Captain America in other media

Since the 1940s, the comic book character Captain America has been presented in a variety of other media, including serial films, feature films, animations, and video games.

Television

1960s

The Marvel Super Heroes (1966): Captain America was one of the five featured superheroes, starring in one "Captain America" segment a week. They were largely straightforward adaptations of not just the character's solo stories from Tales of Suspense, but also several stories from The Avengers series as well.

1970s

Spirit of '76 (Marvel Comics)

The Spirit of '76 (real name William Naslund) is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer Roy Thomas and artist Frank Robbins as part of a World War II-era superhero team, the Crusaders, and patterned on the DC Comics group the Freedom Fighters, the character first appeared in The Invaders #14 (March 1977). The Spirit of '76 was the equivalent of Freedom Fighters member Uncle Sam, originally a Quality Comics character. In the stories, the character briefly assumed the role of Captain America after the original – Steve Rogers – was presumed dead. However, he was killed in action.

Publication history

Marvel's Spirit of '76 appeared as a member of the short-lived superhero team the Crusaders in The Invaders #14–15 (March–April 1977). In a canonical portion of a story in issue #4 (Aug. 1977) of the alternative universe series What If?, Naslund succeeds Steve Rogers as Captain America, the first of three official replacements until Rogers resumed the role years later. This retcon became necessary after Marvel's conflicting accounts of Captain America in 1950s and 1960s comics had created a discrepancy.

Bucky

Bucky is the name used by several different fictional superheroes appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics, usually as a sidekick to Captain America. The original Bucky, James Buchanan "Bucky" Barnes, was created by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby and first appeared in Captain America Comics #1 (cover-dated March 1941), which was published by Marvel's predecessor, Timely Comics. In 2005 the original Bucky was brought back from supposed death as the villainous assassin Winter Soldier, and later briefly assumed the role of Captain America when Steve Rogers was presumed to be dead.

Sebastian Stan portrays Bucky in the feature film Captain America: The First Avenger (2011) and the Winter Soldier in Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014). He also portrayed Bucky Barnes in a post-credits scene in the 2015 film Ant-Man (2015). Stan will reprise the role in the sequel Captain America: Civil War (2016).

Publication history