2011 First Avenger Radio Controlled Motor Bike

Item: First Avenger Radio Controlled Motor Bike
Year: 2011
Company: SilverLit

Comments: Is this the first radio controlled Cap vehicle or have there been others? Perhaps there is but this is the first I've run into and it is pretty nice. This was out early a few months before the FIRST AVENGER movie was released. Even before the figures but not by much. Very cool!

Captain America's The Avengers: United They Stand Appearance

In the fall of 1999, the Fox Network introduced a new Avengers cartoon for Saturday morning. THE AVENGERS: UNITED THEY STAND debuted at the end of October with a...LIMITED...line up. No Iron Man (except for one appearance)! No Thor! No Captain America....except for a guest appearance in the show's 6th episode "Command Decision" which aired on December 11th, 1999.

The regular Avengers United line-up consisted of Hawkeye, Tigra, Vision, Falcon, Wasp, and the leader Ant-Man/Hank Pym. Wonder Man made a few appearances as well. The plot behind "Command Decision" consists of Captain America returning to the Avengers and the team naturally looks to Cap as the leader which doesn't sit right with the real leader  Hank Pym.

The Avengers cartoon had a lot of villains, including heavy Ultron for a number of episodes, but "Command Decision" featured the appearance of Baron Zemo.

Voice actor Dan Chameroy played Captain America.

Voice actor Phillip Shepherd was the voice of Baron Zemo.

While it is unfortunate that Captain America was not a regular character, fortunately the Falcon was. Voice actor Martin Roach played the character for all 13 episodes.

The cartoon series did spawn a comic book based on the show which ran for 7 issues from November 1999 to June 2000.

As of this writing, the series is not available on DVD for Region 1. However, I did find these other DVD covers below for 2007's Region 2 UK release of the entire series. The first four episodes were, however, released on an Avengers collection. Marvel's other shows are making it to DVD so one can hope the entire series will be released in the near future.

Despite the short run by the comic book series (7 issues) and the short animation run of only 13 episodes with the last running in February 2000, a toy line was designed for the series, which isn't so surprising if you think of these cartoons as 30 minute toy promotions. TOY BIZ released the line for all the main characters including Falcon in his newly designed outfit (which did make an appearance in the regular Captain America Marvel comic book as well). And despite his one appearance, a Captain America figure was released. If the figure is loose from its original packaging, you can tell that it is an Avengers United figure by the Avengers "A" used on the figure's belt buckle. An air glider and Sky Cycle toys were also released with the figures. I'll have a later post on the toy line with photos.

Captain America in Germany

CAPTAIN AMERICA #1??
Not really!

This is a bootleg made in the 2000s using the 1970s German Marvel Comics cover dress and the black and white reprints of the classic 1960s Batroc story that was reprinted as a back up feature in Germany from their MASTER OF KUNG FU book from the 1970s. The creator of this book never liked the flow of the panels since many times reprints altered things so the person used their creative skills to redesign the sequential panels and make this mock up. Limited quantities were made and this was never officially released.

Captain America DID have a German run of comics but not in the 1970s. During that decade, you might find him popping up in an Avengers comic, a collection, or as a back up in that Master of Kung Fu book. Here is what some other 1970s German Marvel books looked like (no glossy cover for some of these)....

From 1974, DIE RUHMREICHEN RÄCHER #15 which reprints the USA's AVENGERS #16.

From 1976, DIE RUHMREICHEN RÄCHER #56....

From the 1970s, MARVEL-SUPERBAND SUPERHELDEN....

Captain America in Mexico

For the Spanish speaking market. After La Prensa published a Captain America book in the late 1960s and early 1970s, a new volume appears by the mid 1970s by Macc Division Historietas. I don't see these issues that often. I would think the La Prensa run would be more rare but, from my perspective, it seems to be the opposite. I don't have much information on this run and don't know how long the run went past issue #17.

Captain America in Mexico

Before Mexico's La Prensa gave Cap his own book in the late 1960s, you could find "Capitan America" in the Avengers book dubbed LOS VENGADORES. This book had a long run, well over one hundred issues, but went beyond the regular American Avengers run by including Cap's TALES OF SUSPENSE stories.

Issue #1 of LOS VENGADORES (not pictured here) featured AVENGERS #4. LOS VENGADORES #23 (above) from 1966 features a Spanish reprint of the USA's AVENGERS #16 with Cap's Kooky Quartet.



Above: LOS VENGADORES #32 from 1966.

Above: LOS VENDADORES #63 from 1967.

Above: LOS VENGADORES #109 from 1968. The La Prensa run reached issue #100 way before the USA version so I can only assume this book might have been a weekly book.

Captain America in Mexico

More unusual goodies from Mexico. Here is AVENTURAS #29 from the 1950s which is a Spanish language reprint of Atlas Comics' YOUNG MEN #25. In this one, they go with the "Capitán Americano" name. Note how the bottom of that coveralmost completely cuts out Cap and Namor. The trimming of the interior isn't as bad but part of the cut might be from a re-trimming as I got this from a bound collection of Spanish language books.

"Captain America" in Mexico

A funky little find and perhaps a lesson on copyrighted characters in other countries: FANTÁSTICO #18 from 1956 by Editora Sol. This is a reprint of FIGHTING AMERICAN, the Simon & Kirby Captain America & Bucky spoof, but in Mexico they just used the real name. I guess they weren't fooling anyone, even back then. Still, maybe they knew they could use the Cap name south of the border and get away with it.

Above: Splash page from FANTÁSTICO #18 from 1956. In Mexico, Captain America is spelled Capitán América.

Above: Splash page from FANTÁSTICO #18 from 1956. Despite the "S" on Speedboy's chest (as seen on the cover), the cover refers to him as Bucky. The stories, however, still refer to him as Speedboy.