Captain America punched Adolf Hitler on a comic book cover nearly a year before the United States entered World War II.

Captain America Comics #1 was published by Timely Comics with a March 1941 cover date, but actually hit newsstands in December 1940—a full year before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, which brought the United States into World War II. At the time, America was deeply divided between interventionists pushing for involvement and isolationists determined to stay out of the European conflict.Creators Joe Simon and Jack Kirby, both sons of Jewish immigrants, were alarmed by the rise of the Third Reich. By depicting their hero punching a sitting world leader, they made a radical political statement that was virtually unprecedented in comics. The cover proved so controversial that Timely Comics' New York City offices were flooded with hate mail and physical threats from the German American Bund and other Nazi-sympathizing groups.The situation grew serious enough that New York City Mayor Fiorello La Guardia personally offered police protection for the building. Despite the backlash, the comic achieved unprecedented commercial success, selling approximately 910,000 copies. This milestone demonstrated that comic books could serve as powerful propaganda and social commentary, establishing superheroes as symbols of American values and helping launch the Golden Age of comics.