#invaders comics

This list is compiled from a combination of evidence from his comic appearances and from things that an Allied GI would have carried. Since he's one of the only two of the original five Invaders who actually has pockets/other forms of carrying things (Namor and Toro literally only wear shorts, and Jim is always lighting himself on fire), he'd likely also be carrying things that his teammates might need. I also noted "Allied" and not just "US Army", because while he was primarily associated with the US Army, he also trained in England and was known to train under and work with commandos, paratroopers, resistance fighters, and various agents, so it's reasonable to assume he would have used gear available to them.

So let's start with weapons. Note that he wouldn't carry all of these weapons into battle with him in one time, but these are the weapons that would be most likely available to him. I've marked with an asterisk weapons that he likely would have been carrying at all times under ideal conditions.:

Rifle or submachine gun (choice of one)*:

M1 Garand 

M1 Thomson submachine gun (Tommy gun)

M1918 Browning Automatic Rifle (BAR) 

M1903A4 sniper rifle 

M1 Carbine (starting 1942)

Sten gun (starting 1942)

M3 submachine gun (Grease gun) (starting 1944)

Sidearm:

Colt M1911*

Ammunition (minimum 80 rifle rounds but likely more, minimum 21 pistol rounds)*:

Grenades (2-4 for a standard mission, potentially more for specialized missions)*: 

Mk 2 grenade

Mk No. 36M grenade (Mills bomb)

No. 37 grenade (Thermos grenade) 

Anti-tank No. 74 (Sticky bomb)

Gammon bomb (starting 1943)

No. 77 grenade (white phosphorus grenade) (starting 1943)

Brass knuckles*:

Garrotte*:

Spring cosh (starting 1943):

Detonation kit:

Plastic explosives (some embedded in his arm)

Detonating cord (some embedded in his sleeve) and detonator 

Pencil detonator 

Knives (likely a minimum of four knives including a pocketknife)*: 

Mark I trench knife 

Bowie knife 

M1905 bayonet 

M4 bayonet 

Pocketknife* 

Fairbairn-Sykes fighting knife (after January 1941)

M3 trench knife (after March 1943) 

Let's move onto various essential navigation tools, again marked with an asterisk for items he likely carried at all times under ideal conditions:

Binoculars (replaced with German ones)*:

Miniature monocular: 

Lensatic Compass*:

Wristwatch (likely a looted German watch)*:

Map:

Handkerchief map*

Paper map

Entrenching tool:

And now for some food-related items. It would have been vitally important that he carry extra water when going on missions with Namor that aren't close to any body of water.:

Canteen and canteen cup (mimimum 2)*:

Rations (either C-rations or K-rations in one time but not both)*:

C-ration (beginning of war) (minimum 1)

K-ration (beginning 1942) (minimum 1) 

D-ration (beginning of war) (minimum 3) 

Mess kit*:

M1932 mess kit 

Looted German “Göffel”- combination attached fork and spoon 

And now for medical related supplies. This is where we get to really essential items. Items related to burn treatment would have been essential given his work with people who can light themselves on fire and generate fire. Because his missions could have been anywhere in any theatre of operations, I've included items that would have been more important for troops in tropical regions. Depending on how much other weight he was carrying, he might not have been carrying everything, but because the Invaders (or Howling Commandos, or Young Allies, or Kid Commandos, etc) would have gone on covert missions where they might not have had any prompt access to a medic, I've included some more items than just the basics an average soldier or commando would have carried. Again I've marked with an asterisk items that he likely would have prioritized and carried with him at all times under ideal conditions.:

First Aid kit:

Morphine syrettes (10 count)*

Sulfadiazine tablets (8 count)*

Sulfanilamide powder packets (5 count)*

Field dressing, small (Carlisle) (5 count)*

Field gauze (3in×6yd) (12 count)

Triangular bandage (minimum 2) 

Large safety pins (9 count)

Field tourniquet*

Insect repellent (1 oz)

Frazer's solution for athlete's foot (1 oz)

Water purification tablets (2 count)*

Atabrine tablets (60 count)

Aspirin (48 count)*

Sodium bicarbonate with peppermint tablets (32 count)

Glycyrrhiza and opium cough tablets (25 count)*

Smelling salts 

Foot powder (2 oz)*

Iodine (2 cc)*

Surgical tape (1in×5yd)*

Burn jelly (tannic acid)*

Boric acid for burns*

Emergency medical tag booklet (20 count)

Self-medication (for someone with as long a deployment as him and given all the injuries and traumas he sustained, there is no way he wasn't getting by without any kind of substance use, and while he might not have been using all of these items at once, he would have had them in case he needed them):

Alcohol flask*

Benzedrine tablets (28 count)*

Morphine syrettes (10 count)*

Sleeping pills (28 count)*

Cigarette pack and matches*

Instant coffee*

Last-resort cyanide pill (on chain around neck)*

And now for other assorted essentials:

Toiletries:

Toilet paper*

Vaseline*

Toothbrush*

Tooth powder*

Safety razor*

Soap*

Extra pair of socks*

Pomade 

Hair comb 

Shoe dubbing wax

Simple mending kit:

Sewing needles (2 count)

Small safety pins (5 count)

Thread (black, white, and brown)

Extra buttons (6 count)

Scissors

Extra shoelaces:

And then we have some extra items that weren't essential to survival but would have still been pretty important to him. Many of these items likely wouldn't have been carried on his person at all times and would likely have been stored in his foot locker or stashed in various hiding places, but under certain conditions he might have been carrying them.:

Entertainment and trading: 

Sweets

Silk stockings (to trade)

Perfume (to trade) 

Deck of cards* 

Money*

Journal and pencil*

Photo of his sister Rebecca

Souvenirs (looted items):

Luger pistol

Göffel*

Nazi medals, badges, and rings

Knives

Watches 

And finally, some miscellaneous items:

Specialized missions:

Climbing gear 

Ski gear 

Gas mask

Flotation device 

Flare gun

Parachute

Atlantean underwater breathing technology

Asbestos gloves

Limpet mine (after 1942)

Sedgley OSS .38 (after 1942)

Lewes bomb (starting 1942) 

SCR-536 hand-held radio transceiver (Handie-Talkie) (starting 1941)

So there we have it. I'm sure there are some items I might have missed, but I've tried to be as extensive as possible. Some sources that were really helpful in narrowing down exact specifications and models:

WW2 US Medical Research Center

US Militaria Forum

World Militaria Forum

National Library of Medicine on Youtube

World War Wisdom on Youtube

US National Archives on Youtube

PeriscopeFilm on Youtube

The Ulysses Files on Youtube

Forgotten Weapons on Youtube

The National WWII Museum New Orleans

A lot of the comics listed are no longer considered canon, they're canon AS comics in the universe. I'll be breaking this list up to Pre-Timely Retcon and Post-Timely Retcon.

General warning for Nazis & World War Two for almost ALL of these comics.

Marvel took a different approach of fuck it we’re just not going to age our characters or explain it

So Marvel has what is known as the sliding timescale

The sliding timescale operates on 4 or 5:1 ratio in years. So basically one year in Marvel is four or five years to us.

Another thing to note this isn’t starting on January 1st. A full year for Marvel is roughly four loops of 365 days to the anniversary of Fantastic Four #1

This is the Marvel Fandom Wiki template for what that looks like just as a visual. It’s not perfect and obvious errors and inconsistencies can be noted but it’s a rough idea of how time is moving. Because again Marvel really just went fuck it

This is of course for the modern age so starting in 1961. Anything previous like the Invaders comics can be assumed to have happened in real time not sliding or compressed time.

Now compressed time is harder to get than the sliding time scale which is more or less straight forward

So in a four year period there will be topical references. Meaning years will be noted and specific events will be mentioned. Topical references become non canon as soon as the next four year loop begins

Within a four year loop time is moving year by year. Taking the example the Wiki does during year 12 we have Civil War and Secret Invasion. When Secret Invasion is happening the Civil War took place years before

But once Year 14 began time compressed and Civil War and Secret Invasion would technically have occurred within the same year

There is some reference to all of this in a Loki comic where he notes no one should have the time in a year to have say as many stories as Spider-Man does

Again understanding all of this hurts our brains and we shouldn’t worry to hard about it all lining up because Marvel sure as shit doesn’t.

Bucky: Can we keep him?

Steve: We can't steal a bear from another unit.

Jim: He's actually a soldier, not a bear.

Toro: Technically.

Steve: We can't kidnap a soldier from another unit.

Namor: We kidnap soldiers all the time.

Steve: Nazi soldiers. Axis soldiers. Not Allied soldiers.

Bucky: But he's just like me, Steve, he's also an army mascot who got into the war because they forged his papers to make him a private and trained him to do work other soldiers didn't want to do 🥺

Steve: ....

So I came up with the headcanon the other week that Atlantis and the Atlanteans in the Marvel universe are descended from the Plishtim (Philistines), and I haven't been able to stop thinking about it. It makes so much sense. It's perfect. So of course I had to draw Namor wearing what a Plishti ruler may have worn, based on archaeological findings, while also making it recognizably Namor. Avimelech was the title of Plishti kings in Tanakh, and so Namor of course inherited that title. I have so so so many ideas about the Atlanteans as Plishtim now, so please. Ask me about them. I am bursting to talk about it.