Captain America posing with his shield in camo clothing Steven Rogers, better known as Captain America, was drafted into the American Army after being injected with super soldier serum which turned him into the superhero we all know and love. Having being frozen and re-thawed in the modern world, still technically a member of the U.S. Army, it led to many people to speculate just how much money the US owed ol’ Cap in wages. Captain America has been in the U.S. Army for something like 66 years altogether. A Reddit user worked out that he was owed upwards of $3 million from Uncle Sam, which actually led to the Army issuing a response. A spokesman from the Army has said that not only is the theory essentially right, but that Captain Rogers is owed even more money that initially thought. The initial theory was based on Rogers being officially commissioned from 1945 to 2011 (which is when he is defrosted at the end of Captain America: The First Avenger) and since he was a captain, he would have got just over $300 each quarter. Taking into account certain other variables, including living expenses (covers everything from civilian and camo clothing to food) for the first two years of the rank, pay raises and then keep this number at the same level for the next 64 years, Rogers is owed $3,154,619.52, adjusting for inflation. The Army then retorted, and corrected a few holes in the Reddit theory. Firstly, if Captain America were not a fictional character and the circumstances in which he disappeared were real, he would definitely be entitled to some back pay. However, a number of variables would be taken into account to calculate the true amount of pay he would have been entitled to, and given that he is a fictional character, it is hard to capture them all accurately. The pay for a Captain in 1945 was $313.50 per month, not quarterly like the original theory thought. The biannual pay rise was also overlooked, as was any potential promotions Rogers would have received whilst listed as missing. Whilst it is not known what kind of promotions he would have received whilst missing, it has been possible to calculate that Captain America would have been paid $4492 per year for his first three years, giving him $13,476 in total for those years. After three years, he’d get a monthly rise of $14.25 every two years until his 18th year, which then increases again when he reaches 22 years where it does not rise any further. So worked at the 1945 rate, Captain would have been owed $375,474, which when you adjust for inflation works out at $4,692,152.56 that the government would have had to pay Rogers when they returned him to active duty. So there we are, Uncle Sam owes Captain America just over $4.5 million although this would probably be even more, as the Cap makes his first comic book appearance in 1941, meaning he was enlisted before 1945! Not quite at Tony Stark wealth, but still enough to keep him ticking along!   Photo courtesy of Kino YouTube, under Creative Commons