U.S. Army Confirms Captain America Would (Probably) Be Owed 66 Years of Back Pay

Steve Rogers may be a proud son of Brooklyn, but even he can’t afford a place in his beloved hometown anymore, as he admits in Avengers: Age of Ultron. Or so he assumes. It turns out the since Captain America was never officially relieved of duty after he went under the ice in 1945, he’d be entitled to several decades’ worth of back pay from the U.S. Army — as confirmed by an actual U.S. Army spokesman. Find out how much our government would (theoretically) owe this (fictional) all-American hero below. 

The question of Captain America army back pay came up (where else?) on Reddit (via Tor). By this poster’s calculations, the U.S. Army owes him 66 years’ worth of back pay (1945-2011), which, once adjusted for inflation, comes out to upwards of $3 million. I won’t pretend to know enough about military payroll to say whether this all checks out, but you can see the math for yourself below:

The O-3 pay grade in 1945 for someone with two years or less experience was $313.50 a quarter. If you had specialized training such as parachuting and Special Operations (which he does) you received an extra $100 per quarter. Plus a quarterly living allowance without a dependent of $82.50. That comes out to $496 a quarter. That’s $1,984 per year for his first three years. So that’s $5,952 right there, considering that he was commissioned the same year that he exited basic.

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Image courtesy of Slash Film