Real Name: William Nasland
Occupation: Adventurer
Identity: Secret
Legal Status: Citizen of the United States with no criminal record
Other Aliases: Captain America (II)
Place of Birth: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Place of Death: Boston, Massachusetts
Marital Status: Presumed single
Known Relatives: None
Group Affiliation: (as Spirit of 76) Crusaders, (as Captain America II) Invaders, All Winners Squad
Bale of Operations: Philadelphia, also mobile
First Appearance: (as Spirit of '76) INVADERS #14, (First modern appearance as Captain America II) WHAT IF #4
Final Appearance: WHAT IF #4

History: The Spirit of '76 first came to prominence during the early 1940s as a costumed adventurer who fought Nazi espionage in the United States. Presumably he adopted his patriotic costume and name in imitation of the original Captain America.

The Spirit of '76 left America in 1942 and took up residence in Great Britain to serve as a member of the Crusaders, a British team of superhumanly powerful champions who intended to battle Nazis. The Spirit of '76 was the sole American member of the team and the only one who lacked superhuman abilities. The Crusaders had been recruited and organized by a man known as Alfie, whom they believed to be a representative of the British government or military. In fact, however, "Alfie" was an agent of Germany who had organized the Crusaders in order to discredit the Invaders, another team of superhuman champions opposing the Nazis, and in order to further a plot to assassinate King George VI of Great Britain at the christening of a new British battleship. "Alfie" convinced the Crusaders that the Invaders were actually Nazi agents, and the two groups clashed at the christening. However, the Invaders exposed and thwarted the assassination plot, and the Crusaders realized they had been duped. The Crusaders broke up as a team, but the Spirit of '76 apparently continued his career as an adventurer.

In 1945, shortly before the end of World War II in Europe, Steve Rogers, who was the original Captain America, and his partner Bucky Barnes both disappeared. Harry S. Truman, the new president of the United States, selected the Spirit of '76 to assume the identity of Captain America and chose a boy named Fred Davis to be the new Bucky. As members of the Invaders, Captain America II and Bucky II battled the Japanese in the Pacific theater of operations during the remainder of World War II. After the war ended, Captain America II and Bucky II served as members of the All-Winners Squad, the postwar successor to the
Invaders.

In 1946 the All-Winners Squad learned that Adam II, a malevolent android creation of Prof. Phineas T. Horton, intended to substitute a robot double for a Boston congressional candidate. Captain America II and Bucky II found Adam II and learned that the candidate Adam II intended to replace was John E Kennedy. The two adventurers battled Adam II and other robots. Bucky II was knocked unconscious, and Captain America II went to Boston's Old North Church to summon the other members of the All-Winners Squad. One of Adam II's superhumanly strong robots caught Captain America II and crushed him in its grip, mortally injuring him. But the dying hero used a flare device to render the robot inactive, simultaneously providing the signal that summoned the other All-Winners to Kennedy's rescue.

Another costumed adventurer, the Patriot, found Captain America II just before the latter died. Inspired by the second Captain America's noble sacrifice, the Patriot donned a spare Captain America costume he found in the nearby flagship of the Sub-Mariner, another member of the All-Winners Squad. Thus the Patriot became the third man to take the identity of Captain America. He and other All-Winners Squad members, who had seen Captain America's signal, prevented Adam II from killing Kennedy.

Height: 6 ft. 2 in.
Weight: 215 lbs.
Eyes: Blue
Heir: Black

Strength Level: The Spirit of '76 possessed the normal human strength of a man of his age, height, and build who engaged in intensive regular exercise.

Known Superhuman Powers: None

Other Abilities: The Spirit of '76 was a brilliant all-round athlete and a superb hand-to-hand combatant.

Weapons: As Captain America II, the Spirit of '76 carried a shield resembling the one carried by the original Captain America. However, the shield used by Captain America II was made of ordinary steel and hence was not virtually indestructible like the original Captain America's shield.

Paraphernalia: In his original costumed identity the Spirit of '76 wore a cloak that was made of an unknown material and that was both bulletproof and flameproof.