- “I'm still that skinny kid from Brooklyn, now just in a big metal suit.”
- ―Steve Rogers to Captain Carter[src]
HYDRA Stomper (real name Steve Rogers) is a Marvel character who first appears in the animated Disney+ series What If...? He is an alternate version of Steve Rogers, tangent from the Earth-616 universe.
He was the original test subject for Project Rebirth, who was supposed to be injected with the Super Soldier Serum and become the world's first super soldier. During the HYDRA attack, Steve was wounded, forcing Peggy Carter to become the super soldier instead. Although unfit to serve in the military, Rogers was equipped with the suit of armor, designed by Howard Stark and powered by the Tesseract, and joined the war efforts as the HYDRA Stomper.
Steve Rogers was created by Jack Kirby and Joe Simon.
Role in the series[]
Steve Rogers appears in the first episode of the series, set during the events of Captain America: The First Avenger. Steve is due to be the test subject for Project Rebirth with the Super Soldier Serum. However, Steve gets injured so Peggy Carter takes the serum instead and becomes Captain Carter. Steve works with Peggy while wearing a battle suit called the Hydra Stomper, but is believed to have died when the train explodes. However, Steve later shows up alive and he and Peggy agree to share a dance. Peggy goes on to battle an octopus-like creature and sacrifices herself when a portal opens. Believing Peggy to be dead, Steve mourns her death, unaware that she is alive, but in the future. In "What If... The Watcher Broke His Oath?", Captain Carter is shown to be on a mission with Black Widow to the Lemurian Star (as seen in Captain America: The Winter Soldier). During the mission, Widow reveals to Peggy that the pirates were after the Hydra Stomper, with Widow implying that Steve is also inside.
- “I spent years going after HYDRA. As long as I was on a mission, I could pretend you weren't gone.”
- ―Steve Rogers to Captain Carter[src]
In "What if... Captain Carter Fought The Hydra Stomper?", a brainwashed Steve Rogers appears in the Hydra Stomper suit (from the first episode) and it is revealed that if Black Widow and Captain Carter remove the suit, Steve will die. Steve soon wakes up and offers to take the women to the Red Room, where Natasha trained, and she is unsure if she and Peggy should trust the man in the suit as Natasha doesn't believe it is the same Steve Peggy once loved. Peggy and Steve chat where he reveals after he survived the explosion, he went straight back to fighting as she believed it would help him move on from Peggy and that he worked with Bucky Barnes, who went on to get married. This Steve eventually seemingly sacrificed himself to destroy the Red Room, upsetting Peggy.
In "What if... Strange Supreme Intervened?", Strange Supreme tricks Captain Carter into believing she is back in the 1940s. Picking up where Steve Rogers arrived at Project Rebirth, Peggy sees Steve who tells her they can have the life they couldn't have together. Peggy starts to believe Steve's words until she notices a butterfly and realises she is being tricked: Steve isn't real and neither are his words. Carter manages to break out of this illusion and defeat Strange Supreme.
Trivia[]
- This version of Steve Rogers is similar to both Iron Man and the Winter Soldier from the main timeline. The armored suit Steve wears in "What If... Captain Carter Were The First Avenger?" is similar to the first Mark I armour and the brainwashing Steve endured after his fall is the same thing Bucky experienced in the main timeline. Bucky also tried to get a brainwashed Steve to remember him, refusing to fight his former ally, just like Steve did with Bucky in Captain America: The Winter Soldier.
- In the Bullet Points series, set in an alternate timeline of the Marvel Comics, Steve Rogers became Iron Man and was surgically drafted to an armor suit by the U.S. Government, because Abraham Erskine was killed before he could create and perform his experiments with the Super Soldier Serum.
Gallery[]
Screenshots[]
.jpg "What If... - 2x05 - What If... Captain Carter Fought the HYDRA Stomper (9).jpg (296 KB)")
.jpg "What If... - 2x05 - What If... Captain Carter Fought the HYDRA Stomper (10).jpg (186 KB)")
.jpg "What If... - 2x05 - What If... Captain Carter Fought the HYDRA Stomper (1).jpg (356 KB)")
.jpg "What If... - 2x05 - What If... Captain Carter Fought the HYDRA Stomper (2).jpg (274 KB)")
.jpg "What If... - 2x05 - What If... Captain Carter Fought the HYDRA Stomper (4).jpg (269 KB)")
Miscellaneous[]
_Hydra_Stomper_Build_A_Figure.jpg "Marvel Legends Hydra Stomper (BAF) Hydra Stomper Build A Figure.jpg (155 KB)")
See also[]
- Steve Rogers
- Captain America (The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes)
- Captain America (Marvel Animated Universe 2012-18)
- Captain America (Marvel Animated Universe 2015-20)
- Captain America (X-Men '97)
External links[]
HYDRA Stomper on the Marvel Cinematic Universe Wiki- Steve Rogers Variants on the Marvel Cinematic Universe Wiki
- Steven Rogers (Earth-82111) on the Marvel Database
