UPDATE: April 11, 2016: Like you, we're digging into everything we can get our hands on when it comes to the upcoming Captain America: Civil War. While we do that, we also wanted to take a trip down memory lane with an updated look at Captain America's history on television.
Despite rarely starring in his own series, Marvel's long-running, patriotic hero has managed to be a frequent presence on TV through the decades, via animation and even some not-so-Marvelous live-action appearances…
(Keep in mind this list is focused on television appearances, not feature films or direct-to-video projects.)
Cap's first foray into TV was, like several other notable Marvel characters, on this 1960s animated series - loosely animated that is. The Marvel Super Heroes is famous and infamous for taking actual comic book frames and very crudely animating them. Still, this was the only way the time to see some of Captain America's comic book adventures sorta/kinda/well-not-really come to life and it has its nostalgic charms – especially the theme song, which lets you know what happens "When Captain America throws his mighty shield."
Amazingly, 50 years later, this remains the only ongoing Captain America solo series to date.
The late 1970s saw a wave of live-action Marvel Comics TV adaptations, though only one – The Incredible Hulk – found success. But along with ill-fated adaptions of Spider-Man and Doctor Strange came two Captain America TV-Movies that took some rather extreme liberties with the character.
This Steve Rogers (played by Reb Brown) was not from World War II, but rather a modern day ex-Marine who drives around California in his van and explains, "I've been coming down the coast slow and easy. You know, kicking back." But it turns out his father invented "The ultimate steroid" and Steve is transformed into Captain America – wearing a goofy costume, that included a motorcycle helmet.
Even when Steve got a second costume that was far more in line with the comics, he still never dropped that motorcycle helmet – and don't get us started on the semi-transparent shield. Suffice to say, this Captain America never really felt like Captain America, and has some very cheesy, very late-1970s TV vibes running through it… though hey, at least Cap got to fight Christopher Lee in the sequel!
Cap made a few appearances in the two Spider-Man animated series that debuted nearly simultaneously in 1981. After having to suffer through the indignity of an episode of the solo Spider-Man series called "The Capture of Captain America," he would then return in the Amazing Friends episodes "7 Little Superheroes" (alongside a number of other guest stars, including Doctor Strange, Shana and Sub-Mariner) and "Pawns of the Kingpin."
Oddly, Cap doesn't appear in the episode of Amazing Friends featuring his arch-enemy the Red Skull as the primary villain - though the two did square off in the earlier Spider-Man solo series episode.
While another version of Cap appeared in the alternate reality episode "One Man's Worth," the real Captain America was seen in 1990s X-Men animated series episode "Old Soldiers." Taking a page from the comic books, we learned that Wolverine and Cap had fought alongside each other during World War II, and Cap was seen in this episode only in the midst of flashback sequences.
One thing though: Why does Captain America wear Superman-style red tights over his pants here?
While Captain America made several guest appearances on the popular 1990s Spider-Man animated series, his backstory – and more importantly his current status – was changed from the comic books. Here, Cap and The Red Skull both became trapped in a dimensional machine at the end of World War II, only to be freed in the midst of a Spider-Man storyline, thus making it clear Captain America has not been a modern day hero. Worse, Cap (and the Skull) keep being put back in that machine, at the end of the two major storylines he participates in on the show, including a version of Secret Wars.
Fun fact: The Spider-Man incarnation of Captain America was voiced by David Hayter, who's best known in the voice acting world for his role as Solid Snake, while he also went on to have a hand in writing X-Men and X2, among other films.
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