Comic Book Hero Captain America Dies
NEW YORK — Captain America has undertaken his last mission — at least for now. The venerable superhero is killed in the issue of his namesake comic that hit stands Wednesday, the Daily News reported.

On the new edition's pages, a sniper shoots down the shield-wielding hero as he leaves a courthouse, according to the newspaper.

It ends a long run for the stars-and-stripes-wearing character, created in 1941 to incarnate patriotic feeling during World War II. Over the years, an estimated 210 million copies of "Captain America" comic books, published by New York-based Marvel Entertainment Inc., have been sold in a total of 75 countries.

But resurrections are not unknown in the world of comics, and Marvel Entertainment editor in chief Joe Quesada said a Captain America comeback wasn't impossible.

Still, the character's death came as a blow to co-creator Joe Simon.

"We really need him now," said Simon, 93, who worked with artist Jack Kirby to devise Captain America as a foe for Adolf Hitler.

According to the comic, the superhero was spawned when a scrawny arts student named Steve Rogers, ineligible for the army because of his poor health but eager to serve his country, agreed to a "Super Soldier Serum" injection. The substance made him a paragon of physical perfection, armed only with his shield, his strength, his smarts and a command of martial arts.

In the comic-book universe, death is not always final. But even if Captain America turns out to have met his end in print, he may not disappear entirely: Marvel has said it is developing a Captain America movie.

Was he on your dead pool list?

When is death ever final for a major character in the comics?

Just another marketing ploy...

So this will be like the 5th time he's been killed? Along with Professor X, Wolverine, Magneto, Jean Grey, Apocalypse, insert any other major character name here.....

That's the one thing that pisses me off about comics. When they kill someone off, they should kill them off. Very few characters are ever killed off completely. They usually kill them off and then about 6 months later start them "fresh". They've done that with the entire X-Men comic about what 6 times now? Superman was killed off by Doomsday only to be brought back about a year later.....

Sounds like they're building some hype for the movie. Speaking of movies, where's the Iron Man movie?!?

Ironman's Tony Stark character was too "pro-American" so his origins were re-created and changed so the hate America crowd wouldn't be offended. They changed his origins to be caused by "evil American capitalists".

Hasn't the comic book industry turned into bullshit politically correct garbage.

I think they've even changed the races of some comic book characters in recent years.

Batwoman came back as a lesbian. Are comic books supposed to be for kids anymore?

Don't be surprised if they bring 'Captain America' back as "Captain World" or something along those lines.

Most likely his name won't be Steve Rogers either. It will be something like 'Stefan Reyes' and he will be a gay choreographer on Broadway. His uniform will be the flag of the UN considering the direction the comic book world seems to be taking.