Rob Liefeld Claps Back At Haters Over Infamous Captain America Art
It's hard to imagine it now, but Captain America, Iron Man, and the Avengers weren't exactly A-listers before the MCU took off. In fact, when the exclusive movie rights to its remaining Marvel heroes were offered to Sony Pictures in 1999 for $25 million, the studio was only interested in purchasing Spider-Man for $7 million, because "nobody gives a sh*t about the other Marvel characters."
By this point, Fox already had the exclusive film rights to the X-Men, while Universal had the distribution rights to the Hulk.
Fresh off filing for bankruptcy and desperate to turn things around, Marvel tried everything to stay afloat at the end of the millennium, including a massive publishing gamble called "Heroes Reborn." The publisher brought Image Comics founders Jim Lee and Rob Liefeld back into the fold to revitalize the Avengers for a new generation, but the result was a far cry from what RDJ, Jon Favreau, and Kevin Feige pulled off. Instead, we got a barrel-chested super soldier with the proportions of an overweight capybara.
Putting aside the sheer amount of hate that Heroes Reborn gets for sidelining the Avengers and Fantastic Four into a separate continuity, and disrupting the fan-favorite Mark Waid and Ron Garney Captain America run, its lasting legacy is that promotional artwork. To this day, after 30 years, it endures as a meme with countless parodies and fan edits, and even anatomical deep dives that show how distorted Steve Rogers' skeleton must be underneath all that mass. But Liefeld isn't fussed. In fact, he claims that the artwork sold for "more than a house."
Yep, It Sold For $132,000
Rob Liefeld is pretty active on TikTok these days, often posting videos like "Deadpool Creator Undercover" at conventions and playing pop the balloon when he hears a character that could beat one of his own, all while sharing insights into the comic industry. The comments are often flooded with images of the barrel-chested Captain America, or other characters drawn in that style, like Batman. One such comment posted on a recent upload simply read, "'Comic legend' 😭", and Liefeld took the bait.
"Sold that piece for more than a house," he responded (good catch, Culture Crave).
He's not lying. Liefeld's portion of Heroes Reborn only ran six issues and became one of the most derided comic runs in Marvel history, but that promotional artwork, described as "the most infamous comic illustration ever created," sold at the Heritage Auctions in 2023 for $132,000. "I'm over the moon for both the seller and buyer," Liefeld said at the time. "That was fun."
Sure, it might be an anatomical mess and a relic of the worst '90s comic habits, when Marvel dialed up the testosterone to the nth degree in a desperate bid to make its outdated silver age characters relevant again, but it's a piece of comic history now. One that fetches a pretty penny.