History
Elizabeth "Betsy" Ross played a pivotal role in the life of Earth's greatest hero Captain America. A government agent during the course of World War II she later became the costumed hero known as Golden Girl and fought alongside the wartime replacements of Captain America over the years.
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Betty Ross, FBI agent
FBI Agent
In her earliest recorded appearances, Elizabeth (calling herself "Betty" at the time) was a member of the FBI and worked closely with the military. In 1941 Betty became involved with Operation Rebirth, the United States first attempt to create an army of super-soldiers. Disguised as an old hag that ran the antique shop which was the front for the operation, she was charged with protecting the experiment. However, she was unable to prevent Nazi agent Heinz Kruger from infiltrating the area and assassinating Abraham Erskine which effectively prevented the United States from effectively producing more Super Soldiers.[2] However, despite this loss, there was at least one successful creation: Steve Rogers became America's first and only Super-Soldier, code named Captain America.[3] Betty was involved in many of the early adventures of Captain America and his young sidekick Bucky.
Following the empowering of Captain America, Betty supposedly investigated fortune tellers Sando and Omar and exposed them as spies with the aid of Captain America and Bucky.[3] However, another account states that this case was cracked by Peggy Carter.[4] Which account is true is unspecified.
Betsy's earliest cases with the FBI often led her into trouble, forcing Captain America and Bucky to come to her rescue. She helped face such threats as the Oriental Giants,[5] a band of counterfeiters,[6] and the original Circus of Crime.[7] Later while investigating the kidnapping of a Chinese ambassador, she was captured by the Imperial Japanese spy known as Fang along with Bucky, but was rescued by Captain America.[8]
During this time, Betty began spending time around Camp Lehigh where Captain America and Bucky lived in their civilian guises of Private Steve Rogers and company mascot James Barnes. Often times the clumsy front that Steve put on to protect his identity made Betty look down at him, while she adored Captain America. Continued rivalries came from Sgt. Mike Duffy, Steve's superior who constantly gave Steve a K.P. duty and also competed for Betty's affections. During this period, she got involved in a play being put on by the troops at Camp Lehigh, however the performance was briefly interrupted by Captain America's long time foe the Red Skull.[9]
Danger still seemed to follow Betty as she was rescued by Captain America from the likes of Ra the Avenger.[10] Later she sought Captain America's aid in stopping death cheating criminal Nick Pinto,[11] and got involved in helping Sgt. Duffy with his rose garden.[12] Another rival for Betty's affections came from Mr. Phillips whom she meet on a vacation cruise. However, upon her return to Washington D.C., her ship was attacked by a modern day pirate calling himself the Looter. The Looter kidnapped Betty and clashed with Captain America and Bucky. Upon the Looters defeat, he was unmasked and revealed to be Phillips, dashing his hopes of marrying the young FBI agent.[13] Shortly after this, Captain Eliot also attempted to romance Betty, leading to a rivalry between Eliot, Duffy and Steve Rogers. However, Captain America exposed him as the Nazi spy known as the Yellow Claw.[14]
Working along side Captain America, Betty also exposed Fifth Columnists from rable rousing New Yorkers into opposing Americas entry into the war.[15] After this, she investigated the murder of FBI agents which led to her being captured by the Legion of the Devil a cult of humanoids that lived below the Earth who were commanded by a Nazi agent. When the Legion's leader attempted to take Betty for a bride, Captain America came to her rescue.[16]
Following the attack on Pearl Harbor at the end of 1941, Betty and the United States official entry into World War II, Betty soon became involved in more missions that saw her clashing with Nazi and Imperial Japanese forces.
Later in 1942, Betty's investigation with various acts of sabotage led to her clashing once more with the Red Skull. With the aid of the Young Allies, Captain America and the Human Torch, Betty stopped the Skull's attempt to gas everyone in Washington D.C., and send the Skull to his seeming death.[17]
In her last recorded mission with the FBI, Betty was sent to Japan to investigate how they were managing to launch massive mortar shells across the Pacific Ocean. There she was captured by the Paw, but ultimately rescued by Captain America and Bucky who destroyed the massive mortar launcher and helped Betty flee back to the United States.[18]
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Betty as a member of the WAAC
Post War
After the war, Betty adopted the name Betsy and continued working for the government. She became the government liaison for the All-Winners Squad a group of heroes who consisted of former members of the Invaders and Liberty Legion following the end of World War II. In July 1946, she and superior Agent Skinner questioned Jeff Mace, AKA the Patriot, following the death of William Nasland (who replaced Steve Rogers as Captain America after Steve was believed killed in action in April 1945). After learning how Nasland had sacrificed his life protecting John F. Kennedy from Adam II. At Betsy's suggestion, Skinner ultimately offered Jeff the opportunity to be the next Captain America, a position that Jeff agreed to take.[21]
In September of that year, Betsy reintroduced herself to Jeff Mace following an All-Winners Squad mission in England. The two go reacquainted and she divulged the origins of the original Captain America and encouraged Jeff to keep on doing the good job he was doing as Captain America, despite Jeff's own doubts. This created the sparks of an eventual romance between the two. However, this did not stop her from her duty as a government agent. When Jeff was informed that his old reporter friend Jack Casey had died, Betsy on behalf of the government, refused to allow Jeff to attend the funeral as Captain America due to the controversy of Jack's homosexuality and discharge from the military as a result, so Jeff went as the Patriot instead.[22]
Jeff, and his partner Fred Davis Jr. (who had taken up the Bucky identity after James Barnes was presumed dead) both started attending the Lee School,[23] Jeff as teacher and Fred as student. Eventually, Betsy joined them as an administrator for the school, likely to assist in maintaining Jeff and Fred's secret identities. Betsy soon reconnected with her actress friend Susan Dane and agreed to be her stand-in for a film about Marie Antoinette. Both Betsy and Susan Dane were both terrorized by the criminal called Laughing Boy who sought revenge on Susan for landing him in juvenile detention when they were children. Both Betsy and Susan were saved by Captain America and Bucky.[24] She would later assist Cap and Bucky in shutting down the Black Baron's Crime Club, and get victimized by Signor Zagana and his troupe of gypsy thieves at the Thorndike Ball before Captain America and Bucky brought them to justice.[25] She also assisted Mayda van Poole in organizing a charity auction for the Lee School, and witnessed as Cap and Bucky stopped Rip Van Winkle from robbing it. She also hired her old school friend Joan Chawson and her father to build a new wing to the school.[26] Getting back into excitement again, Betsy assisted Captain America and Bucky in capturing notorious jewel thief Sparkles Labelle and later help protect the Lee School's model of a city of the future from the Acrobat.[27]
Golden Girl
Betsy Ross took a more active role in the live of Captain America the evening that Jeff Mace's partner Fred Davis was critically wounded by a gun shot while they were out on patrol in April of 1943. This was on government orders after Jeff, as Captain America, was spotted meeting with Mary Morgan formally Miss Patriot, initially thinking she had shot his partner. This was because Morgan had been known to work with Communist agents. When Captain America went after the real shooter, a woman named Lavender, Betsy developed the costumed identity of Golden Girl, using William Nasland's bullet proof cape as part of her costume. When Cap was about to kill Lavender over what she had done to his partner, she had convinced him to stand down and bring her to justice. Shortly thereafter, Bucky pulled through his surgery and was expected to recover after some time to heal. Golden Girl joined as Captain America's side-kick but refused to start a relationship with him shortly after Cap quit the All-Winners Squad.[28] One other account states that Jeff personally recruited and trained Betsy to be Golden Girl to help capture Lavender, however this has been identified as a fictional tale based on real events.[29]
On her first mission as Jeff's new sidekick, Betsy assisted him in investigating strange seismic activity in the city. This led them to an encounter from the other-dimension Mr. Zrr and assisted him in liberating Dimension Zee from Denton Smith and Cecil Babylon, two criminals who found safe haven in that dimension.[30] Captain America and Golden Girl later came to the aid of Joey Milton and rescued his family from the clutches of jewel thieves,[31] later they tried to dissuade musician Scotti Warren from going into the ring with crooked boxer Killer Casey. Cap went into the ring in Warren's place and beat Casey in a match, despite the Killer's attempts to win by cheating.[30] Later, Golden Girl assisted Captain America in stopping Horatio and his Dolls (really midgets in disguise) from stealing a ruby doll house.[32] After they came to the aid of war veteran Jerry Malcom who developed a psychosomatic paralysis over the guilt he felt over the apparent death of his war buddy Chester Berry. Golden Girl and Cap located Berry alive and well and helped cure Malcom of his affliction.[33]
By 1949, the Cold War against Russia in full swing, Jeff Mace and Betsy soon found themselves attending a lecture by Professor Kulto, who claimed that the only way to create world peace was to unite the countries of the world with an invasion from another world. Soon Kulto activated a device that drew the planet Mars to Earth. Earth was soon invaded by an army of so-called Martians led by Warlord Oog. As Captain America, Jeff assisted Golden Girl in fighting off the invasion. Captured by Oog, Cap tricked him into bringing them to Professor Kulto's lab where he reversed the device sending Mars back to it's original location and slaying Oog in the process. Unable to eat Earth foods, the remaining Martians retreated to die in space than face starvation on Earth.[34] After this botched invasion Jeff found himself and Golden Girl delegated to dealing with local criminals and other mundane tasks, such as speaking to school children, this slowly started to disenfranchise Jeff regarding his role as Captain America.[1]
Reunited with Golden Girl, Captain America joined the New York police and National Guard in defending New York City from a revived Tyrannosaurus Rex that was unwittingly unleashed on the city by a pair of enterprising criminals. The Tyrannosaur was soon mortally wounded and Cap and Golden Girl followed it back to it's birthplace in a Utah tar pit to watch it die[35]. Cap and Golden Girl next assisted Dr. Sigmund Adler cure John Dolan of his criminal tendencies.[36] Cap and Golden Girl next investigated the disappearance of diamond miner Peter Blake with the aid of amateur detective Andy Opp, capturing Pete's killer, John Harrington.[37] Golden Girl also assisted Captain America with investigated the Dream Master an individual who promised restful sleep for those who needed it. Instead, the pair found that the Dream Master was torturing his customers with nightmares and locked them into a dungeon. Cap and Golden Girl defeated the Dream Master and turned him over to the authorities.[38]
Retirement
By February 1950, Captain America and Golden Girl had been reduced to basic crime fighting under orders of the United States government. Cap longed to fight overseas with the soldiers in the Korean War much like his predecessors did during World War II, but orders prevented Jeff from being deployed. After another mission with the All-Winners Squad (their last) and a few other capers with Golden Girl, Jeff soon learned that Golden Girl was being reassigned by Skinner. Betsy found herself assigned to a desk job at the Long Island branch of the FBI.
In June of 1950, Jeff Mace was sent to a New York elementary school to give a speech. There he learned about a missing boy and decided to get involved in rescuing him, even though it was against his orders. Following eye witness reports of UFO's sighted at the local graveyard, Cap went there to investigate. Instead of aliens he stumbled upon a secret government operation called Vanguard and rescued the boy. Learning of the operation by Fred, Cap soon found himself in a unrecorded disciplinary meeting with Skinner. Having realized that this was a means to get him shipped off to Korea while taking a position with Vanguard, Cap recorded their conversation and used it to force Skinner to retire him as Captain America and reunite him with Betsy Ross, who was also discharged from the FBI.
Unrestrained by government red tap and constant danger, Jeff and Betsy's romance bloomed and they moved to the Queens neighborhood of Glendale, New York. There Jeff opened up the Glendale Gazette and resumed his career as a newspaper reporter, while Betsy took on a job as a school teacher. Often, Jeff and Betsy would look after her young nephew Thaddeus. After settling in, Jeff and Betsy began starting their own family and faded from the public eye.[1]
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Valhalla Villas
Betsy was later seen as a resident of Valhalla Villas, a retirement home for ex-heroes and ex-villains that is located in Miami. She is among the residents that were temporarily de-aged by Mary Morgan, who used an unnamed Asgardian relic, during the Incursion between Earth-616 and Earth-1610.[39]Attributes
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Powers
Abilities
Paraphernalia
Equipment
Notes
- "Betsy" is not to be confused with Elizabeth Ross Banner. Because of the close name affiliation, "Betsy" was not been portrayed in the modern Marvel Universe until her affiliation with the Agents of Atlas was recently revealed.
- "Betsy" may or may not be Agent 13 from Tales of Suspense #64. Betsy helped apprehend Sando and Omar in the Golden Age version, but she was identified only as Agent 13 in the Silver Age version.
- In the Golden Age, Betsy is the daughter of an American general who had been killed by Axis spies. [40]
See Also
- 54 appearance(s) of Elisabeth Ross (Earth-616)
- 1 appearance(s) in handbook(s) of Elisabeth Ross (Earth-616)
- 6 minor appearance(s) of Elisabeth Ross (Earth-616)
- 5 mention(s) of Elisabeth Ross (Earth-616)
- 1 mention(s) in handbook(s) of Elisabeth Ross (Earth-616)
- 10 image(s) of Elisabeth Ross (Earth-616)
- 1 quotation(s) by or about Elisabeth Ross (Earth-616)
Links and References
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Captain America: Patriot #4
- ↑ Captain America: The 1940's Newspaper Strip #1
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Captain America Comics #1
- ↑ Tales of Suspense #64
- ↑ Captain America Comics #2
- ↑ Captain America Comics #3
- ↑ Captain America Comics #5
- ↑ Captain America Comics #6
- ↑ Captain America Comics #7
- ↑ Captain America Comics #8
- ↑ Captain America Comics #9
- ↑ Captain America Comics #10
- ↑ Captain America Comics #13
- ↑ Captain America Comics #14
- ↑ Captain America Comics #15
- ↑ Captain America Comics #16
- ↑ Young Allies #4
- ↑ Captain America Comics #18
- ↑ Captain America Comics #32
- ↑ Captain America Comics #44
- ↑ Captain America: Patriot #1
- ↑ Captain America: Patriot #2
- ↑ Captain America Comics #59
- ↑ Captain America Comics #61
- ↑ Captain America Comics #62
- ↑ Captain America Comics #63
- ↑ Captain America Comics #64
- ↑ Captain America: Patriot #3
- ↑ Captain America Comics #66
- ↑ 30.0 30.1 Captain America Comics #67
- ↑ Marvel Mystery Comics #87
- ↑ Captain America Comics #68
- ↑ Marvel Mystery Comics #88
- ↑ Captain America Comics #70
- ↑ Marvel Mystery Comics #91
- ↑ Captain America Comics #72
- ↑ Marvel Mystery Comics #92
- ↑ Captain America Comics #73
- ↑ Ant-Man: Last Days #1
- ↑ Captain America Comics #7
- ↑ Captain America: America's Avenger #1
- ↑ Captain America: America's Avenger Vol 1 1