Arnold Roth (Captain America)

Arnold Roth is the name of a fictional comic book character who was a childhood friend of Steve Rogers a.k.a Captain America. His domestic partner was a man known ownly as Michael.

Biography

In the 1930s, Arnold Roth was a childhood friend to Steve Rogers, and served in the United States Navy during the Second World War. During the war, Roth had come to the conclusion that has childhood friend had become the superhero known as Captain America, although he kept this information to himself [1].

After the war, Roth was adrift and suffered from an addiction to gambling. He managed to overcome this addiction through the help of his roomate Michael. While the issue was dealt with in coded subtext, Roth and Michael were spouses [2].

In the 1980s, Roth reunites with Steve and asks for his help. Baron Zemo II has kidnapped Michael in an effort to force Roth to lure Captain America into a trap. The supervillian is defeated, but not before killing Michael [3].

Roth was later kidnapped by the Red Skull, but was recused by Captain America [4]. For his part, it is not clear when Steve Rogers knew that his childhood friend was gay, but is clearly accepting of his childhood friend's sexual orientation [5].

With the establishment of the Hydrobase headquarters. also known as Avengers Island, Roth was hired on as the Avengers publicist, but was let go when the superheroes base was destroyed.

Roth informed Steve that he had terminal bone cancer, and spent his remaining days helping out Captain America [6].

Appearences

• Captain America #270
• Avengers #300
• Captain America #428

References

• GLBT Comic Book Characters
• Review of Avengers #300
• Character Biography