Grand Director
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The Grand Director (also sometimes referred to as Captain America II or IV) is a fictional character in Marvel Comics' Universe. He was created, as "Captain America II", by writer Steve Englehart and artist Sal Buscema in Captain America #153 (September, 1972).
Later he was given a new costume and the title "The Grand Director" by Buscema and writers Roger McKenzie and Jim Shooter in Captain America #232 (April, 1979).
The character commits suicide in Captain America #236 (August, 1979).
His original partner, "Bucky", is the character who later becomes Jack Monroe / Nomad.
[edit] Concept origin
A character with a complicated history, The Grand Director's origin involves a complex series of retcons (a comic book term for changes to previously established canon). Although the character's first real appearance is as "Captain America" in Captain America #153, the origin of the character, first revealed in Captain America #155 (again by Englehart and Buscema), identifies him as the "Captain America" that appeared in Captain America comics which were originally published in the 1950s.
When they were first published those Captain America stories (Young Men #24–28, Dec. 1953 – May 1954), which were written by Stan Lee and illustrated by Mort Lawrence and John Romita, Sr., starred Steve Rogers (the original Captain America) and were clearly set in the 1950s, with the character prominently battling communism and communist Red Skull. However when Lee revived the Captain America concept a second time in 1964 he chose to ignore his own previous stories. When he has the character return in Avengers #4 (March, 1964) Lee reveals that the original Captain America has been in a state of suspended animation since a battle he fought near the close of World War II.
The 1950s stories were thus considered outside of official canon until Englehart's 1972 Captain America storyline (#153-156; September - December, 1972), which attempted to resolve the discrepancy by showing how an unnamed man and his teenaged student had assumed both the public and private identities of the original Captain America and Bucky as part of a government sponsored program which planned to replace the lost heroes to combat the "red threat". The Government eventually places them in suspended animation in the 1950s only for them to be revived decades later in contemporary times to do battle with the similarly revived original Captain America.
This complicated origin is the reason that some sources list Young Men #24 (December, 1953; the first appearance of the communist hunting Captain America and Bucky) as The Director's first appearance, though in actuality the issue in question was originally intended to depict a different character (the original Captain America). A later story, What If Vol. 1 #4, (August, 1977), further complicates the Captain America history by introducing two other individuals (William Naslund and Jeff Mace) that take on the role of Captain America in 1945 and 1947 respectively, which makes The Director the fourth "Captain America" chronologically rather than the second (which he was originally referred to as). In later years further, yet earlier, "Captain Americas" are introduced in Captain America: Sentinel of Liberty #6 (February, 1999) and the Truth: Red White and Black limited series (2004), making the numerology of the various Captain Americas obscure.
[edit] Character History
In Captain America #153-156 "Captain America" and his partner "Bucky" are reawakaned decades after being put in suspended animation. In their delusional Captain America and Bucky identities the duo attempt to kill the real Captain and the Falcon, but are captured and returned to a state of suspended animation.
The origin story of the characters is given in Captain America #155, which reveals how the two gain super-powers in 1953 by injecting themselves with a "Super-Soldier Formula".
This "Steven Rogers" (real name never revealed) was a man who idolized Cap, and in 1952 he graduated with a Ph.D in American History, with thesis on the life of Captain America. In 1953 he flew to Germany, and examinating the files of Major Kerfoot (a Nazi espionage officer involved in Project:Rebirth), discovered papers containing data about the original Super-Soldier formula. Then he made a deal with certain high officials in the US government, becoming the new Captain America, acting as a symbol during the Korean War.
He undergoes plastic surgery to look like Steve Rogers and legally adopted that name, but "sadly" the Korean conflict ended before he could be deployed. Outraged and disappointed, "Steve" took a position as a history teacher at a private school in Connecticut (Lee School), where he met Jack Monroe, a young orphan who also idolizes Captain America.
So, when, in late 1953, Red Skull (actually a communist terrorist (Albert Malik) who adopted that identity in 1950s) attacked the United Nations, "Steve" and Jack decided to inject themselves with the super-soldier formula to defeat him (and communism in general), using the costumes of Captain America and Bucky.
Though the formula initially grants them abilities similar to those of the original Captain America (Steve Rogers) its effects' eventually gives them psychotic symptoms, since they didn't use the Vita-Rays process as their predeccesor did to stabilise the enhancement. As a result, the two are arrested and put into suspended animation by government agents.
In Captain America #232- 236 (April - August, 1979) - by writers Roger McKenzie, Jim Shooter and Michael Fleisher and artist Sal Buscema - the character returns wearing a new all-white costume as "The Grand Director", the leader of a Neo-Nazi group called "The National Force". Captain America #236 reveals how subsequent to his last appearance the Director is given over to the custody of the psychologist Doctor Faustus for treatment. Faustus then mind-controls the replacement Cap in order to use him against Steve Rogers. In Captain America #236, after being defeated in battle by the original Captain America and Daredevil the character commits suicide.
His former partner "Bucky" subsequently went on to become the best known holder of the Nomad title, "Jack Monroe", in Captain America #281 and 282 (May & June, 1983).
The character's real name remains unrevealed.
