Captain America has been saving the Marvel universe for 80 years. He’s fought Nazis, aliens, and gods. He’s also been a beacon of what America could be, standing up for what’s right, even when it’s hard. He’s led the Avengers into impossible fights and came out the other side.
Captain America isn’t just Steve Rogers, but he is usually the first name that comes to mind and he set the standard of what being Captain America means. With all that history, there are a lot of questions that fans, new and old, have about how Steve Rogers and Captain America.
10 How old is Captain America?
The answer to this depends on which version of Captain America is being asked about. In the main Marvel continuity, Steve Rogers was born on July 4, 1922, making him 99 years old. The MCU version, however, was born in 1918, since Avengers: Endgame is set in 2023, that put him at around 105 when he left to return the infinity stones.
It’s hard to tell how long Steve was in his branch timeline. The leaked script for Avengers: Endgame says he showed up on Peggy Carter’s doorstep in 1949, so if he came back to the present after her death, he’d be around 172 years old.
9 Can Captain America die?
Yes, Steve Rogers can die. His super-soldier serum makes him harder to kill but most of the things that can kill a normal human can kill Steve Rogers. He does heal faster than most humans, and he has survived being shot, extreme falls, and fights with villains far above his weight class, but if enough damage is done fast enough, he can die.
It’s unclear if he can die of old age though, due to the way the serum speeds up his healing and slows his aging process.
8 Did he suffer any side effects from the super-soldier serum?
The serum does not have a great record when it comes to the stability of the people who have taken it. Most of the people who took or were experimented on with the serum met nasty ends. Even Isaiah Bradley—arguably the first successful recipient of the serum—suffered medical issues because of it. It is possible Bradley would have matched Steve Rogers if he had received the proper care from his government.
Steve was an aberration in that he’s never been shown to need any extra care or exhibit any strange behavior due to the serum. The reason—that Steve Rogers is uniquely good--has been hinted at, it’s never been confirmed.
7 Has the super-soldier serum ever stopped working?
Yes, it has been neutralized temporarily through several different methods. The Red Skull de-aged him to before he’d gotten the serum, sending his daughter, Sin, and the cult of runaways she had been overseeing to fight Rogers. Other bad guys have also chemically counteracted the serum.
While this usually just makes Steve skinny, old and sickly, he still has the knowledge and training he’s gotten over his years as Captain America, and after facing threats like Thanos, he’s used to fighting above his weight class. Tiny Steve Rogers is still a threat.
6 Does Steve Rogers always support his government?
Steve Rogers as Captain America has had some pretty heavy disagreements with his government. In one case, he actually quit being Captain America altogether, citing the fact that a high-ranking official (heavily hinted to be President Richard Nixon) was actually a terrorist. While his time as Nomad—the man without a country—was very brief, Steve came to the conclusion that he could be an American ideal without supporting a corrupt government.
Between that original disagreement and events like Civil War, it’s very clear that Steve Rogers has no problem calling out the US government when he thinks their plans and actions are wrong.
5 Did he really join Hydra?
The Secret Empire story arc saw Steve Rogers taking over Hydra and the United States, seemingly having turned his back on everything he had stood for since his original introduction. Marvel insisted that it was really Steve Rogers, and this wasn’t a fake-out, but the story was more complex, and the real Steve Rogers was not leading Hydra.
Steve’s backstory had been rewritten by the cosmic cube, but the part of him that knew that Hydra was evil was trapped within the cube itself. Eventually, he was freed and confronted his evil doppelganger, ending the reign of terror.
4 What other super identities has Steve Rogers held?
While he is, by far, best known as the original Captain America, Steve Rogers has stepped away from the shield a few times in his career. The first time he gave up the Cap title was in protest of the US government’s terrorist actions, and he went by Nomad. This, and the low-cut, caped costume, only lasted for around four issues.
For a while in the 80s, he was just the Captain before taking back the Captain America title from John Walker. He had to fight for it, but Walker eventually relented and took up the title US Agent instead.
3 Did Steve Rogers end up with Peggy Carter in the comics?
In the comics, Steve and Peggy worked together after he was pulled from the ice, but they never reconnected romantically. Peggy married Howling Commando, Gabe Jones, instead and Steve moved on to several different romantic partners over the years.
Among Steve’s romances are glass-blowing artist turned lawyer Bernie Rosenthal, fellow Avenger Wanda Maximoff, and, of course, SHIELD agent Sharon Carter. Sharon has been central to a lot of Steve’s adventures even when they are not romantically linked. In fact, they raised a child together in a pocket reality during Rick Remender’s run on Captain America.
2 Does Steve Rogers have any children?
While in the main comics continuity, Steve does not have any biological children, he did adopt the son of Arnim Zola and raised him with Sharon Carter in a pocket reality. It was complicated. Steve helped the young boy break free from his supervillain father and the destiny Zola had planned for his children.
In some alternate universes, though, Steve Rogers had biological children. In the Ultimate Universe, his son, who was taken by the US government at birth, became that universe’s Red Skull. In the Next Avengers animated movie, James Rogers—the son of Steve Rogers and Natasha Romanoff—led a new generation of heroes against Ultron. Avengers: Endgame writers have confirmed that Steve and Peggy did have children together.
1 Is Cap really on the moon?
In the Falcon and the Winter Soldier, there were several mentions of Steve Rogers having retired to the moon, and with Nick Fury on some kind of space station, it might be the case. There are several ways that could be worked into the MCU canon, but so far, there’s no confirmation of Steve’s location.
If he is on the moon, though, he could be shown with Uatu the Watcher, who is going to be narrating the upcoming Marvel What If? series, or he could be a catalyst for the Inhumans, who were based on the moon, to come back into the MCU proper.