The Super Boxing Chicken!!

Young Roberto Velasquez was a tiny boxer in Puerto Rico looking to hit the big time...

He's approached by a shady character...

And:

Dr. Karl Malus "enhanced" him, because apparently the mob thinks there's big money to be made by sneaking super-powered boxers into regular matches.

But unfortunately, along with super-strength and near-invulnerability, Roberto finds that he's also prone to bouts of berserker rage, and in his first fight...

Well, that gives Roberto a pang of conscience, and he refuses to fight anymore. Which makes the sleazy crime boss unhappy!

But after "dying" and being dumped in the swamp...

Since this is the Marvel Universe, the only reasonable action...

...is to dress up like a chicken and beat up bad guys!

Now, a bantam is a miniature chicken, which is where the bantamweight class in boxing got its name (115-118 lbs). So, it sorta kinda makes sense to dress like a chicken, I guess...?

Anyway, he's pretty effective:

He meets Captain America, who gives him his blessing:

And thus is born: The Bantam!!

And no one would ever dare make fun of his costume...

Sigh.

Now, you would have thought that Bantam was poised for success: a good origin, decent costume (yes, even with the chicken), a recommendation from Steve Rogers himself...

Alas, it was not to be. That first appearance was Bantam's only appearance...until 13 years later, when he was gruesomely and graphically killed during Civil War. Look, kids--comics!!

This is why we can't have nice things.

From Captain America Annual #12 (1993)