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⍟ God's Righteous Man - Steve Rogers ⍟
'We must all live in the real world… and sometimes that world can be pretty grim. But it is the Dream… the hope… that makes the reality worth living. In the early 1940s, I made a personal pledge to uphold the Dream… And as long as the Dream remains even partially unfulfilled, I cannot abandon it!'
EARLY LIFE
Born on the Independence Day of 1920 to poor Irish immigrant parents, Sarah and Joseph Rogers, Steve Rogers grew up a frail youth during the Great Depression In New York City, New York. Thanks to his Irish Catholic upbringing, Rogers had been instilled with a strong sense of duty, honour, and humility from a young age.
With Joseph Rogers dying when Steve was a child, and his Mother, Sarah, passing during his late teens from pneumonia, Rogers had only the memories and impressions left upon him by his parents; The only true guidance after that was from his civics teacher, Edna Crosley, who had taught Steve that as an American, it was their responsibility to protect the United States, which gave more rights than any other country in the world to its citizens.
BECOMING AMERICA'S SUPER SOLDIER
Horrified by newsreel footage of Nazis ransacking Europe and atrocities in Asia that the Empire of Japan committed in China and Korea, Rogers tried to enlist in the Army but was rejected as 4-F because of his frailty and sickness. Overhearing the boy's earnest plea to fight for his country, General Chester Phillips, of the US Army, offered Rogers the opportunity to take part in a top-secret performance-enhancing experiment called Operation Rebirth.
Rogers agreed and was taken to a secret laboratory in Washington, D.C., where he was introduced to Doctor Abraham Erskine (code named Professor Joseph Reinstein), the creator of the Super-Soldier Serum.
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 perfect human body.
A Nazi spy, who observed the experiment, murdered Dr Erskine mere minutes after its conclusion. Dr Erskine died without fully committing the Super-Soldier formula to paper, leaving Rogers the sole beneficiary of his genius.
Rogers was then put through an intensive physical and tactical training program that taught him gymnastics, hand-to-hand combat from Colonel Rex Applegate and William Essart Fairbairn, 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. Rogers was also given the cover identity of a clumsy infantry private at Camp Lehigh.
After successfully becoming Captain America, Rogers was later submitted to an experimental mind-conditioning program that conditioned his mind to accept false information about Walter Rogers' family on the chance he was captured by the enemy and forced to reveal classified information. As part of the conditioning, Rogers believed his real name to be Grant Rogers, that he had a brother named Michael who had died at Pearl Harbor, and that due to his parents being diplomats, he had a casual upper-class appointment to the Army and Captain America position. It would not be until far later in life that Rogers would recall the conditioning and his true history.
Rogers was originally issued a traditionally "kite" shaped shield made of mundane steel, as well as a sidearm. Cap's original helmet served as a mask and was separate from the rest of his costume. This proved a problem as in one early outing it was nearly knocked from his face via the hard wing emblems, almost revealing his identity to an attending newspaper reporter with a camera.
Adding a protective neck-plating hood to his costume, rather than his separate mask, solved this problem and afforded Rogers more protection. President F.D. Roosevelt later presented Rogers with his now-legendary disc-shaped shield. Discovering that its excellent aerodynamic properties made it an effective offensive weapon, Rogers abandoned his sidearm.
WORLD WAR II
During the war, "Cap" served as both a symbol of freedom and America's most effective special operative. In addition to working with his young sidekick Bucky, Cap regularly fought alongside other Allied super-powered heroes such as Namor the Sub-Mariner and the android Human Torch, who were the recognized core of World War II super-team known as the Invaders - a name suggested by English premier Winston Churchill. Rogers sometimes came into contact with a Canadian paratrooper named James Howlett, the man who would come to be legendarily known as Wolverine.
During the final days of the war, presumably on or before April 18, 1945
Captain America and Bucky were trying to stop a bomb-loaded drone plane, launched by Baron Zemo, when the plane exploded, apparently killing his partner Bucky and throwing Rogers into the icy Arctic waters of the English Channel. The Super-Soldier Formula prevented the crystallization of Rogers' bodily fluid, allowing him to enter a state of suspended animation. Although Rogers and Bucky had seemingly perished, the war still raged on and U.S. presidents and the government picked different volunteers, such as William Naslund, Jeffrey Mace, and another Steve Rogers, over the years, to keep the morale alive, and even after World War II ended.
THE FIRST AVENGER
Rogers then spent sixty-six years unconscious and frozen in ice under a state of suspended animation, before he was eventually found by S.H.I.E.L.D. in the early 21st century.
When he awoke, Rogers found himself alone in a modern world that he hardly recognized, with no idea what to do with his life. Following Loki's theft of the Tesseract from S.H.I.E.L.D., Nick Fury enlisted Rogers' help in retrieving the Tesseract and stopping Loki from destroying the world; It's with this that Captain America is commonly recognised as the first Avenger.
EARLY LIFE
Born on the Independence Day of 1920 to poor Irish immigrant parents, Sarah and Joseph Rogers, Steve Rogers grew up a frail youth during the Great Depression In New York City, New York. Thanks to his Irish Catholic upbringing, Rogers had been instilled with a strong sense of duty, honour, and humility from a young age.
With Joseph Rogers dying when Steve was a child, and his Mother, Sarah, passing during his late teens from pneumonia, Rogers had only the memories and impressions left upon him by his parents; The only true guidance after that was from his civics teacher, Edna Crosley, who had taught Steve that as an American, it was their responsibility to protect the United States, which gave more rights than any other country in the world to its citizens.
BECOMING AMERICA'S SUPER SOLDIER
Horrified by newsreel footage of Nazis ransacking Europe and atrocities in Asia that the Empire of Japan committed in China and Korea, Rogers tried to enlist in the Army but was rejected as 4-F because of his frailty and sickness. Overhearing the boy's earnest plea to fight for his country, General Chester Phillips, of the US Army, offered Rogers the opportunity to take part in a top-secret performance-enhancing experiment called Operation Rebirth.
Rogers agreed and was taken to a secret laboratory in Washington, D.C., where he was introduced to Doctor Abraham Erskine (code named Professor Joseph Reinstein), the creator of the Super-Soldier Serum.
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 perfect human body.
A Nazi spy, who observed the experiment, murdered Dr Erskine mere minutes after its conclusion. Dr Erskine died without fully committing the Super-Soldier formula to paper, leaving Rogers the sole beneficiary of his genius.
Rogers was then put through an intensive physical and tactical training program that taught him gymnastics, hand-to-hand combat from Colonel Rex Applegate and William Essart Fairbairn, 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. Rogers was also given the cover identity of a clumsy infantry private at Camp Lehigh.
After successfully becoming Captain America, Rogers was later submitted to an experimental mind-conditioning program that conditioned his mind to accept false information about Walter Rogers' family on the chance he was captured by the enemy and forced to reveal classified information. As part of the conditioning, Rogers believed his real name to be Grant Rogers, that he had a brother named Michael who had died at Pearl Harbor, and that due to his parents being diplomats, he had a casual upper-class appointment to the Army and Captain America position. It would not be until far later in life that Rogers would recall the conditioning and his true history.
Rogers was originally issued a traditionally "kite" shaped shield made of mundane steel, as well as a sidearm. Cap's original helmet served as a mask and was separate from the rest of his costume. This proved a problem as in one early outing it was nearly knocked from his face via the hard wing emblems, almost revealing his identity to an attending newspaper reporter with a camera.
Adding a protective neck-plating hood to his costume, rather than his separate mask, solved this problem and afforded Rogers more protection. President F.D. Roosevelt later presented Rogers with his now-legendary disc-shaped shield. Discovering that its excellent aerodynamic properties made it an effective offensive weapon, Rogers abandoned his sidearm.
WORLD WAR II
During the war, "Cap" served as both a symbol of freedom and America's most effective special operative. In addition to working with his young sidekick Bucky, Cap regularly fought alongside other Allied super-powered heroes such as Namor the Sub-Mariner and the android Human Torch, who were the recognized core of World War II super-team known as the Invaders - a name suggested by English premier Winston Churchill. Rogers sometimes came into contact with a Canadian paratrooper named James Howlett, the man who would come to be legendarily known as Wolverine.
During the final days of the war, presumably on or before April 18, 1945
Captain America and Bucky were trying to stop a bomb-loaded drone plane, launched by Baron Zemo, when the plane exploded, apparently killing his partner Bucky and throwing Rogers into the icy Arctic waters of the English Channel. The Super-Soldier Formula prevented the crystallization of Rogers' bodily fluid, allowing him to enter a state of suspended animation. Although Rogers and Bucky had seemingly perished, the war still raged on and U.S. presidents and the government picked different volunteers, such as William Naslund, Jeffrey Mace, and another Steve Rogers, over the years, to keep the morale alive, and even after World War II ended.
THE FIRST AVENGER
Rogers then spent sixty-six years unconscious and frozen in ice under a state of suspended animation, before he was eventually found by S.H.I.E.L.D. in the early 21st century.
When he awoke, Rogers found himself alone in a modern world that he hardly recognized, with no idea what to do with his life. Following Loki's theft of the Tesseract from S.H.I.E.L.D., Nick Fury enlisted Rogers' help in retrieving the Tesseract and stopping Loki from destroying the world; It's with this that Captain America is commonly recognised as the first Avenger.
