Like Elspeth says, Steve was generally known but as far as I can tell most people nonetheless didn't know what he looked like. I have tonnes of my dad's old comics from the seventies when Steve was still trying to be an artist and such, and I can remember one scene in which he's sitting in a reception room with a secretary waiting to see some guy about his portfolio and she didn't have a clue who he was. His Avengers communicator goes off, Steve waits until her back is turned before leaping out of the window and tearing off his civilian clothes to reveal his costume, and the secretary humourously turns back to see the empty room + open window = omg he killed himself! If only I'd realised he was so desperate for the job! (sob). I have a memory of someone - an Avenger, presumably, but not in costume - calling him Steve Rogers while he was dressed as Cap back in the sixties, and Steve was all like "I don't know how you know that name, but inside knowledge won't help you!" (Proceed to hilariousmisunderstanding!fight between heroes). 2001 (our time) is when it got admitted openly and publically once and for all, though. Which I applauded; there was really no point to Steve having a secret identity.
Tony, as mentioned, complete yo-yo. Back in the day he would admit he'd been Iron Man only when saying "But I'm not now, honest," or when making inventive new use of satellites for mind-control purposes, but he went public just prior to becoming secretary of defense. The reason for the hasty backtrack post-Disassembled is because Joe Quesada can't edit for shit, and on asking Warren Ellis to write him a six-part story didn't bother giving him any information on the character whatsoever or, indeed, correct him when he received the script (a term known as 'editing' in some circles, and a job I erroneously assumed was part of the role of Editor-In-Chief; but we live and learn.) Warren Ellis, unfortunately, had read about three Iron Man comics ever from the sixties where Tony's identity was secret, he made weapons with his company and he had some sort of shrapnel-based cardio problem. He therefore marred an otherwise very good story (the Extremis run) with a random retcon of Tony's medical history (he's now never had an artificial heart or a transplant, supposedly), a random angry mob outside SE (despite Tony being a notorious anti-military philanthropist for years) and a random reinstatement of Tony's secret identity (hastily blue tacked onto the end of Disassembled, probably when somebody considerably more qualified than Joe Quesada stepped forward and pointed out the monumental inconsistency.)
Of course, from Joe Quesada's point of view the sudden secret identity was distinctly fortuitous, since it meant Mark Millar could add even more "drama" to Civil War by having Tony Stark publically announce being Iron Man. Well done, Marvel. Classic story-telling, there.
Sorry, this just became a bit of an anti-Quesada rant.
no subject
Tony, as mentioned, complete yo-yo. Back in the day he would admit he'd been Iron Man only when saying "But I'm not now, honest," or when making inventive new use of satellites for mind-control purposes, but he went public just prior to becoming secretary of defense. The reason for the hasty backtrack post-Disassembled is because Joe Quesada can't edit for shit, and on asking Warren Ellis to write him a six-part story didn't bother giving him any information on the character whatsoever or, indeed, correct him when he received the script (a term known as 'editing' in some circles, and a job I erroneously assumed was part of the role of Editor-In-Chief; but we live and learn.) Warren Ellis, unfortunately, had read about three Iron Man comics ever from the sixties where Tony's identity was secret, he made weapons with his company and he had some sort of shrapnel-based cardio problem. He therefore marred an otherwise very good story (the Extremis run) with a random retcon of Tony's medical history (he's now never had an artificial heart or a transplant, supposedly), a random angry mob outside SE (despite Tony being a notorious anti-military philanthropist for years) and a random reinstatement of Tony's secret identity (hastily blue tacked onto the end of Disassembled, probably when somebody considerably more qualified than Joe Quesada stepped forward and pointed out the monumental inconsistency.)
Of course, from Joe Quesada's point of view the sudden secret identity was distinctly fortuitous, since it meant Mark Millar could add even more "drama" to Civil War by having Tony Stark publically announce being Iron Man. Well done, Marvel. Classic story-telling, there.
Sorry, this just became a bit of an anti-Quesada rant.