Union Jack

Joseph Chapman, a young working-class Englishman, took on the patriotic mantle of Union Jack — previously held by the aristocratic Falsworth family — bringing a man-of-the-people spirit to Britain's foremost costumed hero. Relying on peak athletic conditioning, hand-to-hand combat skill, and conventional weapons rather than any superhuman ability, he proved that heroism need not be a privilege of birth or rank.

Few characters embody the spirit of patriotic heroism across the Atlantic quite like Union Jack, the British icon who burst onto the scene in Captain America #254 in 1981, courtesy of the dynamic Bronze Age team of John Byrne and Roger Stern. Over more than four decades — a remarkable 44-year publishing span — this Marvel stalwart has proven enduring company for the very best the House of Ideas has to offer, sharing pages with Captain America, Wolverine, Spider-Man, and the Human Torch. His strongest roots run through Captain Britain and MI13, a series that placed him at the heart of British Marvel mythology, but he's equally at home in the pages of Captain America and beyond, racking up three key collector issues along the way. If you love characters who carry the weight of national legacy while rubbing shoulders with Marvel's finest, Union Jack is absolutely worth tracking down.