Steve Rogers was a skinny young man who wanted to help the United States during World War 2, but was physically unfit for military service. Since the army wouldn't accept him, an officer saw his strong desire to fight and asked if he was willing to be part of a secret government project. This was the 'Super-Soldier' program, and a serum was developed that Rogers took, and along with a bombardment of 'vita-rays' his body was artificially transformed into the perfect human specimen. He has no super powers at all, he's just a man taken to his maximum potential.

Of course, only one man knew the secret formula (the scientist in charge of the project) and he's killed by Nazi agents after Rogers is transformed, leaving Steve Rogers as the only Super-Soldier (though a modified version of the formula is given to Nick Fury who later heads the organization known as SHIELD).

Steve Rogers then dons a costume to embody the ideals of America, and wraps himself in a flag and carries a shield to fight tyranny and evil wherever it may exist as Captain America. He has a sidekick (Bucky) during WW2 who is eventually killed in action. Cap is then frozen in ice where he lays in suspended animation until the Avengers discover him, and he is re-born into the present, where he continues his fight and often leads the Avengers.

Captain America was created by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby in the early 1940's and was originally published by Timely Comics (which later became Marvel). The original sketch was done by Joe Simon and bears remarkable resemblance to the very costume that Cap still wears, showing the timelessness of the symbolism. Originally Cap had a shield that wasn't round, and was like the Timely Comics shield, but this was changed to a round shield that was made of a vibranium-adamantium alloy, and is considered the most indestructible object made by human beings in the Marvel Universe.

The reprinted comic is Captain America #109, which retells the origin of Captain America. The legendary duo of Jack 'King' Kirby and Stan 'The Man' Lee wrote the issue, as we watch Steve Rogers recount his early career and missions to Nick Fury. This was originally published back in 1968, and even has the original 12 cents price on it. Beyond the re-telling of Cap's origin the best part of this reprint is the inclusion of the original 'Bullpen Bulletins' page and the original letters page ('Let's Yap With Cap!'). They are nostalgic for older readers and offer a glimpse at the magic that was Marvel Comics during the 1960's.

Bruce Banner was a government scientist working on a new weapon - the gamma bomb, when a crazy kid named Rick Jones (who is a Marvel Legend in his own right) drove onto the range. Bruce couldn't allow him to be killed during the test so he risked his life to save Rick and was irradiated by the gamma bomb blast. That exposure transformed him and an alter-ego was created during certain times. At first he was gray and only became the Hulk at Night. He then changed to green (mainly due to inconsistencies in the printing with the gray color) and the change was triggered by anger, but in any case the Hulk has his own personality. One thing has always been certain - no matter his color or intelligence he is always incredibly strong. Over the years the Hulk's intelligence (and color) has changed, but he has always been popular, even having a television series and a new movie due for production.

Bruce and the Hulk are similar to Dr Jekyl and Mr Hyde, and the Hulk is as often as destructive as he is helpful. Stan Lee and Jack Kirby created him in the early 60's though it only ran for six issues in the initial run. This wasn't due to poor sales but to publishing demands and Hulk was cancelled to allow Spider-man to have a book, obviously a smart move. The Hulk did appear in other books and he eventually found a home in Tales to Astonish, which was renamed 'the Incredible Hulk' with issue 102.

The reprinted comic is Incredible Hulk # 314, originally published in 1985. John Byrne did the story and pencils in his inaugural issue on the title. His run was short-lived (through issue 319), but his first tale packs quite a punch. It starts with the Hulk on a small rampage (as he is wont to do from time to time) and Doc Samson joins the tale to investigate. There is a brief retelling of the Hulk's origin by Samson as he searches for the Hulk, which is interrupted by finding the Hulk. After a beating by the Hulk, Samson lays low as the Hulk hallucinates fighting some of his more memorable foes, though in the end Samson is able to defeat him and starts to figure out how to help the Hulk by removing Banner from him.

Mortimer Toynbee is a mutant with the ability to jump really high. While this sounds like the ticket to Olympic Gold, Morty decided to sign up with Magneto's 'Brotherhood of Evil Mutants' instead. Morty was a lonely child, abandoned at a young age and tormented by the other kids. Kids can be so cruel. This gave him a psyche that was subservient and when Magneto discovered him he was ripe for serving Magneto. It was there he first met the Scarlet Witch, and he become obsessed with her. While the attraction is understandable, she didn't feel the same way (just wanted to be 'not really friends, something less') and it led to numerous problems for the Toad. He also grew to hate Magneto over the years due to his poor treatment of Toad, and he's had many psychological problems. Since the Brotherhood had lousy medical benefits he never could afford the help he needed, so he isn�t entirely better yet. Another victim of bad health care. And abandonment.

The Toad was created by Jack Kirby and Stan Lee, and he first appeared in X-Men #4. He's never had his own book, never been a huge star but he did have a part in the recent X-men movie helping out Magneto. For the movie he also had a really long tongue and could spit some nasty goo. Have we mentioned that the toy comes with a toad?

The reprinted issue is the classic X-men #4 (originally published in 1964), which has the first appearance of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants. The issue was written by Lee and drawn by Kirby, and it covers the first battle between the X-Men and the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants. Magneto steals a freighter to attack the small nation of Santo Marco in an effort to take it over. With the help of his minions he does just that using an illusory army (that bears striking resemblance to the German army of WW2). Naturally, the X-men move in to stop Magneto and are able to defeat him, though Professor X is injured. Just as naturally, the Brotherhood escapes to wreak more havok and make another appearance in a future issue!

Tony Stark was a rich industrialist who made his money by desiging and selling weapons to the government. On a trip to Vietnam he is injured and has a piece of shrapnel in his chest close to the heart. While there his captor wants him to build weapons, but what he really does is builds a powered suit that will both preserve his life by keeping the shrapnel away, and let him escape. The first suit is crude, but over the years he builds better armor and eventually gets a heart transplant and isn't required to wear the breastplate. And shrapnel (a cool sounding word) was named after a British artillery officer. Who says the British never gave us anything better than the Spice Girls!

Stan Lee and Don Heck created iron Man and Jack Kirby did the initial design for the costume. He first appeared in Tales of Suspense # 39, and stayed there where he was eventually joined by Captain America. Later the book changed the title to Captain America and Iron Man moved off into his own comic, where he has remained. Over the years his costume has changed about as often as the writing staff, and more information on Iron Man costumes and toys can be found in RTM's Iron Man archive by Jason Geyer and Eric Myers.

The reprinted issue is Iron Man #149, originally published in 1981. The title is 'Doomquest' and as one might guess, Dr. Doom was the main antagonist of this tale written by David Michelinie and drawn by John Romita, Jr, with co-plot and inking done by Bob Layton. The story starts with a shipment of electronics heading for Doom's native Latveria that is intercepted by Iron Man. It seems Stark International was selling these components through an over-zealous salesman and Tony wants no part in it. Meanwhile, Doom is developing a time machine for his nefarious aims, and the inevitable meeting of Doom and Iron Man takes place in Castle Doom. During their battle an unhappy scientist who was developing the time machine uses it to send both Iron Man and Doom to the past, where the story ends to be continued.

If only this issue was in one version of the figure, then the other version had the next one so there would be a complete story. Alas, to the comics shop you must go to pick up the next issue for the exciting conclusion!!