Marvel Comics has employed some great creators over the decades but few of them are as iconic as Jack Kirby. Many fans, including younger fans raised on the MCU, think that Stan Lee is the greatest Marvel icon, but Kirby easily laps him. Stan was a much better editor than a writer; the only reason he got to the level he did was Kirby’s sublime storytelling skills and brilliant art. Lots of people say that without Lee, Kirby never would have been popular, but the King of Comics had taken his crown years earlier. 85 years ago, the King created the House of Ideas’ greatest icon: Captain America.
Videos by ComicBook.com
Captain America has starred in amazing comics over the decades and has become one of the most popular superheroes ever, in part thanks to the MCU. However, even before that the Sentinel of Liberty was an icon. He wasn’t exactly as well-known as Spider-Man, but he was a symbol of the United States that even many non-comic readers could recognize. However, going back to the hero’s 1941 debut, there was a chance that the character never would have caught on. Captain America changed comic history and Kirby played a massive role in developing one of the greatest comic characters of all-time.
Jack Kirby Helped Forge Captain America Into a Legend
When fans in 2026 see the cover to Captain America Comics #1, they see one of the greatest images in the history of the comic medium. However, back in 1941, it was a different story. Many Americans didn’t want to get involved in the war in Europe; in fact, there were plenty of people who supported the Nazis. It was a different, much more racist time and it had forged men like Jack Kirby, a Jewish New York City street tough who hated the suffering of his people in Europe.
Jewish creators in the Golden Age were creating characters that showed their frustrations with the United States; superheroes only exist because of this. Joe Siegel and Jerry Shuster created Superman for this reason, making him into a man of the people. Kirby and Joe Simon seemingly did the same thing. New York City in 1939 had a literal Nazi rally at Madison Square Garden and Kirby wanted to show people the evil of Nazis. Captain America was the vehicle for this, with that iconic cover causing quite a stir with people who supported the Germans (and would have supported any majority Caucasian country killing minorities).
American Nazis targeted the Marvel offices of the day because of Captain America. Everyone knows the story of the Nazis who called at the office and threatened Kirby, with him rushing downstairs to fight them only to find them gone. Kirby and Simon’s early Cap stories showed the cowardice of the Nazi, throwing an actual ubermensch against them and showing that the wages of evil are death. Kirby’s style wasn’t what it would be, but he was able to capture the kinetic energy that still make Cap’s stories such a joy to read.
Kirby got to produce Cap stories through 1941 and ’42, but was drafted into the military in 1943. He was a recon scout, sneaking into enemy territory and using his art skills to draw maps for soldiers, one of the most dangerous jobs of them all (Lee was also drafted, but would end up in a cushy job in the Training Film Division, in case you needed another reason to think Kirby was superior). He stayed in the military until July 1945, showing that the toughness of Steve Rogers had its genesis in his own. Many people consider the Thing to be the comic version of Kirby, but looking at his history and that of Captain America, it’s plain to see that the Sentinel of Liberty was basically just Jack Kirby, a fearless man always willing to fight for what’s right in any way he could.
Captain America Proves the Greatness of Jack Kirby
Jack Kirby changed comics history, even if much of the credit he’s due has been stolen by Stan Lee’s tireless self-promotion. I’ve always been more of a Kirby guy than a Lee one, and studying the history of comics shows just how important he was to the history of the medium. His co-creation of Captain America showed his skill years before his later, bigger successes, creating a hero that would go on to become one of the most important fictional characters of the 21st century.
Captain America came at a time when the United States’ racism had inspired Adolf Hitler and the Nazis. Kirby and Simon wanted to show that there was more to America than just Jim Crow and anti-Semites like Henry Ford and Cap was how they did that. When the US finally joined the war, he was there and he became more popular than ever, one of the few Marvel characters of the day who was able to rival’s DC Golden Age legends or the original Captain Marvel. His return under Kirby’s pencil in Avengers (Vol. 1) #4 was a singular moment in Marvel history, reuniting two of Marvel’s biggest icons.
What do you think about Kirby and Captain America? Leave a comment in the comment section below and join the conversation on the ComicBook Forums!
Most Viewed
-
Courtesy of Crunchyroll / Sony Pictures -
Image Courtesy of Netflix
