![]() Outside the Black community, he remains largely unknown. He receives visits from Malcolm X, Richard Pryor, Muhammad Ali, Angela Davis, Alex Haley, Nelson Mandela, and Colin Powell. A number of the most noted Africans and African-Americans of the twentieth century's last four decades visit Bradley as a sign of respect and, in many cases, hero worship. Ĭonsidered to be the "Black Captain America", Isaiah Bradley is depicted as an underground legend among much of the African-American community in the Marvel Universe. In 1960, Bradley is pardoned by President Eisenhower and released. Bradley is later rescued by German insurgents, only to be court-martialed and imprisoned at Leavenworth around 1943. Nazi interest in the American supersoldier is high he is even brought before the Führer himself who decides to dissect him in order to reverse engineer his powers and send the spare parts back to America as a message. There, he is able to assassinate Koch, but the mission ends when the Germans capture Bradley. He steals a spare costume and a shield intended for Captain America before he engages in a suicide mission to destroy the Super Soldier efforts of the Nazis at the Schwarzebitte concentration camp. ĭue to field missions in Europe and internal strife, Bradley emerges the sole survivor of his test group. The government tells the families of the three hundred subjects that their loved ones had died in battle. In the name of secrecy, US soldiers execute the camp's commander and hundreds of black soldiers left behind at Camp Cathcart. Only five subjects survive the original trials. Three hundred of these soldiers are taken from Camp Cathcart and subjected to potentially fatal experiments at an undisclosed location, as seen in Truth: Red, White & Black. Reinstein's early attempts to refine the formula are tested on African-Americans. Each attempts to recreate the super soldier serum which had previously turned Steve Rogers into Captain America a year prior to Pearl Harbor. When World War II begins, Koch takes over the German program and Reinstein takes over the American program. Project: Rebirth begins as a collaboration between US, British and German scientists led by Dr. The clandestine experimentation that empowers Isaiah is reminiscent of the Tuskegee Syphilis Study. Abraham Erskine), uses African American test subjects to re-create the Super Soldier Serum that had previously been used to turn Steve Rogers from a skinny, but patriotic, army reject into Captain America. Wilfred Nagel, employing an alias previously used by Dr. Īs depicted in the 2003 limited series Truth: Red, White & Black, the World War II Super Soldier program of 1942, operated by Reinstein (Dr. Morales performed extensive research into the time period, which he balanced with editorial suggestions. Morales was able to push through an ending in which Bradley suffered brain damage, a reference to Muhammad Ali that gave the character a tragic ending. Morales originally envisioned the character as a scientist who experimented on himself, a reference to Silver Age scientist Bruce Banner however, Marvel wanted a more explicit reference to the Tuskegee Syphilis Study. The idea of an African American Captain America made Morales laugh, but, once he heard the premise, he found it depressing. He proceeded to pitch the idea to Robert Morales, who was brought in to write the story, created the supporting cast and the ending. a metaphor of America itself" he also immediately thought of the Tuskegee Study. Editor Axel Alonso was taken by the idea "inherent of politics of wrapping a Black man in red, white, and blue" and "a larger story. ![]() The original concept for the character came from an offhand comment by Marvel Comics' publisher Bill Jemas.
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