Later in his life, Arnie would assist with the "Captain America Hotline" created to field tips pertaining to national security before dying of bone cancer.

After becoming aware of his homosexuality as a teenager, Arnie began to pursue girls and cultivated a persona as a playboy to compensate, causing him to drift away from the introverted Steve.

[1][2] During World War II, Arnie joined the U.S. Navy while Steve received an experimental serum that turned him into the costumed superhero Captain America.

[1][3] Some time later, after a now-middle aged Arnie discloses that he knows Captain America's secret identity following a night of drinking, he is approached by Helmut Zemo with an offer to pay off his gambling debts in exchange for the information.

[1][5] Though Arnie recovers physically from the ordeal, he is soon targeted by the villainous Red Skull as part of a plot to destroy the lives of Captain America's closest friends.

[1][7] Years later, an aged Arnie returns to New York to assist with the "Captain America Hotline" created by Steve to field tips pertaining to national security,[8] becoming the manager of a costume shop used as a front for the operation.

After Steve discloses that he is dying due to a breakdown of the serum that gives him his superpowers,[a] Arnie confides that he has himself been diagnosed with terminal bone cancer, and has little time left to live.

[12] Consequently, the sexual orientation of LGBT characters in comics published by Marvel could for many years only be communicated through subtext, as in the case of Northstar in Alpha Flight, and Mystique and Destiny in Uncanny X-Men.

DeMatteis stated that he was interested in depicting "what's behind the mask" and exploring Steve Rogers as a man over the hero of Captain America, and to this end focused on developing the character's supporting cast.

[13] Arnie Roth made his first appearance in Captain America #268 (April 1982) as an unnamed pedestrian who happens to see Steve Rogers on a date with Bernie Rosenthal.

Comics scholar Lee Easton writes that despite the "clichés of dead lovers and tragic endings" prevalent in stories featuring the character, critics have nevertheless regarded him as "quite progressive in the context of America in the 1980s".