Betsy Ross (comics)
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Betsy Ross is
Captain America Captain America is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by cartoonists Joe Simon and Jack Kirby, the character First appearance, first appeared in ''#Golden Age, Captain America Comics'' #1 (cover ...
's early love interest and supporting character in
American comic book An American comic book is a thin periodical originating in the United States, on average 32 pages, containing comics. While the form originated in 1933, American comic books first gained popularity after the 1938 publication of ''Action Comics'' ...
s published by
Marvel Comics Marvel Comics is an American comic book publishing, publisher and the flagship property of Marvel Entertainment, a divsion of The Walt Disney Company since September 1, 2009. Evolving from Timely Comics in 1939, ''Magazine Management/Atlas Co ...
during the 1930-1940s period known to historians and collectors as the
Golden Age of Comic Books The Golden Age of Comic Books describes an era of American comic books from 1938 to 1956. During this time, modern comic books were first published and rapidly increased in popularity. The superhero archetype was created and many well-known char ...
. She then debuted as the
superheroine A superhero or superheroine is a stock character that typically possesses ''superpowers'', abilities beyond those of ordinary people, and fits the role of the hero, typically using his or her powers to help the world become a better place, ...
Golden Girl in ''Captain America Comics'' #66 (April 1948).


Publication history

Marvel Comics' first Golden Girl, Elizabeth Ross,
first appeared In American comic books and other stories with a long history, first appearance refers to the first issue to feature a fictional character. These issues are often highly valued by collectors due to their rarity and iconic status. Reader interes ...
, without yet a superhero identity, as Betty Ross in ''
Captain America Comics Captain America is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by cartoonists Joe Simon and Jack Kirby, the character First appearance, first appeared in ''#Golden Age, Captain America Comics'' #1 (cover ...
'' #1 (March 1941). A supporting character who appeared in occasional stories, she assisted the U.S. Army and was a love interest for Steve Rogers, Captain America's real identity. She succeeded Bucky as Captain America's sidekick in issue #66 (April 1948), in the 12-page story "Golden Girl", by an unconfirmed writer and by penciller Syd Shores. Later, it was retconned that this was not Steve Rogers but
Jeff Mace Jeffrey Solomon Mace, also known as the Patriot and Captain America, is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character was created during the 1940s, a period fans and historians call the Golden Age of ...
, the superhero Patriot and the third man to be called Captain America. Golden Girl appeared in ''Captain America'' stories through issue #74 (Oct. 1949), except for issue #71, and also in the Captain America stories in '' Marvel Mystery Comics'' #87-88 and #92 (Aug. & Oct. 1948, June 1949). Betsy's non superhero design has changed over the years; when she first appeared she was blonde, but later stories had her with red hair and wearing a blonde wig as part of her Golden Girl costume. The 2010 miniseries ''Captain America: Patriot'' retroactively revealed that she was the aunt of General Thunderbolt Ross, and the great-aunt of his daughter
Betty Ross Elizabeth "Betty" Ross (later Talbot and then Banner) is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character was created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, and made her first appearance in ''The Incredible ...
, two characters introduced in '' The Incredible Hulk'' #1 (May 1962).


Fictional character biography

Immediately before and during most of
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, Elizabeth (then known as Betty) Ross was a member of the U.S. Army's Women's Auxiliary Army Corps, and had previously worked as a waitress and later an FBI agent. She became a friend and eventual girlfriend of Army Private Steve Rogers, unaware of his dual identity as Captain America, whom she admired and who had saved her on more than one occasion. She was kind and resourceful, but not especially strong at first. Betsy investigated fortune tellers Sando and Omar and exposed them as spies. In issue #6 (Sept. 1941), she was captured by the Imperial Japanese spy known as Fang along with Bucky, but was rescued by Captain America. After the attack on
Pearl Harbor Pearl Harbor is an American lagoon harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, west of Honolulu. It was often visited by the Naval fleet of the United States, before it was acquired from the Hawaiian Kingdom by the U.S. with the signing of the Re ...
and the United States' official entry into the war, she soon became involved in more missions that had her opposing
Nazi Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...
and Imperial Japanese forces. Over the course of the comics, Ross grows into a tough and capable ally of Captain America and Bucky. She had adapted her name slightly to Betsy Ross — the name of the U.S. colonial-era woman to whom legend ascribes sewing the first American flag — by the time that Captain America's sidekick, the second Bucky (Fred Davis) was shot and wounded. The third Captain America, Jeffrey Mace, who'd succeeded the M.I.A. Rogers and the killed-in-action William Naslund, revealed his civilian identity to Ross and gave her a bulletproof cape previously owned by Naslund and trained her as his new partner, the costumed crime-fighter Golden Girl. For Ross' first mission as Golden Girl, she and Captain America investigated strange seismic activity in a city, leading them to encounter Mr. Zrr from Dimension Zee and assisted him in capturing Denton Smith and Cecil Babylon, two criminals who found safe haven in that dimension. After many more adventures, culminating in a battle with the Red Skull in
Hell In religion and folklore, hell is a location in the afterlife in which evil souls are subjected to punitive suffering, most often through torture, as eternal punishment after death. Religions with a linear divine history often depict hell ...
, Ross and Mace married by 1953 and eventually retired from their superhero duties. After Mace died of cancer, Betsy moved to Valhalla Villas, a Florida retirement community for ex-heroes and ex-villains. She was one of the Golden Age heroes who went back into action one last time after being temporarily de-aged as part of the "Last Days" part of the " Secret Wars" storyline.


Powers and abilities

Betsy Ross had no superpowers but was a skilled hand-to-hand combatant and wore a bulletproof cape that belonged to William Naslund, formerly the Spirit of '76.


Reception


Accolades

* In 2020, ''
CBR.com ''Comic Book Resources'', also known by the initialism CBR, is a website dedicated to the coverage of comic book–related news and discussion. History Comic Book Resources was founded by Jonah Weiland in 1995 as a development of the Kingdom Co ...
'' ranked Betsy Ross 7th in their "Marvel: 10 Best Golden Age Heroines" list. * In 2020, ''
Scary Mommy Scary Mommy is a website that produces content targeting mothers, which generally focuses on parenting, motherhood, current events and pop culture. The site is owned by Bustle Digital Group and is based in New York City. History Scary Mommy ...
'' included Betsy Ross in their "195+ Marvel Female Characters Are Truly Heroic" list.


In other media

* Betsy Ross appeared in the Captain America portion of '' The Marvel Super Heroes'' TV series (1966) voiced by Vita Linder.


References


External links


Grand Comics Database
* ''All-New Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A to Z: Update 2 - Adam II to Zodiac'' (May 2007)

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ross, Betsy) Characters created by Jack Kirby Characters created by Joe Simon Characters created by Roy Thomas Comics characters introduced in 1941 Golden Age superheroes Fictional World War II veterans Marvel Comics female superheroes Marvel Comics military personnel Marvel Comics mutates Timely Comics characters