Here's How Much the US Government Owes Captain America, According to This Wild Fan Theory

Culture

A Reddit user's amazing theory about Marvel superhero Captain America contends that the U.S. government owes the superhero a pretty big chunk of change. Reddit user anon33249038 calculated that the government would actually owe the comic book character $3,154,619.52 in back pay. 

For those unfamiliar with the Captain America storyline, Steve Rogers (his real name) played an instrumental role in vanquishing the terrorist organization Hydra during World War II. However, Captain America crash-landed into the Arctic during the battle and his super-heroic abilities kept him alive in a frozen state for over 60 years. The theory states that the captain was never officially discharged from the Army, so the government should pay him for his decades of service.

"Now, provided that they kept the pay scale constant for the 66 years after, and they thawed him out in 2011 and immediately returned him to active duty with current Commission (which they did), adjusted for inflation, the government owes him the back pay amount of $3,154,619.52," the fan concluded.

The Reddit user's theory actually elicited an official response from United States Army spokesman Wayne Hall. 

"If Capt. Steve Rogers (aka Captain America) were not a fictional character and the circumstances surrounding his disappearance and recovery actually real, he may actually be entitled to receive back pay," Hall told Business Insider in a statement. "However, a wide variety of variables would have to be taken into consideration to actually calculate the true amount of back pay to which he would be entitled to receive; given that he is a fictional character we cannot truly capture all of those variables accurately."

The Army spokesman also corrected the theorist. "Yes, it is correct that the O-3 (Army captain) pay grade in 1945 was $313.50; however it was a monthly pay rate vs. quarterly as the original poster indicated," he told Business Insider

Even the original poster was surprised that the Army wrote an official response. "Holy crap! Who knew the army would actually respond to this?!" anon33249038 wrote in the original post, after seeing the statement.

h/t Business Insider

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