There are a few tenets in the comic book world that no matter how chaotic the industry gets, they are, for the most part, always true. Superman and Lois will fall in love; Peter Parker will find a way to f—ck up his life, Batman will never kill, and Rob Liefeld's Captain America promotional art will be brought up every few years to be made fun of (even by Liefeld himself). The Deadpool co-creator rose to prominence in the industry as a superstar comic book artist in the '90s, delivering eye-popping and visually striking characters.
His style is distinctive and easily recognizable. While it's brought a lot of people joy over the years, it's also been heavily criticized, to the point where it was parodied in both Deadpool 2 and Deadpool & Wolverine. One of the creator's most controversial drawings is his Captain America Heroes Reborn promotional image. The piece is so infamous, that for nerds, reading the words "Rob Liefeld" and "Captain America" together in a sentence will likely instantly make them think of it.
Recently, over on X, the comic artist posted a new, life-like take on his '90s piece. Liefeld stated the image, likely made with AI, was sent to him, and decided to share it with the world. The picture is, to be blunt, disturbing:
His post was tagged with "Sent to me. Shared with you all," clearly having fun with his audience. Now, jokes aside, I feel the need to mention Liefeld's original art is not the problem here. I have no issues with it. It was a take that didn't work for many, yes, but that's what art is all about. The problem is bringing that exaggerated aesthetic into live-action—or rather, live-action-like. It just looks off.
For those unaware, the image came about as a promotional image for Liefeld's and Marvel's ambitious '90s relaunch, Heroes Reborn. Speaking to Comicbook.com, the artist was asked if there was any real-life reference he used to create the drawing. Liefeld explained he just wanted to draw a big-looking Steve Rogers. As for people's reaction at the time, the artist explained that at a conference in New York, the image, which was used as his banner, received a lot of atttention from attendees:
"I just wanted to draw a big, bold Captain America. Here's the deal: They blew that up at the Heroes Reborn conference in New York City at Marvel Comics. Jim Lee and myself flew out to New York. He had his [image], and that was the image, and it was like a banner behind this. And people in the audience were like, 'Oh, oh, look at how great [that] Captain America [is].'"
Liefeld also claimed he had not heard negative things about his drawing until the internet rose to prominence: "I didn't hear anything about that image until the 2000s. It was like somebody decided, 'I'll meme it. I'll do it.' And I don't mind it, either. It doesn't shake, rattle or roll me. And I'll tell you this—I did not do an homage to that cover for, now, 27 years, and I just did one. So, I think it's going to do really well. I think, again, it sparks something in people."
The homage the Deadpool co-creator was referring to is an NYCC 2023 variant cover he did for Captain America #1, which he drew in the same style as the Steve Rogers Heroes Reborn version:
The Captain America art sold for $132,000 at an auction in 2023, and the topic was touched on during a chat between Liefeld and Comicbook.com. The creator was asked how he felt about the promotional piece selling for so much. He stated:
"I was pleasantly surprised. That would be the truth—pleasantly surprised. And then, having talked to a lot of guys who were bidding on it afterwards, 'cause that community's fairly small. You know, they didn't hold back on... It goes back 30 years on how much they dig that Captain America stuff, and that Heroes Reborn stuff. It kind of closed the circle. 'Cause, people were like, 'Man, that is my favorite Captain America, and I just had to have it, I had to have it.' So, that was exciting. But, [to] answer your original question, man, I had low expectations. There's very few things I have a greater expectation for. I generally keep it [gestures to the ground] here, you know?"
When asked if he saw the high price for which it sold as "revenge" for people who criticized the image, Liefeld said: "No, no, I don't. As always, I just focus on the people who liked it."
Captain America will return to the MCU in Avengers: Doomsday, scheduled to hit theaters on December 18, 2027.
What did you think about the "life-like" take on Liefeld's Captain America? What's your favorite drawing from the artist? Drop your thoughts in the comments!