Steve Rogers is getting old
It suddenly occurred to me that if Steve Rogers was in the US Army in WWII, he'd be getting pretty old by now.
With most Marvel characters, that sort of thing is swept under the rug. We just sort of ignore the fact that Iron Man and the Punisher have origin stories tied to Vietnam, and that Nick Fury is also a WWII vet. ("Back in the war..." "Which war was this, Nick?" "Oh, after a while, they all just start to blur together...") But Cap has a special exemption. In part because he's Captain America and WWII is just too important to who and what he is. But also because his modern origin says that he was frozen in a state of suspended animation for decades. So as the years roll along and he doesn't age, we just extend the period in which he was frozen.
I was trying to figure out exactly how old he was. So I went to his Wikipedia page to see when he first appeared. I figured he'd probably have been about 18-20 at the time of Issue 1, and I could work from there. But the page lists his actual birthday, as specified in canon back in the 90s. Naturally, it's July 4. But the year is also specified. 1922. Which would have made him a little shy of 19 in March of 1941 (the date on the cover of Issue 1).
Which means Steve turned 90 last month. I wonder if anyone at Marvel noticed.
I wonder if, in 10 years, the Avengers will throw him a 100th birthday party. Could make for some fun stories.
With most Marvel characters, that sort of thing is swept under the rug. We just sort of ignore the fact that Iron Man and the Punisher have origin stories tied to Vietnam, and that Nick Fury is also a WWII vet. ("Back in the war..." "Which war was this, Nick?" "Oh, after a while, they all just start to blur together...") But Cap has a special exemption. In part because he's Captain America and WWII is just too important to who and what he is. But also because his modern origin says that he was frozen in a state of suspended animation for decades. So as the years roll along and he doesn't age, we just extend the period in which he was frozen.
I was trying to figure out exactly how old he was. So I went to his Wikipedia page to see when he first appeared. I figured he'd probably have been about 18-20 at the time of Issue 1, and I could work from there. But the page lists his actual birthday, as specified in canon back in the 90s. Naturally, it's July 4. But the year is also specified. 1922. Which would have made him a little shy of 19 in March of 1941 (the date on the cover of Issue 1).
Which means Steve turned 90 last month. I wonder if anyone at Marvel noticed.
I wonder if, in 10 years, the Avengers will throw him a 100th birthday party. Could make for some fun stories.