10 Things Everyone Forgets About Captain America

Given that Captain America was created a year into WWII, you'd assume that the initial reaction to the Nazi-punching hero was entirely favourable - an assumption that, surprisingly, is wrong.

Because when the first issue of Captain America came out, the comic's creators - Joe Simon and Jack Kirby - actually received hate letters and threats, which came from a mixture of isolationists and Nazi sympathisers. With America at the time aiming to keep out of the war, many were opposed to a hero that clearly advocated for the country to join the conflict, and were furious at Simon and Kirby for having created him.

These threats would become so severe that the Timely Comics office would end up requiring a police guard stationed there, in order to dissuade the more radically opposed from actually harming either of the comic's creators. While many would have been dissuaded, Simon and Kirby remained resilient, which can be attributed to the fact that both were badasses, and also Jewish - so the horrors that emerged from the war struck an especially personal chord for them.

This said, many of the stories surrounding this time also make it clear that these threats were perhaps less fear-inspiring than they sound, as Kirby's biography recounts the artist receiving a threatening phone call from someone who was outside, only for him to immediately go outside to confront them. While nobody was there, the message was clear; Jack Kirby was as ready to fight the Nazis as his comic creation.