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.

Film

''Captain America'' (1944)

The 1944 serial Captain America has the main character District Attorney Grant Gardner, who is loosely based on the Marvel character Captain America. His nemesis is the Scarab and his love interest and sidekick is Gail Richards. This version of Captain America does not possess his shield, nor does he seem to have enhanced abilities. Instead, he uses a simple hand gun and does not appear to have any qualms about killing criminals. A major factor is that he is not fighting in World War II, despite the fact that the serial came out in 1944 when the war was still going on, and instead was a typical city vigilante.

''3 Dev Adam'' (1973)

Captain America appeared in the 1973 Turkish cult superhero film 3 Dev Adam directed by T. Fikret Uçak and written by Doğan Tamer based on the characters created by Steve Ditko, Jack Kirby, Stan Lee, Joe Simon and Rodolfo Guzmán Huerta, featuring Aytekin Akkaya as Captain America and Yavuz Selekman as Santo called to Istanbul on a special mission to stop the villainous Spider-Man and his criminal gang. The film, which went on nationwide general release across the country on November 1, 1973, was completely unauthorized by the copyright owners of the characters depicted. The film was popular and thus spawned other rip-offs of other major Hollywood productions.

''Captain America'' (1990)

The first feature-length depiction of Captain America was the 1990 film Captain America. Development began when the film rights were purchased by The Cannon Group founders Menahem Golan and Yoram Globus in 1984, with Death Wish helmer Michael Winner to direct. Scripts written by James Silke, Stan Hey, Stan Lee and Lawrence Block were rejected and in 1987, Winner left, replaced by actor-director John Stockwell and a script by Stephen Tolkin.
The final film, produced by Golan's 21st Century Film Corporation, was directed by Albert Pyun and starred Matt Salinger in the title role. It depicted the creation of Captain America from weak soldier Steve Rogers, his fight in World War II and subsequent apparent death, his being found decades later frozen in ice, and his realization and comprehension that our enemies from the war are now our allies, as well as the hero's battle against the Red Skull. The film, intended for theatres, was instead primarily released on home video and was a major critical failure.

Marvel Cinematic Universe

1960s

The Marvel Super Heroes : 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

Both of these films were released on DVD for the first time together in 2011 from Shout! Factory.

1980s

Captain America was the subject of Marvel's second foray into prose book licensing: The Great Gold Steal by Ted White in 1968, following an Avengers novel in 1967. This novel presented a different version of Captain America. The novel adds a further element to the Super-Soldier process wherein Rogers' bones are plated with stainless steel. The character later appears in Captain America: Holocaust For Hire by Joseph Silva published by Pocket Books in 1979 and Captain America: Liberty's Torch by Tony Isabella and Bob Ingersoll published in 1998, in which the hero is put on trial for the imagined crimes of America by a hostile militia group.

Live performances

In July 2016, Marvel and Disney announced that they would be unveiling a 13-foot-tall, one ton bronze statue of Captain America at the 2016 San Diego Comic-Con. The statue, designed by artists at Marvel and Comicave Studios, would tour the United States before its destination in Brooklyn, the character's hometown in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The statue had a dedication ceremony at Brooklyn's Prospect Park on August 10, 2016, stayed there for two weeks before going to Barclays Center for a month, and has since been on display at a Bed Bath & Beyond complex at Industry City - it does not yet have a permanent home.
Starting with the Pop Art period and on a continuing basis, since the 1960s the character of Captain America has been "appropriated" by multiple visual artists and incorporated into contemporary artwork, most notably by Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, Mel Ramos, Dulce Pinzon, Mr. Brainwash, and others.

Intellectual property rights

Marvel Comics has held several trademark registrations for the name "Captain America" as well as the distinctive logos used on the comic book series and in the associated merchandising. An application was filed on August 10, 1967 for use in comic books and magazines and a registration was granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office on August 13, 1968. Marvel's parent company, Disney, received a design patent on Captain America's shield in 2018.

Infringement case

The Scottish Indie rock band Eugenius was formerly known as Captain America and released the Wow and Flame On eps under that name. The threat of legal action by Marvel Comics made the band change its name.