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** According to most origin stories, Steve Rogers was one of the many test subjects - he just turned out to be the only one that survived. So in-verse, it was probably just chance that the Anti Nazi hero looked like the Aryan ideal.


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*** That would likely be even more awesome considering most of the top level Nazis were far from matching the 'master race' look. Getting a blond, blue eyed badass who straight up admits he is nothing special to deal with the bigots...

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** Namor and Wolverine may be more experienced, but neither of them has actual leadership experience. Namor is a king, but that is different from leading a team. Wolverine is...well, Wolverine. In sheer combat, both has greater experience than Cap. But Cap's role is more that of a leader and strategist than a straight on fighter. Yeah, he can fight and fight well, but his true value and power is related to leadership. Where he clearly has an edge over other long lived heroes, given his history in the war and later.



** On top of this, even Steve's not been completely without issue. How many times has he suffered something that caused the serum to 'break down' or become 'unstable' or something that left him BroughtDownToNormal, or even dying? Part of the problem is that, even with Steve Rogers, its not a perfect formula.

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** On top of this, even Steve's not been completely without issue. How many times has he suffered something that caused the serum to 'break down' or become 'unstable' or something that left him BroughtDownToNormal, or even dying? Part of the problem is that, even with Steve Rogers, its not a perfect formula. Steve is alive because he has a strong and loyal support network including multiple super geniuses who will do all they can to save him.
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* Back when Red Skull was running around in a clone body of Steve Rogers and before his face got dusted, how did everybody he ever interacted with fail to notice that "mr. Smith" looked a hell of a lot like Captain America??

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* Back when Red Skull was running around in a clone body of Steve Rogers and before his face got dusted, how did everybody he ever interacted with fail to notice that "mr. Smith" looked a hell of a lot like Captain America??America??
** (1) Not many people know exactly what Captain America looks like under the mask other than he's white and blond, (2) Mr. Smith had Red Skull's perpetual SlasherSmile, something that would instantly distinguish him from the actual Steve Rodgers, and (3) William Burnside, the fourth Captain America, got plastic surgery to look (and sound) exactly like Steve Rodgers in the 1950s so it's not unlikely that anyone would just assume the Mr. Smith is a Steve Rodger's impersonator, and not the actual article.
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** In one of the ''[[Literature/XMenChaosEngineTrilogy Chaos Engine]]'' novels, and in the comics, it is explained that Red Skull recruits heavily from young white supremacist groups, skin-heads and the like. Being a former top Nazi himself, Red Skull would find it easy to manipulate such people into becoming his minions. "You are the Master Race, and it is your destiny to rule the world with me!" and the like. He probably pays them well too. In the case of one henchmen in the ''Chaos engine'' novel, he becomes horrified at what the Red Skull wants to do the world.

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** In one of the ''[[Literature/XMenChaosEngineTrilogy Chaos Engine]]'' novels, and in the comics, it is explained that Red Skull recruits heavily from young white supremacist groups, skin-heads and the like. Being a former top Nazi himself, Red Skull would find it easy to manipulate such people into becoming his minions. "You are the Master Race, and it is your destiny to rule the world with me!" and the like. He probably pays them well too. In the case of one henchmen in the ''Chaos engine'' novel, he becomes horrified at what the Red Skull wants to do the world.world.
* Back when Red Skull was running around in a clone body of Steve Rogers and before his face got dusted, how did everybody he ever interacted with fail to notice that "mr. Smith" looked a hell of a lot like Captain America??

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!!In General



* About the Red Skull: why '''Red'''? Here in Europe the colour red is associated with '''Socialism''' and '''Communism''' (and, in Italy, with Garibaldi's volunteers, who wore RedShirts but kicked everyone else's asses). And to make it worse, he wears a '''black''' uniform: black and red are the colours of '''Anarchism'''. You'd expect Hitler and his protege to know all this...
** Because his skull is red. Not exactly something he has control over.
*** That's the problem: in the comics it was originally just an ugly mask given to him by Hitler himself.
*** You want to know why a comic book written in ''America'' doesn't conform to color interpretations in ''Europe''. Gee, I can't imagine why.\\\
Plus, Captain America's characters were largely established during WWII--well before "red communism" really became a thing, as I understand it.\\\
But more basically? Red is the color of blood and black is the color of death. Simple as that.
*** So it's just carelessness... Johann Schmidt is German, Hitler is Austrian, they would have known what those colours meant.
*** Actually, nevermind what I just said. [[https://www.google.com/search?q=nazi+flag&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-8&hl=en&tbm=isch&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi&ei=IpDbT4XVGciC0QG1x8imCg&biw=1280&bih=843&sei=JpDbT8qfFYP30gG8oOTjCg Have a quick look at the Nazi flag.]] Yup, no ''way'' would Hitler ever want to use the colors red and black.
*** Got it: like Cap uses the colors of the US flag, Red Skull uses the colors of the Nazi one.
* If the Red Skull is so evil and such a BadBoss, how does he keep getting henchmen and money? Wouldn't his {{jerkass}} habits scare away any potential henchmen if they didn't have a problem with how evil he is?
** It would be a similar explanation people use for ComicBook/TheJoker - no one in their right mind would choose to work for him, so it's limited to those ''not'' with all their screws in place. A lot of his henchmen are fanatics, either to him or Skull's Facist outlook. Other than that...street cred? ie. "Hey, I once worked for ''Red Skull''..."
** In one of the ''[[Literature/XMenChaosEngineTrilogy Chaos Engine]]'' novels, and in the comics, it is explained that Red Skull recruits heavily from young white supremacist groups, skin-heads and the like. Being a former top Nazi himself, Red Skull would find it easy to manipulate such people into becoming his minions. "You are the Master Race, and it is your destiny to rule the world with me!" and the like. He probably pays them well too. In the case of one henchmen in the ''Chaos engine'' novel, he becomes horrified at what the Red Skull wants to do the world.



** At the time ComicBook/CaptainAmerica was made, I don't think it was widely known just how far the Holocaust had gone. They knew Hitler was antisemitic, yes, but not that they were being rounded up and exterminated--and at that point in history, "antisemitic" really wasn't something that was unpopular, even in the US. "Blond, blue-eyed supermen" was the physical ideal for the US at the time too. But all the same, the irony was probably on purpose in a, "I've got your master race ''right here''," sort of way.

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** At the time ComicBook/CaptainAmerica was made, I don't think it was widely known just how far the Holocaust had gone. They knew Hitler was antisemitic, yes, but not that they were being rounded up and exterminated--and at that point in history, "antisemitic" really wasn't something that was unpopular, even in the US. "Blond, blue-eyed supermen" was the physical ideal for the US at the time too. But all the same, the irony was probably on purpose in a, "I've got your master race ''right here''," sort of way.way.

!!Red Skull
* Given he often has no lips, how does he even say his arch nemesis' name?
* Is that a mask or was his skin removed and skull dyed?
** Originally, it was a mask, but after the Skull originally died of old age, he moved to a clone body of Steve Rogers, which was disfigured by his Red Dust poison which caused his skin to shrivel up and turn red. He has skin, strictly speaking, it's just dried up and withered on his skull like a mummy.
* About the Red Skull: why '''Red'''? Here in Europe the colour red is associated with '''Socialism''' and '''Communism''' (and, in Italy, with Garibaldi's volunteers, who wore RedShirts but kicked everyone else's asses). And to make it worse, he wears a '''black''' uniform: black and red are the colours of '''Anarchism'''. You'd expect Hitler and his protege to know all this...
** Because his skull is red. Not exactly something he has control over.
*** That's the problem: in the comics it was originally just an ugly mask given to him by Hitler himself.
*** You want to know why a comic book written in ''America'' doesn't conform to color interpretations in ''Europe''. Gee, I can't imagine why.\\\
Plus, Captain America's characters were largely established during WWII--well before "red communism" really became a thing, as I understand it.\\\
But more basically? Red is the color of blood and black is the color of death. Simple as that.
*** So it's just carelessness... Johann Schmidt is German, Hitler is Austrian, they would have known what those colours meant.
*** Actually, nevermind what I just said. [[https://www.google.com/search?q=nazi+flag&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-8&hl=en&tbm=isch&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi&ei=IpDbT4XVGciC0QG1x8imCg&biw=1280&bih=843&sei=JpDbT8qfFYP30gG8oOTjCg Have a quick look at the Nazi flag.]] Yup, no ''way'' would Hitler ever want to use the colors red and black.
*** Got it: like Cap uses the colors of the US flag, Red Skull uses the colors of the Nazi one.
* If the Red Skull is so evil and such a BadBoss, how does he keep getting henchmen and money? Wouldn't his {{jerkass}} habits scare away any potential henchmen if they didn't have a problem with how evil he is?
** It would be a similar explanation people use for ComicBook/TheJoker - no one in their right mind would choose to work for him, so it's limited to those ''not'' with all their screws in place. A lot of his henchmen are fanatics, either to him or Skull's Facist outlook. Other than that...street cred? ie. "Hey, I once worked for ''Red Skull''..."
** In one of the ''[[Literature/XMenChaosEngineTrilogy Chaos Engine]]'' novels, and in the comics, it is explained that Red Skull recruits heavily from young white supremacist groups, skin-heads and the like. Being a former top Nazi himself, Red Skull would find it easy to manipulate such people into becoming his minions. "You are the Master Race, and it is your destiny to rule the world with me!" and the like. He probably pays them well too. In the case of one henchmen in the ''Chaos engine'' novel, he becomes horrified at what the Red Skull wants to do the world.

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** He is also wearing body armour that, we can assume, is far greater than anything a normal man could comfortably wear. He's fast and agile enough to dodge bullets regardless of that so he's just very difficult to hit in a fight, and he can recover from injuries much quicker so even if he takes a few bullets he can survive and recover from the damage. Meanwhile, Cap is also a highly trained tactician and strategist, and he's shown using stealth when he's needed to himself. And, while his appearance doesn't strike the same reaction from Batman, it ''is'' still highly recognisable so people ''know'' who he is when they see it, and that in itself causes its own psychological reaction that can adequately distract people (if you think you're a patriot, seeing him is awe-inspiring, and if you're a fascist who know how he feels about them, he's probably scarier than Batman).




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** Prior to writing that story, Rick Remender had Steve get lost in another dimension where he spent several decades more-or-less raising a child and fighting Arnim Zola. He appeared to not age during this time outside of growing a beard and hair, but it's likely that draining the formula from him caused these years to catch up to him. Alternatively, 'aging' is ultimately just the process of accumulative cell damage as the body's ability to repair itself weakens, so the process of removing the Super Soldier formula and its effects from his body weakened and damaged his cells, causing him to appear old and somewhat frail.

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** In the US armed forces, personnel who are "missing in action" (which Cap's legal status would have been during his frozen period) still have their cases submitted to promotion boards when they have sufficient time-in-grade to be eligible. In practice, promotion for personnel who are MIA or POW is essentially automatic. So if real-world US Army regs are actually applied to his case then he has to be a minimum of a lieutenant colonel (the rank at which time-in-grade stops being a factor for promotion eligibility), and might possibly be anything up to a major general (the last rank to which promotion is possible by US army promotion boards; 3 stars and up requires the consent of Congress). As an aside, they'd also owe him 60+ years of back pay and allowances.

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** In the US armed forces, personnel who are "missing in action" (which Cap's legal status would have been during his frozen period) still have their cases submitted to promotion boards when they have sufficient time-in-grade to be eligible. In practice, promotion for personnel who are MIA or POW is essentially automatic. So if real-world US Army regs are actually applied to his case then he has to be a minimum of a lieutenant colonel (the rank at which time-in-grade stops being a factor for promotion eligibility), and might possibly be anything up to a major general (the last rank to which promotion is possible by US army promotion boards; 3 stars and up requires the consent of Congress). As an aside, they'd also owe him 60+ years of back pay and allowances.
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* Why did removing the Super Soldier serum's effects cause Steve to quickly age into a 90 year old man? The serum had nothing to do with him not aging during his "hibernation"; him getting frozen in ice and put in a suspended animation state was the cause. Further, previous stories have specifically stated this wouldn't work, because his body had been mutated at the cellular level and no longer required the serum. There's also the fact that he already had the serum and its effects removed from his body in the past, and no, it didn't cause him to age all of a sudden.

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* Why did removing the Super Soldier serum's effects cause Steve to quickly age into a 90 year old man? The serum had nothing to do with him not aging during his "hibernation"; him getting frozen in ice and put in a suspended animation state was the cause. Further, previous stories have specifically stated this wouldn't work, because his body had been mutated at the cellular level and no longer required the serum. There's also the fact that he already had the serum and its effects removed from his body in the past, and no, it didn't cause him to age all of a sudden.sudden.

* The whole concept of Captain America: let's fight the Nazis, and everything they stand for, by taking a blonde-haired, blue-eyed guy and making him into a supersoldier! Wouldn't it be more appropriate to choose a Jewish soldier for the program?
** Perhaps the Jewish creators of ComicBook/CaptainAmerica realized the unfortunate aspect of a "revenge" subtext of that. They probably made it a blonde-haired blue-eyed guy because they wanted to say "Hey, your 'master race' isn't even on board with the program."
** At the time ComicBook/CaptainAmerica was made, I don't think it was widely known just how far the Holocaust had gone. They knew Hitler was antisemitic, yes, but not that they were being rounded up and exterminated--and at that point in history, "antisemitic" really wasn't something that was unpopular, even in the US. "Blond, blue-eyed supermen" was the physical ideal for the US at the time too. But all the same, the irony was probably on purpose in a, "I've got your master race ''right here''," sort of way.

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** Basically. He's as strong, fast, agile, and tough as a human can possibly be. Any given person can(with good genes and a hell of a lot of training) be as strong as him, as fast as him, as agile as him. What any given person can't be is all of those things at once, which Cap is.

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** Basically. He's as strong, fast, agile, and tough as a human can possibly be. Any given person can(with can (with good genes and a hell of a lot of training) be as strong as him, as fast as him, as agile as him. What any given person can't be is all of those things at once, which Cap is.


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**** If it's about exceeding the limits of what a human can do in real life, then sure. But if it's about exceeding the limits of what a human can do in the Marvel Universe, then one particular human character throws a wrench in that idea. Say hello to "MVP" the very human character who attained Captain America-level physical abilities through a specific training regimen and diet alone.
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** In one of the Chaos Engine novels, and in the comics, it is explained that Red Skull recruits heavily from young white supremacist groups, skin-heads and the like. Being a former top Nazi himself, Red Skull would find it easy to manipulate such people into becoming his minions. "You are the Master Race, and it is your destiny to rule the world with me!" and the like. He probably pays them well too. In the case of one henchmen in the Chaos engine novel, he becomes horrified at what the Red Skull wants to do the world.

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** In one of the ''[[Literature/XMenChaosEngineTrilogy Chaos Engine Engine]]'' novels, and in the comics, it is explained that Red Skull recruits heavily from young white supremacist groups, skin-heads and the like. Being a former top Nazi himself, Red Skull would find it easy to manipulate such people into becoming his minions. "You are the Master Race, and it is your destiny to rule the world with me!" and the like. He probably pays them well too. In the case of one henchmen in the Chaos engine ''Chaos engine'' novel, he becomes horrified at what the Red Skull wants to do the world.
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** It would be a similar explanation people use for SelfDemonstrating/TheJoker - no one in their right mind would choose to work for him, so it's limited to those ''not'' with all their screws in place. A lot of his henchmen are fanatics, either to him or Skull's Facist outlook. Other than that...street cred? ie. "Hey, I once worked for ''Red Skull''..."

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** It would be a similar explanation people use for SelfDemonstrating/TheJoker ComicBook/TheJoker - no one in their right mind would choose to work for him, so it's limited to those ''not'' with all their screws in place. A lot of his henchmen are fanatics, either to him or Skull's Facist outlook. Other than that...street cred? ie. "Hey, I once worked for ''Red Skull''..."

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* Why did removing the Super Soldier serum's effects cause Steve to quickly age into a 90 year old man? The serum had nothing to do with him not aging during his "hibernation"; him getting frozen in ice and put in a suspended animation state was the cause. Further, previous stories have specifically stated this wouldn't work, because his body had been mutated at the cellular level and no longer required the serum.

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* Why did removing the Super Soldier serum's effects cause Steve to quickly age into a 90 year old man? The serum had nothing to do with him not aging during his "hibernation"; him getting frozen in ice and put in a suspended animation state was the cause. Further, previous stories have specifically stated this wouldn't work, because his body had been mutated at the cellular level and no longer required the serum. There's also the fact that he already had the serum and its effects removed from his body in the past, and no, it didn't cause him to age all of a sudden.
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* Why did removing the Super Soldier serum's effects cause Steve to quickly age into a 90 year old man? The serum had nothing to do with him not aging during his "hibernation"; him getting frozen in ice and put in a suspended animation state was the cause.

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* Why did removing the Super Soldier serum's effects cause Steve to quickly age into a 90 year old man? The serum had nothing to do with him not aging during his "hibernation"; him getting frozen in ice and put in a suspended animation state was the cause. Further, previous stories have specifically stated this wouldn't work, because his body had been mutated at the cellular level and no longer required the serum.

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