History YMMV / CaptainAmerica

** Cap punching Adolf Hitler in the cover of his first issue.

** From ''ComicBook/TheInfinityGauntlet'', Captain America facing against Thanos DefiantToTheEnd.
** Mark Millar's ''ComicBook/TheUltimates'', i.e. "Does the A Stand for France?" for better and worse.
** The climactic moment in ''Civil War'' where Captain blocks a repulsor blast from Iron Man with his shield.
** For the Nick Spencer run, as you can probably guess, [[spoiler: Cap saying "Hail Hydra" after throwing someone out of an airplane ([[BrokenBase for lack of a more neutral listing]]), outing himself to the audience as an agent of HYDRA]].

* MemeticBadass: Even [[ComicBook/{{Batman}} the Goddamn Batman]] isn't CrazyPrepared enough to fight him.

* FashionVictimVillain: The [[https://web.archive.org/web/20150620154403/http://img1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20051216211403/marveldatabase/images/4/4d/Heinrich_Zemo_%28Earth-616%29.jpg original Baron Zemo's costume]] was pretty god awful looking. Strangely averted with [[http://www.classicmarvelforever.com/images/baron_zemo2.gif the current Zemo's outfit]], which, despite having the same color scheme and basic style of Heinrich's, actually manages to look pretty badass.

* ReplacementScrappy: Despite the VocalMinority, which largely were not made up by Captain America fans, this was thankfully averted when Sam took up the mantle of Captain American when Steve Rogers was unable to continue under it. While some still would have preferred for Sam to keep his Falcon persona, it was largely well received by readers. Sam had been a well-liked and established character who had proven himself a competent partner to and just as moral a hero as Steve Rogers for decades. It also helped that, if Steve Rogers ''were'' taken out of action, Sam ''was'' the most logical choice to take over; Bucky was off-planet at the time and was FakingTheDead to escape a life sentence in Russia and a bunch of other charges, making him completely untouchable for the mantle. The only other choices were Hawkeye and Sharon Carter.

** Steve Rogers/Tony Stark. In an alternate universe where Tony Stark was female, they even ''[[http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j144/crimsonquills/slashymoments/FFDR_2.jpg got married]]''.
** Steve and the Falcon also have a lot of moments together during the course of their long partnership (the book was retitled "Captain America and the Falcon" from 1971-1978, and there was another series by that name in 2004-2005).
** Bucky and Steve, both in their original adventures and since Bucky's [[DeathIsCheap return from the dead]].
*** Steve/Bucky/Sam in general is a HoYay OT3 for many; besides the aforementioned ships, Bucky/Sam is in-itself quite popular, resulting in this.
** Steve [[ItMakesSenseInContext once sat on]] [[https://i.imgur.com/p9r8kUB.jpg Deadpool's lap]]. ComicBook/{{Deadpool}} earns points for actually [[https://i.chzbgr.com/maxW500/7614806016/h354FBA9F/ making Steve blush]].
** Steve and Hawkeye, who more-or-less took Bucky's place as Steve's partner and protege when he was thawed out. Though this is more on Clint's side, who often reads like he has a huge repressed crush on Steve, Steve could banter back, and when Clint seemingly died, it was devastating enough to make Steve disband the Avengers.
*** Notably, Clint ''doesn't'' get along with Bucky (and Sam to a lesser extent), in a way that is literally due to jealousy; nowadays it's painted as being over Natasha, but before that, it was explicitly because Clint was jealous that Bucky got to be the new Captain America and that he was Steve's ''original'' partner. This doesn't stop the two having their own share of HoYay, though.

** The revelation of Sam Wilson becoming Captain America has lead to people calling him [[VideoGame/FZero Captain Falcon]]. The character of the same name was confirmed to show up in ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBrosForNintendo3DSAndWiiU'' just two days prior.

** The original inspiration for the Red Skull? Joe Simon saw a hot fudge sundae shaped vaguely like a human torso. He had originally planned a villain called Hot Fudge until he realized the cherry looked a lot like an exposed skull. [[FromNobodyToNightmare So...]]

** [[ShipToShipCombat Who's the better love interest]]: [[DatingCatwoman Diamondback]], Bernie Rosenthal, or [[ComicBook/Agent13 Sharon Carter]]?
*** The ship to ship combat got even worse due to the well-received and widely beloved depiction of Peggy Carter in the Marvel Cinematic Universe films, which effectively [[RescuedFromTheScrappyHeap rescued Peggy from the scrappy pile]] and elevated her to one of the MCU's top female characters.

** After decades of largely being treated as either a joke character or a source for Captain America's {{mangst}}, Bucky became one as the Winter Soldier, who went on to become a BreakoutCharacter under Brubaker's pen. Him taking over as Captain America was so beloved that for a while, he remained Captain America while Steve Rogers operated without a codename. When it comes to the movie fandom, this got turned up to eleven after ''Film/CaptainAmericaTheWinterSoldier'' -- Bucky is currently one of the most popular characters in the MCU.

* EvilIsCool: Many members of Captain America's rogues gallery fall under this. Such as the Red Skull, Crossbones, Batroc and Baron Zemo to name a few.

** 'Capwolf' (Cap was infected with some lycanthropy serum) would be considered this if not for a strong dose of NarmCharm.
** With the severe BrokenBase that has been the new ''ComicBook/SecretEmpire'' arc (to the point that ''people have burnt the Free Comic Book Day prelude issue''), it's easy to say that many are now firmly convinced that Nick Spencer's "HYDRA Cap" StoryArc is this.

** In [[https://i.annihil.us/u/prod/marvel/i/mg/3/e0/51f9481b75d72/clean.jpg issue #245]], Cap tells a Holocaust survivor that killing the Nazi general who murdered her family and raped her would make her "just as bad".
** Issue #275 has Cap declare that a Jewish man punching a Nazi is just as bad as Nazis breaking into a synagogue, robbing it, and painting swastikas everywhere. And then he says "the First Amendment should protect everyone", but objects when a Jewish character wants to exercise his free speech by counterprotesting a Nazi rally. Uh, Steve, you ''do'' remember what your very first issue has on the cover, right? And what you did in WWII? It becomes even worse when you remember that Creator/JackKirby was a militantly anti-fascist Jew, who literally fought them himself.

* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation:
** Is Steve Rogers really still the hero the world needs, or just an old man whose morality and inability to morally compromise himself for "the greater good" make him a liability? ''Civil War'''s denouncement and later, the war between Cap and Iron Man in Hickman's ''Avengers'' hinged on Steve being portrayed as out of date and too pure-hearted to do whatever needs to be done, damn the consequences. On the other hand, the Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse always places his idealism in the right, and its success elevated him to one of Marvel's flagship characters, so he does not get much criticism in comics nowadays.
** Hydra Cap falls into this too, given in a [[MagnificentBastard way after Hydra Cap made a fool out of Carol Danvers and Hawkeye, to eliminate Iron Man and Hulk]] as well as Hydra Cap's pointing out how the Tony Starks of the Marvel Universe treat the average normal citizen of the Marvel Universe like trash, lording over them with their wealth and power/technology and immunity from death.
** U.S.Agent: Right wing asshole who is a disgrace to the uniform or TheWoobie who had his life systematically destroyed by Red Skull explicitly for the purpose of driving him insane so that he would disgrace the name of Captain America and possibly kill Steve?
** Falcon: Is he truly trying to reach out and support minorities and the LGBT communities and speak out for social justice because he means it or is it just cynical pandering done by Sam to prop up his fragile ego, since he worries deep down that he will never be able to live up to Steve's legacy?
*** Americops: just normal folks doing a dangerous job and trying to bring peace to the neighborhoods of NYC, or are they fascist rent-a-thugs used by the city of New York to circumvent restrictions placed on the cops to clean the city up? DependingOnTheWriter, they may or may not even be real people, but androids, adding further to this.
** Baron Zemo: Racist asshole who never changed or someone who did have an honest conversion to the side of good during the tail end of his time with the Thunderbolts and retired to live a normal life, only to be driven back to villainy out of rage-induced spite towards how Cap immediately forgave Bucky for being a murderous assassin (albeit a brainwashed one who was not in complete control over his own actions), yet never truly believed Helmut reformed?
** Generally speaking, until Creator/EdBrubaker came up with his own AlternativeCharacterInterpretation of Bucky as a wetworks-type operative who killed so Captain America wouldn't have to, Bucky was largely seen as a {{joke character}}, with most writers portraying him as either a parody of 40s era teen sidekicks or as a TooGoodForThisSinfulEarth pure soul whose death served as a major source of angst for Captain America.

* AccidentalInnuendo: [[https://www.superdickery.com/captain-america-i-command-you-to-wank/ "Captain America! I command you to-" WANK!]] [[CommonKnowledge Contrary to popular belief]], this isn't an example of HaveAGayOldTime, since the issue this panel is from [[NewerThanTheyThink was released in 1990]].

* FriendlyFandoms: They're close to the ComicBook/{{Superman}} fandom. Since both characters embody the best in [[TheCape superheroes]] and [[CaptainPatriotic america]].

* CommonKnowledge: While Red Skull is the most famous, hated and personal ArchEnemy of Captain America, he was ''not'' the one responsible for putting him on ice and killing ComicBook/BuckyBarnes (until he [[{{Retcon}} got better]]). That was the original ComicBook/BaronZemo, who isn't quite as iconic or enduring. Heinrich Zemo also died in less than fifteen issues, and the majority of his appearances are in flashbacks. The most [[LegacyCharacter enduring version of the identity]] is his son Helmut, who outright renounced his Nazi ancestry and lineage. As such, for the sake of simplicity, most adaptations just have Red Skull as the man responsible for both cases.

** "Captain America! I command you to---'''WANK!'''" (the "wank" being the sound effect of Cap's shield hitting the speaker, but coincidentally (one hopes) also being another word for masturbation)

** We can't forget the brief period time where Cap was forced to wear [[PoweredArmor a suit of armor]] after the Super-Soldier Serum was breaking down inside Cap's body and leaving him paralyzed. It was the [[UsefulNotes/TheDarkAgeOfComicBooks 90s, after all.]]

** In one period, roughly coinciding with the [[UsefulNotes/TheDarkAgeOfComicBooks "Dark Age"]] of comics, an insane clone of the Red Skull renounced Nazism in favor of [[StrawNihilist faux nihilism]] and generic egotistic and sadistic villainy. Out of universe, this was apparently because Marvel's editors felt [[NoSwastikas Nazism was too risqué for comics]] -- Which is sort of ironic given the [[DarkerAndEdgier decidedly family-unfriendly]] plots of this time, and how they compare to the dastardly schemes of the devotedly Nazi but otherwise rather [[PokeThePoodle PG-rated]] Silver Age Red Skull. The Skull has since recovered, and carried on with the fanatical Nazism he has demonstrated over most of his career, but to this day many (both fans and in-universe) still think that he is just a narcissistic nihilist because of this.

* SavedByTheFans: Captain America was created during UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfComicBooks, and it was a huge success back then. However, his comic book was cancelled when the whole superhero genre lost popularity after the end of WWII (a crisis that only Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman survived, out of dozens and dozens of characters and titles). Superheroes eventually returned during UsefulNotes/TheSilverAgeOfComicBooks, and Marvel started a good number of new heroes. Cap "returned" in ''Strange Tales'' #114 (by Stan Lee, Jack Kirby and Dick Ayers) as a villain, and fought against the Human Torch; it turned out to be just the Acrobat wearing his costume. At the end of the issue Johnny wonders about the fate of the actual Cap, and the text made things explicit: "You guessed it! This story was really a test! To see if you too would want Captain America to return! As usual, your letters will give us the answer!" Let's just say that ''Avengers'' #4 was released some months later, and the rest, as they say, is history.

* SmurfetteBreakout: Peggy Carter started as the love interest and only non-bit female character in ''Film/CaptainAmericaTheFirstAvenger''. After her popularity with fans became clear (due in no small part to her actress, Creator/HayleyAtwell), Marvel Studios has tried to include her wherever possible. Creator/JossWhedon wrote a deleted scene for her in ''Film/{{The Avengers|2012}}'', [[Film/AgentCarter she's the subject of one of the]] ''Film/MarvelOneShots'', and she has cameos in ''Film/CaptainAmericaTheWinterSoldier'', ''Film/AvengersAgeOfUltron'', ''Series/AgentsOfSHIELD'', and ''Film/AntMan1''. To top it off, she was given her very own television miniseries, ''Series/AgentCarter'', making her the first leading lady of the Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse. Even after her death in the present, no look at the past in the MCU is complete without her, and the first episode of ''WesternAnimation/WhatIf2021'' focused on [[ADayInTheLimelight her getting the Super-Soldier Serum]]. She’s has more appearances across the franchise than ComicBook/CaptainAmerica himself!

* EvilIsSexy: Sin the daughter of Red Skull is quite attractive.

* SeinfeldIsUnfunny: The original Captain America comics are often seen today like most propaganda comics at the time, as cashing in on World War II craze going on. But the comics were made before America entered the war. As such the book was highly controversial when it came out.

** Cap's first reappearance (which was actually the villain Acrobat) in 1963 before joining The Avengers had him teaming up with [[ComicBook/HumanTorch Johnny Storm]]. Both would later be played by Creator/ChrisEvans.

** Batroc the Leaper is regarded as a joke by some, but his sense of honor, legitimate skill and inherent goofiness has let him stay relevant since his introduction in the 60s.

* FriendlyFandoms: They're close to the Franchise/SuperMan fandom. Since both characters embody the best in [[TheCape superheroes]] and [[CaptainPatriotic america]].

** A popular catchphrase associated with comics was "No one stays dead in comics except for Bucky, [[Franchise/{{Batman}} Jason Todd]], and [[Franchise/SpiderMan Uncle Ben]]". ''Batman: Under the Red Hood'' was released the same time as ''Winter Soldier'', and after the events of both, Jason Todd and Bucky were brought BackFromTheDead. Nowadays, it's only true to say "No one stays dead in comics except for Uncle Ben".

* MemeticBadass: Even [[Franchise/{{Batman}} the Goddamn Batman]] isn't CrazyPrepared enough to fight him.

** Englehart, while he retconned 'The Falcon' into a pimp whose memories were rewritten by the Comicbook/RedSkull, he did start to give Steve Rogers some much needed character development and tension that broke him away from an unquestioning MyCountryRightOrWrong attitude. Perhaps it all culminated with Steve telling a very angry Nick Fury, in the middle of a fight, "Nick... I haven't gained forty years (of my youth)... I lost them!"