In honor of the seventy-fifth anniversary of Captain America this month, we're doing a countdown of your favorite Captain America stories of all-time.

You all voted, now here are the results of what you chose as the 75 Greatest Captain America Stories!

Enjoy!

30. "The Mercenary and the Madman" Captain America #251-252

It is really kind of nuts how just basic this story sounds - Mr. Hyde and Batroc the Leaper team-up to hijack an oil tanker and threaten to blow it up (which would be practically like a nuke going off in New York Harbor) unless they are paid a billion dollars - oh, and Captain America must give himself up as a hostage until the money is paid.

However, Roger Stern, John Byrne and Joe Rubinstein manage to just do all the little things perfectly to make this a very memorable two-parter. Byrne and Rubinstein's artwork is excellent and Stern really nails the characters extremely well - especially how he makes Batroc so compelling. As the title states, yes, he's a mercenary, but he's not a madman like Mister Hyde. When he discovers that Hyde plans on blowing up New York City no matter what just to get revenge on his former partner, Cobra (Stern tying in to his run on Spectacular Spider-Man, where Hyde and Cobra turned on each other), Batroc decides to fight for New York - this is where we learn why, exactly, he asked for Captain America in particular...











Just three comic book creators all at the top of their game at the same time.

29. "Castaway in Dimension Z" Captain America (Volume 7) #1-10

In the opening arc of Rick Remender's run on Captain America (working with John Romita Jr., who was in turned paired with Klaus Janson and Tom Palmer), Captain America ends up in an alternate dimension ruled by Arnim Zola, who is experimenting on two young children, ostensibly "his" kids. He has brought Captain America here to experiment on him to give his kids the Super Soldier Serum. Cap, though, doesn't play that and escapes...









That's the set-up for the rest of the series, as Cap is trapped in the dimension for twelve years (while barely any time has passed on our Earth). He raises the boy as his own and trains him to fight against his "father." Meanwhile, Zola's daughter has been brought up to take over from Zola. Can Cap escape from Dimension Z? And if he does, can he save both Ian AND Jet in the process? Romita Jr. embraces his best inner Kirby in this epic storyline.

28. Batman and Captain America

This is the first of what would become a series of similar titles by John Byrne where he would meticulously place comic book characters in the proper context of their times while also telling enjoyable yarns set in those times (his Superman/Batman Generations series would take that idea to a whole other level). The end result is one of the best intercompany crossovers of all-time (in fact, one person suggested that this was the top Batman intercompany crossover of all-time)

Byrne's artwork is strong but most of all, he just completely embraced the FUN of having Batman and Captain America team-up during the Golden Age...









Go to the next page for #27-24!

27. "Red Glare" Captain America (Volume 3) #14-19

In this clever arc, we see the Red Skull return for the first time since Project Rebirth (when he trapped in the Cosmic Cube). Sadly, Mark Waid's initial issue was heavily edited by Marvel, but the basic set-up of the arc still ended up working out very well. You see, the hook is that the Red Skull returns with the Cosmic Cube. The Watcher compels Captain America to stop him (this is during a period in time when Cap had an energy shield that he could turn into other weapons, like a sword) and Cap ultimately forces himself to take the Skull's life - but the problem is that WASN'T really the Watcher, but Korvac, who needed Cap to eliminate Red Skull to make way for Korvac.

Korvac then takes control of Earth, but for amusement's sake, he allows Cap to live to see if Cap could possibly overthrow him. Every time Cap comes close, Korvac reboots time, but allows Cap the memories of his failures. Cap comes up with clever plan after clever plan (Waid is so creative that this allowed him to try some very novel ideas for how to overthrow a powerful madman) but can never successfully stop Korvac (or turn Korvac's second-in-command). But Cap being Cap, he never gives up, leading to this awesome sequence...









So Korvac reboots all the way back to the initial fight, only now Cap knows NOT to kill Skull, so he had to come up with another way to stop a Cosmic Cube-powered Red Skull.

Very cool stuff with great Andy Kubert and Lee Weeks artwork.

26. "Under Siege" Avengers #273-277

While this epic Roger Stern, John Buscema and Tom Palmer storyline was about the Masters of Evil attacking the Avengers in their own home and taking control of Avengers Mansion, at the heart of the story was one man, Baron Zemo, out to get revenge on another man, Captain America, by destroying those that he holds the most dear - the Avengers themselves.

Roger Stern writes one bad ass Captain America as Baron Zemo basically psychologically tortures him...







After it is all over, Stern even gives Cap a chance to grieve, in an awesome scene...



Stern really earned those tears.

25. "The Man Who Lived Twice" Tales of Suspense #97-99, Captain America #100

In this Jack Kirby, Stan Lee and Syd Shores mini-epic, Captain America teams up with Black Panther to fight against Baron Zemo, who has seemingly returned to life after his death in Avengers #15. However, at the same time, Sharon Carter is undercover as the awesomely named Irma Kruhl, who is helping Baron Zemo with his Death Ray satellite that can hold the entire Earth hostage (of course, Carter's mission is to destroy the Ray). When Cap and Panther are captured, Zemo orders Kruhl to kill them, but she manages to fake her way out of it and then she strikes...









Man, the energy in these Kirby/Shores pages are astonishing. It is good to know that the whole "glasses and different hair style" disguise works for someone other than Superman.

24. "Home Fires" Marvel Fanfare #18

Roger Stern, Frank Miller and Joe Rubinstein produced this one-off story where Cap takes down a group of "patriots" who believe that the American Dream has left them behind, leaving them to commit arson for profit. Cap takes a stand against them and their argument that they stand for the people of the United States and for Old Glory itself...









That Miller guy could occasionally come up with some striking visuals, eh?

Go to the next page for #23-21!

23. "The Bloodstone Hunt" Captain America #357-362

This was an old-fashioned quest adventure storyline by Mark Gruenwald, Kieron Dwyer and Danny Bulanadi (with Al Milgrom), with Captain America and Diamondback racing Batroc and his mercenaries (working for Baron Zemo) and Crossbones to collect all the scattered pieces of Ulysses Bloodstone's well, you know, Bloodstone. Lots of classic Indiana Jones-style adventures along the way...









Really great Dwyer artwork.

22. "Armageddon 1983" Captain America #286-288

J.M. DeMatteis, Mike Zeck and John Beatty brought Deathlok back to the Marvel Universe in this three-parter that saw Captain America travel to the future to fight alongside Deathlok and his allies. DeMatteis has this thing that he would often repeat to great effect with Captain America and it was the way that Cap has this almost preternatural ability to inspire others. Check out how it plays out in the conclusion to this story...









Man, Zeck and Beatty sure were a great art team.

21. "Man Out of Time" Captain America: Man Out of Time #1-5

This heartfelt Mark Waid mini-series served to expand the feelings that Steve Rogers went through when he emerged decades after the end of World War II. Stan Lee and Jack Kirby already did an excellent job on this in a short period of time in Avengers #4, but Waid uses the extra time beautifully. Jorge Molina, Karl Kesel and Scott Hanna drew the series, which has really powerful insights into Captain America's situation. I love this bit between Cap and Thor...