ALL CAPS! ISAIAH BRADLEY

[Music] yo yo what's going on nerdcore i hope y'all are having a marvelous day quick reminder we're doing a giveaway for a year of disney plus on us once we hit a thousand subs so subscribe and drop a like because that's what heroes do this week we're taking a deep dive into the origin of isaiah bradley the first black captain america but contrary to popular belief not the first captain america bradley was the brainchild of bill james who casually mentioned the idea of a black cap back in early 2000 but senior editor for marvel alex alonso found the idea appealing bradley was initially going to be a scientist who received his powers through scientific experimentation but marvel wanted the story to have even more gripping roots within american history [Music] the legacy of that shield is complicated so the story of isaiah bradley took a turn from a more classic origin to one of tragedy finding its inspiration from the true story of the tuskegee syphilis studies conducted from 1932 to 1972 you see back in 1932 the u.s public health service and the cdc partnered with the tuskegee university of alabama to study untreated syphilis in adult males 600 black men were inducted into the study and told they were receiving treatment for quote unquote bad blood a term used to describe illnesses like syphilis anemia and fatigue of the men 399 had syphilis while the rest were the control group the men didn't know the truth of the study and thus they weren't able to give informed consent they were given placebos rather than treatment and as intended their syphilis progressed most of the men died of complications from the disease and those that survived suffered physical and mental deterioration that reverted them to adolescent children in their old age the study ended in 1972 thanks to investigative journalist gene heller for breaking the story in the washington star proving once again that not all heroes wear capes back to cap our story starts in the pages of truth red white and black written by the late great robert morales and illustrated by kyle baker in early 1940 isaiah bradley born new york strong meets the love of his life faith shabazz and the two are married and honeymoon at the world's fair in queens but the honeymooners phase of their life is cut short when pearl harbor is attacked and isaiah decides to enlist in the army to serve his country leaving behind his wife and soon-to-be mother of his child after enlisting isaiah is stationed at camp capcar in mississippi where he begins his training around the same time the military was in the process of trying to recreate the super soldier serum that created steve rogers captain america but before testing it on their preferred soldier type they forcibly induct 300 black soldiers isaiah being one of them to serve as test subjects for the second-rate version of the serum to keep the project a secret the us army executed all the remaining soldiers at camp capcar even the base commander families of all the men were sent letters stating that their loved ones had died as soldiers in combat however faith didn't fall for that charade and pressed on knowing her husband to be still alive wouldn't you know the experiments go horribly wrong and just about all the men suffered gruesome deaths as the serum caused over development of growth hormone forcing their bodies to grow beyond its natural limits resulting in them literally exploding on the scene of the 300 original test subjects only five survived the experiment and become a covert black ops team but due to the nature of their missions and infighting isaiah would wind up being the sole survivor while recovering from the mission that left him the only survivor of his team he's persuaded into taking on a suicide mission in order to keep his family from suffering the same fate as the men at camp kafka his mission to single-handedly stop the efforts of the german super soldier project but before leaving he steals a spare captain america uniform and shield as well this is crucial because on his last mission his squad was told that their kind would never be worthy of wearing the outfit while he miraculously ends up succeeding in his mission he's ultimately captured by the germans and brought before the fuhrer himself but when he's reluctant to cut a deal with the germans he's ordered to be terminated and his body parts sent to america as an example oh what's in the box luckily bradley is rescued by a group of german freedom fighters and after some time he was finally able to return home but instead of receiving a hero's welcome he's immediately court-martialed and given life in prison for stealing captain america's costume during his 17 years of solitary confinement in prison without the treatment he needed to correct the flawed super soldier serum in his blood his body and mind slowly deteriorate while in prison the government takes samples from him and attempts to reproduce him and after 39 attempts josiah x was born with the powers of his father to a surrogate mother his wife faith learned of his incarceration and wrote to president eisenhower every month for three years finally in 1960 on the day of president kennedy's inauguration isaiah was granted a full pardon and made to swear his past to secrecy but by the time he's released isaiah is a shadow of his former self and he has the mental state of a young child isaiah's daughter sarah bradley now sarah gail had a child of her own named eli who would go on to be a founding member and leader of the young avengers team featuring wiccan and speed who recently made their mcu debut in wand division quick side note if you are not watching that show what are you doing it is amazing also we'll probably cover josiah and eli's history in a single episode of all caps because their origin mostly stems from this story but they are super dope and i still can't wait to review them when steve rogers learns of the story of isaiah bradley he is shocked to say the least he decides to pay him a visit to honor his service and stand against the atrocities that he had to endure under his name you see while steve rogers hadn't ever heard of him isaiah was well known within the black community at his home steve found pictures of isaiah with notable black figures such as malcolm x nelson mandela muhammad ali richard pryor and so many more steve returned isaiah's uniform to him and even took a picture with the unsung hero for his wall and that's where this story wraps up man that was intense not one of our lighter episodes of all caps but it's kind of hard to bring levity to such a tragic story but a great one nonetheless it's rumored that carl lumley will be portraying isaiah in the upcoming falcon in the winter soldier show on disney plus and if that pans out i can't wait to see how this story is intertwined in the mcu's lore man that would be a deep cut deep cuts so do you think they'll actually touch on any of this stuff in falcon and the winter soldier if so comment how you think they might incorporate isaiah into the series i'm curious to know what you guys think and man i can't wait for this show to start but i am definitely happy with one division for now well that wraps up all caps and i will see you guys next time peace and for more marvel comics videos don't forget to like and subscribe and i'll catch you on the flip side

Channel: Nerdcore

Views: 1,091

Rating: 4.8974357 out of 5

Keywords: Captain America, Isaiah Bradley, Falcon and the Winter Soldier, Falcon, Winter Soldier, Avengers, Comicbook Origins, Nerdcore, ALL CAPS, tuskegee syphilis, Robert Morales, Alex Alonso, Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, MCU, Sam Wilson, black history, Marvel comics

Id: LrvV8oSTaI4

Length: 8min 5sec (485 seconds)

Published: Thu Feb 25 2021