Steve Rogers has a storied history in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, starting with Captain America: The First Avenger, and viewers might wonder how old he was when his legendary career began. Captain America is one of the first and most successful superheroes in the Marvel Comics pantheon, debuting in 1941 in the first issue of Captain America Comics by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby. While created as a statement against Nazism and in support of the US Military, Captain America saw renewed relevance in the Silver Age upon becoming a key member of The Avengers.

In his original Marvel Comics (Earth-616) iteration, Steve Rogers was born on July 4th, 1918, and grew up in Manhattan’s Lower East Side. Since the Marvel Comics universe has a sliding timescale, it is difficult to determine the length of Rogers’s career as Captain America, but his birthdate and the beginning of his career as Captain America are set in stone. Rogers was given the Super Soldier Formula in late 1940 and officially became Captain America in early 1941, making him most likely 23 when his heroic career began in the comic universe.

Steve Rogers Was Captain America For 80 Years

In the MCU, Steve Rogers begins his career a little bit later than his comic counterpart, with Rogers receiving the Super Soldier Formula in 1943. Rogers officially became Captain America later in 1943 upon rescuing Allied POWs in Austria. Captain America would lead the Howling Commandos for most of the remainder of the war, though Steve Rogers would sacrifice himself to destroy the Red Skull’s bomber – the Valkyrie. Rogers would be left frozen (and kept alive by his superpowers) until his recovery by SHIELD in 2011. Rogers would officially resume active duty as Captain America in 2012.

Captain America became the leader of The Avengers and defended Earth from a variety of threats for 11 years, concluding his career after Iron Man’s sacrifice to kill Thanos and the resurrection of everyone killed by The Snap. From 1943 to 2023, Captain America’s career lasted for about 80 years, though 66 of those years were inactive (while Rogers was frozen) and Steve Rogers arguably operated for 7 years as Nomad instead of Captain America. By the end of Avengers: Endgame, Rogers passed the title and shield of Captain America to Sam Wilson.

It is unknown when or if Steve Rogers was active in any way as Captain America in the alternate timeline he created after returning the Infinity Stones in Avengers: Endgame.

Steve Rogers Became A Super Soldier When He Was…

Although the MCU makes a few alterations to Steve Rogers – such as having him be born and raised in Brooklyn instead of Manhattan’s Lower East Side – he does retain his comic counterpart’s birthdate of July 4th, 1918. This is confirmed in Captain America: The First Avenger, which shows Rogers’s birthdate on his enlistment form. Since Steve Rogers received the Super Soldier Formula in late June 1943, he became a Super Soldier at 24 and officially became Captain America at 25.