The 1940s. A downed plane is found frozen in the ice with a familiar shield inside, and the story jumps back to wartime to explain how it got there. Steve Rogers, small and sickly, keeps trying to enlist and keeps getting turned away, while his friend Bucky ships out to the 107th and Howard Stark shows off his latest tech at a grand exposition. Dr. Erskine overhears Steve explain that he does not want to kill anyone, he just does not like bullies, and selects him for the Strategic Scientific Reserve. Steve takes the serum, is transformed, and immediately loses Erskine to an undercover Hydra assassin who takes his own life before he can be questioned. Sidelined as a bond-selling mascot, Steve heads to the front, learns the 107th has been captured, and with a push from Agent Carter mounts a solo rescue that frees Bucky and the others and puts him  ...