Hero Spotlight: Captain America
Captain America
Real Name: Steve Rogers
Current Alias: Captain America
Identity: Public
Alignment: Good
Affiliation: The Avengers, Secret Avengers, New Avengers
Characteristics
Gender: Male
Height: 6′ 2″
Weight: 240 lbs (109 kg)
Eyes: Blue
Hair: Blonde
Status
Citizenship: American
Marital Status: Single
Occupation: Adventurer, formerly WPA artist, soldier, police officer, history teacher, freelance illustrator, special SHIELD operative
Origin
Origin: As a serviceman, Steve volunteered to be the subject of and was the first success of an experimental Super-Soldier Serum developed by the US Army—Captain America
Place of Birth: New York, New York
Place of Death: New York, New York
Creators
Joe Simon, Jack Kirby
First Appearance
(WWII) Captain America Comics #1 (1941)
(Modern) Avengers v1 #4 (1964)
Last Appearance
Captain America v5 #25 (2007)
Biography
Steve Rogers was born during the Depression and grew up a frail youth in a poor family. His father died when he was a child, his mother when he was in his late teens. Horrified by newsreel footage of the Nazis in Europe, Rogers was inspired to try to enlist in the Army. However, because of his frailty and sickness, he was rejected. Overhearing the boy’s earnest plea to be accepted, General Chester Phillips of the U.S. Army offered Rogers the opportunity to take part in a special experiment called Operation: Rebirth. Rogers agreed and was taken to a secret laboratory in Washington, D.C. where he was introduced to Dr. Abrahan Erskine (code named: Prof. Reinstein), the creator to the Super-Soldier formula.
After weeks of tests, Rogers was at last administered the Super-Soldier serum. Given part of the compound intravenously and another part orally, Rogers was then bombarded by “vita-rays,” a special combination of exotic (in 1941) wavelengths of radiation designed to accelerate and stabilize the serum’s effect on his body. Steve Rogers emerged from the vita-ray chamber with a body as perfect as a body can be and still be human. A Nazi spy who observed the experiment murdered Dr. Erskine mere minutes after its conclusion. Erskine died without fully committing the Super-Soldier formula to paper, leaving Steve Rogers the Sole beneficiary of his genius.
Roger was then put through an intensive physical and tactical training program,teaching him gymnastics, hand-to-hand combat and military strategy. Three months later, he was given his first assignment, to stop the Nazi agent called the Red Skull. To help him become a symbolic counterpart to the Red Skull, Rogers was given the red, white, and blue costume of Captain America.
During the war, he served as both a symbol of freedom and America’s most effective special operative. Then, during the final days of the war, he was trying to stop a bomb-loaded drone-plane launched by Nazi technician Baron Heinrich Zemo when the plane exploded, killing his partner Bucky; and throwing him unhurt into icy Arctic waters. The Super-Soldier formula prevented crystallization of Captain America’s bodily fluid, allowing him to enter a state of suspended animation. Decades later, he was rescued by the newly-formed Avengers and became a cornerstone of the team. His might undiminished. Captain America remains a symbol of liberty and justice.
Captain America Joins The Avengers
I heard they revealed that Winter Soldier was really a brainwashed Bucky. I don’t read comics anymore, just the occasional webpage and comic magazine to catch up.
Brett, in the same explosion that Captain America fell to his icy habitat, General Vasily Karpov and the crew of a Russian patrol submarine find Bucky’s cold-preserved body (minus an arm). Bucky is revived in Moscow, though, as a result of the explosion, he suffers brain damage with amnesia. Scientists attach a bionic arm.
Programmed to be a Soviet assassin under the code name the Winter Soldier, he is sent on covert wetworks missions, becoming increasingly ruthless and efficient as he kills in the name of the state. The Winter Soldier is kept in stasis when not on missions, and as a result has aged only a few years since the closing days of World War II. On assignment in the United States in the 1970s, he suffers a breakdown and goes missing for days after assassinating his target.
In the present day, the Winter Soldier seemingly kills the Red Skull and Jack Monroe (Nomad) under orders from former Soviet general Aleksander Lukin (Karpov’s former protégé). The Soldier launches a terrorist attack on Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, killing hundreds, and charges the Cosmic Cube which Lukin sent him to retrieve. He kidnaps Sharon Carter, an agent of the international espionage agency S.H.I.E.L.D. and an erstwhile paramour of Steve Rogers (Captain America). Upon her rescue, Carter tells Captain America the Soldier looked like Bucky. S.H.I.E.L.D. chief Nick Fury confirms the Winter Soldier’s existence, but cannot ascertain his identity.
Captain America tracks down and confronts the Winter Soldier. Upon gaining control of the Cube, he tells the Soldier, “Remember who you are”. Regaining his memories, Bucky becomes overwhelmed by guilt over his past actions, takes back the Cosmic Cube, and teleports away.
He reappears shortly afterward in London, England, where he helps Captain America fend off a terrorist attack. He asks Nick Fury for employment and new equipment. Following the events of the superhuman Civil War, the Soldier helps Fury plan the escape of an arrested Steve Rogers. Before the plan can be implemented, however, Rogers is assassinated. Considering registration architect Tony Stark (Iron Man) as ultimately responsible, the Soldier plans to kill Stark in revenge. Deducing that Stark will oversee the appointment of a new Captain America, the Soldier steals Captain America’s shield from S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Black Widow (his former lover while brainwashed in the Soviet Union) so that it cannot be handed down. Ultimately, he heads to Kronas’ headquarters, where Lukin reveals he is the Red Skull and has the evil psychiatrist Dr. Faustus attempt unsuccessfully to brainwash the Winter Soldier.
After escaping from Faustus and being captured by S.H.I.E.L.D., Barnes learns from executive director Tony Stark that Steve Rogers had left Stark a letter asking him to watch over Barnes, and the mantle of Captain America should continue. Bucky agrees to become the new Captain America, but only if Stark guarantees him complete autonomy. As this arrangement is illegal under the Superhuman Registration Act, Stark keeps his support of the new Captain America secret. As Captain America, Barnes wears a new costume and carries a pistol and a combat knife. (That’s actually him in the banner at the top of this page!!)
SOURCE: WIKIPEDIA
Bucky’s story and current status in a nutshell, lol.