1940s

This is a timeline of events that occurred during the 1940s.

2nd

 * In Los Angeles, California, Howard Stark demonstrates the properties of Vibranium, a metal found by Stark Industries in Africa. After being attacked by HYDRA assassins, Stark joins the Strategic Scientific Reserve with Colonel Chester Phillips.

11th

 * At Castle Kaufmann in the Bavarian Alps, Abraham Erskine injects Johann Schmidt with his Super Soldier Serum, but the serum horrifically mutates Schmidt, turning him into the Red Skull. Erskine is rescued by Peggy Carter, and brought into the Strategic Scientific Reserve (SSR) to produce America's Super Soldier with Howard Stark in Project Rebirth.

7th

 * America enters World War II. In Hell's Kitchen, Manhattan, during an art class Steve Rogers and Bucky Barnes learn of America joining the war, and over the next two weeks Bucky trains Rogers at Goldie’s Boxing Gym.

9th

 * Stark Industries begin producing planes for the war effort following the attack on Pearl Harbor.

11th

 * Howard Stark's innovations earn him a spot working on the Manhattan Project.

24th

 * Steve Rogers and Bucky Barnes visit US Recruiting and Induction Center in New York City, but Rogers is classified as 4F and rejected from service. He goes on to be rejected a further four times in four different cities.

25th

 * The Strategic Scientific Reserve team in Brooklyn, New York City, finish the Project Rebirth Chamber. Howard Stark comments that it should be called the Brooklyn Project in response to Robert Oppenheimer's work at Los Alamos.

26th

 * At Camp Lehigh, New Jersey, Abraham Erskine rejects the candidates selected by Chester Phillips for Project Rebirth.

3rd

 * In Tønsberg, Norway, Johann Schmidt discovers and takes the Tesseract, hidden within a monastery. He refers to it as "the jewel of Odin's Treasure Room".

14th

 * On Flag Day, at the World Exposition of Tomorrow in Queens, New York, Abraham Erskine spots Steve Rogers at a recruitment office and offers him a chance to join the U.S. Army through Project Rebirth.

15th

 * At Camp Lehigh, New Jersey, Rogers and several other volunteers begin their training under the supervision of Erskine, Peggy Carter, and Colonel Chester Phillips.

22nd

 * With Erskine's serum and Howard Stark's Vita-Rays technology, Steve Rogers is transformed into the world's first super soldier. Erskine is assassinated by Heinz Kruger, an operative of HYDRA. The only evidence that Project Rebirth took place is in Rogers' genetic code.

23rd

 * Unwilling to be kept for research, Steve Rogers joins the USO and goes on a morale-boosting tour of the US, the UK, and troops stationed in Italy. Given the name 'Captain America' he becomes a national celebrity, appearing in films, comic books and card collections and establishing himself as a symbol of America's participation in the war.

Unknown date

 * At the HYDRA Weapons Facility in the Austrian Alps, the Howling Commandos meet for the first time. As prisoners they are used to make weapons for HYDRA. They team up, at first, to get revenge on one of their captors after he viciously beats Bucky Barnes.

3rd
.
 * Liberation of Allied Prisoners of War: Frustrated by his lack of real action, and learning that Bucky is trapped behind enemy lines, Steve Rogers attacks a HYDRA facility in Austria and releases Timothy Dugan, Gabe Jones, Jim Morita, James Falsworth, Jacques Dernier, Bucky, and the rest of the 107th. Johann Schmidt sets the facility to self destruct and escapes with the Tesseract. During his escape Steve memorizes a map of HYDRA facility locations and obtained a sample of the power source HYDRA was using.

4th

 * Steve Rogers is appointed dead, but soon arrives with most of the soldiers he saved from the HYDRA facility.
 * Rogers brings together some of the men he saved in the HYDRA base and creates the Howling Commandos.

5th

 * Howard Stark examines a sample of HYDRA's power, which will help him with the theory of a new element.

29th

 * Captain America tries to get a file from HYDRA agents in London, who run away and attempt to hide in an air raid shelter. The Captain encourages the citizens inside the shelter to attack the agents by giving them a speech of heroism and strength in numbers.

27th

 * Captain America invades a castle in the Nazi occupied Danish Straits controlled by HYDRA. He fights a Nazi wearing an arc reactor powered battle suit, and an arc powered tank. Johann Schmidt attempts to destroy him by using a Viking Runestone, but the Captain slows the relic from exploding, allowing the Howling Commandos to escape.

11th

 * Captain America boards and captures the HYDRA submarine Leviathan.

Unknown date

 * The Howling Commandos board a HYDRA train and capture Arnim Zola. In the ensuing battle with HYDRA agents, Bucky Barnes falls from the edge of a cliff and is presumed dead.

4th

 * Battle in the Valkyrie: Aided by the U.S. Army, Captain America attacks HYDRA's last base. As the Red Skull escapes in the Valkyrie, the Captain gains access to the plane and a fight ensues. Red Skull handles the Tesseract, which activates and sends him through a portal. The Captain crashes the Valkyrie off the coast of Greenland so its bombs never reach the USA. Shortly afterwards, the allied nations celebrate V. E. Day.

7th

 * Howard Stark discovers the Tesseract at the bottom of the ocean in his search for Steve Rogers, but fails to locate the crashed Valkyrie. Rogers will remain missing for almost 70 years.

19th

 * The United States begin Operation Overcast, later renamed Operation Paperclip, an effort to recruit former Nazi scientists to work for the United States. Arnim Zola is among the recruited scientists.

2nd

 * Japan surrenders to the Allied forces, and World War II ends.

8th

 * Tired of being under appreciated by her misogynistic superior John Flynn, who gives her nothing more than paperwork to do because she is a woman, Peggy Carter of the Strategic Scientific Reserve single-handedly retrieves a vial of formula marked with the Zodiac emblem.

9th

 * John Flynn reprimands Carter for not going through proper procedures in the Zodiac mission. Howard Stark contacts Flynn, telling him Peggy Carter is going to co-manage the newly created S.H.I.E.L.D. with him.