Ninety-Eight-Pound Weakling
A poor orphan from the wrong side of the tracks in the days leading up to World War II, goodhearted Steve Rogers enlisted in the army to fight the Axis Powers, but met with rejection due to his small size and underdeveloped physique. Professor Abraham Erskine, a pioneer in the development of a Super-Soldier for the United States, saw potential in Rogers and whisked him into Project Rebirth, the professor’s bold experiment in enhancing the human body to its peak powers.Rogers found himself subjected to Erskine’s treatments— a specialized serum and exposure to a unique form of radiation—and realized the professor’s dream, becoming the world’s first, fully developed Super-Soldier. Now muscular and tall, as well as possessed of amazing strength and agility, the former ninety-eight-pound weakling watched in horror as a Nazi spy shot and killed Erskine, and thereby ensured Rogers would be the last of his kind.
The United States government moved swiftly to fashion Rogers into a living symbol of inspiration to the public at home and soldiers abroad. And, after extensive combat training he debuted in a colorful, patriotic uniform as Captain America. Operating out of the army’s Camp Lehigh in Virginia, Rogers posed as an ordinary soldier, but conducted secret missions stateside and abroad as his alter-ego to smash spies, saboteurs, and the occasional Super Villain who threatened the country he loved so dearly. Soon, Cap captured the attention of the Red Skull, his evil counterpart in Germany, and the two formed a lasting enmity over the course of the war. The hero also gained a near-indestructible shield with which he became supremely efficient in both offense and defense.
