Captain America born in 1941 by Jack Kirby e Joe Simon on the occasion of World War II and then returned to vogue in 1964 as a Marvel superhero, thanks to Stan Lee, after having known oblivion starting from 1946. The first Captain America was born with the specific intention of carrying out propaganda work in favor of the intervention of the United States in the Second World War, but over time he has become a symbolic character of American turmoil and anxieties, so much so that after 11 September 2001, after the attack on the twin towers, there were several New York murals depicting Captain America in tears. Since its first appearance Captain America, met an immediate public consensus, as he stood out for his originality and because he openly took sides against the Nazis, which he fought openly before America entered the war. The settings are very dark, almost gothic and are the backdrop to very often dramatic stories. During the war, Captain America became for readers a real "living legend of the Second World War". But after the war, after the tension of interventionism that held the emphasis of this character, Captain America, became an anachronistic symbol of a period to be forgotten, quickly, therefore it lost readership and the magazine was suppressed.

Video How to draw Captain America

The story of Captain America tells the adventures of Steve Rogers, a frail blond boy, born into a poor family, who went out of his way to be drafted into the US Army for the war against the Nazis. But due to his slender and sickly constitution, due to a life of hardship and malnutrition, he was rejected by the army. It was General Chester Phillips who offered Steve Roger an opportunity: this was to undergo an experiment to create a super-soldier. After drinking a serum prepared by a scientist and being bombarded by special rays, Steve Roger becomes a superman, endowed with extraordinary strength and agility. Worn costume blue in color with a central area of ​​vertical white and red stripes like the flag of the United States, and the characteristic shield (then triangular and not circular), Steve Rogers becomes Captain America, la Sentinel of Liberty. Her adventures against the Nazi army take place both in the Pacific Ocean and in Europe. In addition to Hitler himself, Captain America's enemies thus become above all fictional characters such as the Red Skull and Baron Zemo, all officers of the Nazi army. Alongside Captain America he was fighting a boy, who wore a blue uniform and an eye mask whose name was Bucky Barnes. However, it happened that at the end of the Second World War, Baron Zemo launched a bomb plane, Captain America and Bucky jumped on board in an attempt to extinguish the device, but they didn't have time and Bucky Burnes died in the explosion, while Captain America fell into the frozen arctic sea. Captain America thanks to the special serum and his exceptional physical constitution, he spent the period from 1946 to 1964 hibernating at the bottom of the sea (when precisely the publication was suppressed due to the low number of readers). Starting in March 1964, Marvel resurrects the old man Captain America. It was in fact found by Sub-Mariner hibernating in a block of ice and revered as a god by the people of the Eskimos, the furious prince Namor took the block and threw it back into the sea, but this time he headed south and the ice began to melt . It was the Avengers aboard a submarine who recovered it and put it back on track. Thanks to the technology of the scientist Tony Stark (aka Iron Man), they gave him a circular shield made of a particular indestructible Vibraniumin alloy.

Starting from October of the same year, on the Tales of Suspance register, Captain America begins appearing regularly until he has his own head in April 1968. The character was remodeled following the distinctive Marvel style by his own creator, Jack Kirby, but what differentiates the new Captain America from the former is above all its psychological profile. Steve Roger realized he was a man out of time, in fact everything had changed and he felt lost in this new world, without the company of his friend Bucky, for whom he felt strong pangs of conscience, in fact he regretted being jumped from the plane before the explosion, while Bucky died trying everything out, he felt therefore somehow the architect of the death of his friend. Bucky's place will later be taken by the young Rick Jones, but not without misunderstandings and tensions between the two. Like all Marvel superheroes, too Captain America he therefore became a superhero with superproblems and definitively threw away the mask of American propaganda patriotism, becoming a more human character and close to the problems of ordinary people. In the stories of Captain America very often the same roles and contradictions that the United States had and still have are questioned, especially in the XNUMXs and XNUMXs, and the themes addressed focus above all on racism and the war in Vietnam. For a while Captain America he was joined by Falcon, a very strong and very agile black superhero, thanks to whom issues of racial discrimination were addressed. In addition to having served in the Avengers group, the most powerful group of Marvel superheroes, Captain America was part of Nick Fury's SHIELD special corps, which also included his girlfriend Sharon, agent 13. Captain America, as well as all superheroes, maintains a secret identity and acts in the name of justice against criminal and political organizations of all kinds. Among the many enemies we remember Batroc, the Swordsman, Modoc, Trapster etc... His weapons are only his physical strength, his agility and his Vibranium shield with a diameter of 1 m and a weight of 2,5 kg. He is able to use the shield in an impressive way, in fact, in addition to protecting it from the impact of enemies , it can be thrown like a boomerang in order to hit its opponents thanks to its incredible hardness and lightness. Among the many designers who contributed to the success of Captain America we remember in addition to the legendary Jack Kirby also the brothers John and Sal Buscema, Johnny Romita, Gene Colan, Gil Kane, George Tuska, Frank Giacoia, Jim Steranko, Roy Thomas and many others.As for editorial publications, Captain America was introduced in 1973 as a fourteenth edition by Editoriale Corno and later by Marvel Italia.

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