Meet Ian Rogers, Captain America’s Son

Steve Rogers, AKA Captain America, had a rough childhood. The son of Irish immigrants, Steve grew up poor in New York City during the Great Depression. His father, Joseph Rogers, struggled to find work and eventually turned to alcohol, abusing both Steve and his mother Sarah. Despite that, Steve – with help from Sarah and his grandfather, Ian – grew into a fierce opponent of bullies everywhere. 

So, when it came time for Steve to raise his adoptive son Ian, he passed on those values. In light of his recent return in CAPTAIN AMERICA: SYMBOL OF TRUTH (2022), here’s what you need to know about Ian Rogers.

Captain America Finds Ian Rogers in Dimension Z

In CAPTAIN AMERICA (2012) #1 by Rick Remender and John Romita Jr., Arnim Zola pulled Steve Rogers into Dimension Z, a world in which he was the supreme ruler. Zola’s goal was to steal a sample of the Super Soldier Serum from Steve’s blood and give it to his son, Leopold Zola, and his daughter, Jet Black. However, Steve broke free before Zola could enact his plan and escaped with baby Leopold.

Initially, Zola thought his son was dead and commanded his army of mutates to capture Captain America. Steve, for his part, named the boy Ian Rogers after his own grandfather and spent more than a decade in Dimension Z raising him to care about and protect others – in this case, the Phrox, an alien species in Dimension Z that opposed Zola. Despite the values Steve instilled in him, Ian had something of a brutal and rebellious streak that created tension between him and his adoptive father.

Ian eventually discovered that Zola was his biological father, and during a battle between Steve and the villain’s mutates, Jet Black captured her younger brother and returned him to their father. Soon after, Zola began brainwashing Ian into believing Captain America was evil.

Steve set off to rescue Ian from Zola and even eventually turned Jet to his side, as she had her own reservations about her father’s actions. For Ian, though, the villain’s brainwashing proved effective, and Steve had to battle the child he’d raised. Unwilling to hurt his son, Captain America ended up at Ian’s mercy, pleading with him to turn back to the light. While Steve was successful, Sharon Carter showed up at just the wrong moment and shot Ian through the throat, believing she was saving Captain America’s life. Ian’s body then fell into the tank below them, which was filled with the same bio-mass material Zola used to create his children.

From there, Steve escaped with Jet. Sharon, though, ended up trapped in Dimension Z while trying to buy the two of them enough time to get out. When Steve returned to his proper universe, he discovered that – in the decades he’d been trapped in Dimension Z – only a short amount of time had passed on Earth-616. Following the loss of Sharon and Ian, Steve struggled with his guilt about what happened. During that time, he also battled against Ran Shen, AKA Iron Nail, who used a dart to purge the Super Soldier Serum from the hero’s blood.

Ian Returns to Steve Rogers’ Life

As a result of his battle with Iron Nail, Steve aged rapidly and fell out of fighting shape. Making matters worse, Zola took advantage of Steve’s weakened state and launched an attack on Earth from Dimension Z. In response, Ian made his way to Earth-616 and battled various Avengers to reunite with his adoptive father. As Ian later revealed, he was able to survive Sharon’s bullet because the bio-mass tank he fell into healed his wounds. After recovering, he spent the years after Steve’s escape working with Sharon – who went on to become his adoptive mother – against Zola in Dimension Z. 

Ian played a key role in helping the Avengers stop Zola and rescue Sharon, who had been imprisoned sometime earlier. He then went on to play a secondary role in the AXIS (2014) event, which flipped the moral alignments of various heroes and villains in the wake of a fight with Red Onslaught. 

When Sam Wilson took up the mantle of Captain America, Ian worked with him under the codename Nomad, another title Steve had previously used. In the pages of ALL-NEW CAPTAIN AMERICA (2014), the two foiled a Hydra plot to use the blood of a young Inhuman to sterilize all non-Hydra operatives in the world. In that story, Baron Zemo successfully slit Ian’s throat, but the hero soon recovered thanks to the healing bio-mass in his suit. When they had their rematch, Ian badly wounded Zemo and made clear he was entirely fine with killing him. Their conversation, though, was interrupted by an explosion that destroyed the Hydra base in which they were fighting.

Ian Rogers, Presumed Dead

Both Sam and Steve believed Ian died in the explosion. However, the hero survived thanks to the Infinite Elevator. When SECRET WARS (2015) rolled around, Ian returned in the pages of HAIL HYDRA (2015), which saw him team up with alternate versions of Steve, Sharon, and their daughter Ellie to take on Zola in Battleworld’s Hydra Empire. In the end, Ian and Ellie abandoned the Hydra Empire and escaped via the Infinite Elevator, though she was gravely wounded in the process.

Ian’s exact fate was left unclear for more than half a decade. However, the character has finally returned in the pages of CAPTAIN AMERICA: SYMBOL OF TRUTH (2022) by Tochi Onyebuchi and Ig Guara to help Sam Wilson investigate the assassination of the Mohanndan Prime Minister. Since his last appearance, Ian has been hunting down Hydra cells, and as he makes clear, he’s still willing to stop evildoers by any and all means necessary.

To find out what happens next for Ian Rogers, pick up CAPTAIN AMERICA: SYMBOL OF TRUTH (2022) #7, on sale now!

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