Superhero countdown to Independence Day

The first Patriot, Jeffrey Mace, created by writer Ray Gill and artist Bill Everett, debuted in The Human Torch # 4 (Spring 1941; numbered #3 on cover).^[1] He was a reporter who became a costumed adventurer after seeing Captain America in action, and was later a member of the World War II superhero team the Liberty Legion. The Patriot himself became the third Captain America.

The second Marvel Universe character to use the name Patriot debuted in Young Avengers #1 (April 2005): Eli Bradley, grandson of Isaiah Bradley, the black Captain America. Isaiah had received his powers (in the limited series Truth: Red, White & Black) as part of an early Super Soldier Serum experiment tested on African-American men in an attempt to reproduce the formula lost after being used to turn Steve Rogers into Captain America. Eli's mother was conceived before Isaiah's involvement with the experiment, however, so Eli could not have inherited his grandfather's powers genetically.