Real Name: Isaiah Bradley
Project: Rebirth began as a collaboration between US, British and German eugenicists led by Dr. Josef Reinstein, a.k.a Dr. Erskine, and Dr. Koch. When WORLD WAR TWO began, Koch took over the German program and Josef Reinstein took over the American program. Each was attempting to recreate the super soldier serum that created Captain America six months prior to Pearl Harbor. Reinstein's early attempts to refine the formula resulted in African-American super soldiers. Three hundred of these soldiers were taken from Camp Cathcart and subjected to potentially fatal experiments at an undisclosed location in an attempt to re-create the Super Soldier formula, as seen in Truth: Red, White and Black. Only five subjects survived the original trials. In the name of secrecy, US soldiers executed the camp's commander and hundreds of black soldiers left behind at Camp Cathcart. The government told the families of the three hundred subjects that their loved ones had died in battle.
When the other two remaining members of Bradley's test group (Maurice Canfield and Sgt. Lucas Evans) died, Bradley stole a spare costume intended for Captain America. He then engaged in a self-directed suicide mission to destroy the Super-Soldier efforts of the Nazis at the Schwarzebitte concentration camp. There, he was also able to assassinate Koch. The mission ended when the Germans captured Bradley. Nazi interest in the American supersoldier was high; he was even brought before the Fuhrer himself. Bradley was later rescued, only to be court-martialed and imprisoned at Leavenworth around 1943. In 1960, Bradley was pardoned by President Eisenhower and released.
Considered by them to be the first Captain America, Isaiah Bradley became an underground legend among much of the African-American community in the Marvel Universe. A number of the most noted Africans and African-Americans of the twentieth century's last four decades visited Bradley as a sign of respect and, in many cases, hero worship. His visitors have included Malcolm X, Richard Pryor, Muhammad Ali, Angela Davis, Alex Haley, Nelson Mandela, and Colin Powell. Outside the Black community, however, he remains largely unknown. When he arrived as a special guest to the wedding of Storm and the Black Panther, Luke Cage was awestruck while Wolverine was totally unaware of the man's identity or importance.
Submitted by BlakberyNewOrleans
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