Inspired by Captain America #32 (2000), I wrote a letter to the Comics Buyer's Guide which was printed in #1362. In it, I traced Captain America's involvement in World War II solely through what was revealed in the comics themselves. What follows is an edited version of that letter.
Using The Adventures of Captain America limited series as a starting point, I discovered a convenient gap in #2 in which to insert the original Simon/Kirby stories of the '40s, as well as the Lee/Kirby re-tellingsfrom Tales of Suspense #63-65. It is interesting (to me, anyway) to note that each of these eras has its own retelling of Cap's first meeting with the Red Skull, each of which conflicts with the other two, but I am working under the assumption that not all stories happened exactly when they were published, and that certain details may have been changed ("for matters of national security").
After the conclusion of TAoCA limited series, Captain America, in his "secret identity" of Army Private Steve Rogers, shipped out with his unit from Camp Lehighand is stationed in England. It is this point at which the adventures portrayed in Sgt. Fury and His Howling Commandos #13, Tales of Suspense #66-71 and Captain America #256 (flashback) take place. Maintaining a secret identity as an army private was ill-conceived, problematical at best, and eventually abandoned.
In any case, it was "late summer 1941" when Cap arrived in Madripoor (without Bucky) as revealed in X-Men #268. Eventually, he made his way back to the states (with Bucky) in time to foil a plot to murder FDR (as revealed in newsreel footage in Captain America #281) on Novemebr 22, 1941.
On December 7, 1941, the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, on December 22 the Invaders are formed by FDR, and on December 26 & 27 Cap received the memory implants that were to cause considerable confusion later on. The Invaders series pretty much covers the events from then through the middle of 1942. There have been a few other Invaders stories published since that series' cancellation that have [picked up from that point, but I like to think of the Roy Thomas Invaders series as being more or less sacrosanct and speculate that the Invaders drifted apart shortly after after the end of their own series.
There is something of a gap in Cap's story after 1942, but I like to think that he was utilized as more of the "super-soldier" he was intended to be as opposed to the "super-hero" he had been so far. A flashback sequence from Captain America #262 shows him in battle (sans Bucky or Invaders), fighting alongside infantrymen against the Red Skull in 1943, and in Captain America #250 a character says, "You saved my platoon a lot of gried at Anzio" (January 22, 1944).
I can find no comic book "evidence" that places Cap at Normandy on D-Day (June 6, 1944), but he's right there fighting alongside the Allies when Paris was liberated from the Nazis in August (Tales of Suspense #77). Although bucky was not present for that adventure, he and Cap were together again later that same year for "one of the last missions we completed... before I... lost Bucky!" as revealed by Cap in a tale he narrated to Nick Fury in Captain America #109. This brings me up to the comic which inspired this research and placed Cap at the Battle of the Bulge (December 16, 1944), at which Bucky was also present.
On March 4, 1945 the Allies invades Germany, and Cap was at the forefront when the Nazi deathcamp Diebenwald was liberated (Captain America #237). At some point, Cap's final WWII confrontatin with the Red skull occurred, as related in flashback in Tales of Suspense #72 and expounded upon in Tales of Suspense #79. As the Skull put it, "How well I remember our last encounter, during the final days of Berlin, when the sky was thick with Allied bombers."
On April 18, Captain America faced Baron Zemo for the last time (flashback, Avengers #4) and, depending on which version you believe, Adolf Hitler either committed suicide or was incinerated by the Human Torch on the 30th of that month. May 6, the day Germany surrendered, was also the day the surviving Invaders found out about the supposed deaths of Cap America and Bucky. The next day, they met with Harry Truman in Washington, D.C., who revealed the replacement Captain America and Bucky (William Naslund and Fred Davis, respectively) and also added Miss America and the Whizzer to the ranks of the Invaders (What If...? #4). They day after that, May 8, the day declared by President Truman to be V-E Day, the new team of Invaders was revealed to the world.
The atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945; three days later, a second was dropped on Nagasaki as well. Japan agreed to surrenderon August 15. The day Japan officially surrendered, V-J Day (September 2) was the day Truman rechristened the team "The All-Winners Squad." William Naslund (formerly the Spirit of '76) served as the first replacement Captain America in All-Winners #19, and Jeff Mace (formerly the Patriot) took over in All-Winners #21; What If...? #4 reveals "The Forgotten Case of the All-Winners Squad" and why there was no All-Winners #20. (I can also tell you who (retroactively speaking) served as Captain America in USA and All-Select and every issue of Captain America Comics, but that's another letter for another time.
This overview leaves many questions unanswered (what circunstances led Cap to abandon his cover as an Army private? What happened to cause the Invaders to drift apart (if, indeed, they did) in 1942? What prompted the U.S. Government to utilize Captain America as a literal super-soldier? Where was Bucky during this period? What led the two to be reunited as a team? What was Cap doing in Madripoor in 1941?), but there have been many continuity implants during the intervening 27 years since I compiled this research, some of which I have not read.
Replies
My brain is stunned.
Who was Cap in post-war Captain America Comics? Jeff Mace?
I looked it up myself.
Captains America
I would assume that the Cap in All-Select Comics was all Steve Rogers, although it would have been William Nasland in the post-war issues of USA Comics.
And I'm sure everyone here knows the real reason there was no All-Winners Comics #20 is that the title was canceled twice. All-Winners was canceled with issue #19, and became All Teen Comics with issue #20 (and then that was canceled). Later, when Young Allies was canceled with issue #20, they used that numbering for All-Winners #21-and-only. (It became Hedy De Vine Comics with issue #22.) I guess you could insert All Teen Comics #20 between All-Winners #19 and #21 and call it a day, but All-Winners Comics #21 really belongs at the end of a Young Allies run.
That Marvel used the resultant numbering hole as a story springboard scratches an itch!
My conclusions are almost identical to yours, but remember, "I am working under the assumption that not all stories happened exactly when they were published, and that certain details may have been changed ('for matters of national security')." Consequently, my "Steve Rogers" may extend slightly beyond when Captain America and Bucky went missing (in the comics) or even after the end of the war (IRL). I try to match the wartime/post-war stories (or the covers, for the comics I have not read) with the tenure of the replacement Captains America. (Also, Timely had some war-themed stories/covers they had already paid for in inventory which they ran after WWII that I attribute to "Steve Rogers" rather than "William Naslund.")
For example, I attribute all of USA Comics (#17, Sept 1945) to Steve Rogers because it's just easier that way.
In All Select Comics #8 (Jun 1945), Captain America and Bucky are stationed at the Great Wall of China where they foil a Japanese plot to bypass Chinese garrisons by using hollowed out interior tunnels within the wall (Steve Rogers); in #9-10 they're back stateside (William Naslund).
When William Naslund takes over Captain America Comics is a bit more difficult to nail down because I haven't read those stories, but I place the transition between #47 & #48.
Captain America Comics #47 (June 1945), wartime - Steve Rogers
Captain America Comics #48 (July 1945), stateside - William Naslund
I have read Captain America Comics #59, and that is definitely the first appearance of Jeff Mace...
(I keep forgetting that many of these comics are available online, but I'm something of a purist. I don't have to read a story on newsprint, but I must read it on paper.) Here, then, are my conclusions...
STEVE ROGERS:
WILLIAM NASLUND:
JEFF MACE:
WILLIAM BURNSIDE:
And just to save someone the trouble of pointing it out, there was no Captain America #75. That issue became Weird Tales (actually Captain America's Weird Tales), but Cap wasn't in it.
Then, in 1964...
This is a handy list! Not surprisingly, Marvel Comics and Marvel fandom sites disagree on some particulars (as you'd expect from sites that spell William Naslund Nasland). Here, for example, is how they do Jeff Mace:
Jeff Mace as The Patriot
Jeff Mace as Captain America
The nice thing about sites like this is that they don't restrict themselves to the Golden Age, so here are the Jeff Mace appearances after Captain America Comics #74. Some are flashbacks or time-travel stories, which means sometimes Mace is Captain America and sometimes he's The Patriot. I didn't look up which was which.
Marvel Comics and Marvel fandom sites disagree on some particulars...
I haven't really considered any appearances beyond the titles I mentioned, but it shouldn't be too hard to figure out "who's who."
...(as you'd expect from sites that spell William Naslund Nasland).
I've encountered both spellings in the comics themselves, but "Naslund" seems to be the more prevalent.
I will gladly defer to your actual research, as opposed to my superficial googling!
And now, with so many not-Steve-Rogers Captains America in official continuity, I'm beginning to wonder if this guy counts:
They are outside of this time frame, but there are also:
* The guy depicted above, Carl Zante a.k.a. the Acrobat (1963)
* Roscoe Simons (1974)
* USAgent (in 1987-1988)
* Protocyde (2000-2001)
* Christopher Priest's "Anti-Cap", created in 2004's "Captain America and the Falcon"
* Bucky Barnes (2008-2011)
* The Artist currently known as Grant, who somehow goes now by "Flag-Smasher" (2016-2017)
There are actually dozens of other candidates, but these are the people who AFAIK have called themselves "Captain America" at one point or another in 616 continuity from 1941 to the present day. Besides those four previously mentioned, of course.
If we want to be really comprehensive/ridiculous:
And now, with so many not-Steve-Rogers Captains America in official continuity, I'm beginning to wonder if [the Acrobat] counts
In my book he does not... not any more than those three goofs from the splash page of Tales of Suspense #96... or, for that matter, Roscoe Simons. They are all "cosplaying" AFAIAC. None of them were officially sanctioned (although Roscoe had the patina of authenticity because he was endorsed by the Falcon).
Some of the "Caps" listed by Bob, above, are members of the Captains Network from 2021's The United States of Captain America limited series (which is, of course, beyond the scope of this discussion).
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