What Happened To Everyone Who Became Captain America?

You've probably gathered by now that the seventies was a fairly pivotal decade for Steve Rogers. In many ways it was just as formative in the character's development as the forties, with the creative team of Steve Englehart and Sal Buscema providing the blueprint for modern Cap that all subsequent creators would work from, especially when it came to the trope of Rogers questioning his role and title as Captain America.

Englehart and Buscema's run was notable for multiple reasons, but arguably the most important is Secret Empire, a Watergate-era comic that saw Cap unearth a conspiracy that went all the way to the White House. Rogers abandons the mantle shortly afterwards, becoming Nomad (a name meant to signify his disillusionment with the US), and adopting a snazzy new look in the process.

Others attempted to fill the void Rogers left behind, but the two immediate replacements - Bob Russo and "Scar" Turpin - both failed, which is where Roscoe Simons came in.

Simons idolised Captain America and put the work in to become Rogers' official replacement. Falcon was skeptical, but Steve gave Roscoe his blessing in the form of the actual Cap shield.

Simons had fulfilled his dream, but that dream was cut tragically short when the Red Skull tortured and murdered him for being a "fake" Captain America. This would ultimately be what forced Rogers to reassume his title as Cap, although it wouldn't be the last time he walked away from the stars and stripes.