Captain America is one of the first superheroes ever created by Marvel. In fact, he was created back when the company was still known as Timely Comics. During his debut issue, the hero famously established himself by punching out Hitler, cementing the tradition of Nazi-punching as one of the foundations of the American superhero tradition. After an explosion left him frozen in ice, he would awaken years later, a man out of time who continued to fight for the best of American ideals.
Of course, not every fight can end in victory. Like any good soldier, Cap has proven he's willing to give his life to help others, but until that time comes he will continue to get back up and keep fighting. Of course, some fights are harder than others. Here are ten times when Captain America took such a beating that he should have been buried afterwards.
10 Blasts From The Past
A Cosmic Cube is one of the most powerful artifacts in the universe, capable of altering reality itself. When the Russian General Aleksander Lukin acquired a Cosmic Cube, it became an integral part of his plan to destroy Steve Rogers.
Lukin used the Cube to assail Captain America by making the Captain relive some of the most harrowing moments from his past. At the same time, Lukin alerted the villain Crossbones of Cap's location. Crossbones ambushed the hero and began beating him to death with his bare hands while Steve--bombarded with involuntary flashbacks from the World War--was unable to defend himself. The only reason Steve Rogers survived was that Crossbones walked away in disgust at the hero's pitiful state.
9 Running Out The Clock With Iron Man
During the events of Time Runs Out, the Avengers prepared for another universe to crash into their own, a cataclysmic event that would destroy both realities. Tony Stark had been manipulating events in secret to try and save the world, destroying parallel realities to save his own. When Steve Rogers found out, he took this newest betrayal from his long-time frenemy particularly hard.
In the climax of Time Runs Out, Iron Man and Captain America fought one another as the world braced for destruction. Cap had been depowered and weakened with age, but still gave Tony a thorough beating. However, at the last, Iron Man brought Cap down. Moments later, a Hellicarrier crashed onto them both.
8 In Post-Soviet Russia...
Steve Rogers is not the only person to have been Captain America. After the end of Civil War, his former sidekick Bucky took up the title. While a skilled combatant, Bucky had spent decades as a Soviet assassin called the Winter Soldier, blasting bullet holes through international human rights laws. For his crimes, the US extradited him to Russia, where he was incarcerated in a gulag.
The Russian prison camp would never have been enough to defeat him. However, the prison was really run by the former Crimson Dynamo, who'd survived Bucky's attempted assassination of him. Half the criminals in the gulag worked together to kill Bucky, all with the warden's approval. Thankfully Bucky's allies came to his rescue before the former Winter Soldier entered an icy grave.
7 That Time All The Villains Got Together
Like Bucky before him, Sam Wilson assumed the role of Captain America for a time. After Steve Rogers was depowered by the villain Iron Nail, Sam took up the shield as the newest American Avenger. On one of his first missions, he worked to rescue a boy with poisonous blood from the clutches of Hydra, only to realize the enemy had him outnumbered and outmatched.
Sam was ambushed by more than just Hydra grunts, facing off against almost every living Captain America at once, including Sin, Crossbones, Batron the Leaper, Madame Hydra, Baron Zemo, Baron Blood, and even the unfortunately-named Armadillo. If he didn't have support, Sam Wilson's red, white, and blue costume might've been reduced to a red smear.
6 Chestburster
In one of his more convoluted stories, Steve Rogers was trapped in an alternate dimension--called Dimension Z--where the android Nazi scientist Arnim Zola had begun experiments to build an army of genetically engineered mutates. For years, Steve lived in this dimension, hunted by Zola's forces as he looked after a young boy, his adoptive son Ian.
Zola infected Steve with new experimental tech that grew a screen in the middle of the hero's chest--a screen through which the villain could both observe and speak to Steve. Not many people can survive a 48-inch monitor lodged in their sternum, but somehow Captain America did.
5 The Real America
In one of the more controversial stories, Captain America's past was altered by a sentient Cosmic Cube named Kubik, resulting in the Captain having always been a secret agent of Hydra, even before gaining his powers.
The original Captain America was written out of existence, replaced by the fascist Stevil (as the internet dubbed this evil Steve Rogers). Stevil led Hydra in a global takeover that promoted Nazi-esque values that were the antithesis of everything Captain America stood for. Eventually, through the magic of comics, the original Steve Rogers powered his way back into existence, then fought Stevil in front of the White House for the soul of America. Stevil lost, but his legacy of hate has endured.
4 Facing Infinity
During the Infinity War story, Thanos acquired the six Infinity Gems and brought them together in his famous Gauntlet. The Avengers assembled to stop this cosmic threat, but Earth's mightiest heroes were no match for the Mad Titan wielding control over all of reality.
Captain America faced off against Thanos in single combat. The Mad Titan broke Cap's shield, defeated him, and was about to kill him. As he prepared for death, Cap met Thanos's gaze with an unflinching calm, ready for the end--only for Silver Surfer to save him at the last second.
3 Nothing To Fear But...
Fear Itself was one of the more intense crossovers in Marvel's history. Sin, the daughter of Red Skull, assembled an army of Nazi mechs and unleashed different magic hammers onto the world--each with evil powers and the strength of Mjolnir. While facing Sin, Captain America had his arm ripped off, was impaled, and hurled into the sky. Thankfully, it turned out to just be a Life Model Decoy of Cap.
In the following showdown between the two, Cap stood against her with his shield shattered even as she broke his body one blow at a time. Then Mjolnir fell out of the sky and landed on him.
2 Another Nail In The Coffin
After his escape from Dimension Z, Captain America had a bit of an identity crisis. One after another, he faced foes who challenged his core beliefs. The enemy who finally beat him was a villain called Iron Nail.
The main fight between Cap and Iron Nail took place as a colossal Hellicarrier-turned-mech called Gungnir was about to destroy the country of Nrosvekistan. As Steve tried to shut down the mech, Iron Nail struck him repeatedly with needle-tipped tentacles that sucked the Super Soldier Serum from his veins, forcing him to rapidly age as his powers left him. Cap stopped Gungnir, but was left a broken old man by the end.
1 The Bomb Bursting In Air
This event was the end of one chapter of Captain America's life and the beginning of the next. After years of service fighting Nazis in World War II, Steve Rogers climbed onto a rocket that was launched with the intent of striking American soil. He blew up the rocket in mid-air, effectively thwarting the attack, but he was blown up with it--or so the world believed.
Obviously, he survived. Preserved in ice, Steve Rogers was thawed out by the Avengers and soon after joined their ranks. Surviving the blast helped cement his legacy as an extraordinary hero, but that he survived at all was downright miraculous.