That Time Captain America Fought A Volkswagen Beetle

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You know, when you're a specially engineered super-soldier, you have to expect a certain amount of hassle. Like supervillian attacks, secret evil organizations plotting against you, that kind of thing. You probably shouldn't have to worry about a Beetle trying to run you over in your apartment. But Captain America did.

Yep, back in June of 1978 Captain America #222 featured the Captain being attacked by a purple Volkswagen Beetle. It looks to be a Beetle from between about '63- '66. It attacks Cap in his surprisingly boringly-furnished apartment, which is odd for a few reasons, starting with the fact that the apartment appears to be on the third floor. Captain America must live in a building with that desirable combination of some of the biggest elevators and least-curious doormen.

The Beetle was under the remote control of some bad guy named Veda who worked for a sinister group called The Corporation. While it's not clear if VW was directly involved (maybe settling some old WWII beef?) Captain America does have some nice things to say about Beetles that almost sounds like ad copy:

"[I hope]... the average VW, for all it's durability and ease of handling... is still less agile than Captain America!"

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That's a pretty magnanimous internal dialogue to have while you're dodging a car that's destroying your home.

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It's also implied that the Beetle surprised Captain America in the middle of the night, suggesting he sleeps in full costume and with his shield under his pillow. That's why you can't seal the deal with a girl, dude.

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In the end, Captain America lures the Beetle out a second or third story window, where it plummets to its doom. A worthy adversary, vanquished.

This Beetle really needs to show up in the next Avengers movie. Just in the background, lurking around, following the Captain, pretending to read a newspaper, that sort of thing. They'd reconcile at the end and go out for beers and 20W-50.

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(Thanks, Jonathan Hendry!)