Remember the time Steve Rogers had a gay BFF? Canon! In the early 80s, no less. I often get the feeling this is an overlooked part of Captain America’s history, so let’s review.



– vol. 1 #276

Warnings for: homophobia, stereotypes, a tragically dead gay boyfriend, and (other) character death. Also, the 90s Cap armor makes an appearance. (I’m just saying.) All panels are from Captain America.

Bucky fans, stop me if you’ve heard this one before:



vol. 1 #270

Arnie Roth was Steve’s best friend growing up. Arnie kept bullies from picking on Steve, Arnie’s family took Steve in, they were generally BFF. Then puberty hit, they drifted apart, Steve became Captain America and took an ice nap, and Arnie got older. And then:



vol. 1 #270

Arnie spots Steve on the street and recognizes him immediately. Steve – pictured here with his awesome 80s girlfriend Bernie Rosenthal – admits to Arnie that he is in fact that Steve Rogers, and they catch up, at which point:



vol. 1 #270

Did you get all that? Arnie’s “roommate” of the past ten years, Michael, is being held hostage. His “roommate.” Marriage just “never seemed like the right thing” for him. Hint hint. Nudge nudge.

Steve and Arnie go to rescue Michael, whose consciousness has been transferred into … look, it’s complicated.



vol. 1 #270

Steve goes home and emotionally hooks up with Bernie, just in case we needed an extra parallel to get the message across. Off-screen, of course! This issue approved by the CCA.



vol. 1 #275

“Hope I’m not interrupting anything!” Uh-huh. Steve is no dummy.



vol. 1 #275

Steve is in fact a really good person, and also the greatest.

But – of course – it just can’t end there for our token *cough*roommates. Both are abducted from SHIELD medical, and naturally, tragedy strikes.



vol. 1 #279

Things get pretty blatant around this point, which is impressive for the time period. We’re talking the no-gays-allowed era at Marvel, here, and J.M. DeMatteis has Arnie in possibly the most transparent glass closet one could get away with under the Code. Not only that, but at no point is Steve homophobic toward Arnie or Michael. He clearly knows his childhood best friend is gay, and he doesn’t care. Not too bad, 1984.

But we aren’t done with Arnie yet. First, he has tragic dead gay boyfriend nightmares:



vol. 1 #290

Then, he’s taken by Zemo (or Red Skull? I think Zemo? Possibly Red Skull? They were both around in that arc) and brainwashed into self-hating homophobia. It … well. This is a pretty direct commentary on/rejection of homophobia, and in that light it’s actually really progressive for comics in the early 80s. But, being the 80s, it’s incredibly hamfisted. Still, points for making the attempt:



vol. 1 #296

Steve Rogers: rejecting homophobia since 1984. Canon! And just one of many reasons I can never, ever get behind stories where Steve is self-hating gay.

After all this, Arnie retires to Florida. As you do. He appears in a few issues between 1984 and 1995, and then, inevitably, he dies.

This takes place at a point in time when Arnie is dying of cancer, and Steve thinks he himself is about to die:



vol. 1 #443

Not gonna lie, that gets to me. Even with Steve in the ridiculous armor.

Arnie was retconned into Steve’s history and then put through the wringer repeatedly from 1982-1984; he wasn’t so much a developed character in his own right as an ongoing gay lesson about homophobia being bad and Steve being good. Still, the fact that he existed at all in that time period makes this a pretty important chapter in Captain America’s publication history.

Developed character or not, Arnie was always shown to mean a lot to Steve, and Steve was always a good friend to him.

And that’s the time Captain America had a gay BFF.

You can find a list of issues Arnie is in here: http://marvel.wikia.com/Category:Arnie_Roth_(Earth-616)/Appearances