Captain America Comics (1941)

Captain America Comics #1 (March 1941), cover by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby One punch, aimed straight at a real dictator, and the hero was defined before readers opened the book. Captain America drives his fist into Hitler's jaw while bullets ping off his shield, and the room is crammed with soldiers, a map and a Bucky inset, which gives the image its crowded, newsreel energy. The punch is the part everyone lifts: it is one of the most reproduced covers in comics, Marvel's 80th-anniversary Captain America Anniversary Tribute #1 in 2021 had artists redraw the issue, and the 2011 film Captain America: The First Avenger restaged the blow in its war-bond stage show. It works as an homage because it is a political statement as much as a pose.