10 Things You Didn't Know About Captain America
Mar 20, 2014 21:40
Being the bastion of justice and leading a bunch of egoistic superheroes can be tough, especially since being superhuman doesn't qualify one as "extreme awesome" in the "superpowers" department. But if there's one thing for sure, Captain America is one tough insufferable good guy extraordinaire.
In a time when being righteous is the ultimate boring quality of a hero, Capt manages to turn that into something you'd want to hashtag #govalor! Let's compare him with his colleagues first:
Iron Man
We love iron man because he's one cocky S.O.B. and he kicks ass. He's that smart-mouthed know-it-all we'd love to hate but somehow end up rooting for. Who are we kidding? We love you, Iron Man!
Thor and Hulk
They're so strong they can't possibly lose. Nothing hurts them, or Hulk at least. What sets Cap apart from them is that he's probably the bravest of the lot, simply because Cap is still human, and humans die.
Falcon, Black Widow and Hawkeye
They may risk their lives for the team, but they're ultimately following Captain America’s lead.
But like every superhero, Cap represents the ultimate affinity to do good and be bad-ass at it. Like most superheroes, there are a couple of things you probably didn't know about him, like how flirting with danger is his general modus operandi.
Check out the list below:
1. Captain America is in the 'Metahuman category'.
A metahuman is a superhuman, but that doesn't mean they are impervious to everything that gets thrown their way. In other words, Captain America CAN STILL DIE.
Wikipedia describes it as such: The term metahuman is a superhuman and is synonymous with mutant and mutate in the Marvel Universe. A metahuman can sometimes be used to refer to an attribute of a character possessing a high degree of superhuman durability, from withstanding wounds, temperature extremes, and more.
The only thing really "super" about Captain America is his shield, which is composed of a unique alloy of vibranium - a fictional piece of steel so strong it is virtually indestructible. In the comics, we see the shield being upgraded by the likes of Tony Stark, which allowed Steve Rogers to control it in flight.
Obviously, being metahuman makes Captain America really strong. How else can you explain him withstanding a blow from Thor's Mjolnir?
2. Captain America and Iron Man BOTH sacrificed themselves in order to save New York from nuclear weapons...
In an attempt to probably "show how the hearts of humans trump the beings with powers", both Captain America and Iron Man sacrificed themselves in order to save New York from nuclear weapons, and in two movies! That’s right. All you need are guts of steel, reflecting our interest in supporting those that conquer all odds.
In the end of the first Captain America movie, Captain America was stuck on a plane to New York. It was filled with nukes. The only way to save everyone was to run straight into the fire and win. In other words, he sacrifice himself.. and a few polar bears, if the bomb did go off.
In The Avengers, Iron Man steals a page from Captain America's valor and intercepted a nuke sent by S.H.I.E.L.D. that was meant to annihilate everything invading New York at that time, including out-of-towners who were just there to visit for a day.
Both survived, obviously, but not without repercussions. Iron Man suffered post traumatic stress disorder at first in the first half of the third installment and Cap lost a good 65 years of his life.
3. Captain America’s shield and Wolverine’s Adamantium are similar
While there’s no exact date of creation, Captain America’s shield was the result of one creative doctor concocting a super hard metal substance. He created it with a mystery factor but fell asleep when the process was done.
It turns out, the adamantium that make up Wolverine's bones is derived from an attempt to replicate the hardcore Thor blocking metal in Cap's shield. The material was founded by one Dr. Myron MacLain, who used the exotic Vibranium metal and an unknown substance to create Captain America's shield. When he tried to duplicate the shield again, it resulted in true Adamantium.
Which is probably how Wolvie is going to get his killer claws back after being stripped of the substance in his last movie. We’ll never know which is stronger though. Captain America’s shield, or Wolverine’s adamantium bones.
4. Captain America once gave up Patriotism
He ditched his name to become a generic hero, when Marvel Comic's version of the Watergate scandal revealed President Nixon as the supervillain who blew his brains out in front of Captain America. He was so shocked and disillusioned that he tossed his costume and quit patriotism.
But with no real job to go back to, he returned to being a superhero known as "Nomad" and managed to get the worst imaginable costume to wear. Thankfully, that entire ordeal was short-lived. It's highly unlikely this would be a movie on its own.
5. Captain America is not picky with who he dates
This old dawg knows where good looks come from, and since he didn't get to intensify his romance with Peggy Carter (played by Hayley Atwell in the first film) he's moving on to her niece, Sharon Carter.
But to be fair, we'll have to pity the guy. He lost his chance at true love when he decided the lives of polar bears weren't as important as people, though if he did survive, there's no telling how much worse it could have been, since there's no real way of telling how long Cap will live for.
After several shared adventures (in the comic), Captain America and Sharon fell in love, but when she rejects his marriage proposal, the Captain gives up crimefighting and reveals his true identity to the public. He soon recants his decision to retire and returned to action.
6. Playing Captain America requires knowing a ton of mix martial arts.
Chris Evans had to learn all sorts of techniques like parkour, Brazilian jiu jitsu, karate and boxing in order to star in the movie. No surprise here of course...
7. Captain America will be fighting his best friend in the sequel.
The identity of the "Winter Soldier" is James Buchanan "Bucky" Barnes. The duo fought alongside each other in London, England. They ended up getting captured before being strapped to a drone plane to be delivered to Hitler in Berlin. Captain America managed to free himself, while Bucky ended up getting trapped in the cockpit of the plane, which later exploded.
Bucky was revived in Moscow, but suffered brain damage with amnesia as a result of the explosion. Scientists decided to get creative and attach a bionic arm, upgrading it as technology improved. He worked under the code name Winter Soldier for a Soviet assassin called Department X, and was sent on missions involving assassination.
8. The Winter Soldier becomes the next Captain America.
(SPOILER ALERT!) Ironically, the Winter Soldier ultimately becomes the next Captain America following Steve Roger's "death" in the Marvel universe. The original Captain America had enough of kicking bad guy butt and decided to "retire" by becoming an administrator who managed super-heroes instead.
Though, like any other job he took (as you would know by now), his retirement didn't last long either and he became Captain America again.
9. Captain America and Wolverine fought together during WW2.
Wolverine was actually part of the assault team at the castle Bucky and Cap were attacking, but ended up getting transferred to another unit before he can complete more than three missions. Wolverine's task was to follow Bucky around. He found him launching a missile that was meant to be activated over Russia. Bucky gets captured by the Russians, who erase his memory and implant new ones in his brain, transforming him into the Winter Soldier.
Following the assault on the castle, Wolverine proceeds to join the war in Japan while WW2 breaks out in Germany. While in Japan, he falls in love, gets married, and loses his wife to cancer. He then moves on to Vietnam where he gets arrested, and then wakes up with adamantium in his bones.
We can't say if there would be a crossover in the movie, but we're certain of the fact that if The Infinity Wars gets a film version, we'll be seeing them fight side-by-side again.
10. Captain America actually got married, but not to Sharon Carter!
In the comic, he was actually hitched to his neighbor Bernadette “Bernie” Rosenthal. But here are the other ladies that have earned a spot in Captain America's little black book:
- Peggy Carter - Agent X of the OSS.
- Sharon Carter - SHIELD Agent 13, first younger sister and then grand-niece to Peggy.
- Bernie Rosenthal - Neighbor, lover, lawyer.
- Diamondback - Former villain made good by his love.
- Connie Ferrari - No, she wasn't a porn star, but another lawyer.
- The Scarlet Witch - had a crush on the Captain, who didn't seem to notice.
- Ms. Marvel - brief flirtation seen only once.
- The Black Widow - made a very calculated decision to start liking Cap, but again, never seen again after one mention. But apparently Ed Brubaker liked the idea in principle so he hooked her up with Bucky.
Bonus:
11. Thank goodness for Marvel's reboot, otherwise this version of Captain America will forever be in our memories:
Remember this? Captain America was already on the silver screens in the '90s
There's a good reason why this particular movie was kept hush-hush by Hollywood (the trailer alone is pretty much self-explanatory).
This 1990 action-adventure film directed by Albert Pyun was quickly put together to ride on Tim Burton's disastrous take on Batman. As you can see, the 90s version simply didn't have the right script, cast, or even the charm to make it work.
Today's billion-times-more-awesome Captain America movie is out in cinemas this week. Be sure to catch it!
