Captain America was an immediate success in his first appearance on the eve of America’s entry into the second world war. Too frail for military service, art student Steve Rogers volunteered for an experiment to create an army of super-soldiers. After being both injected with a serum and exposed to radiation, Rogers achieved human perfection. Armed only with an indestructible shield presented to him by Franklin Roosevelt, the Captain made war on the Axis. The cover of his first comic book, which hit the news-stands a year before Pearl Harbour, showed him punching Hitler in the face.

Captain America faded after the war and, after a brief revival to fight the communists, disappeared until he was unfrozen from a block of ice in 1964. Though the embodiment of patriotism, he was no right-winger. During the Vietnam war he stayed at home. He teamed up with the Falcon, the first African-American superhero. During Watergate, he discovered a fascist conspiracy at the heart of government, and was so disillusioned that he briefly became a stateless hero called Nomad.

In his long-running battles with the Nazi villain Red Skull and the Swiss anarchist Flag-Smasher, among others, the Captain fought with the trademark Marvel Comics blend of fantasy and all too human failing. His most recent death, two years ago, was part of an involved story about a government effort requiring superheroes to register, which he fought in court. Now Marvel is to bring him back on July 1st.

Captain America’s film is set for release in 2011, following in the footsteps of Spider-Man and Iron Man. Set again in the second world war, it will test whether a 21st-century audience can embrace the heroics of a simpler time.

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