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Narrative
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Doesn't matter what the press says. Doesn't matter what the politicians or the mobs say. Doesn't matter if the whole country decides that something wrong is something right. This nation was founded on one principle above all else: the requirement that we stand up for what we believe, no matter the odds or the consequences. When the mob and the press and the whole world tell you to move, your job is to plant yourself like a tree beside the river of truth, and tell the whole world — "No, you move."
"I'm loyal to nothing, General.. except the Dream."
Created by Joe Simon and Jack "King" Kirby in 1941 for Timely Comics (which would later change its name to Marvel Comics), Captain America is one of the many, many patriotic superheroes created during World War II to bolster morale on the home front.
As a skinny orphan artist who grew up in the Great Depression, Steve Rogers Jumped At The Call, but the US Army declared him 4-F (unfit for service), and handed him over to Operation: Rebirth, an Allied Powers project to create a Super Soldier for the war effort. Injected with Super Serum, bombarded with radiation, appropriately trained and given a signature shield, Cap fought the Axis, memorably punching Hitler in the face on the cover of his first comic. An Axis spy killed the project's director, who had it all in his head, shortly after Cap's creation.
While Cap's adventures were written and published throughout the 1940's and 50's, Stan Lee and a returning Jack Kirby retconned his history in 1963: the post-War Cap who fought Communism were imposters (first other superheroes and then an Ascended Fanboy who went insane with a flawed imitation of the Super Serum), and the "original" Cap was killed in action, but they Never Found The Body. Naturally, he came back from Suspended Animation to join the Avengers, bringing his old-style patriotism and battle tactics to the table, eventually ascending to leadership. His greatest failure was not being able to save his sidekick's life in their final fight against Baron Zemo. Eventually his moaning over this gets so old that the professional teen sidekick, Rick Jones, bluntly tells him to grow up and get over it.
He later transferred his angst to the state of his once-great nation and the endemic corruption he perceived in the system. This led to two major story arcs where Cap gave up his costume and shield for a while.
The first was in the 1970s, where he investigated the Marvel Universe's version of the Watergate Scandal; it ended with the President himself being a revealed as a supervillain and committing suicide in front of him. Rogers was so shaken by this that he retired and became Nomad for a while. Eventually, Captain America decided that he could fight for the nation's ideals, not just its government, hence the above quote as to what he is loyal to.
The second was in the 1980s, when Cap got a big check for back pay, dating back to his disappearance in 1945. This prompted a government committee to demand he start taking orders directly from the government again. Cap had recently discovered big-time government corruption, with US military officers being bought-out stooges for the Kingpin. Additionally, the thought of being forced to carry out missions he was deeply ambivalent about, such as fighting for the Contras in Central America, was off-putting. As a result, Cap resigned, giving up the costume and name that the government claimed as their own, and became the Captain, only to return when he discovered this was all a scheme by the Red Skull to sully his name.
In an interesting Post Modern turn during the 80s, Cap not only drew his own self-titled in-universe comic book, often sending it in by mail, but also told off the writers and editors for making him too violent. In one case, he walked out on an issue.
Captain America threw his mighty shield until 2007, with Civil War, when he objected to the Super Registration Act that would make criminals out of otherwise law-abiding citizens, and led a group of like-minded heroes to fight its enforcement, putting him at ideological odds with his former friend, Iron Man.
Cap gave himself up when the script required him to. A sniper's bullet took him down shortly after, but despite getting shot a few more times, interred in Arlington National Cemetery, his real body buried in Arctic ice, and the Word Of God stating that he's Killed Off For Real, his fans began placing bets on when he'd come back.
Cap's mantle was taken up in 2008 by Bucky Barnes, Steve Rogers' WWII boy sidekick who, rather than dying at the hands of Baron Zemo was brainwashed into the Soviet killing machine Winter Soldier and kept in Suspended Animation much of the time that he wasn't on missions to explain his age. Cap later freed Bucky from his Brainwashing with the help of the Cosmic Cube, allowing him to make a Heel Face Turn. In addition to having a bio-mechanical left arm and a new armored costume, he also carries a gun.
Thus far, Bucky's done a pretty good job filling in for Steve, though Captain America also provides examples of:
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