Doctor Abraham Erskine, also known as Dr. Josef Reinstein, is a Marvel Comics character that appears in Captain America: The First Avenger and the What If...? series.
Dr. Erskine was created by Jack Kirby and Joe Simon.
Background
Biography
He is a brilliant scientist who created the Super Soldier Serum, a chemical formula that grant superhuman strength and invulnerability. However, when the formula was still under development, Dr. Erskine tried to flee from Nazi Germany with his family, but Adolf Hitler sent the Nazi HYDRA agent Johann Schmidt to stop him and force him to finish the serum. To accomplish his own goals, Johann Schmidt forced Dr. Erskine to give him an early version of the serum and injected himself with it. This caused horrifying side effects, turning Johann Schmidt into the deformed superpowered menace Red Skull. Furious with this result, Johann Schmidt throwed Dr. Erskine into a dungeon to die, but he was saved by Peggy Carter and escaped to the United States, where he was able to finish the formula of the Super Soldier Serum.
Personality
Dr. Erskine is kindhearted and gentle, acting as a father figure to Steve. He wanted Steve to be injected with the Super Soldier Serum so that good could be brought into the world by giving superhuman strength to someone noble who would use it to protect innocents from the forces of evil.
Appearances
Marvel Cinematic Universe
Captain America: The First Avenger
Dr. Erskine injected the Super Soldier Serum into a brave and kindhearted soldier named Steve Rogers, using Vita Radiation to maximize the potential of the serum. Thus, Steve became the super soldier Captain America. However, an HYDRA agent acting on Red Skull's behalf shot Dr. Erskine on the spot, killing him.
Avengers: Age of Ultron
Dr. Erskine was indirectly referenced to/mentioned in the film by Steve Rogers, when he sarcastically said "Right, what kind of monster would let someone experiment on them to protect their country?", referring to Erskine's Super Soldier program that turned Steve Rogers into Captain America.
What If...?
In an alternate timeline set during the events of Captain America: The First Avenger, before he began the presentation, he asked Peggy, who brought Steve down earlier, that she was more comfortable in the booth. She declined, and chose to stay. Dr. Erskine was about to inject the Super Soldier Serum to Steve Rogers, using the Vita Radiation. But a HYDRA agent, triggered the explosive, interrupting his work and was killed in the explosion.
An illusion of Erskine appears in the season 2 episode "What if... Strange Supreme Intervened?", when Strange Supreme tricks Captain Carter into believing she is back in her own universe in the 1940s, moments before she received the Super Soldier Serum,
Gallery
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