Captain America: The 8 Things You Probably Didn't Know About The First Avenger

Captain America is basically the pillar of all that is good, right, just and moral. He is the epitome of American patriotism, and soon enough, we're set to see Captain America face his closest allies in Captain America: Civil War when it hits theater screens this May. Chris Evans has portrayed our beloved Captain since 2011, and he has brought life to one of the greatest characters in Marvel Comics.

Captain America wasn't always the macho-masculine hero, as his alter-ego Steve Rogers started off as a scrawny, weak and almost sickly young man. He suffered the loss of his father at a young age, and his mother when he was a teen. During the height of wartime propaganda, he attempted to enlist in the army, only to be rejected due to his physical inadequacies. Yet, his passion and patriotism caught the eye of a Super Soldier program, and after proving that he was the perfect subject he took a dose of the Super Soldier Serum and was transformed into the All-America hero. With the upcoming release of Civil War, let's look at a few obscure Captain America facts.

8. He once fought Wolverine as a Werewolf.

During a conflict with Nightshade, the self-proclaimed "Queen of the Werewolves", the Captain is injected with a new serum that turns him into a werewolf (not the first time either). He is able to resist the influence of both Nightshade and Dredmund and escapes from their clutches only to face off against a berserk Wolverine (as is apparently a common occurrence in Marvel Comics). Captain and Wolverine square off before the Captain unleashes his new animalistic rage and literally throws Wolverine from their battle.

7. Captain America can wield Thor's Hammer.

If you've only ever seen the movies from the Marvel Cinematic Universe, then it's easy to see why this would be so surprising as he was barely able to budge Mjolnir, Thor's mystic hammer. The hammer can only be wielded under the following circumstances as the fine states "Whosoever holds this hammer, if he be worthy, shall possess the power of Thor." It is during an attack by several followers of Seth, that Thor is separated from his hammer and Captain America desires to give it back to him but in the process is over powered by the villains. Due to his pure heart and noble reason for wanting to lift the hammer, he is able to lift and swing it defeating the bad guys.

6. He was never supposed to survive past the '60s.

I know, this sounds like the standard plot point of many comic franchises, as we've seen countless characters die over the years. But with Captain America it was supposed to be different. Marvel had planned to have the Captain killed in episode 300. In that story, he would turn against his own hero status and seek out a different way to save the world - even going so far as to team with Dr. Doom. After his divergence from the heroic, the world would turn against him, and he was to be killed. Obviously, that didn't happen, which is good, because 'MERICA.

5. He hasn't always been called Captain America.

Over the years, even the hero of America has lost faith in the government that he served. In the 70's Marvel played out a story line that followed a similar pattern of what happened as a result of the Watergate scandal. During this arc, Steve Rogers took on a new costume and a new name: The Nomad. Eventually, Steve returned to his Captain America namesake after this arc finished. But then again in the late 90's he loses faith again and is simply known as, the Captain.

4. The name Captain America has been held by 12 others.

Believe it or not, the mantra of Captain America has not always been held by Steve Rogers. Over the years there have been several other people who have become Captain America, starting all the way back to the American Revolutionary War with Steven Rogers (an ancestor of Steve's). After Rogers' presumed death at the end of WWII, William Nasland and then Jeffrey Mace were appointed the position of Captain America by the government. After the events of the comic book storyline, Civil War, Bucky Barnes takes over the mantle of Captain America. Other Captains include:

• Sam Wilson (formerly The Falcon)
• Isaiah Bradley (WWII African-America test subject)
• William Burnside (college professor who used a flawed Nazi copy of Project rebirth and suffered from a violent paranoia and was put in suspended animation)
• Bob Russo (took the costume in Captain America #178, but abandoned it after injuring his arm)
• "Scar" Turpin (took the costume in Captain America #179, but abandoned it after taking a beating from a street gang called the Road Runners)
• Roscoe Simons (was given the Shield by Steve Rogers, and was partnered with Falcon, but was killed by Red Skull in issue #183)
• John Walker (formerly Super Patriot)
• Dave Rickford (takes over after Bucky gets in legal trouble and Rogers becomes the head of SHIELD)

3. Captain America wasn't actually a founding member of the Avengers

Even though the Captain is often seen as the inspirational cornerstone of the Avengers, he wasn't actually a founding member of the team. Originally The Avengers consisted of Iron Man, Ant-Man, Thor, Hulk and The Wasp. As you can imagine, this group never really had a definitive leader until Captain America signed up due to Hulk's persistent over-reacting and destroying everything in his sight.

2. Chris Evans turned down the role three times before accepting.

This probably is a shock considering how perfectly Chris Evans fills the roll of Captain America. In an interview with Access Hollywood, Chris explained that:

The fear was, you're making a decision for the next six, seven, eight years of your life...

Later he decided that he wasn't going to not make the choice out of fear by saying:

Whatever scares you, jump in... And in retrospect, if I hadn't done it, I'd be kicking myself because it's the best thing I could have done.

Other actors that were in consideration were Ryan Phillippe, Channing Tatum, Chace Crawford, John Krasinski and even Sebastian Stan before he was chosen to play Bucky Barnes.

1. He's lived in a different dimension for a decade.

It's easy for the stories of a character to get stale after 75 years. There are quite a few characters who have had a new concept added to their backstory or an external event that changes how they look at the world, and in turn changes their entire character moving into the future. Captain America is one of the few characters whose defining features keep him fairly flat-line as he is the personification of the American ideals, and the embodiment of all that is good. At one point though, Rick Remender, chose to change Captain America's story by transporting him to Dimension Z, where times moves infinitely faster. In Dimension Z, even though on Earth only moments had passed, Steve endured 12 years in Dimension Z. He raised a foster child named Ian, fought Arnim Zola (Red Skull's henchman), and thought he lost both Ian and Sharon Carter.

[Source: What Culture : Listverse]