Of all the motorcycles in the world, the camera might love Harleys best. The iconic Milwaukee-based brand has been winning the hearts of movie lovers since as early as 1969 when the “Captain America” Harley-Davidson ridden by Peter Fonda in Easy Rider became an immediate cultural symbol of lawless freedom and love of the open road.
This now-legendary customized bike, with its distinctive long, angled front and star-spangle-banner paint job—all hand-tuned by designer Clifford “Soney” Vaughs and builder Ben Hardy—“did more to popularize choppers around the world than any other film or any other motorcycle,” as said Paul d’Orleans to NPR, author of The Chopper: The Real Story.
Why was it dubbed “Captain America”? Comic fans know why: the moniker is a nod to the Marvel superhero’s own historic affinity for Harleys. Ever since he started appearing in print in 1941, when the first Captain America comic was published during the zenith of patriotism leading up to World War II, the war-winning super-soldier has preferred to drive a Harley-Davidson motorcycle. There is arguably no other fictional character more closely identified with the brand.
To that end, as soon as Marvel started shooting its new cycle of Captain America movies in the last decade, Harley has been more than just along for the ride, manufacturing customized and sometimes even brand-new motorcycles for Captain America and his fellows (and nemeses!) to ride in each of the three films released so far (not to mention the several related Avengers movies). Harley’s rich cinematic tradition has thus lived on over the past several years, its gleaming two-wheeled steeds idolized by Marvel maniacs in cinemas worldwide.
With the joining of two American icons on the silver screen – Harley-Davidson and Captain America – here's a look at all the bikes that appeared throughout the superhero’s Marvel films.
Captain America’s 1942 Harley-Davidson WLA “Liberator”
In Captain America: The First Avenger, released in 2011 as the first of a series of Captain America films, the super-soldier rides the famed 1942 Harley-Davidson WLA motorcycle, perhaps best-known as the “Liberator,” the pet name given to the hardy workhorse by servicemen in World War II.
After the US entered the war in 1941, Harley-Davidson produced more than 88,000 of these warriors over the course of fighting some soldiers even claimed it was “the motorcycle that won the war,” and the “Liberator” became hugely popular among civilians during the peacetime that followed. It was only fitting, then, that Captain American should ride drive this historic vehicle—there was just one problem: actually getting one that was in decent enough shape for filming.
That’s where Harley-Davidson came in: as the manufacturer explained in a 2011 issue of its Hog magazine, instead of using a vintage example, the Motor Company took the retro-style Softail Cross Bones and reverse-engineered the contemporary motorcycle to look exactly like a 1942 “Liberator,” using a mixture of actual WLA motorcycle parts as well as custom fittings. Restoration experts crafted four of these special bikes for filming, one of which was temporarily on display at the Harley-Davidson Museum in Milwaukee the summer the film came out.
Captain America’s 2012 Harley-Davidson Softail Slim
In 2012’s The Avengers, however, Captain America adopted a decidedly more contemporary ride, though one that formally still recalled the look and feel of a legendary wartime bobber. In that film, in his “personal time” (that is, when he isn’t on a mission), the superhero can be seen riding a black 2012 Harley-Davidson Softail Slim motorcycle. While the bike’s stripped-back, retro-look style might subtly evoke the earlier WLA “Liberator” ride of a year before, this particular Harley motorcycle came with some very contemporary, very 2012 features, including a fuel-injected engine and hydraulic valve lifters.
Captain America’s 2013 Harley-Davidson Street 750
Soon thereafter, by 2014, Captain America would see his motorcycle upgraded yet again: in that year’s Captain America: The Winter Soldier, actor Chris Evans is featured zooming along on a new Harley-Davidson Street 750, which was introduced at the Milan Motorcycle Show in 2013 just a week before it blazed into mainstream consciousness in trailers for the then-forthcoming film.
Harley’s Street 750 was specifically designed for agility in the urban environment, making it the perfect motorcycle for Captain America to ride while doing battle against his enemies right in the city center. The Street 750 was one of Harley-Davidson’s first motorcycles to adopt its new fuel-injected, liquid-cooled “Revolution X” platform. Design-wise, it’s also a keystone of Harley’s “Dark Custom” lineup, a fleet of motorcycles specifically designed to appeal to younger, edgier drivers.