10 Characters Who Replaced Captain America

10. Roscoe Simons

In 1974, Steve Rogers became completely disillusioned with his role as Captain America when he discovered that a high-ranking member of the U.S. government (implied to actually be President Richard Nixon) was the leader of the Secret Empire terrorist group. He hung up his shield and took the identity Nomad.

After Steve abandoned the Captain America identity, three ordinary men each tried to take up the mantle. The first two (Bob Russo and "Scar" Turpin) failed dismally, but the third was more successful.

Roscoe Simons was a mechanic and a lifelong fan of Cap. After proving he knew how to fight, Steve allowed Roscoe to become the new Captain America and handed over his shield. Falcon also began training him to fight crime, in a reversal of the earlier Cap/Falcon dynamic.

Unfortunately, Roscoe's career was cut short pretty quickly. When the Red Skull found out that someone else had dared to pretend to be his nemesis, he beat Roscoe to death and strung him up as a warning to any other "fake" Captain Americas.

On the plus side, this pushed Steve to stop messing around as Nomad and go back to being the real Captain America.