CAPTAIN RECTITUDE
Real Name: Bob Jones IV
Identity/Class: Human mutate
Occupation: Bodyguard and field agent of Jasper Keaton, former employee of Keaton's savings and loan company
Group Membership: American Purity Foundation
Affiliations: Agent of Jasper Keaton, ally of Abominatrix
Enemies: Louise Mason, New York Police Department, Phantom Blonde, She-Hulk
Known Relatives: None
Aliases: None
Base of Operations: formerly Nebuchadnezzar II (Keaton's resort, Las Vegas, Nevada, destroyed), currently unknown
First Appearance: Sensational She-Hulk I#21 (November, 1990)
Powers/Abilities: Captain Rectitude possesses superhuman strength (Class 90), durability, stamina, etc. He was strong enough to go one-one-one against the She-Hulk, although he usually lost. He can fly under his own power. He can also fire destructive plasma blasts of energy from his heart-shaped chest emblem. His costume was composed of bulletproof and fire-resistant aromatic polyamide (aramid) fiber. He is vehemently opposed to anything which he, or Keaton, deems as smut. He is more than happy to use force to enforce his beliefs.
Height: 6'
Weight: 214 lbs.
Eyes: Blue
Hair: Blond
History:
(Sensational She-Hulk I#23 (fb)) - The man who would become
Captain Rectitude was an employee of Jasper Keaton's savings and
loan company. Following government deregulation of the S&L
industry, Keaton made a large profit with short-term investments.
He created a genetic research division which empowered two of his
employees, creating the Abominatrix and Captain Rectitude. What
exactly was done to him is unclear, but it was stated that his
normal biologic drives were sublimated into an anti-smut
instinct.
(Sensational She-Hulk I#21-22) - Captain Rectitude assisted Keaton in his efforts to obtain the nuclear warhead code-named "Rosebud" from former Las Vegas gangster Dutch Rosenblatt. This drew him into a series of encounters with the She-Hulk, who had been drawn into the plot by the involvement of her friend, Louise Mason. Mason, formerly known as the Blonde Phantom back in the 1940s, had been part of the All-Winners Squad's attempt to prevent gangster Dutch Malone from stealing the nuclear warhead nicknamed Rosebud. Keaton wanted to learn the current location of Rosebud so he could use it to force the US senate banking committee to give him control of the Savings and Loans. Unfortunately for Keaton, Mason did not know where it was.
(Sensational She-Hulk I#21) - Keaton introduced the American Purity Foundation's own super hero Captain Rectitude to the press in Las Vegas. Rectitude showed off his strength and plasma blasts before asking Keaton if he should destroy the statue inside the fountain in front of the Benchmark, but Keaton didn't allow it and Rectitude realized that it could jeopardize their discount room rates. He still considered pressuring management to remove the statue.
Captain Rectitude served as Keaton's bodyguard during a speech at a convention. When Keaton's speech was crashed by She-Hulk and Abominatrix, Rectitude offered to settle the fight, but Keaton wanted to see who would win. Keaton admitted that Rectitude and Abominatrix were both working for him after Abominatrix told She-Hulk that Keaton knew where Louise Mason was kept. Captain Rectitude was ready to punish She-Hulk and Wanda Mason, but Keaton assured Rectitude that he was more effective as a threat rather than in an actual fight.
(Sensational She-Hulk I#22) - Keaton threatened to have Louise killed by his loyal employees if She-Hulk interfered any further in his plans.
(Sensational She-Hulk I#23) - Jasper Keaton invited the US Senate Banking Committee to his Nebuchadnezzar resort, but they wanted to leave after learning that Keaton had taken Louise Mason hostage to locate Rosebud, which they were not okay with. Keaton called in Captain Rectitude to apprehend the four men and lock them in the meat locker, but She-Hulk and Phantom Blonde interrupted them. Rectitude offered to pummel the information they had gained about the nuclear bomb's location out of them, but Keaton was okay with just trading Louise's freedom for the information. Mason's daughter, now the Phantom Blonde, inadvertently revealed the Rosebud was hidden in a statue in front of Rosenblatt's hotel, the Benchmark Rosebud's detonator was connected to Rosenblatt's pacemaker. Keaton sent Captain Rectitude to incapacitate She-Hulk, but he failed only to get another chance to kick She-Hulk into unconsciousness after an attack by Abominatrix. He then headed with Keaton and Abominatrix to Las Vegas to retrieve the bomb.
In Las Vegas Keaton gave a check that made it clear that he planned to detonate the bomb in Las Vegas to purify the city, which even shocked Captain Rectitude and Abominatrix. Captain Rectitude still had no reservations to shoot She-Hulk with an energy blast when she and Phantom Blonde arrived to thwart Keaton's plan. She-Hulk knocked Rectitude through a wall to take him out of the fight. He angrily screamed at her while Abominatrix took the fight to She-Hulk. Surprisingly enough, the aged Rosenblatt died of a heart attack while in a shoot-out with Keaton. She-Hulk succeeded in temporarily incapacitating the Abominatrix in time to hurl the missile into the empty desert, where it destroyed Keaton's resort headquarters, the Nebuchadnezzar.
Captain Rectitude and the Abominatrix were presumably taken into police custody.
(Civil War: Front Line#6/1) - After the Superhero Registration Act had passed Captain Rectitude was seen in New York where he was arrested in front of the Daily Bugle by the NYPD.
(Civil War: Battle Damage Report#1) - Captain Rectitude remained in custody.
(World War Hulk: Front Line#2/3 (fb) - BTS) - Captain Rectitude registered.
(World War Hulk: Front Line#2/3) - S.H.I.E.L.D. used Captain Rectitude for a special mission on Times Square in New York City by using him as bait to capture the Hulk in a cage. Captain Rectitude was taken by surprise by questions about his height, religion (he is Jewish) and his last bowel movement. He was put in position on a large red X sprayed on the ground. A S.H.I.E.L.D. agent put a "smash me" sign on Rectitude's back and signs were placed around him that declared him a planet bomber that hated Sakaar. He was then handed a large piece of meat before before he asked why a large cage was above him, but he received no explanation. All S.H.I.E.L.D. agents ran away and Captain Rectitude had still no clue what was going on until the Hulk arrived.
Comments: Created by Steve Gerber.
Captain Rectitude was a recurring character in World War Hulk: Front Line in alternate Earth tales named War is Heck by Paul Jenkins (writer) & Chris Moreno (artist). The story in #2 is apparently considered canon and I am totally okay with it, but the story in #4 was even called a "What if" by Uatu so Rectitude didn't get his block knocked off by the Hulk on Earth-616 (it also included deaths of other character we have since seen alive though not too many). In #5 Rectitude briefly dated a drunk Sally Floyd, who asked him about his previous deaths. IMHO this should be canon even though it seems totally out of character for Rectitude to date a trashy woman like Sally or date a woman at all. He had a broken arm during the date, which could be a reference to the events in #2.
He was also in Shame Itself (January, 2012) in a New Outreach Management Organization for Readers unexperienced with Narrative Entertainment Relating Dynamic Super-Saga. It as written by Elliot Kalan with art by Jacob Chabot. Rectitude was one of three characters fans have forgotten even existed to be killed off by the reader. The other two choices were Silver Sable and D-Man, who both decided that they were "not it" while Rectitude admitted that he couldn't even remember himself. Hawkeye lamented his passing in the arrow to the next multiple choice.
His real name was revealed in the Civil War: Battle Damage Report where he has a profile.
Profile by Snood. Update by Markus Raymond.
Clarifications: Captain Rectitude should not be confused with:
images: (without ads)
Sensational She-Hulk I#23, p18, pan1 (main image)
Sensational She-Hulk I#23, p3, pan4 (head shot)
Sensational She-Hulk I#21, p11, pan3 (cleansing power)
Sensational She-Hulk I#23, p8, pan1 (fighting She-Hulk)
Appearances:
Sensational She-Hulk I#21-23 (November, 1990 - January, 1991) - Steve Gerber & Buzz Dixon (writers), Tom Artis (pencils), Jim Sanders III (inks), Bobbie Chase (editor)
Civil War: Front Line#6 (October, 2006) - Paul Jenkins (writer), Ramon Bachs (pencils), John Lucas (inks), Tom Brevoort (editor)
World War Hulk: Front Line#2/3 (September, 2007) - Paul Jenkins (writer), Chris Moreno (artist), Bill Rosemann & Stephen Wacker (editors)
World War Hulk: Front Line#5/3 (December, 2007) - Paul Jenkins (writer), Chris Moreno (artist), Stephen Wacker (editor)
First Posted: 09/03/2001
Last updated: 02/20/2026
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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