The Jeep Wrangler America 250 edition is loaded with patriotic flourishes. -In the 17 years he's run marketing for Chrysler, chief marketing officer (CMO) Olivier Francois has wanted to realize a marketing idea that he figured he never could: creating a Jeep spare tire cover that looks like Captain America's shield."We have had that idea as an obsession for, I don't know, decades," Francois told the attendees at a press conference on May 12. "We always put it aside, saying, ‘the Marvel guys will never let us do this.'"But now Marvel is letting Jeep do it, because the timing will never be better than now.AdvertisementAdvertisementJeep and Captain America are both celebrating their 85th birthdays in 2026, alongside the United States, which is marking its semiquincentennial. The triple convergence has set the stage for the Jeep Wrangler America 250 campaign.Much like a Jeep, this piece of marketing has a lot of moving parts.First there's the ride itself. The limited-edition Jeep Wrangler America 250 is the seventh release in Twelve 4 Twelve, an 85th birthday promotion that began in November 2025 and is rolling out a new, limited-edition Jeep every month for 12 months. Its patriotic touches include red, white, and blue hockey-stick stripes on the outside, blue denim seats inside, plus the aforementioned Captain America tire cover.Spotlighting the themed Jeep is a 50-second video titled "Origin Story.” Created in comic-book style by Chicago shop Highdive, it whisks viewers back to 1941, the year the U.S. entered WWII.AdvertisementAdvertisementIn this animated mini drama, "America's top minds are in a race against time" to "engineer the extraordinary and save the world." The result? Captain America and Jeep.Technically speaking, the work is not fiction: Willys-Overland snared the government contract to build 4x4s for the U.S. Army in July of 1941, four months after Captain America Comics No. 1 appeared, featuring the muscular hero punching Hitler in the face.Next, in June, "The Original Superheroes" (also from Highdive) will make its debut. The series of spots stars seven U.S. armed-forces veterans, "the real-life men and women whose missions Jeep vehicles once supported on the front lines-reinforcing the idea that heroism is not fictional," said Jeep corporate.To help make that point, each of the featured vets has achieved the military rank of captain.And then, near year's end, Jeep will co-brand with Marvel for the theatrical release of Avengers: Doomsday. A rotating cast of superheroes from the Marvel Studios stable, the Avengers have included everyone from Ant-Man to Spider-Woman, but Captain America has led the group since 1964. (A special-edition Marvel comic book comes with the purchase of every Jeep Wrangler America 250 edition.)Citing production delays, Disney pushed the movie's slated May 1 release date to December 18, which will doubtless take some of the punch out of what would have been nice timing around July 4.AdvertisementAdvertisementEven so, Jeep is still partners with America250, the Congressional nonpartisan commission overseeing the country’s birthday, and it can still lay claim to the title of America's Most Patriotic Brand, which voters in an annual Brand Keys survey have named it for the last 25 years running.It can also finally boast of having done that Captain America shield tire cover, thanks to the intersection of birthdays for Jeep, Captain America, and America itself."It’s very interesting how timing plays a role in these things," Francois said.Jeep Calls on Harrison Ford for Super Bowl Ad (Even Though His Name Is Ford)
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