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customcon 14 logo

The League of Marvels
A Custom Action Figure Project
By Bruce Ross and Joshua Izzo

In a radical shift, Hasbro has decided to start their Marvel license with an all-new concept created in conjunction with the creative teams at the House of Ideas. Taking their cues from the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, a new mythology has been devised, with our favorite heroes thrown back through time into the 1890's.

Working together on this project from an execution standpoint is Joshua Izzo and Bruce Ross. Joshua is known in the collector and customizing community as a person who is not only familiar with, but works extremely well with historical detailing. Joining him in this endeavor is relative new-comer Bruce Ross who's penchant for using leather in his customs as well as his neo-realistic aesthetic make him a perfect candidate to help re-create the Marvel Universe in the 1890's.

The first wave of 6" figures will include Spider-Man, Cyclops, Captain America, Daredevil, Nick Fury and Arnim Zola. Each figure will be highly articulated and will come with character-appropriate accessories.

The following stories will be illustrated by comic book greats and included in the toys themselves to tell the story of these amazing new re-inventions of classic Marvel heroes.

Spider-Man -
Custom by Bruce "Glorbes" Ross

Braggart explorer and adventurer J. Jonah Jameson, whose fortune was made from the news media and a cunning capitalist mind, had planned the greatest adventure of his life. He was going to launch an expedition down the Amazon River of South America. The expedition crew would include his usual international experts and guides, but he also wanted to create a thorough photographic documentation of his exploits. He hired a bright and talented young man by the name of Peter Parker, who had shown minor promise as a freelance shutterbug at his New York news rag, the Daily Bugle. And so, after a tremendous party and media parade, the Jameson expedition began its long trek to the Amazon.

Jameson's party included a number of scientists, researchers, botanists, biologists and entomologists; all of who thought the young photographer Parker was a bright and enthusiastic presence. Jameson was not as fond of the young man, but his pay was cheap, and he had a flare for the pictures. Parker was extremely thorough in his documentation of both Jameson's trophies, and of the wild and diverse forms of life that populated this alien world of the Amazon. However, that curiosity and enthusiasm would result in an unfortunate incident.

On the return trip up the Amazon, while working with the entomology experts, Parker wandered off on his own in search of some clear photographic opportunities. While absent-mindedly strolling, Parker felt a light pressure on his right hand. He looked down, and saw a large, unusual spider perched on his hand. Parker tried to brush the creature off, but it responded by sinking its venomous fangs into his flesh. After a moment, Parker removed the insect and rushed back to the expedition party. The bite became swollen, and Parker fell ill. The specialists believed that the young man's fate was sealed, and he would be dead by nightfall.

While Parker's fate was indeed sealed, it was not to be death, but rather a new lease on life. His health returned, and he in fact seemed stronger and more robust. The expedition had come to an end, and the party was returning home to New York City. Throughout the journey, Parker could not help but feel uneasy about his quick turnaround in fortune, and that he seemed stronger and healthier than he had ever felt in his life. After a time, he had begun to realize that he was indeed stronger... almost to a super-human level. He could also sense events or minor dangers before they happened, and he could also stick to vertical surfaces using only the tips of his fingers and toes. Remarkable!

Seeing the growing violence and unrest throughout New York City, and how that very violence took the life of his beloved Uncle Ben, Peter Parker decided to use his new-found abilities to counter crime and injustice. Requiring a method of traveling from rooftop to rooftop, Parker devised a simple pneumatic grapple device that would serve as "webbing"... basically, it was an air powered harpoon launcher that was strapped to each wrist, containing several yards of strong wire that could be rapidly rewound and relauched.

The "Spider-Man" as Parker's new persona was dubbed by the media, was seen by some as a hero who fought crime and helped the poor and unfortunate of the city. Others saw him as a menace, undermining the authorities and inciting more violence, dissidence, and crime.

One important figure saw the potential in the "Spider-Man" to aid in a grander purpose than interrupting small crimes and upsetting authorities. One evening, when Parker had returned to his home after a night of crime fighting, he found a mysterious figure waiting for him. Dressed in a simple (but expensive) suit, brandishing a large cigar, and wearing an eye patch, the stranger extended his massive hand to Parker in a gesture of trust. The man's one exposed eye revealed urgency and solemnity of purpose, and Parker asked the stranger to state his purpose.

"The Civil War may have ended, but there is a far greater evil that could tear our nation - nay - our world apart. We are on the eve of Armageddon" he said, "and I need your help to stop it."

Parker asked his name...

"Nicholas Fury" growled the powerful figure, "you have been drafted into the League of Marvels."

Cyclops -
Custom by Joshua Izzo
The time was 1891. Oscar Wilde's madly popular 'Portrait of Dorian Gray' was causing a commotion throughout the literary world and the genius poet was falling madly in love with Lord Alfred "Bosie" Douglas, Aubrey Beardsley was in the height of decadent fashion with his nouveau illustrative style and the 'yellow nineties' were in full swing.

It was during this time, during this time of beauty and excess that an American gentleman arrived in Paris with his sights set on not only becoming the toast of every Paris salon and drawing room but also of becoming acquainted with Paris' luminaries - those enlightened, wealthy and artistically educated souls that he had heard so much about. That man's name was Scott Summers - and he was a dandy on a quest of enlightenment and learning.

Born and raised in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Scott and his angel-faced, golden-haired younger brother Alexander, were, to say the very least, privileged. They attended the most influential and politically correct schools and were given anything and everything that their hearts could desire. Their father, an oil magnate that had made a fortune with some influential business partners during the Oklahoma land race, doted on his sons and lavished them with presents, toys and all manner of detritus that parents use to spoil their children.

Scott and Alex's mother was a silent woman. Cold and unyielding, she seldom ever touched the children, and when she did, it was only to make them perfect and spotless when they were to go into polite society. She wore gloves constantly, and her unwavering gaze kept the boys in line throughout their formative - and often tumultuous and shenanigan-filled, lives.

As they grew up, the boys found that they excelled at almost anything and everything they put their minds or bodies too. They were consummate athletes and could write, paint and orate their way through any situation. Winning perfect grades through their collegiate careers, Scott determined that in his twenty-first year that he wanted to study abroad at Oxford.

His first life derailed ten days before his twenty first. It was an inky evening, with low clouds and a dark orange moon when Scott was with Alex in the drawing room of their palatial home, playing billiards and discussing the latest feminine conquests when the two of them heard a crash coming from the servant's wing.

Without thought, the brothers ran towards the sound of the intrusion. Breaking through the doorway, the two of them were assaulted with a sight that, to this day, Scott wishes that he could expunge from his minds eye.

Standing before them was their mother - or an approximation of their mother standing above a shriveled stable boy named Mortimer. Her rosy skin in a heaping pile at her feet, and Mortimer's lifeless husk held in her clawed hands. She immediately dropped the withered corpse and turned to face her sons and stared at them through steely silver eyes.

Scott and his brother stared at their mother - or what used to be their mother. Her skin - once pale and pink was now cool and porcelain white. Her dark locks seemed to flow with a blue-black sheen, and, as stated above her eyes had gone from the normal grey blue to a piercing silver-white, like highly polished sterling. She had become something different�something�.sinister.

They began to try and reason with their mother, but with a coldness and anger they had never seen before manifest in her visage, their mother leapt at them like a caged animal in a zoo. She tackled Alex, which sent the two of them careening across the servant's corridor and into the main kitchen of the Summers manor.

Alex and their mother wrestled like people possessed and soon he was able to free himself from the vice-like grip of his monstrous mother. By this time, Alex and Scott's father had descended from his master suite and was watching the gruesome scene unfold before his incredulous eyes.

Scott took up the charge and jumped in, unthinking, to help his fallen brother and he began to sadly defend himself from his rampaging mother. She clawed and bit at him, rended his flesh from his body and ripped hair from his head. She stared into his eyes and began to laugh.

She laughed as her teeth bit down onto him - sucking his life from his body. He began to crumple - wilt under the vampiric powers of his succubus mother. Alex, by this time, had regained consciousness and he moved to pry Scott from his mother's death grip. She smacked the younger brother aside like he was nothing more than a child's plaything.

As his brother went careening into the storeroom closet, Scott began to feels something welling up within his chest. His head began to pound, and his temples felt as if they were going to burst. His strength was departing from his body, and he began to cloud over, but the pain was too intense - and it kept brining him back from the brink of oblivion.

Then, the world went silent. Scott felt his mind melt within the cage of his skull, and he closed his eyed tight to the pain and suffering that surrounded him, and prepared for his inevitable end. But when he opened his eyes once more - he saw the light again. But the light was not daylight, nor was it the light of heaven shining own upon him - no - the light was cascading from his eyes.

A pure, ruby-red light was pouring from his eyes and it blanketed the room. He watched in horror as everything he gazed upon began to burst into flames or disintegrate. He stared at the sinister creature his mother had become and before his very eyes; she was cut in two and fell lifeless to the ground.

He looked over to his father and his brother as they watched in mute horror at what was unfolding before them. In his distress when Scott moved his head, he cut a swath of blood-red destruction through his home and inevitably, through his beloved brother Alex and father as well. Scott screamed in agony as he shut his eyes and pounded his head on the floor.

Everything he knew - everything he loved - he had killed.

The morning dawned on the Summers home, and Scott was found, with his eyes bound sleeping fitfully on the charred floor of the kitchen by the local authorities. Within days, the solicitors and accountants and lawyers came and they estimated that his estate was worth millions.

Scott, devoid of feeling, traveled to England and then onward across the European nations, just as he determined he would on his twenty-first birthday. It was there, during an enigmatic hike through the English countryside with his nurse Jean that Scott found the remains of an old and decrepit castle. Within the castle ruins, Jean found a beautiful piece of ruby glass that looked as if it fell from an ancient and glorious rose window beside an antiquated sword and a massive knight's helmet. She described the glass shard to Scott, and he took it from her. Holding it up to his eyes, Scott - for the first time in a year - opened his eyes.

Nothing happened. The glass had contained the piercing ruby beams that cascaded from his eyes, and for the first time, he could look upon his nurse Jean with his own eyes. Her beauty was a sight, truly, to behold. Knowing what he was capable of, though, Scott had to depart from Jean and continue to try and erase the demons that haunted him. Fashioning a pair of spectacles from the glass in Vienna, Scott decided that his life was to begin anew.

He returned to America, and claimed his fortune. He then spent the greater part of the next two years traveling and studying. Learning all he could about the aberrant genes in man, and the reason behind his sudden change. That study eventually led him to Paris.

It was one day, while studying in the Pasteur Institute that an odd man with an eye patch approached him. He introduced himself as 'Fury' and invited Scott to join him for a ride in his carriage to discuss things of a biological nature. Sensing that this man had the answers he was searching for, Scott accompanied the gentleman, and after a brief ride through the Champs-Elysees, Scott had decided to join this man on his crusade. Dubbed 'Cyclops' by Fury for the sole fact that this dandy could expel a singular ocular beam, Scott Summers became the newest member of Nicholas Fury's League of Marvels.

Daredevil -
Custom by Joshua Izzo
During the mad and furious gang wars of New York City from 1840 through the Draft Riots of 1863, Matthew Murdoch was a man trapped in a child's body. Growing up fast on the hardened streets of Old new Amsterdam, he was forced to make his way through the filth infested streets of lower Manhattan as the gangs ran rampant and the immigrants were looked upon as nothing more than offal, young Matthew fought tooth and nail to survive.

His father, a knuckle-busting bruiser that sailed over from Ireland to make his way in the world would, often come home to their one room flat over the local butchers bruised, beaten and bloody after a night out trying to 'raise awareness' and help the needy immigrants in Five Points. He would collapse next to young Matthew and begin to moan and mumble. Matthew would have to clean his father up and get him ready to join the workforce again the next day. Before his father passed out from one part drink, one part exhaustion and one part loss of brain cells, he would always tell Matthew to, "Fight the good fight. Fight for what you believe in, fight for what will make the world better"... and then he would pass out. Matt would lie awake looking at his bloodied father wondering how one man could change a world with his fists.

One day, when a gentleman who's carriage snapped an axle was left stranded in downtown New York, it was Matthew alone who stood up for the seemingly helpless fellow. The neighborhood was in a frenzy over this lost soul and his gold chains and velvet topcoat. Matt leapt from his second story window to the aid of this nameless gentleman, and before the older man could blink out of his one good eye, Matt had dispatched the entire rabble with some remarkable fighting techniques.

The gentleman was named Nicholas Fury, and this mustachioed man looked upon young Matthew with an air of both surprise and awe. Where would he ever find another one like this, he thought to himself...

Asking his father for his permission, Fury took Matthew under his wing and began his education - both formal and physical. After years of study in the United States and abroad, Matthew was an educated man and ready to fight the good fight - but in a different way. Fury took Matthew on as his company's legal counsel and Matthew was proud to serve Fury in that capacity. Not only was Matthew a skilled orator and debater, but also he had been schooled and brought up with the finest of pedigrees. He was an acrobat and a skilled marksman. He exceeded all of Fury's expectations - much like another pupil of Fury's that he had let go...

There were two things that Matthew loved more than anything else while he was studying with Fury. The first was rifling through Fury's files - learning the secrets of all the clandestine operations and agents that were patrolling the streets of the world. The other was fencing. Matthew was a born fencer. He was graceful and fluid - and could hit his heart mark with his eyes closed from twenty-five paces. With almost preternatural skill, Matthew became a world-class fencer - and that served him well with he and Fury's 'extracurricular' activities...

At night, Fury and Matthew led different lives all together. Donning concealing costuming, Fury and Matthew would patrol the streets of New York looking for trouble. It was one night, when Matthew was but at the tender age of 23 that he was caught unawares by a thug in a back alley on the Bowery. Before Matthew could react, the brute grabbed Matthew by the collar and began to beat him mercilessly. All throughout, as he tried to protect himself, Matthew could only think of his father...

After he was found the next morning, it was learned that Matthew had two compound fractures in his left arm and also that he had been so severely beaten in his head that he had lost all power of sight. Despondent, Matthew gave up on living. Fury, upon hearing this stormed into the recovery room and demanded that Matthew remember his vows to his father, remember his father's teaching! Remember his training!!!

Matthew, though broken in both body and spirit, decided to shoulder on. Working harder to recover more than any human body could endure, he spent the next two years honing his senses to peak performance levels.

He trained every day - foregoing sleep and almost pushing his body to the point of breaking. Fury sought out and found ancient, and wizened Shaman from long-though dead native American tribes to help Matthew focus and hone his mind and body into a perfectly synched, and well-oiled machine. Matthew continued his acrobatics and fencing training, and learned to fight by using his enemies breathing as a gauge.

Also, due to his new cavalier attitude towards his work, he began to take risks - unnecessary risks - that put both Fury and especially Matthew himself in danger. Because of this, Fury dubbed him, the Daredevil...

Now, with no sight, but with his mind and body in-tuned to the rest of the world around him, Matthew Murdoch - as the Daredevil - patrols the darkened streets of Manhattan island, looking for darkened pockets of deceit and destitution. On the prowl for the criminal and depraved and ever striking terror into the hearts of men as the red-clad Daredevil.

Nicholas Fury -
Custom by Bruce "Glorbes" Ross
A man from a humble background, Fury proved himself to be an exceptional soldier, a brilliant commander, and a sharp eye for recognizing talent and potential in others. While much of his history has become confounded and convoluted by legend, it is well known that Nicholas Fury was a major figure during the American Civil War. Fury's regiment (known as the Howlers) was notoriously efficient and effective on the battlefield. His influence and strategy were tremendously helpful to Ulysses S. Grant and the eventual victory of the North over the Confederate forces.

Fury served the American forces before, during and after the end of the Civil War and worked hard at keeping his team and his duties secret from the world. He cataloged and documented every aberrant natural phenomenon known to man (and some not known to man) and was either present himself, or had a liaison present at every historical event or crisis of national security. In short, he - and his team - were the first and last line of defense for the Americas. A shield against evil, as it were.

He forged a great relationship with every president that he served under - from Grant and Hayes to Garfield and Cleveland. The relationship between President Benjamin Harrison and Fury resulted in Fury's appointment to an even more important secret position within the US military. Harrison was concerned about rumblings that he had heard from foreign diplomats regarding a secret project being developed by the German-Latverian Alliance� a plan that might result in full-scale war. While Harrison wanted to officially remain outside of international intrigue, he understood the dangers of an imbalanced and war-torn Europe. Knowing that Fury was a worldly and intelligent commander, he requested his services to form and lead a team to investigate the situation. Fury took his assignment with a certain grim enthusiasm, wanting to develop a group of gifted and exceptional individuals of diverse origins. After extensive research, spying, and appraisal, Fury selected his first wave of candidates and approached them.

As the breadth and depth of the crisis in Europe became evident, Fury would be demanded to bring more people into the grand organization. Because of the exceptional nature of these members, Fury modestly deemed his crack team the League of Marvels.

Arnim Zola -
Custom by Bruce "Glorbes" Ross
Born in Switzerland into a noble and exceedingly wealthy family, Zola was a physically repugnant child who struggled with persecution and ridicule throughout his life. He inherited a massive fortune from his parents, who perished in a tragic accident when he was eleven. Zola was devastated by the loss of his parents, especially that of his father whom he loved and admired deeply. He insisted that their bodies be preserved and kept in the family estate.

Armed with a superior intellect from an early age, vast wealth, and an entourage of servants who were charged with his care, Zola continued his studies under the tutelage of progressive instructors. By his twenties, Zola had grasped most of the primary theoretical works of the Scientific Revolution, and had begun to spread his research into the field of biology. He was most compelled by the works of Lamarck, and later the works of Charles Darwin, believing that perhaps he could accelerate the process of evolution through the controlled, artificial engineering of life.

His grisly experiments began very much like those described in Mary Shelley's immortal work "Frankenstein", recombining dead flesh into hideous hybrid creatures and imbuing them with massive quantities of electricity. These experiments taught Zola much, but he had not created a successful reanimated life form that would be able to carry out his will, nor had he effectively improved upon the mental and physical capacity of the human form. He realized that he needed living tissue to truly reveal the key to harnessing and improving upon the human model. And so he began to use the staff of the Zola Castle Estate, harvesting the flesh, bone and brain of those that had raised him and fulfilled his every whim. The work he had done on his hapless charges yielded startling results; with living tissue, Zola had finally managed to isolate the basic components of life, allowing him to engineer his own monstrous creations. Unfortunately, he had run out of living subjects, and his vast fortune was reduced after years of massive expenditures on equipment and supplies.

In desperation, Zola traveled throughout the neighboring nations of continental Europe, in search of someone among the ruling houses, monarchies, and republics who would be willing to fund his research. Many were repulsed by the little man, and found his ideas monstrous. Others, with more sinister dispositions, saw potential. Two governments in particular (Prussia and Latveria) expressed great interest in Zola's work. While the Prussian government officially rejected any alliance with Zola, an important strategic figure within the military forces managed to divert funding to support Zola. In the case of Latveria, the reigning monarch himself wished to utilize Zola directly, and also agreed to give him money and facilities.

With new benefactors, an infusion of money and capital, and a staff that spanned two major nations, Zola began work on two massive projects. The first was the creation of a bioengineered army unit for the Prussian military, which proved to be highly successful and exceptionally loyal to command during the Franco-Prussian War. Promises of a further commission were approved by the newly formed German government (again, under the exclusive purview of one highly placed official). The second project was for the Latverian government, and was more concerned with robotics and the development of a mechanical/organic hybrid infantry.

As part of an agreement signed with the secret German official, Zola demanded assistance in the creation of a new body for himself. He had plotted out a theoretical method for transferring his consciousness and higher brain functions into a contained electrical form, hoping to divorce his mind from the immediate physical demands and limitations of his frail human body. After a period of time, the theoretical apparatus became a reality, and Zola transferred his mind into a small, mechanical box. This box, now possessing the entirety of Zola's mental self, was installed into a larger, stronger mechanical/organic hybrid body. As a tribute to his father, Zola had the preserved head of his senior installed into the abdominal cavity of his newly minted body. The pride of his lineage exposed to the world in the likeness of his beloved father, and his body the sum expression of his life's work, Zola had crafted his own image, transcending that which was given to him by the fates.

After the rebirth of Arnim Zola, his allies and patrons unveiled a plot of global proportions. The two figures that had saved Zola's research from ruin sought to use his work for an expansive plan that would engulf the world in darkness. Victor Von Doom of Latveria, and Johann Schmidt of Germany had drafted Arnim Zola to create an unholy army of monstrosities, bred for the purpose of world conquest...

Captain America -
Custom by Joshua Izzo
It's the year 1865. The US Civil War is coming to a dramatic end. May 4, 1864 marked the beginning of a massive, coordinated campaign involving all the Union Armies. In Virginia, Grant with an Army of 120,000 begins advancing toward Richmond to engage Lee's Army of Northern Virginia, now numbering 64,000, beginning a war of attrition that will include major battles at the Wilderness (May 5-6), Spotsylvania (May 8-12), and Cold Harbor (June 1-3). In the west, Sherman, with 100,000 men begins an advance toward Atlanta to engage Joseph E. Johnston's 60,000 strong Army of Tennessee.

It is during the battle of Richmond that one of the greatest, yet unknown, heroes of the time was born.

Always a scrawny lad, young Steven Rogers was a child with passion. He loved his home and he loved his family. Always on the sickly side, he was a bit consumptive and that kept him from playing hard with the other children.

His sixteenth birthday changed his life forever. His father, a local farmer in a small town in Pennsylvania was called to serve in the Union army to defend his country and to help abolish the blight of slavery. Steven could not believe that not only did his father have to leave, but that the United States - the land of the free - was tearing itself apart.

He determined that his place was no longer with his sisters and mother, but it was alongside his father - protecting his country. Knowing full well that his father would forbid it, Steven smuggled himself onto a passing convoy of soldiers headed for Washington and soon found his way into the middle of the largest and bloodiest conflict the United States will have ever known.

When he arrived - dazed and confounded by the city, he soon found his way to the enlisting officers office. Forgetting about his father, Steven made his way to the front of the line but as soon as he was ushered into the office, he was met with nothing but callous laughter.

The officers reviled Steven for his diminutive size and scrawny body. He was practically a girl, they said. Steven, though, would hear nothing of this. He stood his ground and spent the next three hours fighting his way back into the office and declaring his loyalty to the Union.

After four hours, he finally took a break from sheer exhaustion. Unbeknownst to Steven, a man was watching the entire scene unfold. Silently, this gentleman made his way into the enlisting officers offices and within fifteen minutes, they officers came out, found Steven and welcomed him the Union army. Flabbergasted, Steven was so happy that he nearly fainted.

Boot Camp was hell and the battlefield was worse. Steven found himself on the losing end of the bayonet and the bullet more times than he cared to think about - but every time he went to the triage station for a patch up, he always came out - after a lengthy sleep - renewed and feeling more vigorous than ever.

Of course, he was growing up and becoming more of a man by this point as well. Shortly after the war turned into it's second year, Steven was introduced to an enigmatic man who wished to become his benefactor. This one-eyed man brought good and bad news all in one fell swoop.

The bad news was that his entire family, mother, father and sisters had all been wiped out during a Confederate raid. The good news was that this man - a military specialist and aid to the President - wanted Steven to come and work for him and become a larger part of the war effort.

With pain in his heart, Steven accepted. Again, time passed and Steven became even more and more war-hardened. He was sent into the most deadly areas and took a fair share of Confederate soldiers to meet their makers. He forged a father and son like bond with the enigmatic character - a man named Fury - that had taken him under his wing.

Fury taught him about combat styles form all over the world, shared tales of intrigue and espionage and aided Steven in becoming the man he always knew he was destined to become. Steven was also growing - physically and mentally. At first, he attributed it to his training, but by the time Steven was 18, he was as strong as an ox and he could not figure out why�

During the battle of Richmond, Steven found out. It was during that intense conflict that Steven was nearly killed when a cannonball exploded on the field as he was charging through the enemy lines. As he was brought back to the battlefield doctor, he saw Fury standing above him. As he began to sink into sleep, he heard Fury say, "time is of the essence - his transformation is almost complete�"

As he slept, Steven thought of his family. He thought of the war and he thought about Fury. He fought his way back to consciousness and as his eyes began to focus, he didn't see a battlefield doctor's station nor did he see any other wounded soldiers! He looked around and saw that his body was patched up, but that various needles and tubes were connected to his veins and he was strapped down to an operating table!

Looking around, his eyes caught the frightened stares of masked doctors as they ran to and fro - shocked at the sight of Steven awake. He looked down at his powerful arm as it flexed and followed the needle and rubber hose to its end. He saw a bank of fluids and vials filled with oozing, pulsating liquids all funneling their way into his body�.

Steven flexed his whole body and broke free of the bonds that constrained him. He thrashed wildly as he pulled the needles from his arms, legs, body and head. He threw the furniture and kicked down the doors. After rampaging his way through this facility, he finally found Fury. Sitting at a desk, smoking a pipe, Steven confronted him�.

Fury let him know that he had been hand picked to become the hero to end the war. He was to become whom President Grant would later declare, Captain America, and he would be a symbol for the people. Steven betrayed and hurt by the fact that his country has used him as a living test subject for strange and otherworldly serums and fluids resented Fury and never trusted the man again.

He raced through the facility and found his way back to the battlefield. It was here that he took up the mantle of Captain America, but in his own way. Fashioning a mask from the uniform of a fallen comrade and hefting wooden door emblazoned with the Union American Flag, Steven Rogers leapt back into battle with fervor unlike anything seen before or since.

The year is now 1891 and a new threat faces our nation. Fury and his League of Marvels needs but one more hero to complete their roster and stop the nefarious plans of Arnim Zola and his sick dreams of conquest.

Still distrustful of the eye-patched soldier of old, Captain America - freedom fighter - and righter of all wrongs against the American people - decides to forgive and forget past sins and join this League of amazing characters to fend off the deadliest foe the world, thus far, has ever seen.

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