Rob Liefeld Takes Another Shot at Marvel While Reflecting on His Captain America Revival: “Yes, my Cap was a blast”

Recently, Rob Liefeld cut ties with Marvel, citing mistreatment by Kevin Feige and Marvel Studios. He felt snubbed at the Deadpool & Wolverine premiere in July 2024, where he and his family were excluded from the afterparty, professional photos of him were deleted, and he received no red carpet acknowledgment.

His issues with Marvel date back to 2023 when the company credited Roy Thomas as a co-creator of Wolverine, upsetting Liefeld, who was close to Len Wein’s widow. In 2024, he requested more prominent credit for Deadpool & Wolverine, but Marvel reportedly reacted negatively, leading to further fallout.

Despite his long history with Marvel, which included significant contributions to Deadpool and Cable, Liefeld ultimately decided to sever ties due to ongoing tensions and perceived disrespect.

Now Liefeld seemingly took another shot at Marvel, the creator recently criticized Captain America: Brave New World following the movie’s release and now decided to remind the company what led to the character’s revival in the first place.

Rob Liefeld is emphasizing the impact his Captain America reboot had on the character’s popularity and sales. Before his involvement, the Captain America comics were struggling, selling around 20,000 copies per issue. However, when he relaunched the series in 1996 as part of Marvel’s Heroes Reborn initiative, sales skyrocketed to an average of 260,000 copies per issue.

He argues that his version of Captain America introduced the character to a new audience and significantly boosted interest in the title. Liefeld also points out that this success was cut short when Marvel filed for bankruptcy, implying that external financial struggles, not lack of interest, ended his run.

The backstory is the following, in 1996, Rob Liefeld and Jim Lee’s studios teamed up with Marvel for a project called “Heroes Reborn,” where they reimagined some of Marvel’s key series.

Liefeld was hired to write The Avengers and draw Captain America. However, due to low sales, Marvel ended the agreement after only six issues, transferring both series to Lee’s studio. This became one of the most controversial moments in Liefeld’s career.

After leaving Captain America, Liefeld tried to buy the rights to Fighting American, a character created by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby. However, the price was too high, so Liefeld created a similar character called Agent America.

Simon threatened to sue, but they worked out a deal. Marvel then sued Liefeld, allowing him to use the character but without the iconic shield-throwing move.

Liefeld also hired Alan Moore, a famous comic writer, to help revive some of his creations. Moore worked on Youngblood, Glory, and Supreme, the latter of which won an Eisner Award. Liefeld’s company, Awesome Comics, launched new properties like Kaboom! but shut down in 2000 after losing its main investor.

On the same thread, Liefeld was once again reminded about his horrid Captain America drawing. He was notable, especially for creating characters with unrealistic, exaggerated body shapes, like long legs and tiny feet.

His drawings of female characters have also been called out for objectifying women. One of the most criticized drawings was his version of Captain America for the 1996 storyline which had strange proportions, especially a large chest and arms.

This artwork became famous for its unrealistic anatomy and turned into a meme. Liefeld joked about it on Twitter in 2016 and later revisited the illustration in 2023 with a new cover for Captain America. The original 1996 artwork was auctioned in 2023 for $132,000.

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