Captain America is Marvel’s beacon of heroism and the most respected hero from the Avengers, putting his life on the line time and time again to save the team, the world, and sometimes the entire universe. With that spirit, you’d expect him to carry a long list of major victories that overcome the odds. While this is eventually the case — we are still talking comics after all — he usually has to sacrifice himself to reach that epic conclusion. The deaths of Captain America hit harder because, in the end, he’s just a man with super soldier serum running through his veins.
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Does that super soldier serum become a problem for him at some point? Definitely. Has he been up against the odds throughout? You better believe it. Will he continue to stand and fight despite his poor track record to this point? Guaranteed.
11) Age of Ultron
Cap’s end in Age of Ultron comes a few times, but his main appearance is most important to the overall vibe of this event. From the start, Captain America is a beaten man, crumpled in a corner with the rest of the Avengers looking for any spark to move forward. He comes around eventually, showing his spirit that’ll rise time and time again in the face of sure defeat. After he rallies the team and gets everyone to the Savage Land and Nick Fury’s hideout, the decision is made to go into the future with Doctor Doom’s time platform. Ultron’s drones immediately slaughter the team upon their arrival, and Cap has his head blown off at this point, closing out the opening salvo of this event. Not his best showing.
10) Fighting Chance
I’ve always held that this is the Knightfall for Captain America in the Marvel Universe. The issue with that comparison is how much runs together with the Onslaught and Heroes Reborn events. In the story, Steve Rogers finds that his super soldier serum is deteriorating his body and poisoning him. At one point, he even has to don a suit of armor to move and eventually “dies” with a full funeral with honors following soon after. This is another misdirect, though, as the Red Skull grabs him and keeps him alive, using him to clone a new body. So, despite a fairly lengthy storyline that expanded across the year, the death is undone immediately and then eventually wiped clean by the Heroes Reborn reboot.
9) Onslaught/Heroes Reborn
Cap once again sacrifices himself along with the other Avengers, Fantastic Four, and Doctor Doom, to kill Onslaught once and for all. The heroes charge into Onslaught’s psionic form after the Hulk cracks his armor with one punch, all to provide a physical vessel for the X-Men to target. Which they do, blasting and attacking. Heroes Reborn follows as a result of Franklin Richards stepping in at the last moment to ship the heroes to his pocket universe.
Captain America also dies several times in the finale of the Heroes Reborn universe against Galactus. As Docrtor Doom continues to travel back in time and defeat Galactus, Cap and the Avengers decide to blow up the Earth to spite Galactus. In another chapter, he dies off-panel with the rest of the Earth as it is consumed. They all get it right the fourth time, just in time for Richards to bring everybody back.
8) Secret Wars (Original)
Rogers suffers two deaths in the original Secret Wars event. When Doctor Doom takes the powers of the Beyonder for himself, he kills the team of heroes almost immediately. Once the Beyonder moves to get his power back, he returns the heroes to life. But Cap is killed almost immediately before making another swift return on an overwhelmed Doom. It’s another group moment where he’s just a victim with the team, but it still counts. Cap also doesn’t give up at all between deaths.
7) Universe X
In Earth X, Steve Rogers no longer has the costume of Captain America, though he does wear an “A” etched into his head where his costume used to be. He’s a broken version of Steve Rogers who has been put through the ringer, but still carries that torch of heroism. He takes up the fight against the new Skull years after his final encounter with the Red Skull, where he killed the former Nazi. After Mar-Vell is born at the end of Earth X, he taps Captain America to be his assistant and guardian as they traverse the Marvel universe to collect powerful items they want to use to create a paradise for the deceased and defeat Death.
By the end, Cap once again sacrifices himself for Mar-Vell to survive, and goes on to become one of Mar-Vell’s Avenging Host, created after he beats Death and creates Paradise. Certainly, the best of Captain America’s deaths given his final resting place.
6) Silver Age Origins
It’s easy to forget that Captain America was considered dead before his body was discovered by the Avengers frozen in ice. The classic cover where Cap punches the spit out of Hitler’s mouth is from the very first run for the character, when Bucky and The Invaders were kicking around Europe. After he is fished out of the frigid Arctic waters, his Silver Age origin picks up with him and Bucky trying to stop a drone plane full of explosives, and falling into the Atlantic Ocean until his recovery by the Avengers. Cap didn’t technically die, but everybody thought he had until he was removed from the ice. That means it counts.
5) Korvac Saga
The Korvac Saga represents one of the early Avengers events that landed well and still holds up, right there with the Kree-Skrull War and the Celestial Madonna runs from the early ’70s. While fleeing from the original Guardians of the Galaxy across space and time, before encountering Galactus and tapping into the Power Cosmic. With godlike power, fashionable shorts, and a desire to help mankind. The Avengers weren’t aware of that secondary point, putting themselves at odds with Korvac and forcing him to reveal himself at his new home in Queens, New York. Korvac proceeds to kill them all, despite valiant efforts by Wonder Man and Captain America. He brings them all back to life with his final act and goes away until showing up in Cap’s own book years later.
4) Wolverine: Revenge
Captain America and Winter Soldier make a brief appearance in the world of Wolverine: Revenge, where Magneto has died and released an EMP with his demise that blacks out most of the western hemisphere. S.H.I.E.L.D. taps Logan, Cap, and Bucky to lead a team to retrieve a new energy source, which is where they run afoul of the surviving Brotherhood, with Sabretooth, Deadpool, Omega Red, Mastermind, and Colossus. The trio is captured, with bombs implanted in their chests, and told to run to see if they can make it out of range of Deadpool’s remote. They don’t, of course, and the two World War II pals are obliterated from the book like yesterday’s garbage. Fun series, though.
3) Time Runs Out
Jonathan Hickman’s closing moments on the Marvel Universe before Secret Wars essentially put Tony Stark in a no-win position after the Incursions became unstoppable, and the shameful decisions of the Illuminati while secretly dealing with the destruction of other planets to stop the incursions. Stark also had Cap’s memory erased after using the Infinity Gauntlet to destroy an incursion planet. Rogers obviously finds out and opts to face Iron Man with four minutes left in existence, so he puts on an armor of his own and takes on his former friend to make him admit that he lied.
2) Death of Captain America
An obvious choice for this part of the list, The Death of Captain America grabbed real-world headlines when it was released in the wake of Civil War. After turning himself in and surrendering after the final battle of the superhero Civil War, Rogers is assassinated by Crossbones and a brainwashed Sharon Carter. It’s all at the behest of the Red Skull, who is working behind the scenes to hopefully transfer his mind around. The twist is that Cap wasn’t actually shot and killed by the Skull’s plan; instead, Rogers was sent to a fixed place in space and time and left by the Skull as part of his mind transfer ploy. He enters Rogers’ mind and seems to battle for control. Rogers returns to normal, though, and life continues forward until Cap is revealed as a Hydra traitor during the Secret Empire story.
1) Infinity Gauntlet
And the top of the list, the most memorable and consequential of Steve Rogers’ deaths across all of the comics. The aftermath of the battle in Infinity Gauntlet saw the bodies of fallen heroes all over, but also captures the pure heroic nature of Captain America. The never-give-up attitude and the desire to fight until the very end. After everybody else has been slaughtered in the fight with Thanos, Cap is the last Avenger standing on the battlefield. He confronts Thanos and says some immortal words to buy some time.
“As long as one man stands against you, Thanos, you’ll never be able to claim victory,” he tells the Mad Titan, stalling for time until the Silver Surfer’s arrival. Thanos shatters his shield and is ready to give Cap the killing blow, but the Surfer arrives on the scene, though he narrowly misses the gauntlet. Cap punches Thanos in the face, but is killed with a backhand after Thanos realizes the true threat. It’s one of the top Captain America moments all-time, even if he dies by being swatted like a bug.
Any heroic ends and sacrifices we missed? Does Captain America seem to enjoy these encounters a bit too much? Let’s get some discussion in the comments.
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