What Happened To Everyone Who Became Captain America?

Steve Rogers' demise in 1945 hasn't always been a part of the Marvel mythos. In fact, to begin with, Steve and Bucky never perished in that fateful rocket explosion in 1945, and continued to appear in strips of... varying quality, up until Stan Lee and Jack Kirby reintroduced the character in 1964's The Avengers #4, which included the aforementioned retcon.

To account for the fact there was an active Captain America and Bucky from 1945 onwards though, Marvel would introduce a number of different retcons, revealing that various other men stepped in to assume the Captain America identity during this period. William Naslund was the first.

Naslund was another patriotic superhero who went by the name of Spirit of '76, modelling his look on a late 18th century American revolutionary. He was part of a team called the Crusaders, another WW2-era supergroup that was active alongside Captain America's own Invaders.

After Steve and Bucky's presumed deaths, the US government turned to Naslund as their first choice to inherit the mantle of Captain America. (Because there's no sense in letting a good costume go to waste, right?)

Naslund, having obviously taken inspiration from Rogers in adopting his former mantle, willingly accepted the responsibility. However, his tenure as Cap was brief, meeting his end tragically only a year after he took up the shield in 1946 when he was killed by an Android attempting to assassinate a young John F. Kennedy.