Marvel Studios almost did not have Captain America in the MCU following a controversial dispute with comics creator Joe Simon.

Chris Evans’ Captain America was one of the founding heroes of the MCU and it’s difficult to imagine how the franchise would run without his presence. From The First Avenger to the Infinity War saga, he was at the center of every battle along with his comrades.

But, before the MCU was even established, there was already a dispute between Captain America’s creator and Marvel Studios. Joe Simon, the writer who created the figure alongside Jack Kirby, sued the studio for ownership of the character.

Marvel Studios And Joe Simon Fought Over Rights To Captain America

In a 2003 post from Variety, the outlet explained how Marvel Studios settled a dispute with writer and comics creator Joe Simon to have full ownership of Captain America’s copyrights.

Marvel said it intends to build up the franchise through media including feature films, publishing, TV deals, and the usual mix of merchandise licensing. According to Marvel, Captain America ranks as one of the company’s top 10 most recognizable characters.

Indeed, they wanted to have full control of the character to be used later for projects such as the MCU. In his interview with The Comics Journal, Simon said they went through a rigorous process.

We went through the whole works. Very complicated series of lawsuits… Not lawsuits, it never came to lawsuits, but pre-trial examinations, and Goodman hired a very distinguished law firm. I met with all these young Harvard graduates, and we had a settlement.

The writer revealed the complicated situation was that “it turns out some dirty little angles that Marvel pulled” before claiming publishers have been acting like this since long ago. “Nobody ever said they were ever fair with the artists,” he lamented.

Simon did not mention the nitty-gritty details of the trial, but he insisted he had the copyrights to the first ten issues. It would have been more strenuous if the comics creator continued with the proceedings. In the end, Marvel Studios got full rights to Captain America, and nearly a decade later, fans finally had Captain America: The First Avenger.

Chris Evans Reflects On His Iconic Role As Captain America

While Marvel Studios almost did not have Captain America, actor Chris Evans almost did not play the character. Speaking with People, he looked back on the most iconic role of his career.

An early risk was saying yes to Captain America. I said no to it a couple of times and was really nervous about taking the job, and it ended up being the best decision of my life. I can’t even imagine what my life would’ve been like without it, so that was big risk that paid off.

Evans was not the only person who was hesitant about him taking on the role. Marvel boss Kevin Feige once revealed via The Hollywood Reporter that they had doubts about hiring him having played Johnny Storm in the ill-fated Fantastic Four movies.

In the end, they kept circling back to Evans, and the rest is history. Captain America proved to be a very successful character and franchise in the superhero world, and his legacy will continue to flourish in future MCU movies.