10 Mind-Blowing Facts You Didn't Know About Captain America

To help boost sales of Captain America Comics, Timely Publications sold the film rights for the character to Republic Pictures. And in 1944, the studio released the serial, simply known as Captain America.

Apart from the costume, Republic's interpretation of Cap had next to nothing in common with the original character. In this version, Steve Rogers wasn't a wimp who was transformed into Super-Soldier. Instead, he was a district attorney called Grant Gardner who became a costumed vigilante to take down a nefarious museum curator called The Scarab. (Okay, even for a comic adaptation, that sounds ridiculous.)

Also, there was no Bucky, Nazis, or Red Skull. Worse still, Cap didn't have a shield! Instead of chucking his circular weapon at supervillains, Gardner shot them with a standard pistol. Considering the fact that Gardner takes the law into his own hands and blasts people dead, he sounds more like a supervillain than the American icon we all know.

Despite the absurd liberties that Republic Pictures took, the finished product was well-received by critics. It was referred to as "the apex of the traditional action film fight" and was considered superior to other superhero serials at the time, including Batman.