Yesterday marked Independence Day, but for Marvel fans it also spelled a very important day for one of the leading members of the Avengers. Namely, it was the 100th birthday of Captain America – in particular, the Marvel Cinematic Universe version. The comic book character celebrated his centenary last year, but the movie iteration is known to be born on July 4th, 1918 instead.
Naturally, Cap lovers poured out their birthday messages to the Sentinel of Liberty on social media. But one’s more notable than the rest as it comes from Captain America himself, Chris Evans. In a Tweet that also wished the US a happy July 4th, Evans took the time to make a sly reference to the birthday of his superhero counterpart. “Also, happy birthday to a very good friend of mine,” he wrote. “I hear 100 is the new 20.”
As detailed in 2011’s Captain America: The First Avenger, Steve Rogers grew up in Brooklyn, New York as a scrawny kid with various health problems which made him an easy target for bullies. He had a courageous spirit and sense of duty that belied his small frame, however, which led him to be chosen by Dr. Abraham Erskine as the perfect candidate for Project: Rebirth in 1942.
Given a super-soldier serum and blasted with Vita Rays, Rogers was reborn as the super-strong Captain America. After defeating Red Skull’s plot to use the Tesseract to take over the world, Steve was unable to land a plane full of HYDRA weapons safely and his only option was to plow it into the Arctic ocean. Believed dead for 70 years, he was eventually found in the ice and awakened. So, though he is technically 100 years old, he still looks like he’s in his 30s.
The next time we’ll see Chris Evans as Captain America on the big screen will be next May’s Avengers 4, in which he’ll join up with the rest of the remaining heroes to reverse what Thanos has done to the universe. Concept art promises that he’ll be clean-shaven and back his classic suit for the movie, too, and we can’t wait to see what he gets up to as it might just be his final appearance in the MCU.
Published: Jul 5, 2018 12:44 pm