After Avengers: Endgame revealed the sad truth to fans — that Steve Rogers was on his way out as Captain America — audiences had no idea what to feel. Though the MCU is soon adding The Falcon and the Winter Soldier to Disney+, viewers still miss Steve Rogers. Fans of Marvel Comics especially are sad to see Steve Rogers go, since there are countless stories from the comics that the movies never even got to touch on.
With plotlines like “The Winter Soldier” and “Civil War” taking up most of Cap’s screen time, he missed out on live-action adaptations of his most iconic comics. There were quite a few classic Cap storylines that just didn’t make it to the silver screen in time before Chris Evans tapped out of the franchise.
10 Super Spy Captain America
In Captain America issues #110, #111, and #113, Jim Steranko served as both the writer and artist giving readers a glimpse at an all-new cap. While fans believed Cap could be dead, “The Strange Death of Captain America” revealed that Cap was okay the whole time and just faking his death.
He wanted to help out his new sidekick, Rick Jones, who had replaced Bucky Barnes. In this storyline, Cap is a psychedelic super-spy on a mission to save his sidekick. A Captain America that tries to keep his own identity a secret is something the MCU never introduced, so a spy version of Cap would have been cool to see.
9 Cap And Thor Bond As Men Out Of Time
The main three characters in the MCU got their own trilogies first: Iron Man, Captain America, and Thor. While Tony Stark is undoubtedly a product of the Earth and profoundly human, Steve Rogers and Thor Odinson are a bit different.
The two are both men out of time in their own ways, and this often leads them to bonding. In fact, Mark Waid and Jorge Molina explored their relationship and emotions about being so displaced in “Captain America: Man Out of Time.” The two of them didn’t get as much space to hang out in the MCU, but a movie of them working together would have been more than welcomed by fans.
8 The Death Of Captain America
When it was announced that the MCU would be adapting the “Civil War” storyline, fans were understandably nervous. With “Civil War” came “The Death of Captain America,” an eighteen-issue story arc created by Ed Brubaker and Steve Epting. After Marvel's infamous “Civil War” ended, Captain America was assassinated by Sharon Carter — his girlfriend at the time, who had been brainwashed to kill him.
As all characters necessary for this assassination were present, fans expected it, but Cap survived Civil War in its entirety. Iron Man and Black Widow never team up to take revenge, Falcon never breaks off to work on his own, and the Winter Soldier never tried to kill Tony (well, for killing Steve).
7 Steve Rogers And The Secret Empire
One of the most iconic storylines for Steve Rogers, “Secret Empire,” has actually been approached by Marvel Comics multiple times. While Disney is likely never to get overtly political in the MCU, using a “Secret Empire” storyline adapted for the modern day would have been an excellent choice.
Created by Steve Englehart and Sal Buscema, Captain America issues #169 through #175 explored Captain America as a directly political figure, getting involved in uncovering a villainous plot that involves the United States government. Cap butt heads with the U.S. government in the MCU, but such a direct plot would have been even more interesting and timely than ever.
6 Captain America No More
Steve Rogers has passed the shield on to Sam Wilson in the MCU. It seems that he and Bucky Barnes will be struggling with the void left behind without Steve as Captain America in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. However, Steve at least knew he could trust both of them with the role of Cap. In Mark Gruenwald and Kieron Dwyer’s classic Cap storyline “Captain America No More,” the next Captain America after Steve, John Walker, is far more violent than Steve can allow. Frustrated, Steve becomes the Captain, earning back his shield in an ultimate fight between the old Cap and the new Cap. There wasn’t much space for this in the MCU, but it undoubtedly would have been an interesting film and storyline to include.
5 Cap And The Falcon Take On Madbomb
One of the more interesting and classic storylines that Captain America and Falcon shared early on seems kind of ridiculous in retrospect. Even the name, “Madbomb,” doesn’t exactly evoke an obviously deep or serious story. However, Jack Kirby created this storyline in Captain America #193 through #200 to play with what superhero comics were.
He wanted to try something new, and Madbomb was one of his wildest successes. The storyline has a lot of fun and energy to it, which would have been great for Chris Evans and Anthony Mackie together. In addition, the Madbomb plot of Cap and Falcon fighting a ton of raging Americans would have been a fun short film or movie in the MCU.
4 Throwing It Back With War And Remembrance
On Cap’s more serious side, he has storylines like “War and Remembrance” by Roger Stern and John Byrne, which ran through Captain America issues #247 - #255. In the MCU, Captain America got an entire movie set during his World War II origin story: The First Avenger.
If the MCU adapted “War and Remembrance,” they would have been able to call back to those storylines, fighting with villains thought were long gone. Plus, Cap fights Baron Blood the Nazi vampire in this, and he thinks about running for president. This classic storyline had a lot of potential within the MCU if they ever decided to run with it.
3 Captain America As Nomad
Before Avengers: Infinity War and Endgame each came out, fans kept hoping that they might see Captain America appear as Nomad. One of Steve Rogers’ alternate superheroic titles in the comics, the Nomad is the identity Steve assumes after he recognizes his idealistic differences with his patriotic image as Cap.
Nomad was first introduced in Captain America #180, “The Coming of the Nomad,” by Steve Englehart and Sal Buscema. Steve is so disheartened and disillusioned with what America and its government have become that he becomes the Nomad, a man without a country, for a few issues. It is then, however, that Cap realizes that he could uphold and protect the ideals of America without supporting what America does all the time.
2 Captain America Under Siege
Another interesting story that had all the potential players ready to go in the MCU was “Under Siege.” This classic story from Roger Stern, Tom Buscema, and Tom Palmer ran from Avengers #273 to Avengers #277 and saw Baron Zemo uniting the Masters of Evil to fight the Avengers.
As Baron Zemo is already in the MCU — and already has a grudge against the Avengers — this could have been a cool story to adapt. This storyline also features the existence of an Avengers mansion where all the Avengers live together, something fans hoped to see at some point in the MCU.
1 Cap’s Last Operation: Rebirth
One of Mark Waid’s and Ron Garney’s best stories was “Operation: Rebirth,” though Waid consistently excels in comics writing and pumps out classic after classic storyline. From Captain America #445 to Captain America #448, they told the story of how Captain America came back from the dead — into a world created by Adolf Hitler, where the worst happened and a New World Reich has formed.
Cap has to fight both Hitler and the Red Skull, which could have been a cool plot in-between The First Avenger and The Winter Soldier. Some fans hope that Cap still has a chance to be reborn later in the MCU, but it seems unlikely.
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