Steve Rogers (Marvel Cinematic Universe)

Steve Rogers was born on July 4, 1918, in Brooklyn, New York to Sarah Rogers, a tuberculosis ward nurse. His father Joseph Rogers, a soldier in the 107th Infantry Regiment, was killed on the World War I battlefront two months prior to his birth.

At the outset of World War II, he tries to enlist but is repeatedly rejected due to health problems. In 1943, while attending an exhibition with his friend, Sgt. James "Bucky" Barnes, Rogers again attempts to enlist. Dr. Abraham Erskine overhears Rogers speaking with Barnes, and approves his enlistment. He is recruited into the Strategic Scientific Reserve as part of a "supersoldier" experiment under Erskine, Col. Chester Phillips, and British agent Peggy Carter. The night before the treatment, Erskine reveals to Rogers that Nazi officer Johann Schmidt underwent an imperfect version of the procedure and suffered permanent side-effects.

Erskine subjects Rogers to the treatment, injecting him with a special serum and dousing him with "vita-rays". After Rogers emerges taller and more muscular, an undercover assassin kills Erskine and flees. Rogers pursues and captures the assassin, who commits suicide with a cyanide capsule. With Erskine dead and the formula lost, U.S. Senator Brandt has Rogers tour the nation in a colorful costume as "Captain America" to promote war bonds. In 1943, while on tour in Italy, Rogers learns that the 107th – Barnes' unit – was MIA in a battle against Schmidt's forces. Refusing to believe that Barnes is dead, Rogers has Carter and engineer Howard Stark fly him behind enemy lines to mount a solo rescue attempt. Rogers infiltrates the fortress of Schmidt's Nazi division Hydra, freeing Barnes and 400 other prisoners. Rogers confronts Schmidt, who reveals himself to be "the Red Skull" and escapes. Following this, Rogers is formally promoted to the rank of Captain.

Rogers recruits Barnes and several others to form a team to attack other known Hydra bases. Stark outfits Rogers with advanced equipment, most notably a circular shield made of vibranium, a rare, nearly indestructible metal. The team later captures Hydra member Dr. Arnim Zola on a train, but Barnes falls from the train to his presumed death. Using information extracted from Zola, Rogers leads an attack on the final Hydra stronghold to stop Schmidt from using weapons of mass destruction on the United States. Rogers climbs aboard Schmidt's aircraft as it takes off, but during the subsequent fight the Tesseract's container is damaged. Schmidt physically handles the Tesseract, causing him to dissolve in a bright light. The Tesseract burns through the plane and is lost in the ocean. Seeing no way to land the plane without the risk of detonating its weapons, Rogers crashes it in the Arctic. Stark later recovers the Tesseract from the ocean floor but is unable to locate Rogers or the aircraft, presuming him dead.

Rogers awakens in a 1940s-style hospital room. Deducing from an anachronistic radio broadcast that something is wrong, he flees outside and finds himself in present-day Times Square, where S.H.I.E.L.D. director Nick Fury informs him that he has been "asleep" for nearly 70 years.

When the Asgardian Loki arrives and begins menacing Earth, seizing the Tesseract from a S.H.I.E.L.D. facility, Fury activates the Avengers Initiative and approaches Rogers with an assignment to retrieve the Tesseract. In Stuttgart, Rogers and Loki fight briefly until Tony Stark appears in his Iron Man armor, resulting in Loki's surrender. While Loki is being escorted to S.H.I.E.L.D., Thor arrives and frees him, hoping to convince him to abandon his plan and return to Asgard. After a confrontation with Stark and Rogers, Thor agrees to take Loki to S.H.I.E.L.D.'s flying aircraft carrier, the Helicarrier.

The Avengers become divided, both over how to approach Loki and the revelation that S.H.I.E.L.D. plans to harness the Tesseract to develop weapons. Agents possessed by Loki attack the Helicarrier, disabling one of its engines in flight, which Stark and Rogers must work to restart. Loki escapes, and Stark and Rogers realize that for Loki, simply defeating them will not be enough; he needs to overpower them publicly to validate himself as ruler of Earth. Loki uses the Tesseract to open a wormhole in New York City above Stark Tower to allow the Chitauri fleet in space to invade. Rogers leads the others in defending the city.

Two years later, Rogers works for S.H.I.E.L.D. in Washington, D.C., under Director Fury, while adjusting to contemporary society. Rogers and Agent Natasha Romanoff are sent with S.H.I.E.L.D.'s counter-terrorism S.T.R.I.K.E. team, led by Agent Rumlow, to free hostages aboard a S.H.I.E.L.D. vessel that has been hijacked by a group lead by Georges Batroc. Mid-mission, Rogers discovers Romanoff has her own agenda: to extract data from the ship's computers for Fury. Rogers returns to the Triskelion, S.H.I.E.L.D.'s headquarters, to confront Fury and is briefed about Project Insight: three Helicarriers linked to spy satellites, designed to preemptively eliminate threats against America. Unable to decrypt the data recovered by Romanoff, Fury becomes suspicious about Insight and asks senior S.H.I.E.L.D. official Alexander Pierce to delay the project.

Fury, ambushed by assailants led by the Winter Soldier, escapes and warns Rogers that S.H.I.E.L.D. is compromised. Fury is gunned down by the Winter Soldier, but hands Rogers a flash drive containing data from the ship. Pierce summons Rogers to the Triskelion, however when Rogers withholds Fury's information, Pierce brands him a fugitive. Hunted by S.T.R.I.K.E., Rogers meets with Romanoff. Using data in the flash drive they discover a secret S.H.I.E.L.D. bunker in New Jersey, where they activate a supercomputer containing the preserved consciousness of Arnim Zola. Zola reveals that ever since S.H.I.E.L.D. was founded after World War II, Hydra has secretly operated within its ranks. A S.H.I.E.L.D. missile destroys the bunker, and the pair realize that Pierce is Hydra's leader within S.H.I.E.L.D.

Rogers and Romanoff enlist the help of former USAF pararescueman Sam Wilson, whom Rogers befriended, and acquire his powered "Falcon" wingpack. Deducing that S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Jasper Sitwell is a Hydra mole, they force him to divulge Hydra's plan to use satellite-guided guns to eliminate individuals identified by an algorithm as a threat to Hydra. They are ambushed by the Winter Soldier, whom Rogers recognizes as Bucky Barnes, his friend who was captured and experimented upon during WWII. S.H.I.E.L.D. operative Maria Hill manages to extract the trio to a safehouse where Fury, who had faked his death, is waiting with plans to sabotage the Helicarriers by replacing their controller chips. After the World Security Council members arrive for the Helicarriers' launch, Rogers exposes Hydra's plot. Rogers and Wilson storm two Helicarriers and replace the controller chips, but the Winter Soldier destroys Wilson's suit and fights Rogers on the third. Rogers fends him off and replaces the final chip, allowing Hill have the vessels destroy each other. Rogers refuses to fight the Winter Soldier in an attempt to reach his friend, but as the ship collides with the Triskelion, Rogers is thrown into the Potomac River. The Winter Soldier rescues the unconscious Rogers and disappears into the woods. Rogers and Wilson decide to find the Winter Soldier.

In the Eastern European country of Sokovia, the Avengers raid a Hydra facility to recover Loki's scepter, which Stark and Banner use to complete Stark's "Ultron" global defense program. Ultron becomes sentient and attacks the Avengers at their headquarters. Ultron is ultimately defeated in Sokovia.

Approximately one year later, the Avengers stop Brock Rumlow from stealing a biological weapon from a lab in Lagos, but an explosion damages a nearby building, killing several Wakandan humanitarian workers. U.S. Secretary of State Thaddeus Ross informs the Avengers that the United Nations (UN) is preparing to pass the Sokovia Accords, which will establish a UN panel to oversee and control the team. The Avengers are divided: Stark supports oversight because of his role in Ultron's creation and Sokovia's devastation, while Rogers has more faith in his own judgment than that of a government. Helmut Zemo tracks down and kills Barnes' old Hydra handler, stealing a book containing the trigger words that activate Barnes' brainwashing. Barnes is framed for the killing of King T'Chaka of Wakanda, and T'Chaka's son T'Challa, the Black Panther, vows vengeance. Rogers decides to try to bring in Barnes himself. Rogers and Wilson track Barnes to Bucharest and attempt to protect him from T'Challa and the authorities, but are apprehended.

Impersonating a psychiatrist sent to interview Barnes, Zemo sends Barnes on a rampage to cover his own escape. Rogers stops Barnes and sneaks him away. When Barnes regains his senses, he explains that Zemo is the real Vienna bomber and wanted the location of the Siberian Hydra base, where other brainwashed "Winter Soldiers" are kept in cryogenic stasis. Rogers and Wilson go rogue, and recruit Maximoff, Clint Barton, and Scott Lang to their cause. Stark assembles a team to capture the renegades, and they fight at Leipzig/Halle Airport, until Romanoff allows Rogers and Barnes to escape.

Stark, learning that Barnes was framed by Zemo, convinces Wilson to give him Rogers' destination, and goes to the Siberian Hydra facility. He strikes a truce with Rogers and Barnes, but Zemo has left footage that reveals that an automobile Barnes had intercepted in 1991 contained Stark's parents, whom Barnes subsequently killed. Enraged that Rogers kept this from him, Stark turns on them. After an intense fight, Rogers disables Stark's Iron Man armor and departs with Barnes, leaving his shield behind. Rogers breaks his allies out of the Raft, and heads to Wakanda with Barnes, where Barnes chooses to return to cryogenic sleep until a cure for his brainwashing is found.

When minions of the mad Titan Thanos ambush Wanda Maximoff and Vision in Scotland, Rogers, Romanoff, and Wilson rescue them and take them to Rhodes at the Avengers' headquarters. Rogers suggests that they travel to Wakanda to remove the Mind Stone in Vision's forehead to keep Thanos from retrieving it while keeping Vision's personality intact. As Thanos' army of Outriders invade Wakanda, Rogers and the Avengers mount a defense alongside King T'Challa and the Wakandan armies. Thanos defeats the Avengers, including Rogers, and retrieves the Mind Stone from Vision, destroying him. Thanos activates the Stones and Steve watches as people begin disintegrating, including Barnes and Wilson.

Assessing the worldwide casualties, and discovering that Thanos has destroyed half of all living things, the Avengers and new allies Nebula, Rocket, and Captain Marvel detect a similar burst of energy on a distant planet. Steve leads the team in an assault against Thanos and discovers that he, satisfied that his work is done, has destroyed the Stones. In anger, Thor beheads Thanos and the defeated team returns to Earth.

Five years later, Rogers leads a support group for grieving survivors and helps the surviving heroes maintain peace around the world. Scott Lang, who was presumed dead, returns and explains that he has been trapped in the quantum realm. A plan develops to use the quantum realm to travel in time and recover the Stones from the past, so that they can be used to restore the people that Thanos destroyed. Stark and Rogers conclude their nearly decade-long feud, reestablishing their trust in one another with Stark returning his shield. Rogers teams with Stark, Banner, and Lang and they travel to the Battle of New York in 2012 to retrieve the three Stones present there. They succeed in securing the Time Stone and Loki's scepter containing the Mind Stone, with Rogers having to fight his past self to facilitate this. However, Loki escapes with the Tesseract housing the Space Stone, necessitating a trip further back in time to 1970 so that Stark can recover it from the S.H.I.E.L.D. base in New Jersey, while Rogers finds Pym particles from Hank Pym at the same base for their trip back to 2023. While hiding in an office in the S.H.I.E.L.D. base, Rogers sees Peggy Carter through a window. All the retrieval teams return to the present, save for Romanoff, and all six Stones are used by Hulk to restore the lost. However, immediately after that a 2014 version of Thanos, who has discovered their plan, emerges from the quantum tunnel and attacks the New Avengers Facility.

During a final battle, Rogers proves worthy to wield Thor's hammer Mjolnir against Thanos. After Thanos gains the upper hand, Rogers, bruised and battered with his shield in tatters, stands up alone to face the Titan. However,the restored heroes arrive in time to aid Rogers, and he rallies them by saying, "Avengers Assemble," and leads them during their final stand against Thanos and his army. Stark uses the Infinity Stones to disintegrate Thanos and his army, but the intense energy of the Stones kills him in the process. After attending Stark's funeral, Rogers takes the task of returning the Infinity Stones and Thor's hammer to their proper times. However, instead of returning to the present, he chooses to remain in the past with Peggy Carter, and live the full life he'd always wanted. In the present, an elderly Rogers visits Sam Wilson and passes his shield and the mantle of Captain America to him.

• In Iron Man (2008), a replica of Captain America's shield can be seen in Tony Stark's workshop when J.A.R.V.I.S. is removing his armor and Pepper Potts spots him.[33]
• In The Incredible Hulk (2008), General Ross mentions to Emil Blonsky that there was a World War II program that created a supersoldier serum. The supersoldier serum is shown, as well as Dr. Reinstein —a pseudonym for Dr. Erskine in the comics— referenced as its inventor.[34] In the film's deleted opening, Bruce Banner goes to the Arctic to commit suicide but transforms into the Hulk, smashing a glacier. A buried human figure and shield are visible, who are meant to be Rogers and his shield.[35]
• In Iron Man 2 (2010), S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Phil Coulson discovers an incomplete replica of Captain America's shield inside a box. When he asks Tony Stark if he knows what it is, Tony tells him that it's "just what [he] need[s]" and places the shield underneath his particle collider to level it.[36]
• In Thor: The Dark World (2013), Chris Evans makes an uncredited cameo appearance as Loki masquerading as Captain America.[37]
• In Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), Happy Hogan mentions "a prototype for Cap's new shield" made by Stark Industries.[38]
• In Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019), Rogers is shown in a memorial for heroes who died fighting Thanos.[39]

The 2013 Marvel One-Shot short film Agent Carter features the exploits of Peggy Carter one year after the events of Captain America: The First Avenger, and features a flashback of Carter's final communication with Steve Rogers.[40] The scene was also shown in the first episode of Agent Carter.

Costume designer Anna B. Sheppard stated the Captain America's uniform in Captain America: The First Avenger was partly based on that of paratroopers of the era, explaining, "I think that the challenge of this costume was that it had to look 40s, that's why certain elements like using leather for the straps and belt, metal buckles and not having too tight a fit were important. Forget spandex!"[41] Visual Development Supervisor Ryan Meinerding elaborated, "The straps that come off his chest are very similar to the ALICE webbing that was used in Vietnam. Using the straps as the stripes across his torso then seemed like an elegant design solution. In the end, the main design aspects of this suit are meant to be about making it appear soldier-like, functional and tough."[42] In The Avengers, his suit was made to look "a bit more 'superhero'" in comparison to The First Avenger, at Whedon's request. Costume designer Alexandra Byrne stated the difference between both suits were "the fabrics that are available. Today we have a lot of stretch fabrics and there weren't any 'technofabrics' then", and called his design "the most technically difficult" of the Avengers' costumes.[43]

For The Winter Soldier, Evans trained in parkour, Brazilian jiu-jitsu, karate, boxing, kickboxing, and gymnastics, as the Russo brothers believed that bringing Rogers into the modern day also meant that he had studied and mastered modern fighting styles and techniques. The filmmakers also looked to make the character's shield, which has traditionally been used for defense, a more offensive weapon.[44] For Age of Ultron, Evans said that he was able to maintain the strength he built up for The Winter Soldier by working out up to an hour a day.[45] Evans didn't want to take a step back from the skills shown in The Winter Soldier, and made sure Rogers' fighting style advanced, showing "a consistent display of strength" and having Rogers utilizing his environment.[46] Evans' training regimen to get in shape for the role included weight lifting, which consisted of "the classic bodyweight and bodybuilding stuff", gymnastics and plyometrics, while staying away from cardio-based exercises, along with a high-protein diet.[47] For Civil War, his costume in the film received "subtle changes to all the details and cut" as well as its color, becoming a combination of the stealth suit from Winter Soldier and the Avengers: Age of Ultron suit.[48] In Infinity War, Rogers receives new vibranium gauntlets from Shuri to replace his traditional shield.[49]

In his civilian attire throughout the series, it has been noted that Rogers "tends to go for a very low key look ... based around very simple pieces that work together".[50] In his earliest appearance, designed by Sheppard, "post-serum Steve was All-American in a devastatingly tight white tee and khaki pants",[51] while in The Avengers Byrne made him "sophisticated enough to beautifully blend plaids and stripes."[51] Costume designer Judianna Makovsky described his fashion evolution between Winter Soldier and Civil War as becoming increasingly comfortable in his clothes.[52] One article, however, criticized his clothing across the series as being "bereft of patterns, graphics, imagery or anything you couldn't color in with one singular crayon".[53]

Steve Rogers begins as a frail, sickly young man who is enhanced to the peak of human ability by an experimental serum in order to aid the United States in World War II.[16] Regarding the extent of the character's abilities Evans remarked, "He would crush the Olympics. Any Olympic sport he's gonna dominate. He can jump higher, run faster, lift stronger weight, but he can be injured. He could roll an ankle and be out for the season. He's not perfect, he's not untouchable. So a lot of the effects, if I'm going to punch someone they're not going to put them on a cable and fly them back 50 feet, but he's going to go down, probably not getting back up, which I think humanizes it. It makes it something that, again, I think everyone can relate to a little bit more, which I really like."[54]

Evans said that Rogers is much darker in The Avengers: "It's just about him trying to come to terms with the modern world. You've got to imagine, it's enough of a shock to accept the fact that you're in a completely different time, but everybody you know is dead. Everybody you cared about ... He was a soldier, obviously, everybody he went to battle with, all of his brothers in arms, they're all dead. He's just lonely. I think in the beginning it's a fish-out-of-water scene, and it's tough. It's a tough pill for him to swallow. Then comes trying to find a balance with the modern world."[55] Regarding the dynamic between Rogers and Tony Stark, Evans said, "I think there's certainly a dichotomy—this kind of friction between myself and Tony Stark, they're polar opposites. One guy is flash and spotlight and smooth, and the other guy is selfless and in the shadows and kind of quiet and they have to get along. They explore that, and it's pretty fun."[56] A key moment in The Avengers occurs when Stark, who had been dismissive of Rogers at earlier points in the film, defers to Rogers as leader of the newly formed team to defend New York against a large-scale attack.[57] Describing his character's continuing adjustment to the modern world in The Winter Soldier, Evans said, "It's not so much about his shock with [technology]... It's more about the societal differences. He's gone from the '40s to today; he comes from a world where people were a little more trusting, the threats not as deep. Now, it's harder to tell who's right and wrong. Actions you take to protect people from threats could compromise liberties and privacy. That's tough for Steve to swallow."[58]

In his next appearance, in Age of Ultron, Rogers is the leader of the Avengers.[59][60] Evans stated that since the fall of S.H.I.E.L.D. in Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Rogers has been left to depend on his Avenger teammates without the structure of military life and is now "looking to understand where he belongs, not just as a soldier, as Captain America, but as Steve Rogers, as a person."[61] In Civil War, Rogers becomes the leader of a faction of Avengers against regulation.[62][63] Director Anthony Russo described Captain America's character arc in the film as taking him "from the most ra-ra company man" and "a somewhat willing propagandist" to "an insurgent" at the end of the film.[64] Unlike the comics' Civil War, the film was never going to kill Rogers, as the directors thought that was "an easy ending ... The more difficult and more interesting place to leave a family fight is: can these important relationships ever be repaired? Is this family broken permanently?"[65]

Director Joe Russo said that after the events of Captain America: Civil War (2016), Rogers struggles with the conflict between his responsibility to himself and his responsibility to others.[66] In Infinity War, the character embodies the "spirit" of his comic alternate identity Nomad in the film.[67] An early draft of the film experimented with Rogers first appearing in the film saving Vision from Corvus Glaive's attack in Wakanda during the third act. Markus and McFeely said they were called "insane" for waiting that long to introduce Rogers into the film and ultimately conceded it was "not [a] satisfying" approach.[68]

In Avengers: Endgame, Christopher Markus described Rogers as someone who is "moving toward some sort of enlightened self-interest." Both he and McFeely knew he was going to get "the dance" he promised Peggy Carter in Captain America: The First Avenger (2011), with McFeely saying, "He's postponed a life in order to fulfill his duty. That's why I didn't think we were ever going to kill him. Because that's not the arc. The arc is, I finally get to put my shield down because I've earned that."[69]