Captain Euro is a fictional comic book-style superhero character, created in 1999 as a way to promote the European Union, and specifically the Euro, the single European currency that arrived in 2002. The character has been featured on a website (first at captaineuro.com, later at captaineuro.eu) since 1999, but has not appeared in any actual comic books. The website's contents are available only in English. The campaign, website and all the characters were created by Nicolas De Santis of the consulting firm Twelve Stars (now Gold Mercury International) for the EU. Twelve Stars was already working for the EU in various projects, including with the European Parliament. The Captain Euro character dresses in a costume which features elements of the flag of Europe, including the twelve stars motif. Elements of the character are clearly reminiscent of Marvel Comics' Captain America (the similar "Captain" moniker and patriotic costume) (which also features a team of international adventurers operating from a central base). In November 2014, De Santis relaunched the Captain Euro website, this time as an independent project not under EU supervision. The relaunch included some changes to the characters, as well as a significant change in tone: the stories became more humorous and more overtly political, with Captain Euro explaining and justifying the European Union to various real-life world leaders. Fictional character biography Captain Euro (real name Adam Andros) is the main character, of unspecified nationality. Originally, he was described as the son of "a famous European Ambassador", a professor of palaeontology and a polyglot; after a motor accident one of his knees was replaced with a metal alloy joint, but he is otherwise "in peak physical condition". After the 2014 relaunch, Captain Euro became a former "investigative journalist and a writer with a deep interest in international affairs, social psychology and identity", who "discovered his deep passion for keeping Europe together while reporting on the horrific events of the Yugoslav wars". In 2016, his identity was changed again, to "a young internet cyber software and virtual reality (VR) genius and millionaire." He runs the Twelve Stars Organisation, a group which seeks to "defend the security of Europe and uphold the values of the Union". His team-mates include his sidekick Europa (real name Donna Eden), an environmentalist and archaeologist, and assistants Erik, Helen, Marcus, Lupo the timber wolf, and the computer system Pythagoras I. The website claims that "they are the