According to Captain America is one of the most important heroic figures in modern media, and his long ties to WWII continue to be centered in his current stories and how he approaches his heroism.
Steve Rogers first debuted in 1941's Captain America Comics #1 by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby, close to the beginning of WWII, making him indelibly tied to the horrifying conflict as he fought Nazis and Hitler throughout the pages of his stories. A strong symbol for the freedom promised by the United States, Captain America's battles against the evil Axis powers quickly made him a beloved character during wartime. He was so well liked that in 1964, after testing his return with comics audiences, Steve Rogers was brought back to comic continuity by explaining he had crashed a plane into the ocean and been frozen in ice for two decades!
The Twelve #1 - written by J. Michael Straczynski with art by Chris Weston and Garry Leach - kicked off a limited series that ran from 2007 to 2012. It focused on twelve Golden Age heroes, introduced during Captain America's debut in Timely Comics, being reawakened in modern times in a manner similar to Roger's unfreezing in the '60s. The story starts in Berlin, , during the very real Battle of Berlin, and establishes that in Marvel Comics continuity the precise day that the Allied heroes stormed Hitler's Berlin was April 25th, 1945, exactly 77 years ago to the day! This shows the huge impact that Captain America has had on the history of the Marvel Universe. While the real-life Battle of Berlin was waged between the Soviets and Germans over two weeks in April 1945, in Marvel Comics it was carried out by the Americans, with Cap leading the charge. This also sets the stage for Rogers' eventual freezing and cryogenic slumber. In the waning days of the war, late April 1945 to be exact, Captain America and Bucky are attempting to capture Baron Zemo and stop an experimental drone plane with a bomb he had attached to it, which eventually explodes in mid-air, seemingly killing both heroes.
Of course, it is revealed in the '60s that Steve Rogers had not in fact died (Captain America first debuted. A major part of Steve Rogers' character development is that he is always adjusting to living in the present, but in 2022 if Rogers had been unfrozen in the '60s then he wouldn't need to acclimate to modern times, because he lived through them! Because Marvel does not specifically label when exactly Cap was unfrozen, it means that Steve Rogers' time spent frozen in ice keeps getting longer and longer as the characters continues in modern day comics.
Captain America is an iconic superhero, and symbol of what the United States could represent, and it is awesome that readers can now celebrate his biggest victory exactly 77 years to the day since it happened in Marvel continuity. As Steve Rogers continues to make a huge impact on Marvel Comics as Captain America his connection to earlier historical events might become more and more disconnected, but true fans will know that every April 25th they can celebrate one of Cap's most momentous World War II victories as the Sentinel of Liberty!
