Steve Rogers

Steve Rogers begins as a frail young man in 1940s America, rejected from military service because his body is too weak to fight. Chosen for a secret program to create the perfect soldier, he is given a formula developed by Dr. Abraham Erskine that transforms his frail frame into one of peak human strength and efficiency. The triumph is immediately marred when a Nazi spy kills Erskine, and the doctor's secret formula dies with him, leaving Rogers the sole product of the experiment.

Reborn as Captain America, he turns his attention to the saboteurs threatening the war effort while keeping his identity hidden behind the guise of a bumbling army private under the command of Sergeant Duffy. When the unit's young mascot Bucky Barnes stumbles upon him changing into the costume, the boy convinces Steve to let him fight at his side as his sidekick. Tracing the sabotage to its source, Captain America learns that the Red Skull is the man behind the attacks.

Captain America is captured by the Red Skull and subjected to a brainwashing process designed to erase his existing identity and replace it with Nazi ideology. The process involves a drug administered by the Nazi scientist Schultz, followed by psychological conditioning in which the Red Skull attempts to convince Rogers that the Nazi cause is righteous. Rogers is subsequently ordered to assassinate the highest-ranking Allied military commander.

While under the Red Skull's control, Captain America behaves as an apparent Nazi operative and leads German troops toward the Allied commander's headquarters. However, when confronted with the actual act of murder, his conditioning begins to fail. He hesitates rather than killing the commander outright, allowing Bucky to intervene and help break the Nazi operation. Rogers has recovers his true identity and turns against the Red Skull's plan.