December 20, 1940: Captain America Debuts

December 20, 1940: Captain America Comics #1, with a publication date of March 1941, is published. It will still be nearly a full year before America enters World War II, but the cover shows the titular superhero giving Chancellor Adolf Hitler of Nazi Germany a right cross. The publisher is Timely Comics, which will become Marvel Comics in 1961.

As created by writer Joe Simon (1913-2011) and artist Jack Kirby (1917-1994), both of them Jewish and with a vested interest in the defeat of the Nazis, Steve Rogers is a young man from Brooklyn, New York City, rejected for service in the U.S. armed forces because he's too skinny and weak. But his persistent patriotism gets him recommended for a new project, the U.S. Army's "super-soldier serum."

It's a success, and now, he is, ironically, the Aryan ideal: A tall, blond, blue-eyed man with great strength and superior reflexes. But the scientist who developed the serum is killed by a Nazi saboteur before he can use the serum, whose formula only he knows, on anyone else. There will be no army of American super-soldiers, just one, and Steve becomes "Captain America."

Under both his real name (with the mere rank of Private) and as Cap, Steve fights the Nazis all through World War II, along with his Army camp's teenage mascot, James Buchanan "Bucky" Barnes, acting, to use an analogy to DC Comics, as Robin to his Batman. They fight Nazi super-soldiers such as the Red Skull and Baron Zemo, and lesser threats. Steve's star-spangled shield, whose design was adjusted from the first issue, becomes an item of offense as well as defense, as he becomes an expert at throwing it.

Cap became Timely's most popular character, and in 1944, he became the 1st character from what would become Marvel to appear in the movies, in a serial where he was portrayed by Dick Purcell. But after World War II, superhero stories declined in popularity, and Cap's appeal faded with the Nazis no longer a threat. The series was discontinued in 1950.

Dick Purcell as Cap

In 1964, Marvel revived the character, making him part of their superhero team The Avengers. They explained his absence by saying that he and Bucky were believed to have died on a mission just before V-E Day, May 8, 1945. Cap ended up frozen in the North Atlantic Ocean, revived by the Avengers, and had to adjust to a modern world, knowing that someone like him was needed again. It would be decades before Marvel explained that Bucky had survived, leaving Cap thinking that he hadn't, thus saddling him with survivor's guilt.

In addition to the Avengers, Cap forms alliances with Rick Jones, formerly sidekick to the Hulk, and who bears a freaky resemblance to Bucky (the first thing Cap noticed about him); and with Sam Wilson, a flying superhero known as the Falcon, who in 1969 became the 1st black American superhero in mainstream comics. (Black Panther debuted in 1966, but, as the king of a fictional African nation, was not American.)

After experimenting with Spider-Man and the Hulk in the late 1970s, CBS aired 2 Captain America TV-movies in 1979, starring Reb Brown with a somewhat different take on the character, one who was not involved in World War II, although his father was, and was heroic enough to be nicknamed "Captain America."

Reb Brown as a motorcyclist Cap,

complete with helmet

In 1990, a feature film was made, with Matt Salinger, son of author J.D. Salinger, playing a Cap that's revived in the present day, stunned to see that the Germans are now America's allies, but that the Red Skull has survived and leads a criminal organization, much like the comics' Hydra but not named as such in the film.

Matt Salinger as Cap

In 2001, Marvel launched the Ultimate Marvel series, with the idea of starting their legendary characters over in the present day, but otherwise getting them back to their roots. The twist with Cap was that he and Bucky started out as the same age, and as friends in Brooklyn, but that Bucky survived the war, and when Cap is thawed out in the present day, Bucky is an old man.

In 2011, the Marvel Cinematic Universe got around to Cap, releasing Captain America: The First Avenger. Chris Evans, who had previously played the Human Torch in 2 Fantastic Four movies, plays a Steve who has Bucky (Sebastian Stan) as a contemporary, and sees Bucky apparently die well before his own apparent sacrifice, but is otherwise the character previously known.

Chris Evans, the definitive Cap

The retcon (introduced in the 1960s) of his romance with British secret agent Peggy Carter, played in the MCU by Hayley Atwell, is played up, to the point where, when The Infinity Saga was finished with Avengers: Endgame, after putting the swiped Infinity Stones back to where and when they belonged, Cap stayed in the past, and lived out his life with Peggy, and, as an old man, handed his shield over to Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie), who becomes the new Captain America.

There have been occasional DC and Marvel crossovers. One was Amalgam Comics, which imagined DC heroes combined with Marvel heroes. Batman and Wolverine became Darkclaw, Wonder Woman and Storm became Amazon, and so on. Superman and Captain America were merged to become Super-Soldier.

I'd like to believe that each company's stories exist in the other's universe -- so that Superman's hero is Captain America, and vice versa.

*

December 20, 1940 was a Friday. Baseball and football were out of season. The NBA hadn't been founded yet. And the NHL scheduled no games for this date. So there were no scores on this historic day.

September 1, 1963: "The Avengers" -- The Superheroes, not the Spies -- Premieres

September 1, 1963: Avengers #1 is published, Marvel’s attempt to copy DC Comics’ Justice League of America. Iron Man, Thor, the Hulk, Ant-Man and the Wasp take on Thor’s brother Loki.

The spy-themed TV show The Avengers had debuted in Britain 2 years earlier, but not in America until 1966. So, as far as most Americans knew, these Avengers came first.

Iron Man debuted wearing all-gray armor. By this point, he had switched to gold. Almost immediately, he switched to armor with a red body and yellow limbs.

In Avengers #3, the Hulk would go rogue, and the others would go after him. In Avengers #4, Captain America is thawed out. Eventually, others would be added, including the Vision, the Scarlet Witch, Hawkeye, Black Widow, and temporary members such as Spider-Man.

In 2008, the Marvel Cinematic Universe began. In 2012, the 1st Avengers movie was made.

In a LEGO-animated 2014 episode of the YouTube series Epic Rap Battles of History, "Epic" Lloyd Ahlquist provided the voice of Thor, albeit owing more to the original Norse version, with allusions to the comic book character and his film interpretation. "Nice" Peter Shukoff voiced Thor's opponent, Zeus, king of the Greek gods.

*

September 1, 1963 was a Sunday. These baseball games were played that day:

* The New York Yankees beat the Baltimore Orioles, 5-4 at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore. The Yankees scored 4 runs in the top of the 8th to come from behind to win, making Tom Metcalf a winning pitcher in relief of Ralph Terry. Tom Tresh hit 2 home runs, and Mickey Mantle homered as a pinch-hitter. Brooks Robinson went 0-for-4.

* The New York Mets beat the Milwaukee Braves, 6-4 at the Polo Grounds. Tim Harkness hit 2 home runs, including one to win the game in the bottom of the 16th inning. Hank Aaron went 3-for-6 with 2 walks.

* The Boston Red Sox beat the Washington Senators, 4-3 at Fenway Park in Boston. Eddie Bressoud singled Jim Gosger home with the winning run in the bottom of the 10th inning. Carl Yastrzemski went 0-for-5, but Dick Stuart went 3-for-5 with an RBI -- and the famously poor-fielding 1st baseman did not make an error.

* The St. Louis Cardinals beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 7-3 at Connie Mack Stadium in Philadelphia. Stan Musial, entering his last month as an active player, went 2-for-3.

* The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Cincinnati Reds, 6-4 at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh. Roberto Clemente went 1-for-4. Willie Stargell went 3-for-4 with a home run and 2 RBIs. Frank Robinson went 1-for-3.

* The Cleveland Indians swept a doubleheader from the Detroit Tigers, 6-3 and 3-1 at Cleveland Municipal Stadium. Al Kaline went 3-for-8 over the 2 games.

* The Chicago Cubs beat the Houston Colt .45s, 4-3 at Wrigley Field in Chicago. Ernie Banks went 1-for-4. The Colts became the Houston Astros in 1965.

* The Kansas City Athletics beat the Los Angeles Angels, 7-6 at Kansas City Municipal Stadium.

* The Chicago White Sox beat the Minnesota Twins, 8-3 at Metropolitan Stadium in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington, Minnesota. Harmon Killebrew went 1-for4.

* And the Los Angeles Dodgers beat their arch-rivals, the San Francisco Giants, 5-3 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. Willie Mays went 1-for-4 with an RBI.

August 9, 1961: The Fantastic Four #1 Starts the Marvel Universe

August 9, 1961: Fantastic Four #1 is published, beginning the modern era of Marvel Comics. A year earlier, DC Comics had begun publishing Justice League of America, and Marvel editor Stan Lee wanted his company to have its own superhero team. Lee and Jack Kirby created them.

Reed Richards is a brilliant scientist, one of the most intelligent men on Earth -- though, as it turns out, frequently not one of the wisest. Benjamin J. Grimm is his best friend, a former football player and a pilot, somewhat based on Kirby himself. Susan Storm is Reed's girlfriend, who eventually becomes his wife, and they go on to have a son named Franklin and a daughter named Valeria. In later rewrites, Susan was also said to be a scientist from the start. Johnny Storm is Sue's brother, a teenage racing enthusiast.

Like many of the Marvel Comics characters that Stan Lee co-created over the next few years, there was a Cold War undercurrent to their story. The 1st issue of the Fantastic Four's comic was written in the wake of Yuri Gagarin becoming the 1st person in space, and Alan Shepard the 1st American in space.

And so, in the Four's origin story, Reed designs and builds a rocket to determine what the threat to space travelers might be. Ben pilots it, and Sue and Johnny are along to observe with Reed. What happens is that their craft is bombarded with "cosmic rays" -- Lee and the other Marvel writers respected science, but they weren't very good at understanding its effects -- and it mutates them.

Sue is the first to change, becoming invisible for a minute before reappearing. Ben turns into a living orange rock with enormous strength -- Sue says, "Reed, darling, run! He's turned into some sort of... thing!" -- and attacks the others. Reed stretches his body to stop them, only realizing what he's doing once he's done it. Johnny then catches fire, and discovers that not only is he not physically burned by it, but he can fly.

When things calm down, they agree to use their newfound powers to help humanity. Sue takes the name "The Invisible Girl." It would not be until 1985, in Fantastic Four #284, well after the "Second Wave of Feminism," not to mention after marriage and a 1st child, that the writers finally changed her superhero code name to "The Invisible Woman."

Reed, his ego as overweening as ever, calls himself "Mr. Fantastic," mainly because DC already had stretchy heroes named Plastic Man and the Elongated Man. Ben, the only one who can't change back, says, "I'm what Susie called me: The Thing." And Johnny, a fan of comic books, takes the name of an earlier comic book hero, who had appeared in the original Marvel comic, Marvel Comics #1 in 1939: An android known as the Human Torch.

Prince Namor, the Sub-Mariner -- a character who preceded DC's Aquaman -- had also appeared in Marvel Comics #1, as what would later be called an anti-hero: Someone not always likable, but willing to do the right thing if it benefits him.

In Fantastic Four #4, Johnny finds Namor, an amnesiac because he has been away from salt water for so long (I've often wondered whether a shower, or even simply washing his hands, would have made a difference), and takes him to the East River, where his memory and powers are restored. But instead of thanking Johnny, he goes straight back to his undersea home of Atlantis, and finds it abandoned due to the irradiation from the surface people's atomic testing, and vows revenge.

But it is in the next issue, Fantastic Four #5, that the Four's greatest enemy was introduced: Victor Von Doom, a.k.a. Doctor Doom, King of the European nation of Latveria and a master of magic. He had been Reed's college roommate, and possessed all of Reed's intelligence and all of his love for science. But he also had all of Reed's ego, and little of Reed's patience, and an experiment went horribly wrong, burning him, and forcing him to hide his face behind a mask, to which he later added a suit of armor. (Ben then replaced Victor as Reed's roommate.)

Not knowing of George Lucas' love of Asian culture and Samurai armor, Stan Lee went to his death believing that the Star Wars character of Darth Vader was a ripoff of Dr. Doom, but he never sued Lucas over it.

Stan Lee

The introduction of the Fantastic Four started what became known as the "Marvel Universe." The heroes that followed all fit Stan Lee's guidelines:

* May 1962: The Incredible Hulk #1. Lee wanted his next major character to have "enormous strength," but he didn't want a straight-ahead hero. He thought of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, and used an advanced atomic weapon to turn physicist Bruce Banner into the Hulk. At first, he changed into the Hulk at nightfall, and back to Banner at sunrise. Within 2 years, this was changed to becoming the Hulk when he got angry. And the angrier he got, the stronger he got.

* August 1962 (released June 5): Amazing Fantasy #15. Lee and Steve Ditko, with Jack Kirby drawing the memorable cover, introducing Spider-Man. Lee wanted a superhero that kids could relate to, more than they could the new Human Torch, who was just 1 of 4. Peter Parker was a 15-year-old science nerd who was bitten by a radioactive spider -- there's radioactivity again, with its fear-inducing overtones of nuclear power and the Cold War again -- and he develops the proportionate strength and reflexes of a spider, plus the accompanying reduced vulnerability, a healing factor, and a "spider-sense" that warns him of trouble.

Not until the 2002 Spider-Man film would Spidey's webs be literally shot out of glands in his wrists. That was temporarily written into the comics: "My webs went internal." Most other versions, including the original comics, show Peter adapting the weapon, creating the "web-fluid" and putting it in "web-shooters" on his wrists.

* August 1962: Journey Into Mystery #83. Kirby had previously drawn Thor, the Norse god of thunder, for DC Comics in 1957. Lee said that, after co-creating the Fantastic Four with Kirby and the Hulk with Steve Ditko, he thought the only way to top it would be to write a comic book about God, and he knew he couldn't do that. But then he realized he could write one about a god. Whether he remembered Kirby's earlier Thor, only he knew.

Donald Blake was originally a mortal man, a doctor with a cane (his disability never explained), who finds a walking stick. Striking it on the ground, he transforms into Thor, and the stick becomes Mjolnir, Thor's legendary hammer. Inscribed on the hammer are these words, apparently (for the reader's benefit) in English instead of a Scandinavian language, past or present: "Whosoever holds this hammer, if he be worthy, shall have the power of Thor."

Later, it was retconned that Blake was an identity created by Thor's father, Odin, the king of the Norse gods: As a punishment for opposing him, Odin gave Thor the persona and amnesia, believing himself to have always been Blake.

* September 1962: Tales to Astonish #35. This one introduced Ant-Man. Dr. Hank Pym found a way to shrink to a small size, thus ripping off DC's The Atom; and also a way to control ants, a rewrite of DC's Aquaman and his command of sea creatures. He soon learns to reverse the process, alternating between Ant-Man and Giant-Man.

* March 1963: Tales of Suspense #39. The Cold War rears its head again, as Lee introduces Iron Man. Tony Stark is an industrialist, a brilliant scientist, drawn with a mustache as an obvious homage to Howard Hughes, to the point that, when the character was retconned as having grown up during the Cold War, his father was named Howard Stark.

Surviving being shot in the chest by a Communist agent, but having it severely weaken his heart, led Tony to create the prototype of the Iron Man armor, and use his weaponry to make money for himself and fight the Commies.

* June 1963: Tales to Astonish #44. This one introduced Janet Van Dyne, Dr. Pym's assistant and girlfriend. He designs a shrinkable costume for her, with wings that allow her to fly (which he can't do), and she becomes the Wasp. They are among the few superheroes that have allowed a second generation to really take hold: Their daughter, Hope Van Dyne, taking her mother's maiden name after a falling-out with their father, eventually becomes the 2nd Wasp; and her boyfriend, Scott Lang, becomes the 2nd Ant-Man.

* July 1963: Strange Tales #110. A fan of 1930s pulp magazine hero Mandrake the Magician, Lee wanted a magician character, so he created Doctor Strange. Stephen Strange injures his hands in a car accident, ending his surgical career, so he looks for something to do for the rest of his life. He makes his way to Tibet, then controlled by Communist China (and thus it wouldn't be allowed in the real world -- there's the Cold War again), where he is invited to train in "the mystic arts."

(One of my favorite moments from the Marvel movies came in Spider-Man 2, when Dr. Otto Octavius first becomes Dr. Octopus, but doesn't yet have the name. The Daily Bugle staff is wondering what to call him, and someone suggests, "How about 'Doctor Strange'?" And publisher J. Jonah Jameson says, "Nah, it's been taken." Although that character was never shown in the Tobey Maguire movies, he did interact with Spidey in the later MCU.)

* September 1963: Avengers #1. Lee felt that, as successful as the Fantastic Four had been, it wasn't quite the "superteam" that DC's Justice League had been. So he put Iron Man (the team's funder, so its boss, much like Batman in the Justice League), the Hulk, Thor, Ant-Man and the Wasp together in a team, their 1st mission to stop Thor's adoptive brother Loki, a trickster god with delusions of ruling the Earth.

* March 1964: Avengers #4. The Hulk has gone rogue, and the other Avengers need to stop him. Fortunately, they find Steve Rogers, the 1st superhero created by Kirby, all the way back in 1940, frozen in ice. Injected with a "super-solider formula," Rogers became Captain America, and was thought killed near the end of World War II. His adjustment to the modern era (whether that's the 1960s, the 1980s, or the 21st Century as in current continuity) is difficult, but his heroic instincts always kick in.

In that 1st re-appearance, Cap sees the United Nations Building, and gains a little hope. A policeman sees him, recognizes the costume, and breaks down in tears, because Cap is just the kind of guy we need in these times. The timing couldn't have been better: The country was still shaken by the assassination of President John F. Kennedy on November 22, 1963.

* April 1964: Daredevil #1. Lee wanted a superhero with a disability that was a part of his powers. And before you say that Daredevil is an obvious ripoff of Batman, keep these things in mind: Batman himself is a ripoff of Zorro, who was a ripoff of the Scarlet Pimpernel; and DC had a Doctor Mid-Nite, a hero who could "see in the dark, but not in the light," all the way back in 1941.

Matthew Murdock is a boy who saves a man from being hit by a truck, but a canister containing radioactive material falls off the truck and hits Matt. It blinds him, but it also heightens his other senses to the point where he can do anything better than a sighted person can, including graduate from law school.

When his father, a boxer, is ordered to take a dive (lose a fight on purpose), he refuses, and wins, but is killed for this by a mobster (later retconned as the Kingpin). Matt defends his neighborhood, in courtrooms as a defense attorney by day, and on the streets as Daredevil by night.

* July 1966: Fantastic Four #52. Lee used this issue to introduce the 1st nonwhite superhero in comic books, Black Panther. T'Challa is the King of the African nation of Wakanda, which uses vibranium, a material from a meteorite that landed there centuries ago, to build the most technologically advanced nation on Earth, but also to keep it hidden from the rest of the world. As King, T'Challa undertook the ritual of drinking from a heart-shaped herb, which gives him, more or less, Spider-Man's powers without the webs.

Three times, attempts have been made at a Fantastic Four movie franchise. The 1st, in 1994, was made just so that the film rights to the team wouldn't lapse. The film has never been released, but is available online. Another attempt was made in 2005, released and given mixed reviews, with a sequel in 2007, which didn't do nearly as well, so a 3rd film wasn't made. (Sue Storm was played by Jessica Alba, someone who is definitely better off being visible.) Another reboot came in 2015, and it tanked, leading to the cancellation of the planned sequel. 

In 2022, with the film rights to the Four back in Marvel's hands, John Krasinski played Reed in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. Although the other 3 did not appear in it, this appears to be setting up the next attempt. which, as of this writing, is scheduled to be released on November 8, 2024. (UPDATE: What was ultimately titled The Fantastic Four: First Steps was been pushed back to July 21, 2025, and became the most successful FF movie ever.)

A 2015 episode of the YouTube series Epic Rap Battles of History featured "Epic" Lloyd Ahlquist as Stan Lee, against "Nice" Peter Shukoff as Muppets creator Jim Henson, with Zach Sherwin stepping in as Walt Disney, "taking over" the battle the way his company bought out both Marvel and the Muppets franchise.

*

August 9, 1961 was a Wednesday. Comedian and actress Amy Stiller was born. She was the daughter of comedy team Jerry Stiller and Anne Meara, and the brother of comedian and actor Ben Stiller.

These baseball games were played that day:

* The New York Yankees beat the Los Angeles Angels, 2-0 at Yankee Stadium. Jim Coates, normally a reliever, went the distance, pitching a 4-hit shutout. No home runs in this homer-happy season, but Mickey Mantle went 1-for-3 with a walk, and Roger Maris went 0-for-4.

* The Boston Red Sox beat the Minnesota Twins, 5-4 at Fenway Park. Carl Yastrzemski went 0-for-3 with a walk. Harmon Killebrew went 0-for-2 with 3 walks.

* The Kansas City Athletics beat the Baltimore Orioles, 2-1 at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore. Brooks Robinson went 1-for-4.

* The Cincinnati Reds beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 5-0 at Connie Mack Stadium in Philadelphia. Joey Jay pitched a 6-hit shutout. The Reds would go on to win the Pennant, and Jay would win Game 2 of the World Series against the Yankees. This made him the only Reds pitcher to win a World Series game between 1940 and 1970. Frank Robinson went 0-for-4 with a walk, but Elio Chacon, soon to be a 1962 Met, hit a home run.

* The St. Louis Cardinals beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 4-0 at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh. Curt Simmons went 7 innings, and Ed Bauta 2, for a 7-hit shutout. Stan Musial did not play for the Cardinals. Roberto Clemente went 1-for-4.

* The Cleveland Indians beat the Washington Senators, 3-1 at Cleveland Municipal Stadium.

* The Detroit Tigers beat the Chicago White Sox, 8-2 at Comiskey Park in Chicago. Rocky Colavito  and Al Kaline hit home runs for the Tigers.

* The Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Milwaukee Braves, 8-3 at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Don Drysdale went the distance, allowing 3 runs, just 1 earned, on 4 hits and 1 walk, striking out 11, and helping his own cause with a home run. Joe Adcock hit 2 home runs for the Braves, but Hank Aaron and Eddie Mathews both went 0-for-4, and Joe Torre went 0-for-3.

* And the San Francisco Giants beat the Chicago Cubs, 6-5 at Candlestick Park in San Francisco. Willie Mays went 1-for-4 with 2 RBIs. Ernie Banks went 2-for-4 with an RBI. Matty Alou won it with a homer in the bottom of the 9th.

July 11, 1966: Marvel Comics Introduces the 1st Black Superhero

Chadwick Boseman as T'Challa

July 11, 1966: Marvel Comics publishes Fantastic Four #52, introducing the character of Black Panther, generally considered to be the 1st black superhero in mainstream comic books.

The name "Black Panther" long predates the character -- and the Black Panther Party, which formed a few weeks later. In World War II, the U.S. Army's segregated 761st Tank Battalion was known as the Black Panthers. And Portugal's Mozambique-born soccer star Eusébio, already world-famous but about to become more so as the World Cup began, was already nicknamed "The Black Panther." (He was also nicknamed "The Black Pearl," as was his fellow Portuguese speaker, Brazilian star Pelé.)

There had been black heroes in comic books before, but no major publisher had dared try it. In 1947, with Jackie Robinson debuting in Major League Baseball and Joe Louis as Heavyweight Champion of the World, All-Negro Comics #1 was published. But it sold so poorly that there was no issue #2.

Marvel, under a previous name, Atlas Comics, had published Jungle Tales, including Waku, Prince of the Bantu, clearly an inspiration for the character to come. But that magazine ran only 7 issues, from September 1954 to September 1955, and, as was all too common at the time, indulged in too many stereotypes. In 1963, Marvel had included Private Gabriel Jones in the World War II-themed book Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos.

With the knowledge that the Lone Ranger had been partly inspired by an African-American lawman named Bass Reeves (1838-1910), Dell Comics released Lobo in December 1965. Bearing no resemblance to the later DC character of the same name, which is Spanish for "wolf," this was a gunslinger who bore stylistic resemblances to the protagonists of 2 current TV series: Dr. Richard Kimble of The Fugitive and Captain Jason McCord of the Western Branded: The cover identified him as "Branded for Life: An honest man... blamed for a crime he did not commit!"

On the heads of his defeated foes, would leave a gold coin imprinted with the letter L and the image of a wolf, similar to the Lone Ranger leaving a silver bullet and Zorro using his sword to cut a letter Z on his opponents' shirts.

Lobo #1 was released after the March On Washington, the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Selma-to-Montgomery March and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 -- but also after the riots in Harlem, North Philadelphia and Watts. It didn't sell well, not even in black neighborhoods. When Marvel released the issue of Fantastic Four with Black Panther, Dell thought to try again, and, in September 1966, released Lobo #2. But that didn't sell well, either, and, except for a brief revival in 2017-18, the character has never appeared again.

A character's in-story origin sometimes gets embellished, but rarely has substantive change. But, as was often the case with Marvel and its boss man, Stan Lee, there is a dispute as to this character's real-world origin. Smilin' Stan said that a black hero was the next step in Marvel's progress.

But Marvel's main artist, Jack Kirby, said, "I came up with the Black Panther because I realized I had no blacks in my strip. I'd never drawn a black. I needed a black. I suddenly discovered that I had a lot of black readers. My first friend was a black! And here I was ignoring them because I was associating with everybody else." Lee's story was backed up by writer Roy Thomas, who later succeeded him as Marvel's editor; while Kirby's story is backed up by documentation, including drawings that predate the issue.

With Black Panther, the in-story origin of the character is not the only thing that matters: There's also the origin story of his homeland, the African nation of Wakanda. At some point in the past, a meteorite landed there. It was made of vibranium, and this fictional material allowed Wakanda to develop technology beyond anything the world had yet seen, including the ability to conceal themselves from the outside world. Their King decided to do this, for fear that the technology could be stolen. (Vibranium would eventually be found elsewhere, and was used to make Captain America's shield.)

In-universe, the title "Black Panther" is a rank of office, chieftain of the Wakandan Panther Clan. As chieftain, the Panther is entitled to consume a special heart-shaped herb which, in addition to his mystical, shamanistic connection with Bast, the Panther Goddess, grants him superhumanly acute senses, strength, speed, agility, stamina, durability, healing, and reflexes. In essence, he has the powers of Spider-Man, without the addition of web-shooters.

In the comics, the King of Wakanda, and thus the Black Panther, is named T'Challa, whose father and predecessor, T'Chaka, was murdered by a rival. Thus, like so many other superheroes, T'Challa is motivated to fight for justice in remembrance of, and to avenge, a parental figure. Just as so many other heroes protect a city -- or, in the case of Daredevil, just one neighborhood -- T'Challa protects an entire country.

In the story that introduced him, he invited the Fantastic Four to Wakanda, and then tested their abilities. The tests passed, he made amends by explaining that he needed to see if they would be worthy allies. They subsequently fought a would-be invader. Black Panther later joined the Avengers, and, for a time, was married to Ororo Munroe, a.k.a. Storm of the X-Men.

T'Challa made his television debut in the 1994-96 Fantastic Four animated series, where he was voiced by Keith David. Djimon Hounsou provided the voice of T'Challa for a 2011 animated series. Chadwick Boseman played the character in 4 live-action Marvel Cinematic Universe films: Captain America: Civil War, in 2016, in which he's on the pro-registration side; Black Panther, in 2018, the 1st superhero film with a black lead that wasn't a comedy (I'm counting Wesley Snipes' Blade films as more horror than superhero films); Avengers: Infinity War, also in 2018, in which he was one of the heroes who was "snapped away" by Thanos; and Avengers: Endgame, in 2019, in which the Hulk snaps him back, and he leads Wakanda's army in the final battle against Thanos.

Boseman, who had previously played black American icons Jackie Robinson, Thurgood Marshall and James Brown, became beloved all over the world for his portrayal of T'Challa. Unbeknownst to the world at large, he was already battling cancer during the filming of Endgame, and died in 2020. So, while the character still lives in comic books, in the MCU, the 2022 sequel Black Panther: Wakanda Forever reveals that their version of T'Challa has died from an incurable illness, and his sister, Shuri, played by Letitia Wright as in the previous film, becomes the new Black Panther.

*

July 11, 1966 was a Monday. There were no baseball games played, as the All-Star Break was underway. The next night, the All-Star Game was held at the new Busch Memorial Stadium in St. Louis, and, under very hot conditions -- Casey Stengel noted of the new facility, "It sure holds the heat well" -- the National League beat the American League, 2-1.

But there was one score on this historic day. Or, rather, one game that ending with neither side scoring: The World Cup got underway in England, with the host country and Uruguay playing to a 0-0 draw at Wembley Stadium in West London.

May 2, 2008: The Marvel Cinematic Universe Begins

May 2, 2008: The Marvel Cinematic Universe begins, with the release of the film Iron Man, starring Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark, a billionaire scientist who uses his genius to become a superhero and fight injustice.

The character of Iron Man had debuted in Tales of Suspense #39 in March 1963, and had led the Avengers since the group's debut in The Avengers #1 in September of that year. But he had never been in the top tier of Marvel Comics characters in terms of popularity, unlike Spider-Man, the Hulk, Captain America, Thor, Daredevil, the Fantastic Four and the X-Men.

Example: Spider-Man had been seen in live-action on TV in 2 separate series, one in 1974-77, another in 1977-79, and 3 movies starting in 2002; the Hulk on TV in 1977-82, 3 TV-movies based on the series in 1988-90, and in a film in 2003; Captain America had been in a movie all the way back in 1944, and then in TV-movies in 1979 (2 of them) and 1990; Thor and Daredevil had each been in one of the Hulk TV-movies, and Daredevil headlined a 2003 movie; and there had been 3 movies each for the F4 and the X-Men.

Until the release of Spider-Man: No Way Home in 2021 brought the Tobey Maguire (2002-07) and Andrew Garfield (2012-14, in other words not yet seen in 2008) versions of Spidey together with the Tom Holland version (2016-onward), none of those productions was considered part of the MCU.

But Iron Man not only launched Stark to the forefront of Marveldom, but also symbolized Downey's comeback from a fine acting career that had seemed ruined by drug use.

Other films followed:

* 2008: The Incredible Hulk.

* 2010: Iron Man 2.

* 2011: Thor and Captain America: The First Avenger.

* 2012: Marvel's The Avengers.

* 2013: Iron Man 3 and Thor: The Dark World.

* 2014: Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Guardians of the Galaxy.

* 2015: Avengers: Age of Ultron and Ant-Man.

* 2016: Captain America: Civil War and Doctor Strange.

* 2017: Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, Spider-Man: Homecoming and Thor: Ragnarok.

* 2018: Black Panther, Avengers: Infinity War and Ant-Man and the Wasp.

* 2019: Captain Marvel, Avengers: Endgame and Spider-Man: Far From Home.

* 2021: Black Widow, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, Eternals, and Spider-Man: No Way Home.

* Scheduled for release in 2022: Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, Thor: Love and Thunder, and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.

* Planned for 2023: Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, The Marvels.

In addition, there have been TV series: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., 2013-20; Agent Carter, 2015-16; Daredevil, 2015-18; Jessica Jones, 2015-19; Luke Cage, 2016-18; The Defenders, 2017; Inhumans, 2017; Iron Fist, 2017-18; The Punisher, 2017-19; Runaways, 2017-19; Cloak & Dagger, 2018-19; Helstrom, 2020; WandaVision, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, Loki and Hawkeye, all 2021; the animated (and thus far cheaper to make) What If..., 2021-22; and Moon Knight, starting in 2022 and possibly continuing beyond.

The MCU, produced by The Walt Disney Company, forced Warner Brothers' hand: It owned the rights to movies for the characters in DC Comics, but the DC Extended Universe has had its problems -- the unsuitability of some of its writers and directors being more important than the quality of the stories and the acting.

In hindsight, it is interesting that the greatest crisis in each brand's live-action history was set in 2019: For Marvel, "The Snap" by Thanos in the film Avengers: Infinity War, on May 31 in their continuity, though the film was released on April 27, 2018; and for DC, the titular event in their miniseries Crisis On Infinite Earths, on December 10, the day it aired on The CW Network. And, in both cases, the man who was then President in real life, Donald Trump, couldn't save anyone.

*

May 2, 2008 was a Friday. These games were played in Major League Baseball:

* The New York Yankees beat the Seattle Mariners, 5-1 at Yankee Stadium. Chien-Ming Wang was the winning pitcher. Derek Jeter went 0-for-4, but Melky Cabrera had a 2-RBI double.

* The New York Mets beat the Arizona Diamondbacks, 7-2 at Chase Field in Phoenix.

* The Boston Red Sox beat the Tampa Bay Rays, 7-3 at Fenway Park in Boston.

* The Philadelphia Phillies beat the San Francisco Giants, 6-5 at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia. The Phils got home runs from Chase Utley, Pedro Feliz, and a walkoff in the 10th inning from Pat Burrell.

* The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Washington Nationals, 11-4 at Nationals Park in Washington.

* The Atlanta Braves beat the Cincinnati Reds, 2-0 at Turner Field (now Center Parc Stadium) in Atlanta. Tim Hudson pitched a 3-hit shutout, 10 strikeouts, no walks. Brian McCann hit a home run.

* The Florida Marlins beat the San Diego Padres, 6-4 at Dolphin Stadium (now Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida.

* The Houston Astros beat the Milwaukee Brewers, 7-4 at Minute Maid Park (now Daikin Park) in Houston.

* The Toronto Blue Jays beat the Chicago White Sox, 2-0 at the Rogers Centre in Toronto. It took 5 Jays pitchers to complete a 5-hit shutout. In contrast, Mark Buehrle went the distance for the South Siders, but lost.

* The St. Louis Cardinals beat their arch-rivals, the Chicago Cubs, 5-3 at Busch Stadium in St. Louis. Skip Schumaker won it with a home run in the bottom of the 11th.

* The Minnesota Twins beat the Detroit Tigers, 11-1 at the Metrodome in Minneapolis.

* The Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Colorado Rockies, 11-6 at Coors Field in Denver.

* The Baltimore Orioles beat the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, 4-3 at Angel Stadium of Anaheim.

* The Texas Rangers beat the Oakland Athletics, 4-3 at the Oakland Coliseum (then named the McAfee Coliseum).

* And the Cleveland Indians and the Kansas City Royals got rained out at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City. It was made up as part of a doubleheader on September 13. The Royals won both games, 8-3 and 8-4.

Football was out of season. The NBA Playoffs were in the 1st Round:

* The Atlanta Hawks beat the Boston Celtics, 103-100 at the Philips Arena (now the State Farm Arena) in Atlanta. That was a Game 6, and the Hawks won Game 7 2 nights later.

* The Cleveland Cavaliers beat the Washington Wizards, 105-88 at the Verizon Center (now the Capital One Arena) in Washington, to win Game 6 and the series. LeBron James had 27 points, 13 rebounds and 13 assists.

* And the Utah Jazz beat the Houston Rockets, 113-91 at the Delta Center (then named the EnergySolutions Arena) in Salt Lake City, to win Game 6 and the series. Tracy McGrady scored 40 points.

One Stanley Cup Playoff game was played that night, but it was a doozy. The San Jose Sharks beat the Dallas Stars, 3-2 at the HP Pavilion (now the SAP Center) in San Jose. Joe Pavelski scored 1:05 into overtime. That was in Game 6 of an NHL Western Conference Semifinal. But, 2 nights later, Game 7 went to 4 overtimes, and Brenden Morrow won it for Dallas.