Captain America #25
Captain America (2012) #25 is the issue in which Steve Rogers — aged to a nonagenarian after the villain Iron Nail drained the Super-Soldier Serum from his body — formally passes his shield to Sam Wilson, the Falcon, making Wilson the first African-American hero to hold the Captain America mantle in the main Marvel continuity. The handover, staged before the assembled Avengers, was a deliberate editorial statement from Marvel during its 'All-New Marvel NOW!' initiative, arriving the same week the publisher announced a female Thor, part of a broader effort to diversify its lead characters. The issue drew mainstream cultural attention well beyond the comics audience, and the creative choice reverberated forward through multiple ongoing series, a crossover event (Secret Empire), and eventually the MCU's own Sam Wilson Captain America arc in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier and Captain America: Brave New World.
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Rick Remender had been building toward this moment since taking over the Captain America title in 2012 as part of Marvel NOW!, spending more than two years crafting the circumstances — Steve Rogers' ordeal in Arnim Zola's Dimension Z and his subsequent battle with Iron Nail — that would organically strip Rogers of his powers and age him rapidly. Marvel CCO Joe Quesada broke the real-world announcement on Comedy Central's The Colbert Report in July 2014, months before the issue shipped, giving the handover unusual mainstream visibility. The extra-sized issue (#25) served as the finale to Remender's entire run on the series (collected as 'The Tomorrow Soldier') and featured interior art by Carlos Pacheco alongside pages by Stuart Immonen, with a cover by Immonen; colorist Dean White and inker Mariano Taibo rounded out the production team.
Trivia · 9 facts
- First appearance of Sam Wilson as Captain America: Steve Rogers formally surrenders the shield and title to Wilson before the full Avengers roster in this issue.
- Written by Rick Remender; pencilled by Carlos Pacheco with additional art by Stuart Immonen; cover by Stuart Immonen; colored by Dean White; inked by Mariano Taibo.
- Published October/November 2014 (FOC date September 17, 2014) by Marvel Comics as part of the All-New Marvel NOW! initiative; an extra-sized issue at 36 pages.
- The in-story catalyst: the villain Iron Nail neutralized Rogers' Super-Soldier Serum in earlier issues (#22 onward), causing him to age rapidly to his true chronological age of over 90 years.
- Sam Wilson becomes the seventh character in Marvel continuity to use the Captain America name, and the second of Rogers' former partners (after Bucky/Winter Soldier) to do so in the modern era.
- The issue concludes Remender's full run on Captain America Vol. 7 (2012–2014) and serves as the direct on-ramp to All-New Captain America (2014) #1, also by Remender, with art by Immonen.
- Marvel's CCO Joe Quesada announced the mantle change on Comedy Central's The Colbert Report in July 2014 — months before the issue shipped — giving it an unusually high mainstream media profile.
- Issue #25 was collected in the Captain America: The Tomorrow Soldier hardcover and trade paperback, and is also included in various Sam Wilson Captain America collections.
- Multiple retailer-incentive variant covers exist: a 1:15 Hasbro variant, a 1:15 'Stomp Out Bullying' variant by Kalman Andrasofszky, a 1:25 variant by John Tyler Christopher, and a 1:50 variant by Steve McNiven.
Reprints
Reprinted in Captain America #5 (2015), Captain America: Sam Wilson - The Complete Collection #1 (2020)
Key issues in Captain America
Other variants of Captain America #25 (6)
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