Is She-Hulk's Big Captain America Reveal A First Avenger Retcon?

Warning: Contains SPOILERS for She-Hulk: Attorney at Law episode 1.She-Hulk: Attorney at Law reveals an interesting detail about the first Avenger, Captain America: he wasn’t a virgin; but viewers might wonder if this is a retcon of Steve Rogers' background in 1943 as depicted in his movie debut. Episode 1 of the MCU's Disney+ series shows how superhero attorney Jennifer Walters (Tatiana Maslany) gets her She-Hulk powers. She is exposed to the gamma-irradiated blood of her cousin Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo), a.k.a. the Hulk, after an accident that sends their car hurtling down a hill.

Prior to the accident, Jen comically presents her passenger Bruce with a theory as to why his friend Captain America (Chris Evans) likely died a virgin. “Steve Rogers did not have a girlfriend before he went into the service,” she begins, citing The History Channel as her source. Right before a spaceship appears causing Hulk and She-Hulk's crash, she recounts what Bruce has told her: after receiving the super soldier serum, Steve became a war hero and then was frozen in ice for over 70 years. Once thawed, he was busy with world-threatening disasters or running from the law. Jen concludes her rant by matter-of-factly stating, “Captain America was obviously a virgin."

In She-Hulk: Attorney at Law episode 1's mid-credits, Jen pretends to be drunk and belligerently complains about how Steve Rogers was too hot to have died a virgin. Frustrated, Bruce caves and confirms Steve lost his virginity in 1943 while he was on the USO tour. This information seems to retcon a conversation Steve has with his true love, Peggy Carter, in Captain America: The First Avenger. He explains he has always found it terrifying to ask a girl to dance. Peggy asks, “You have no idea how to talk to women, do you?” Steve replies, "This is the longest conversation I've had with one.” Presumably, if Steve couldn’t hold a conversation with a woman, he surely couldn’t have slept with one. When looking at Steve’s 1943 timeline, however, he did in fact lose his virginity, just later on.

Does Captain America's Virginity Reveal Work With MCU Canon?

Chris Evans as Steve Rogers On USO Tour in Captain America The First Avenger

Hulk's reveal in She-Hulk: Attorney at Law of when Captain America lost his virginity works with the MCU canon. Steve’s conversation with Peggy is soon after his enlistment in June 1943. The USO tour – a series of live-entertainment performances for servicemen – takes place months later, in the fall, after his super soldier transformation into Captain America. In 2021, screenwriters Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely asserted this. McFeely explained, “If you look like that, and you're going city to city,” signing autographs for women, something is bound to happen (via Yahoo!). Markus added that while he’s sometimes conveyed as such, Steve Rogers isn’t a prude or a choir boy. It’s even apparent in Captain America: The First Avenger that Steve is popular with the ladies, between Lorraine (Natalie Dormer) making a pass at him and the beautiful blonde woman who asks for his autograph.

She-Hulk: Attorney at Law creator Jennifer Gao even shared that the episode 1 reveal about Captain America’s virginity came “straight from [Kevin Feige’s] golden mouth,” (via Variety). It is canon, and based on Captain America’s timeline, the reveal of Steve losing his virginity in 1943 is not a First Avenger retcon. Still, She-Hulk: Attorney at Law does fail to answer one key question regarding Steve’s virginity: to whom did he lose it? It could have been Peggy or the aforementioned blonde woman or one of the Star Spangled Singers accompanying Steve on the USO tour or any number of mystery women never shown in the MCU. Either way, as Jen hilariously puts it at the end of She-Hulk: Attorney at Law episode 1, it is canon that “Captain America F*****!”

New episodes of She-Hulk: Attorney at Law are out every Thursday on Disney+.