In this feature, I spotlight five scenes/moments from within comic book stories that fit under a specific theme (basically, stuff that happens frequently in comics). Here is an archive of all the patterns we've spotlighted so far.

Today, based on a suggestion by reader Paul C., I will spotlight five examples of Steve Rogers quitting/being replaced as Captain America.

Enjoy!

Our first instance happened before Captain America even got his own title! In Tales of Suspense #95, Steve decides that he wants to settle down with Agent 13 (he doesn't even know her name yet)...





And after a battle, that's just that he declares...



The world is shocked, to say the least...







Oddly enough, the story wraps up the very next issue. First, Lee establishes that there are a bunch of other guys trying to pick up Steve's slack...



Steve saves one of their lives, and then Nick Fury gets Steve to return to being Cap in one of the simplest arguments in comic book history...



The next time Steve quit was following the Secret Empire storyline, where not only did the Secret Empire succeed in turning many Americans against Cap through a smear campaign, but Cap learned that the head of the Secret Empire was actually the President of the United States, who kills himself in front of Cap. The next issue, Captain America #176, we see how much this freaked Cap out...









A couple of issues later, Steve decides to adopt a NEW identity instead of Captain America...





However, roughly six issues later, the fellow who took over as Captain America after Steve is brutally murdered by the Red Skull. Steve is moved to action...





The next time Steve quit being Cap came in Captain America #332, where a group called the Commission gives Steve an ultimatum...





Steve basically tells them to take their shield and shove it.



A few issues after following the adventures of the NEW Captain America (the hero now known as USAgent), Steve's friends catch up with him and he decides to get back into being a hero...



He's now just the Captain...



The Commission turns out to have been manipulated by the Red Skull. Steve and the new Captain America stop him (mostly Steve) and the Commission offers him the job back without having to work for them directly. He turns them down, choosing to be his own man instead. The new Captain America, though, changes his mind...





When Mark Waid took over Captain America with #444, Cap was seemingly dead, a victim of his own Super Soldier Serum. However, Waid reveals that the Red Skull revived him so that Cap could aid the Skull in stopping Adolf Hitler, who had taken control of a Cosmic Cube. Cap agrees to go along with the Skull because of the greater danger of Hitler and the Cube, but in the process, Cap has to go up against the U.S. military...





A few issues later, Cap's actions come back to haunt him as his seemingly treasonous actions are examined by President Bill Clinton. Making matters worse is that some privileged info that only Clinton and Cap knew was leaked. Clinton and the U.S. Government have to think that perhaps Cap traded that info in exchange for the Skull saving his life. This leads to Clinton stripping Steve of his U.S. citizenship...







Cap works with Sharon Carter to clear his name, but he can't be Captain America, so instead...



Cap ultimately saves the day (as is his wont) and even ends up dressing as Captain America (using a knockoff version of his original costume after his new costume is ruined) and proves that Machinesmith stole the info from Cap's head while Cap was being cured by the Skull...







Finally, Cap was thought dead after being seemingly shot in 2007's Captain America #25. However, he was actually lost in time. When he returns, he decides in the 2009 one-shot Who Will Wield the Shield? that his replacement (his old partner James "Bucky" Barnes) should remain in the role...





I don't know if they ever make it clear what Steve saw exactly.

Anyhow, later in the issue, Steve meets with President Obama (Steve needed to get pardoned for going against the U.S. Government during the Civil War storyline)





Steve then becomes Commander Rogers, head of all superheroes in the United States. Here is his costume...



During Fear Itself, though, BuckyCap is seemingly killed, and in Fear Itself #4, Steve has to return to his old job...







(Luckily, Bucky managed to survive though Nick Fury's Infinity Formula and a lot of surgery).

And that's where we currently stand. Until the next time Cap quits, of course.