Editing Captain America (section)

===Decline in popularity (mid-1940s and 1950s)===
Superhero comics began to decline in popularity in the post-war period.{{sfn|Wright|2001|p=72}} This prompted a variety of attempts to reposition Captain America, including having the character fight gangsters rather than wartime enemies in ''Captain America Comics'' #42 (October 1944), appearing as a high school teacher in ''Captain America Comics'' #59 (August 1946), and joining Timely's first superhero team, the [[All-Winners Squad]], in ''All Winners Comics'' #19 (Fall 1946).{{sfn|Steranko|1970|p=55}} The series nevertheless continued to face dwindling sales, and ''Captain America Comics'' ended with its 75th issue in February 1950.{{sfn|Steranko|1970|p=55}} [[Horror comics]] were ascendant as a popular comic genre during this period; in keeping with the trend, the final two issues of ''Captain America Comics'' were published under the title ''Captain America's Weird Tales''.{{sfn|Steranko|1970|p=55}}

Timely's corporate successor [[Atlas Comics (1950s)|Atlas Comics]] relaunched the character in 1953 in ''Young Men'' #24, where Captain America appears alongside the wartime heroes [[Human Torch (android)|Human Torch]] and [[Toro (comics)|Toro]], which was followed by a revival of ''Captain America Comics'' in 1954 written by Stan Lee and drawn by [[John Romita Sr.|John Romita]].{{Sfn|Stevens|2015|p=60–61}} In the spirit of the [[Cold War]] and [[McCarthyism]], the character was billed as "Captain America, Commie Smasher" and faced enemies associated with the [[Soviet Union]].{{Sfn|Wright|2001|p=123}} The series was a commercial failure, and was cancelled after just three issues.{{Sfn|Wright|2001|p=123}} Romita attributed the series' failure to the changing political climate, particularly the public opposition to the [[Korean War]]; the character subsequently fell out of active publication for nearly a decade, with Romita noting that "for a while, 'Captain America' was a dirty word".{{Sfn|Amash|2004|p=24}}