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Among the final scenes of 2016’s Captain America: Civil War, we see the Cap tossing away his iconic shield as a gesture of both resignation and defiance, symbolizing his rejection of the Sokovia Accords, as well as his disillusionment with the Avengers, and the fracture of his friendship with Stark. In a subsequent scene, Steve Rogers and Natasha Romanoff are seen breaking Sam Wilson, Clint Barton, and Wanda Maximoff out of the Raft maximum security prison facility, located in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean — with Thaddeus Ross still as the facility’s warden.

Despite being branded a fugitive for violating the Sokovia Accords, Rogers later joins whatever remained of the Avengers on Earth during the Infinity War. Without his iconic shield, Steve is now wearing a worn-out Captain America suit, whose tattered condition reflects his conflicted feelings toward his own country. Though it wasn’t officially confirmed, many die-hard fans took Steve Rogers’ new appearance as a nod to Nomad, a superhero identity Steve Rogers assumed when he quit being Captain America back in the Bronze Age of Comic Books.

The Bronze Age of Comic Books remains an interesting period in comic book history, primarily because of the way the stories were told. Back in the Golden Age of Comic Books, whose beginning was marked by the debut of Superman in Action Comics #1, writers produced more self-contained stories. This also allowed them to try different things with different characters, as everything would go back to normal by the issue’s end. Apart from a few established, overarching story elements, there wasn’t any real continuity.

The Bronze Age of Comic Books was a period when writers adopted the idea of broader continuity, which did subtract from the writers’ ability to try different ideas. Instead, it allowed them to incorporate these ideas into the overarching narrative and explore their depths. And just like in the Civil War, Steve Rogers from the comics also struggled with the idea of being a symbol of America, a country that didn’t believe in him anymore, ultimately deciding to put down the shield in 1974’s Captain America #176.

The decision to abandon the identity of Captain America and assume the identity of Nomad, a man without a country, didn’t come overnight to Steve Rogers. Instead, it’s a direct result of the Secret Empire story arc in Captain America and the Falcon, which had Captain America targeted by an ad campaign organized by the Committee to Regain America’s Principles. The group used deceptive claims and footage to paint the Cap as unaccountable to legal institutions and a menace to civilians, turning public opinion against the Star-Spangled hero.

Cap discovered that the Committee to Regain America’s Principles, abbreviated as CRAP, was actually a front for Secret Empire, a Hydra splinter cell that seeks to discredit him. Simultaneously, he also uncovered their plan to stage an attack that was supposedly orchestrated by mutants and position themselves as the saviors, ultimately taking over the control of the county. Well, Captain America foiled their plan and uncovered all the lies, only to discover that the leader of the Secret Empire was actually the then-current President of the United States, who took his own life in the Oval Office.

This arc was clearly inspired by the real-life Watergate scandal and explores themes of political corruption and disillusionment. It ran from Captain America and the Falcon #169 to issue #176 and remains significant for its political commentary and its impact on Captain America’s character, setting the stage for his later decision to become Nomad in issue #180. The trend of weaving longer narratives associated with the Bronze Age of Comic Books was what ultimately allowed writer Steve Englehart to implement the idea of a superhero abandoning his identity.

Losing his patriotic symbolism and seeing himself as a man without a country, Rogers traveled the country fighting crime. Now in a new costume, Rogers was moderately successful in his missions and adventures as Nomad, despite some embarrassing moments. One of those moments included tripping on his own cape during a fight with Madame Hydra. Steve always wondered why the designers of his Captain America costume never gave him a cape, and this little incident gave him an answer. Nomad’s cape was nowhere to be seen in subsequent issues.

However, after traveling and fighting crime around the country for a short while, Rogers realized that he could still champion America’s ideals without blindly supporting its government. So, when he was called upon once more to become Captain America and deal with the threat of the Red Skull, Steve Rogers hung up his Nomad costume. He slipped back into his Star-Spangled suit and took up his iconic shield. His Nomad identity, however, was taken by others who would go on to become allies of Captain America in later comic book issues.

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