What Was Captain America Like Before The Marvel Cinematic Universe?
Way back in March 1941 Timely Comics, which would later become the better known Marvel Comics, introduced the world to the character of Steve Rogers and his super-soldier alter ego, Captain America. Captain America was a patriot who battled the Axis powers of World War II. Captain America Comics #1 had a cover depicting Captain America giving Hitler a hard right hook and following this, Captain America became a very popular character. With the character being hugely popular it is no surprise that he was picked up for ventures outside of the Marvel Comics printed world.
There is no doubt that with the introduction of Captain America into the Marvel Cinematic Universe in the 2011 movie Captain America: The First Avenger that his popularity grew even more. Chris Evans did a brilliant job as Steve Rogers/Captain America and he has played that role in two sequels, Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Captain America: Civil War along with appearances in the four Avengers movies. He also had cameos in Ant-Man, Thor: The Dark World, Spider-Man: Homecoming, and Captain Marvel. The question is, what was Captain America like in live-action movies and TV shows before the Marvel Cinematic Universe?
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Captain America (1944)
Captain America’s first foray into the live-action world goes as far back as 1944 when Republic released a black and white fifteen episode TV show that was loosely based on the Timely Comics character. This version of Captain America was the alter ego of District Attorney Grant Gardner rather than Steve Rogers. The premise of this show was Captain America/Grant Gardner trying to thwart the plans of the Scarab, who was really museum curator Dr. Cyrus Maldor. The Scarab was trying to obtain two super-weapons known as the Dynamic Vibrator and the Electronic Firebolt. Unlike most Republic TV shows, they broke with their usual formula and the villain of the show was known to the audience from the beginning.
Captain America/Grant Gardner was played by Dick Purcell with the role of the Scarab/Dr. Cyrus Mando played by Lionel Atwill. The role of Captain America was one that made Dick Purcell famous, but sadly he died weeks after filming had been completed. The version of Captain America in the Republic series did not have the iconic shield and he did not show any signs of superpowers at all. He was armed with a gun and seemed to have no qualms about killing his criminals. The show was not set in World War II and instead of being a superhero, Captain America was presented as a city vigilante.
3 Dev Adam (1973)
This one shouldn’t really count, but I am including it for completeness due to the bare-faced cheek of director T. Fikret Uçak and writer Doğan Tamer and the fact that it is topically relevant. This film, which translates as Three Mighty Men, is a Turkish cult superhero film. It is also sometimes known as Captain America and Santo vs. Spider-Man. In this movie, Captain America and Santo are called to Istanbul on a special mission to stop the villainous Spider and his criminal gang.
3 Dev Adam had a nationwide release in Turkey but was completely unauthorised by the copyright owners of the characters that it portrayed. The film was hugely popular on release and resulted in many other rip-offs being made of other major Hollywood properties.
Captain America (1979)
In the 1970s Marvel ventured into live-action TV movies and Captain America made his CBS appearance in 1979. This film also had a theatrical release in 1981. This version of Captain America returned to being the traditional alter-ego of Steve Rogers. Once again we see some changes from the comic's origin with Steve Rogers being presented here as the son of the original Captain America, who was a government agent. Steve Rogers was a former Marine living now as an artist and was involved in an accident that gave him potentially fatal injuries. He was treated with an experimental chemical called FLAG (Full Latent Ability Gain) which saves his life and enhances his body with heightened reflexes and strength.
Captain America drives around in a van that has a modified motorcycle that can be launched from the rear. The windshield of the motorcycle was a circular striped affair made of “Jet Age” plastics that could be detached and used as a shield, again bringing Captain America back to the Marvel Comics style. Reb Brown starred as Captain America. Despite a mixed reception from critics, it did get a sequel TV movie.
Captain America II: Death Too Soon (1979)
Reb Brown returns as Steve Rogers/Captain America in this sequel to the CBS TV movie Captain America. In this TV movie, we see Christopher Lee cast as villain General Miguel who kidnaps Professor Ian Ilson, played by Christopher Cary, and forces him to resume his research in manipulative gerontology (ageing). Ilson develops a formula that accelerates the ageing process along with an antidote to it. General Miguel plans to use this formula to hold Portland hostage for a multi-million dollar ransom.
Captain America once again uses the van and motorcycle combination, this time the motorcycle also has a hang glider structure which allows the bike to glide to the ground with forward momentum. Needless to say, the showdown at the end involves a fight for the ageing formula, with it breaking on Captain America’s shield and him and General Miguel getting splashed with it. Captain America is only touched by a small amount and ages a month while General Miguel ages to death in under a minute.
Captain America (1990)
Fast forward to 1990 and we see a Captain America movie that starts to have a lot more familiarity with the man we know and love from the Marvel Cinematic Universe. This movie goes back to World War II with Steve Rogers becoming Captain America, battling Tadzio de Santis/Red Skull and being frozen in ice. He is then revived to save the President of the United States from a crime family that has taken a dislike to his environmental policies. In this movie, Steve Rogers was excluded from the draft due to having polio. He volunteers to try a formula that not only cures him of polio but also enhances him to have the strength and speed of a world-class athlete.
This film went through development hell before it finally saw the light of day and even when it did release, it certainly didn’t receive shining accolades. It has been described as a film that is only of interest as a pre-Marvel Cinematic Universe curiosity for die-hard Marvel fans. Odd fact: The film was released as Bloodmatch in the Philippines in 1991 as a double feature with a Snoopy film!
So there we have it, Captain America has undergone many portrayals and changes from the first live-action debut in 1944 through to the first Marvel Cinematic Universe in 2011 including the highly controversial 1973 entry. There have, of course, been plenty of animated adventures over the years but that’s a story for another day. It is possible to find all of the releases in this article if you are curious about what went before. You should be warned, however, that what you might find, although having some nostalgic charm, is not always pretty and is a far cry from what we have currently!
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