking the life of the USA's only Super-Soldier and the USO's Fake Ultimate Hero.
  • In The Avengers, he makes sure to rescue a bank full of innocent civilians during the Chitauri invasion.
  • In The Winter Soldier, he learns that HYDRA infiltrated S.H.I.E.L.D. and says it needs to be completely dismantled. Both Nick Fury and the later Senate subcommittee protest, since it's America's best intelligence network ^note but still an international organization.
  • In Avengers: Age of Ultron, he is adamant about saving all the Sokovian civilians on the floating island before stopping Ultron despite the fate of all humanity being on the line. He succeeds.
  • In Avengers: Infinity War, he is adamant about ensuring Vision's survival before having Wanda destroy the Mind Stone despite the fate of half the universe being on the line. He fails.
• The Smart Guy: He unloads a half a dozen books from his footlocker. He passes every Secret Test of Character by being smarter than the other guys, and by recognizing it's a test. He's not the strongest Avenger, but he's their captain, because he's a smart soldier.
• Socially Awkward Hero:
  • Even after he gets serum'ed, he has no idea what "fondue" is and thinks it's a sex metaphor. It gets even worse when he wakes up in the present and can't understand most pop-culture references.
  • By The Winter Soldier, he's acclimatised somewhat and generally acts more comfortable in his own skin, going out of his way to befriend Sam and casually flirt with Sharon.
• Soldier vs. Warrior:
  • The Avengers: Captain America (the Soldier) is determined to keep the group focused on the mission, while Thor (the Warrior) charges in to handle things himself. However this becomes a Commonality Connection as they egg each other on during the final battle.
  • The following films showcase that Rogers can be a Warrior as well, and this is his Fatal Flaw — as Stark points out, Steve fears having to stop fighting for good and when confronted with people planning to phase him out (Ultron) or take the control of where and when to fight away from him (the Sokovia Accords), he'll quickly get on the high horse and rebel. Justified in both cases, because insane robots, politicians with their Head-in-the-Sand Management, and HYDRA agents in their midst are not the best candidates to be entrusted with directing the Avengers.
• Spy Catsuit:
  • His stealth suit in The Winter Soldier is quite tight and darker than his other uniforms.
  • His Captain America suit in The Avengers is noticeably skintight as well. It's even lampshaded by Loki, of all people.
    Loki: The costume is a bit much, so tight...
  • In Endgame, Tony notices comments on how his The Avengers-era suit made his butt look weird, while Ant-Man thinks it looks fine. Later on, Steve himself agrees that it looks good.
    Iron Man: Mr. Rogers, I almost forgot that that suit did nothing for your ass.
    Captain America: No one asked you to look, Tony.
    Iron Man: It's ridiculous.
    Ant-Man: I think you look great, Cap. As far as I'm concerned, that's America's ass.
  • After knocking his past self unconscious, Steve has this to say:
    Steve: That is America's ass.
• Standardized Leader: He is The Leader of the Avengers and is emotionally balanced, serious, and morally upright. Unlike some other members of the team who face heavy internal conflicts, his arc mostly revolves around gaining experience in dealing with changing circumstances around him.
• The Stoic: Cap is mostly understated in speech (though not opposed to smiling), as Chris Evans is making a deliberate effort not to go over-the-top. He visibly hams it up more as "Loki playing Cap".
• Stranger in a Familiar Land: After fighting in World War II, something as normal as a soft bed seems strange to Steve. And that's before you get into the seventy years' worth of culture shock.
• The Strategist: He's able to formulate battle strategies and his brilliant tactical sense allows him to alter near any strategy to fit the changing needs of the situation. While not as intelligent as Tony Stark or Bruce Banner nor possessing Clint Barton's keen awareness, he frequently proved himself a quick study in battlefield situations being able to quickly ascertain details from minor actions. As seen during World War II and the Chitauri Invasion, he's demonstrated impressive charisma and leadership skills. Rogers was able to command respect from his fellow Avengers and the undying loyalty of his Howling Commandos.
  • He formulated the plan to go in first by himself in "the front door" of the Red Skull's hidden base. After taking out the Red Skull's defenses and feigning a surrender, the assault team and then the full force of the Strategic Scientific Reserve came in and raided the base following Rogers' initial assault.
  • His tactical brilliance also came into play during the Chitauri assault on New York, first in organizing first responders to protect the civilian population, and then re-deploying other members of the Avengers to best defend the city with their limited resources.
  • His bravery and determination further supplement this as he is willing to take even the riskiest of choices to stand a chance to win, a trait best exemplified when he was quickly able to deduce the HYDRA personnel in an elevator were about to attack him and provoked them into attacking him. He again demonstrated this skill when Thanos arrived in Wakanda, quickly realizing that the Infinity Gauntlet had to be clenched for access to its powers and bravely charging the warlord to hold his hand open.
  • His extraordinary ability to not only inspire the nobility in others but also assess combat situations and come up with effective strategies made his fellow Avengers recognize him as the leader of their team. During the Chitauri attack on New York, he focused on directing civilian authorities in order to keep the citizens safe and off the streets while the rest of the Avengers focused their efforts on taking out the Chitauri's military assets.
  • Even when outnumbered by the forces of HYDRA within S.H.I.E.L.D., he was able to get Wilson, Hill, Romanoff, and even Fury, along with the loyal agents within S.H.I.E.L.D. to fight back against HYDRA and stop Project Insight from being achieved. As a result, he dealt HYDRA their first devastating blow in decades, since he fought against them in World War II.
• Strong and Skilled: Steve shows superior skill and strength in combat against the best fighters in the MCU, displaying fantastic skill in Boxing, Karate, Judo, Taekwondo, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, Muay Thai, Wrestling, Wushu, Capoeira, and Krav Maga. During Endgame, he becomes worthy to wield Mjölnir and gains all of Thor's abilities combined with his.
• Strong as They Need to Be: In Infinity War, he does struggle against Corvus in one scene, and then later catches a blow from the Mad Titan himself (though admittedly using all of his strength to even do that much) and actually makes him struggle before being punched out.
• Stunned Silence:
  • He can only look on in disbelief when he sees that the Winter Soldier is his long-thought dead best friend, Bucky Barnes.
  • And again when Thanos snaps his fingers and people start turning into dust during Infinity War.
• Summon to Hand: In Age of Ultron, Steve's suit is equipped with electromagnetic panels that allow him to automatically retrieve his shield back to his hands. In Endgame, it is revealed that he always possesses the will to summon and wield Mjölnir. He also summons Stormbreaker by accident during the final battle.
• Super Hero Origin: The First Avenger shows that he was once an ordinary soldier who was weaker than average, but was chosen to be the test subject for a Super Serum due to having a great heart. He'd go on to become the Super-Soldier known as Captain America and the Allied forces' secret weapon against the Nazis.
• Superpowerful Genetics: When the writers of Endgame discussed Peggy's husband always being Cap from the future, they mentioned that they have two kids with super soldier DNA.
• Super-Reflexes: His agility is greater than that of an Olympic-gold medalist. He can coordinate his body with perfect balance, equilibrium, flexibility, and dexterity. While escaping the destruction of the HYDRA base that Bucky Barnes and the Howling Commandos were held captive in, Rogers was able to leap from one end of the complex to the other in order to escape. During his chase of the Winter Soldier, he was able to leap from the inside of his apartment into the building across the street. Rogers can leap over cars with simple running moves. He can use his enhanced agility to perform amazing parkour and gymnastic moves that would be truly difficult for a normal human to accomplish.
• Super-Senses: His natural senses have been enhanced to the peak of human potential. He can see, hear, smell, feel, and taste things imperceptible to the normal humans. This allows him to see further; hear with amazing clarity; detect specific persons, objects, and substances with his smell; etc. He was able to notice little things such as sweat drop trickling down a man's face to tip him off to danger. He has also spotted a HYDRA soldier high up in a tree completely hidden when platoons of soldiers had no idea. Despite Barnes having stealthily sneaked behind him in his apartment making no sound whatsoever, he was somehow immediately aware of the former's presence.
• Super-Soldier: Possibly the Trope Codifier. The serum made him taller, tougher, and stronger than other humans. Tony Stark is not impressed because he sees it as just Playing with Syringes, apparently unaware that the serum only worked because of Steve's genuinely kind personality.
• Super-Speed: He can run and move at speeds beyond the peak of human potential. He can catch up to or outrun speeding vehicles and cover a small area such as city blocks in seconds as well. Sam Wilson stated that Rogers ran 13 miles in 30 minutes after their warm-up jogging. Even while completely unmatched, he was quick enough to surprise Quicksilver before he gets back up and briefly stun him with his shield. Similarly, while overwhelmed by Thanos, Rogers was able to surprise him enough to land three hits on him. Although his speed rivals with Winter Soldier and Black Panther, they were are capable of outrunning him in a chase due to their head start, forcing him to resort to hijacking a car to catch up. Nevertheless, at peak capacity, he proves to be as fast as them, as shown during the Battle of Wakanda, when he ran at almost equal speeds with T'Challa when rushing towards the Outriders.
• Super-Strength: He can hit far harder than a normal human being, often sending armored soldiers flying ten or more feet with his kicks or throwing them like shotputs. In Civil War, four large men with superior leverage are only barely able to restrain one of his arms for a few moments, only for him then to break out and overpower them. In Civil War, aided by adrenaline, he curls a helicopter^note He's clearly straining, but that type of helicopter has a lifting capacity of around 3,000 pounds — less Bucky's weight and any other things loaded on to it, so probably somewhat less — and he actually exceeds it to stop the helicopter and slightly yanks it back down!, and can fight one of Iron Man's suits at only a moderate strength disadvantage, which he compensates for with skill (but then Iron Man's weapons and A.I. assistance provide an edge Steve can't overcome by himself). In Infinity War, he manages to catch a punch from Thanos himself. Finally, in Endgame, wielding Mjölnir grants him all of Thor's powers, dramatically increasing his strength to the point that he could go toe to toe against Thanos for a time.
• Super-Toughness:
  • He can take punches from Loki, Ultron, Iron Man, or Thanos and keep going, and getting shot with a Chitauri weapon, Ultron's finger-beams, or Iron Man's repulsors only inflicts non-fatal wounds. His armored costumes make him even more durable.
  • In The Winter Soldier, he takes a grenade blast to the shield and is sent flying off an overpass and into a moving bus, which then crashes and overturns. All this does is knock him out for a minute or two, after which he gets right back up and fights another super-soldier to a standstill.

T-Y

• Technical Pacifist: While willing to kill, Steve prefers not to and would like to avoid it if possible. When asked by Dr. Erskine if he wants to enlist to kill Nazis, Steve Rogers answers that he doesn't want to kill anybody... but that he dislikes bullies of all stripes and wants to stand up for the little guy. He's subsequently shown to go in guns blazing in many missions, but hey, he's doing it to save the world, a valid reason if there ever was one.
• Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: He doesn't like Tony Stark at all at first, and while they start to get along as the movies go on, it ends up going horribly wrong when Captain America: Civil War comes around. Albeit at the end, he apologizes to Tony for his role in the breakdown of their relationship and insists that if Tony calls him, he will be ready to serve the Avengers alongside him again.
• Time-Passage Beard: He grows a beard during his exile between Civil War and Infinity War, mostly to conceal his face.
• Time-Travel Romance: At the end of Endgame, he goes back to live out an Alternate Timeline where he marries Peggy.
• To Be Lawful or Good: Steve will always choose good over lawful, and is willing to disobey his superiors or quit if faced with this kind of choice. In the first film, his superiors are generally good people whom Steve disagrees with, thus he submits himself for disciplinary action after disobeying orders (in Real Life, this is considered the duty of a soldier with moral objections). In the second film, it's his superiors that turn against him, leaving Cap with no choice but to fight back. In the third film, he rejects the Sokovia Accords and only comes close to signing them after his attempt to protect Bucky leads to a protracted and destructive freeway chase, but ultimately rejects signing completely and becomes a fugitive.
• Token Super: To his STRIKE team in the beginning of Captain America: The Winter Soldier.
• Took a Level in Badass:
  • This was essentially what his entire first film was about — going from a scrawny Brooklyn boy to the ultimate soldier and still a Nice Guy by the end of it, which was why he was chosen.
  • Skill-wise, his martial arts skills have massively improved in Captain America: The Winter Soldier as a result of getting extensive training from SHIELD. He's able to take down opponents much quicker and is much stealthier as seen when he takes down pirates on the Lemurian Star.
  • He gets his biggest powerup in Endgame where it's revealed he is worthy to wield Mjölnir, and uses it in the final battle against Thanos.
• Tranquil Fury: Whenever he gets angry, Steve never yells and rarely even shows a furious face. Depending on how much he was angered, he would either contain it while making clear he is displeased and his patience is running out by speaking to the offender in a surprisingly calm and even polite tone, or when he is angered enough, drop any politeness and adopt a very chilling and cold face while letting his actions speak more. Steve only briefly shows his anger directly from his face when Zola mocks him repeatedly, and even after what Thanos did, Steve remains outwardly calm while being able to project how on the inside, he is very much enraged and seeks to get payback.
• Transhuman: Thanks to the Super Soldier Serum, he's strong enough to slow down Ultron and fast enough to run thirteen miles in half an hour (and that's his morning jog, after which he's barely winded).
• Two First Names: He has three, to be more specific.
• Undercover as Lovers: In The Winter Soldier, while on the run from S.H.I.E.L.D. and doing some hacking in a mall, Steve and Natasha pretend to be fiancés looking up honeymoon sites.
  Apple Employee: Congratulations, where you guys thinking about going?
  Steve: [glances at computer screen] ...New Jersey.
• Undying Loyalty: To his best friend Bucky, a sentiment that is clearly returned. Exemplified at the end of The Winter Soldier, where Cap drops his iconic shield into the Potomac below and resolutely tells Bucky he won't fight him, even after Bucky starts beating the crap out of him. The end of movie even has him and Sam go searching for Bucky instead of helping Fury in taking down the rest of the remnants of HYDRA. Unfortunately, this becomes a problem in Civil War, where other Avengers — especially Tony — want to hand Bucky over to the government since he is a deadly assassin — brainwashing or no brainwashing.
  Steve: I'm with you 'till the end of the line.
• Uniqueness Decay:
  • As he humorously noted, he was once the weirdest thing science created. After several decades, more superpowered humans came from scientific (and mystical) discoveries and inventions, making him not-so-very-weird anymore. While most of them are at least somewhat weaker than him, superhumans created with serums (thus sporting very similar abilities) based on his became particularly common. Among others Johann Schmidt, the Winter Soldier, pre-Abomination Emil Blonsky, John Walker, at least eight Flag Smashers, at least five more HYDRA operatives, and Alexei Shostakov were all enhanced with it. Killian and dozens of other Extremis users were also able to duplicate basically the same levels of strength and speed, with added powers of regeneration and heat manipulation.
  • The Falcon and the Winter Soldier takes this up a notch when it's revealed that there was another Super-Soldier named Isaiah Bradley who served in the Korean War. His genetic material and DNA would later be used to create another variant of the Super Soldier Serum that can enhance an individual's physiological abilities without giving them muscles. Needless to say, this revelation shocks Sam, Bucky, and Zemo to the point where they want to get rid of the only 20 variants produced.
• Unknown Rival: To Tony, for most of Tony's life. Howard Stark would always talk about what a hero Cap was to Tony as the latter was growing up, to the point where Tony started both resenting Cap, whom he had never met, and feeling like he was The Unfavorite next to someone who had been presumed dead for decades.
• Unresolved Sexual Tension:
  • He and Peggy never became a couple in The First Avenger. However, they were attracted to each other, Peggy kissed him and they made plans to go on a date right before he crashed the Valkyrie into the sea, leaving him frozen and presumed dead. This eventually gets resolved in Endgame when he goes back in time to be with her.
  • Civil War makes it clear that there is definitely something there between him and Sharon. Noticeably, Steve had tried to ask her out in The Winter Soldier when she was just his neighbor, before he even knew she was a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent (let alone related to Peggy), suggesting that the attraction was always there and learning more about Sharon had only prompted Steve to finally act on it. After they kiss, Steve even remarks that it was "late," lending credence to the idea that he's wanted to do that for a while now. After Civil War, though, Sharon disappears from the movies, and the fact that he's an international fugitive would definitely complicate any relationship they would want to have together.
• Unwitting Instigator of Doom:
  • Steve's decision to go back to the past and live his life with Peggy Carter created the entire storyline of The Falcon and The Winter Soldier with John Walker tainting his legacy due to Sam giving up the shield, and Sharon Carter becoming a criminal because he didn't go back to give her aid after she became a fugitive, leading to the Flag-Smashers getting the serum.
  • Even beyond that, his legacy as the (then) only successful Super Soldier Serum-enhanced soldier also cast a large shadow over his beloved home country. Desperate to recreate that success, the American government kept experimenting even on their own black soldiers; which led to Isaiah Bradley's enhancements and torturing on behalf of said government. And when that supposedly petered out (by Isaiah faking his death), Howard Stark somehow recreated the Super Soldier Serum, and then that got stolen by HYDRA for their Winter Soldier program. And after that, the CIA recruited an ex-HYDRA scientist to successfully do it; only for said scientist to go to the Power Broker after he was blipped (and the project was subsequently abandoned), which led to the Flag-Smashers getting enhanced by said serum.
• Utility Belt: He wears one around his waist. Among his tools, there is a grappling device that he uses to stop Tony from pursuing Bucky in their fight. He also stores his compass that has a picture of Peggy in the utility belt.
• Vigilante Man: This is what he, Natasha, and Sam were in the years between Captain America: Civil War and Avengers: Infinity War due to them violating the Sokovia Accords and this being branded fugitives.
• Vitriolic Best Buds:
  • He and Bucky are lifelong friends who trade insults as farewells and snark at each other mid-mission.
  • After some initial tension, he and Tony arrive at something like this – but it ends up falling apart in Civil War. They reconcile in Avengers: Endgame.
• War Hero: Steve is set up as a Propaganda Hero by the US government, but he becomes an actual war hero after liberating 400 POWs from a Hydra facility, for which he receives the Medal of Valor.
• Warrior Poet: The most thoughtful and introspective of the Avengers, and quite a talented artist before his induction into superheroism.
• Weak, but Skilled: Although Steve has superhuman physical prowess, he has repeatedly been shown to be outmatched in terms of sheer power by many other enemies who are armored or outright god-like beings. He is still able to give them a difficult fight due to having great fighting prowess to back up his superhuman powers.
  • In Avengers: Age of Ultron, Steve fights Ultron himself and despite Barton worrying about him as he wasn't a good match for Ultron, Steve ends up being able to give Ultron a prolonged fight and even deliver some good hits in, ultimately ending up in Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch's interference ending the fight in a rough stalemate.
  • In Avengers: Infinity War, Rogers meets Fake Ultimate Mook Corvus Glaive and Proxima Midnight. He saves Natasha from being killed by Midnight and alongside her manages to disarm the latter for Falcon to finish her off. His fight with Corvus Glaive has him successfully blocking all of his attacks and even disarming him of his glaive before he gets pinned down. His greatest feat in this film is being the only Avenger who tries to stop Thanos from getting the Mind Stone that is able to actually distract him head-on: He ends up delivering several hits on the Mad Titan and even stops him from using the Infinity Gauntlet for a time, which even earns him Thanos's respect for both his determination and skill.
  • Avengers: Endgame has him perform the most impressive feats he has ever done against the 2014 Thanos himself: When he, Thor, and Iron Man fight Thanos, Rogers ends up lasting longer than Iron Man does with his shield helping him, being able to fight him off for Thor and Iron Man to pull off a combination attack and even land a hit on him. Later on, he manages to survive a wild Thanos's assault even after being disarmed of Mjölnir and having to rely only on his shield, managing to just block all of his attacks until the shield finally breaks.
• Wearing a Flag on Your Head: As expected from someone called Captain America, all of his costumes are evocative of the Star-Spangled Banner.
• Wise Beyond Their Years: He's a bit younger than he looks, but his experience as a soldier allows him to see the best way to handle any battlefield situation, and in trying times makes him the greatest and most competent field leader to serve under, age be damned.
• With Great Power Comes Great Hotness: Receiving the Super-Soldier Serum transformed the sickly, asthmatic weakling to a tall and muscular athlete whom the ladies fawn over.
• Wolverine Claws: Has three claws at the bottom end of each of his shields in Infinity War and he can even protract and retract them but in a different way than the Trope Namer does.
• Worthy Opponent: He non-verbally but very deservedly earns the respect of Thanos in Infinity War. Despite Thanos having five of the six Infinity Stones in hand, Steve manages to slightly stagger him with three punches and even manages to stop him from retrieving the sixth stone, forcing Thanos to use the Time Stone to undo it.
• Wrestler in All of Us: During his street fight with the Winter Soldier, he suplexes the latter so he can pick his shield back up afterwards.
• You Are Not Alone: According to screenwriters Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely, Cap originally joined Project Rebirth expecting to be just one in an army of super soldiers. When he turned out to be the only one during World War II, having the weight of the world on his shoulders made him very uncomfortable (not that you can tell from his actions). By the time of the present day, he's actually happy to have allies as strange and extraordinary as he is.
• You're Nothing Without Your Phlebotinum: This occasionally gets brought up, with Tony claiming that everything special about Rogers "came out of a bottle" and other characters assuming that without his shield, he's easy prey.
  • Defied in his first movie, where his courage, compassion, and quick mind were what caused Erskine to choose him for the experiment in the first place.
  • Downplayed but he's noticeably somewhat less effective without his shield. When separated from it in Siberia, he's only able to hold Tony down for about five seconds before Iron Man turns the tides and begins beating the snot out of him. That said, he singlehandedly takes down an elevator full of HYDRA mooks without his shield and consistently holds his own against the Winter Soldier, who relieves him of his shield early on in every fight they have.
  • He proves Tony (and everyone else) wrong in Endgame when, in an all-or-nothing moment of sheer desperation, he lifts Thor's hammer to fight 2014 Thanos.
• Young and in Charge:
  • The (physically) youngest member of The Team. His strength of character and his battlefield experience, however, make him the best fit for command. This is made something of an amusing twist from the comics, as he's typically the Big Brother Mentor or Team Dad of the Avengers, as well as the larger Marvel Universe itself; here, half the original team are played by actors over a decade older than him.
  • The best example is the first time the Avengers assemble as a team in the middle of a Chitauri-overrun New York; the discussion over who's in charge amounts to Iron Man asking Cap to tell them the plan, Cap issuing his orders, and nobody arguing with him. What's most impressive is that he makes the Hulk – who, not too long ago, was trying to splatter Black Widow and Thor on the helicarrier – follow him with a few words:
    Cap: And Hulk?
    [Hulk immediately looks at him]
    Cap: Smash.
    [Hulk smirks with pleasure, and proceeds to do just that]

Variants

HYDRA Stomper

Steven Grant Rogers / HYDRA Stomper

"I'm still that skinny kid from Brooklyn, now just in a big metal suit."

"Stark made me some new dancing shoes. What do you think?"

^{Click here to see him in Season 2}
"Mission accomplished, ma'am."

Species: Human (cybernetically enhanced)

Citizenship: American

Affiliation(s): US Army, Howling Commandos, Red Room

Voiced By: Josh Keaton

Appearances: What If...?

On Earth-82111, Peggy Carter was the one who became a super soldier, with Steve instead becoming the HYDRA Stomper after Howard Stark used the Tesseract to power an armored suit.

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• Adaptational Angst Downgrade: In Bullet Points, being bonded to the much cruder Iron Man armor of his time was physical Hell for Steve, even without the mass of surgery required just to get it to work for him. The HYDRA Stomper armor has no such drawback. Averted in Season 2 however, where he gets far more angst and it's revealed that he now can't survive without the suit.
• Adaptational Angst Upgrade: Season 2 makes him his reality's version of the Winter Soldier, having been captured and brainwashed by the Soviets. They also permanently bonded him with the HYDRA Stomper suit, which made him The Ageless but also means he can't live without it and it's mentioned that every time he's reactivated his chances of survival drop.
• Adaptational Name Change: In Bullet Points, Steve was given the codename Iron Man, which was also the name of the backup project for Project Rebirth if it was canceled. Here he is called the HYDRA Stomper, which is what Dum Dum Dugan calls him after first seeing him in action.
• The Ageless: He's now bonded with the suit forever, which has kept him alive and young since 1953.
• Amazon Chaser: Has absolutely no problem with how much stronger Peggy is than him, to the point that even after getting shot, Steve takes a second to admire her after she becomes a super soldier.
• And I Must Scream: Steve is completely self-aware while the HYDRA Stomper is active under the Red Room's control, but it also overrides his will, leaving him completely trapped in his own body while the Red Room uses the suit to commit assassinations and other crimes.
• Appropriated Appellation: His codename comes from Dum Dum Dugan asking Bucky, "[Captain Carter's] friends with that... that HYDRA Stomper?"
• Arm Cannon: He has repulsors in his forearms that are powerful enough to blow up tanks and harm a giant Kraken-like monster summoned by HYDRA.
• Badass in Distress: By virtue of the HYDRA Stomper being caught in the explosion of the HYDRA train the Howling Commandos were trailing, Steve, the armor, and the Tesseract powering it fall into the Red Skull's hands.
• The Big Guy: As the HYDRA Stomper, Rogers is hands down the strongest, most powerful member of the Howling Commandos due to being in an indestructible suit of armor powered by an Infinity Stone.
• Clothes Make the Superman: All of his powers come from the HYDRA Stomper armor, which unfortunately means that people still see him as a sick, asthmatic weakling even though he's as much a hero as Captain Carter.
• Composite Character: The HYDRA Stomper armor is essentially the Iron Man Mk. 1 armor, albeit nearer to the size of Stane's Iron Monger and the Hulkbuster armors, with its aesthetics and load-outs more akin to War Machine's. Season 2 reveals that he became his reality's counterpart of the Winter Soldier, though having been captured by the Soviets and brainwashed by the Red Room instead of HYDRA.
• Death by Adaptation: An implied Double Subversion. He seemingly dies when the train blows up, but is later revealed to have survived. However, when Peggy emerges from the Tesseract nearly seventy years later, Fury's response to her asking Steve's whereabouts implies that this version died in the intervening years. And then it becomes an triple subversion in The Stinger of episode 9, with Natasha of that timeline finding the Hydra Stomper suit with Season 2 revealing that he was turned into a cyborg by the Red Room. Might even be Spared by the Adaptation at this point, given the number of questions regarding his Sacred Timeline counterpart's whereabouts post-Endgame.
• Determinator: He retains his main counterpart's relentless persistence. When Bucky and the other Howling Commandos manage to free him from captivity, the first thing he does is to tell them to get him in the HYDRA Stomper so he could get back into action and help Peggy fight HYDRA and their recently-unleashed monster.
• Discard and Draw: Lost the opportunity to become Captain America, and became Iron Man instead.
• Disney Death: Is seemingly killed in an explosion. However, it is revealed later on that HYDRA had captured him to acquire the Tesseract while his armour had saved him from any harm.
• Flying Brick: As the HYDRA Stomper, he can fly, tear apart tanks, and withstand gunfire and explosions.
• Flying Firepower: As the HYDRA Stomper, he can fly via a Jet Pack and fire energy beams from his arms.
• Handicapped Badass: Due to Peggy receiving the serum instead of him in this timeline, Steve remains a scraggly, frail asthmatic. However, he still manages to become a powerful superhero when Howard Stark creates the HYDRA Stomper armor for him, allowing him to go out in the battlefield and turn the tide of war in the U.S. Army's favor.
• In Spite of a Nail: Despite not being able to take the super soldier serum in this timeline, he still becomes a superhero who's a One-Man Army with Super-Strength and uses an indestructible weapon.
• Jet Pack: The HYDRA Stomper armor has one that's mounted on its back.
• Made of Indestructium: The HYDRA Stomper armor is the spiritual predecessor to the Mk 1 Iron Man armor and the Hulkbuster from the main timeline, but is notably said to be indestructible, shrugging off small arms fire and tank shells alike. The fact it is essentially a flying tank powered by an Infinity Stone with the occupant safely sealed inside helps.
• Mighty Glacier: Much like the Hulkbuster, its huge composition makes it quite sluggish and not very agile. Despite this, it's an indestructible machine that's powerful enough to effortlessly destroy tanks.
• Mini-Mecha: The suit is noticeably much larger than the standard Iron Man and War Machine armors, being closer in size to the likes of the Iron Monger or the Hulkbuster.
• Never Found the Body: After regaining control of his body, Steve flies the HYDRA Stomper into the Red Room with Melina tied to his suit thanks to Natasha, destroying it in an explosion, which kills Melina and then crashes into the ground. However, Peggy seems rather convinced that Steve survived that and is still out there. Given how the suit has survived massive explosions before, it's a reasonable belief.
• Oh, Crap!: When he sees that the train HYDRA was using is laden with explosives that are rigged to blow.
• Phlebotinum Dependence: Under the Red Room's control, Steve doesn't age inside the HYDRA Stomper, but it's also the only thing that's keeping him alive with each activation increasing the risk of it killing him.
• Powered Armor: He receives one from Howard Stark after the initial plan of giving him the serum doesn't work out. It's powered by the Tesseract and eventually gets the name "HYDRA Stomper" after Dugan calls it that.
• Power Glows: As a result of Howard Stark not developing the Arc Reactor at this point in time, Stark instead uses the Tesseract directly to power the suit, giving it a sky-blue glow. When it is supercharged in the final battle without the Tesseract, it glows yellow instead, which quickly begins to fade as the capacitors are drained. In Season 2, this is replaced by a red glow instead.
• The Resenter: Subverted, as he never shows any real jealousy about missing out on the chance of becoming a super soldier and is supportive of Peggy. The closest he ever gets is when they are discussing how she now finds it easier to be heard and respected, with it being clear that people still see him as weak even though he is just as much a hero as the HYDRA Stomper.

Zombie Apocalypse Steve Rogers

Steven Grant Rogers / Captain America

"On my mark!…Ow!"

Species: Enhanced human (formerly), Zombified enhanced human

Citizenship: American

Affiliation(s): Avengers (formerly)

Voiced By: Josh Keaton

Appearances: What If...? | Marvel Zombies

On Earth-89521, Steve Rogers was infected with a zombie virus.

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• Adaptational Curves: Inverted. He's far more emaciated than Colonel America, who retains his muscular physique as a zombie.
• Adaptational Name Change: In Marvel Zombies his codename was Colonel America, while here he is still Captain America.
• Advertised Extra: He was the most prominently shown zombie of the episode, with his own Marvel Legends and Lego figures, but gets taken down by Bucky in the middle of his debut episode and appears only briefly when portaled in to surprise Infinity Ultron during the season finale.
• An Arm and a Leg: Loses both his legs to Bucky Barnes after getting bisected by his own shield. Not that it stops him from moving around anyway...
• And Then John Was a Zombie: He is turned by Zombie Hank Pym and has to be killed by Bucky Barnes.
• Curb Stomp Cushion: He manages to defend himself from some of Bucky's attacks with his shield for a while and disarm him of his rifle, but he's quickly overpowered shortly after and bisected by his own shield after Bucky returns it at him.
• Death by Adaptation: He's one of the many major characters who got infected by the Quantum Virus.
• Devoured by the Horde: Was taken by surprise by a zombified Hank Pym when the Avengers tried to face the zombies.
• Elite Zombie: He's a Super-Soldier who turned into a zombie, making him one of the toughest zombies the survivors have to face.
• Face–Monster Turn: All traces of Steve's humanity are gone once he's zombified, with his first act being to devour and turn Sharon before mindlessly going after his old friend Bucky shortly after.
• Fallen Hero: Once Earth's greatest hero, now a mindless zombie devouring the flesh of any living being he sees.
• Half the Man He Used to Be: He gets cut in half at the waist by his own shield, courtesy of Bucky, and left to tumble off a moving train.
• Hero Killer: Devours and infects this universe's version of Sharon Carter.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: Bucky slices him in half with his own shield.
• It Can Think: He still knows how to use his shield, as seen when he uses it to block Bucky's gunfire and throws it at him, and can still engage in hand-to-hand combat.
• Jawbreaker: Bucky almost tears his jaw off and leaves it dangling after punching it with his vibranium arm.
• The Noseless: Like many of the other zombies, Zombie Cap doesn't have a nose as it rotted away.
• Not Quite Dead: The promotional material for Marvel Zombies reveals that in spite of getting bisected in half with his own shield in What If, Zombie Cap is still alive and crawling around.
• Oh, Crap!: Has this look when a zombified Hank Pym embiggens in front of him and devours him.
• The Undead: He's a reanimated zombie.
• Unexplained Recovery: He is cut in half horizontally by Bucky in his premiere episode, but appears whole again in a cameo in the season finale, when he gets dropped through a portal to fight Ultron along with other zombies, including Zombie Falcon who was himself vertically bisected by Okoye (though it's possible Strange Supreme actually chose a timeline that itself split off from the one in episode five to pluck the zombie horde from).
• Warrior Undead: Despite having been zombified, he still knows how to use his shield to fight like he did when he was alive, albeit more aggressively and brutally since being undead has removed any semblance of moral restraint in him.
• Who Needs Their Whole Body?: The promotional material for Marvel Zombies shows that getting split in half wasn't enough to kill him for good.

Infinity Ultron's Steve Rogers

Steven Grant Rogers / Captain America

Species: Enhanced human

Citizenship: American

Affiliation(s): Avengers

Voiced By: N/A

Appearances: What If...?

On Earth-29929, Steve Rogers got killed during Ultron's genocidal quest for peace.

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• Dead Alternate Counterpart: He got killed alongside Iron Man, Thor, and Hulk by Ultron.
• Dead-Hand Shot: The only time we see him is a shot of his hand alongside Thor and Hulk's corpses as the camera pans to Ultron killing Iron Man.
• Death by Adaptation: Is killed by Ultron.
• Killed Offscreen: We don't see him get killed by Ultron. We only see a shot of his dead hand after the act.
• The Worf Effect: He gets killed alongside the other founding Avengers except Clint and Natasha just to show how powerful Ultron would've become had he successfully uploaded himself into Vision's body.
• Wrecked Weapon: His shield was shattered to bits.

President Steve Rogers

President Steven Grant Rogers

Species: Human

Citizenship: American

Voiced By: Josh Keaton

Appearances: What If...?

A variant of Steve Rogers who became president of the USA.

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• Alternate Universe Reed Richards Is Awesome: This version of Steve was just made the president which gives him far more political power than the Sacred Timeline version, who spent a few years as a fugitive on the run from the American government.
• Ambiguous Situation: As it has been shown that Variants can have different ages and appearances to each other, it raises questions on whether this Steve Rogers is a super soldier like the Sacred Timeline version or if he is just a regular human who was born later than the main universe Steve. While he has the same appearance as the main version it could be that this Variant never suffered the same health problems.
• The Cameo: Only appears briefly on a building-mounted screen while Uatu is fighting Infinity Ultron, giving what appears to be his inauguration speech.
• Mythology Gag: Steve becoming president was the premise of What If? Volume #1 Issue #26. He also was briefly president in Marvel Zombies before becoming a zombie.
• President Superhero: He's a version of Steve Rogers who became president of the United States, but it's unknown if he's still acting as Captain America or even if he ever was.
• Sharp-Dressed Man: He's wearing a pretty nice suit while giving his inauguration speech.

King Loki's Steve Rogers

Steven Grant Rogers / Captain America

Species: Enhanced human

Citizenship: American

Voiced By: N/A

Appearances: What If...?

The Steve Rogers of Earth-51825, who fights alongside Captain Marvel against Loki's invasion.

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• Adaptational Early Appearance: He was found and defrosted a year earlier than he was in the Sacred Timeline.
• Adaptational Relationship Overhaul: In the Sacred Timeline Steve didn't meet Captain Marvel until the mid-credit scene of Captain Marvel and they weren't shown with many scenes together. Here they are the only two Avengers fighting against Loki and she's the first superhero he meets after being revived, meaning they are likely closer than their counterparts.
• The Cameo: He appears at the end of the Season 1 finale fighting the Einherjar alongside Captain Marvel, Nick Fury, and several SHIELD agents.
• Life Saving Misfortune: Him getting stuck in ice proves to be far more beneficial to him in this timeline, as this meant he wasn't killed by Hank Pym in his rampage and left him as one of the few survivors of the team.
• One-Man Army: He is seen taking down several Einherjar warriors in the final episode.
• Sole Survivor: He is the only original Avenger who wasn't targeted by Hank Pym during his rampage against SHIELD due to still being stuck in ice during the events of the episode.
• The Voiceless: He does not have any lines.

Doctor Strange Supreme's Steve Rogers

Steven Grant Rogers / Captain America

Species: Enhanced human

Citizenship: American

Voiced By: N/A

Appearances: What If...? (mentioned only)

The Steve Rogers of Earth-91233.

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• Back from the Dead: Strange Supreme's death and the subsequent restoration of Earth-91233 brings him back offscreen.
• Dead Alternate Counterpart: He got killed by Strange Supreme accidentally destroying the universe in his futile quest to revive Christine.
• Death by Adaptation: Is accidentally killed by Doctor Strange Supreme alongside the rest of the universe.
• The Ghost: He isn't seen, only mentioned by Doctor Strange Supreme when he tells Captain Carter that in his universe, she didn't receive the serum but he did.
• In Spite of a Nail: He received the serum like many of his counterparts in contrast to Captain Carter, which Doctor Strange Supreme points out. It's also highly likely that he lived virtually the same life as his Sacred Timeline counterpart up until the point where Strange accidentally destroyed this universe.
• Killed Offscreen: We never see him die.

The Freak's Steve Rogers

Steven Grant Rogers / Captain America

"I was right!"

Species: Enhanced human

Citizenship: American

Voiced By: Josh Keaton

Appearances: What If...?

A variant of Steve Rogers who was working as a Santa's little helper to Tony Stark's Mall Santa for the holidays when Justin Hammer seized the Avengers Tower.

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• Big Guy Rodeo: Tries this on a gamma-irradiated Happy Hogan while Tony and Nat hold his arms down. It doesn't work.
• Dreaded Kids' Party Entertainer Job: He dresses up as an elf for Christmas and is swarmed by multiple soccer moms who have crushes on him.
• Goofy Suit: He dresses up in an elf costume as part of his gig as Santa's little helper to Tony's Mall Santa. The ladies don't seem to mind though and he still wears this costume for the rest of the episode.
• Unwanted Harem: Several soccer moms are shown admiring him by touching and staring at him, which visibly makes him uncomfortable.

Rogers Hood

Steve Rogers / Rogers Hood / Captain America

"Good morrow, Prince Loki. Your carriage looks like it could use some lightening of its load."

Species: Enhanced human

Citizenship: English, American

Affiliation(s): Avengers 1602, Avengers

Voiced By: Josh Keaton

Appearances: What If...?

A variant of Steve Rogers who was an outlaw in 1602.

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• Adaptational Backstory Change: In the comics, Steve came from a Bad Future where Purple Man had taken over the world and accidentally set back in time, where he ended up living with Native Americans under the name Rojhaz, saving the Roanoke colony and becoming a bodyguard to Virginia Dare. In this version he was sent back in time after accidentally striking the Time Stone during his fight with Thanos during Infinity War and his memories were altered to fit into the new reality he was in, where he was now an outlaw who stole from the corrupt rich to help the poor.
• Adaptational Nice Guy: Unlike his comic counterpart, he's more willing to return to his universe. Somewhat justified as in the comics he believed he had a chance to change history for the better and had spent some years there already, while in this he can clearly see how his presence risks the lives of everyone.
• Adaptational Skill: Like with many of the characters from the setting, Steve possesses swordsmanship skills he isn't shown to have in other universes.
• Doppelgänger Gets Same Sentiment: On the giving and receiving ends; he sees a lot of his Margaret in Captain Carter, and she sees a lot of her Steve in him.
• Heroic Sacrifice: When he's revealed as the Forerunner, he realises that he needs to be sent back to restore the universe to normal and willingly does so, despite having feelings for Captain Carter.
• In Spite of a Nail: Like his Sacred Timeline counterpart, he lost his world's Peggy Carter and falls in love with an alternate version of her.
• Just Like Robin Hood: A very literal example. He's Steve Rogers combined with Robin Hood, having once loved a Maid Margaret who passed away some time ago and steals from the rich and corrupt with the help of fellow outlaws.
• The Lost Lenore: Maid Margaret, the Peggy Carter of his world, died a long time ago.
• Oh, Crap!: He's visibly nervous when Happy transforms into The Freak during their fight.
• Paradox Person: His very existence in 1602 is causing reality to fall apart.
• The Reveal: Much like the original comics, he's the Forerunner and must be sent back to his time to save the universe from destruction.
• Uncertain Doom: It's unclear what happens to him after he uses the Time Stone to return to his time, especially considering he was in the middle of a fight with Thanos.

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"Don't do anything stupid 'till I get back."

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