Captain America’s suit is about as iconic as it comes in comics. The overtly patriotic look fits perfectly with Steve Rogers’ heroic mindset, as he truly represents the best of what the United States of America – and the world – can be. In the pages of Marvel Comics, the look has stuck around for most of Captain America’s time behind the shield, however, in the mid-’70s, Cap received an appalling costume change.
In 1974’s Captain America #180 by Steve Englehart and Sal Buscema, Captain America got fed up with politics in the United States and decided to ditch the costume and being a hero altogether. Hawkeye (who also had an incredibly ugly suit at the time) managed to convince Steve to keep fighting as a hero but under a new identity. Thus, Nomad was born.
Steve Rogers spends “hours” and up to “three pads of paper” designing his new superhero outfit. He chooses more somber tones over his usual red, white and, blue ensemble. He monologues that he wants something mysterious and dark and jokes that he hopes a bat doesn’t fly through his window in a funny Batman reference. In one of the funnier parts of the comic, Cap runs through a list of potential names to use. “Something that means adventurer – like Daredevil!” – which unfortunately is taken. He then comes up with “freebooter” but doesn’t use that name since people would think of him as a pirate. He throws around more names including “Captain Blood, The Gypsy, and Vagrant.” He then decides on a name, the Nomad, before debuting his ugly new costume.
I’m not sure what the worse element of the new look was as it’s entirely awful. The gold boots? The gold features like the belt and his cape against a darker base color? Actually, it’s got to be the fact it’s open chested. While Captain America’s old suit (and shield) was somewhat tactical and looked awesome, Captain America’s Nomad look was truly ugly. It tried to fix a problem that didn’t exist and made things worse.
To the surprise of no one, the look didn’t last. Captain America officially abandoned the look in Captain America #184 – apparently, Cap could wear his old look while simultaneously not being pleased with the government. The moniker of Nomad did stick around, however, as multiple characters (including Cap) over time including Rikki Barnes and Jack Monroe took up the mantle. Captain America was even referred to as Nomad by the Russo’s ahead of Avengers: Infinity War, although thank God he didn’t end up wearing this old look. Captain America has never looked worse than he did when he was Nomad.
