What makes a superhero truly super? For some, it’s a suit of armor, a powerful weapon, magic, special powers, or abilities. But the best heroes have something even more intuitive. True heroes have an innate sense of right and wrong, and a desire to help others no matter the cost. It’s a spark that drives the core of their very being, long before they announce themselves as a hero. And no superhero represents that spark more than Captain America himself, Steve Rogers.
In The Avengers, Tony Stark tells Steve, “everything special about [him] came out of a bottle,” calling out the super soldier serum that transformed him into Captain America. But Tony has never been more wrong. Everything that makes Steve special is part of him well before he grows a foot taller and doubles his weight in pure muscle. The time we spend with “Skinny Steve” in the first act of Captain America: The First Avenger shows us the true essence of Steve Rogers’s heroism: his moral compass, his determination, his selflessness, his ingenuity, and his loyalty.
Steve Rogers’s moral compass is perhaps his greatest superpower. From the very beginning, he has an innate sense of right and wrong, and he isn’t afraid to forge his own path as long as it’s in pursuit of justice. The very first time we meet Steve in The First Avenger he’s trying to pass his Army enlistment physical for the third time. He’s lied on his forms by changing his name and address each time because he believes so thoroughly in fighting Hitler and the Nazis.
Steve’s sense of right and wrong partially comes from growing up on the sidelines, without power. Skinny Steve is small, unassuming, and appears weak to others. He has just about every allergy and chronic aliment under the sun. Meanwhile, he’s watched friends like Bucky Barnes, who have more traditional masculine appearances and traits, find success and go off to war. But that life experience provides Steve opportunities to recognize what it looks like when someone abuses their power. It’s why he wants to join the fight against the Nazis, because he doesn’t like bullies.
Even after his physical transformation into Captain America, Skinny Steve is alive and well. The serum amplifies what is already inside him, allowing good to become great. Steve never abuses his own power, remembering his upbringing and clinging to those memories of being “just a kid from Brooklyn.”
Steve’s internal sense of right and wrong often puts him at odds with adversaries and allies. In Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Steve recognizes that Project Insight won’t end up protecting freedom, but rather controlling the world through fear. He’s questioning Nick Fury and SHIELD leadership even before he learns Hydra has secretly infiltrated the organization. To him, they’re just another force abusing their power. Steve goes rogue by following his moral compass, uncovering the truth and determining that both SHIELD and Hydra must be destroyed.
Later, when the government presents the Sokovia Accords to the Avengers in Captain America: Civil War, Steve understands giving the Avengers an oversight committee could lead to dangerous possibilities. Instead, “the safest hands are still [their] own.” He has more faith in himself and his team than in politicians and their ever-changing agendas.
But this time, Tony and some of Steve’s closest friends are on the other side, which leads him to consider compromising for the sake of the team. But the words of Peggy Carter reinforce his resolve and remind him to trust his instincts:
“Compromise where you can. Where you can’t, don’t. Even if everyone is telling you that something wrong is something right. Even if the whole world is telling you to move, it is your duty to plant yourself like a tree, look them in the eye, and say ‘No, you move’.”
So Steve plants himself, trusts his instincts, and ends up fighting against his friends and his family, ultimately leading to the breakup of the Avengers. For Steve, staying true to his beliefs of right and wrong that had been core to Skinny Steve were more important than remaining an Avenger.
Skinny Steve also demonstrates a determination to never back down from a fight. In The First Avenger, Steve speaks up to a bully who is being rude and disrespectful in a movie theater during newsreel about soldiers in the war. The bully takes issue with Steve’s actions and takes him out back to beat him up. Even though the bully is bigger and stronger than he is, Steve doesn’t run away or back down. He grabs a trashcan lid (curiously shield-shaped) and prepares to fight. It’s in this moment Steve voices his spirit of determination: “I can do this all day.”
That phrase becomes one of Steve’s most iconic calling cards, and each time he says it, that small pre-super soldier kid comes back to the surface, unwilling to back down because he’s standing up for what’s right. He’ll repeat that line when facing off against Red Skull in The First Avenger, Tony in Civil War, and himself (it’s complicated) in Avengers: Endgame.
Even when he doesn’t specifically say that phrase, his determination is evident in every fight he enters, no matter the stakes. He faces Thanos on his own twice – the first time attempting to stop the mad god with his bare hands in Avengers: Infinity War, and then in the climactic battle of Endgame, just before the portals open and the cavalry arrives, Steve stands alone, broken shield in hand, against Thanos and his entire army, determined to fight until the very end.
That moment in Endgame is also emblematic of another one of Steve’s signature traits – his selflessness. From the beginning, Steve instinctively puts the needs of others before his own. During Skinny Steve’s training at Camp Lehigh before taking the super soldier serum, Colonel Phillips throws an inactive grenade toward a group of recruits. Everyone instinctively runs for cover – except Steve. He runs toward the grenade, covering it with his tiny body and yelling for everyone else to get as far away as possible. Steve doesn’t know this grenade isn’t active, but his first instinct is to protect those around him, at the risk of his own life.
In the climax of The First Avenger, Steve makes his ultimate sacrifice, crashing a plane filled with nuclear weapons into the ice before it reaches any people. Making this selfless choice saves the world, but Steve loses everything – his friends, his life, and his budding romance with Peggy Carter. But the fate of the world matters more. He doesn’t know he’ll be found and dethawed in 70 years. To him, this is the end.
Steve’s selflessness is such an integral part of being a superhero that he calls out other heroes who wouldn’t necessarily do the same. It’s his deepest cut to Tony during their argument in The Avengers, calling out his selfishness because he “wouldn’t lay down on a wire and make the sacrifice play.”
For all the physical strengths that the super soldier serum gives Steve, one strength he retains from his Skinny Steve days is his ingenuity. He has a sharp and observant mind that sees options and outcomes others wouldn’t.
During his training at Camp Lehigh, Steve and the other recruits work on their endurance by going on long runs weighed down by their packs and equipment. Being so much smaller and less fit than the others, Steve struggles and falls behind. When Colonel Phillips gives the recruits the opportunity to ride back to base in a truck if they retrieve a flag from the top of a flagpole, everyone tries to climb up the pole using their strength. Steve, meanwhile, realizes the flagpole is only held up with a single rod. When the other recruits give up trying to climb the pole, Steve removes the rod and the flagpole crashes to the ground. He picks up the flag and hops in the truck, a reward for his ingenuity and ability to see his strengths.
Steve’s ingenuity naturally puts him in a leadership position of the Avengers. During the Battle of New York, the other Avengers – even Tony – look to Steve to create a gameplan to defeat the invading Chitauri.
Finally, Steve Rogers is incredibly loyal. He will fight for and protect those he trusts to the bitter end. No one has received more loyalty from Steve than Bucky Barnes. After returning as the Winter Soldier, Steve works tirelessly across two movies to rescue Bucky and restore his memories. Steve’s loyalty to Bucky puts him at odds with SHIELD, Nick Fury, Tony, half of the Avengers, and the US government. But Steve will stick with Bucky “till the end of the line,” because Bucky knew him before he became Captain America.
Likewise, Steve remains loyal to Peggy Carter out of both love and respect. Peggy also met Skinny Steve first and their connection began long before she became distracted by Steve’s new super serum-enhanced muscles. Their relationship is built on trust and respect and even after 70 years apart, Steve finds Peggy and visits her frequently in her old age. During Civil War, when Steve receives word of Peggy’s death, he immediately drops everything to attend her funeral.
Even Tony earned Steve’s loyalty over the years. After a personal and brutal fight in the climax of Civil War, Steve still reaches out to Tony and offers a way to contact him should a need arise.
Steve Rogers is one of our greatest superheroes. He’s determined. He’s loyal. He’s selfless. He’s ingenious. He has a clear sense of right and wrong. And all those traits existed in Skinny Steve, long before he entered a Vita-Ray chamber and was injected with super soldier serum. While other heroes have more visually exciting powers, like suits of armor, hammers, bows and arrows, magic, adamantium claws or web-slinging abilities, Steve’s powers make him a symbol of justice and a true leader. His attributes make him a fascinating character and one of my personal favorite heroes in the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Cheers to Skinny Steve!
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