Kistler's History of Captain America - Part 3

 

This is part of my files on the History of Captain America.

Okay, quick review.

Steve Rogers was part of an experiment during World War II that turned him into a "super-soldier." He fought alongside the Invaders and the Liberty Legion and his younger partner was James "Bucky" Barnes who died while trying to disarm a bomb. Steve got frozen while others took up his mantle. Eventually, our original Captain America was found by the Avengers and joined the modern-world as a cool super-hero. At this point in time, the Red Skull has seemingly died; Cap's got Jack Monroe AKA Nomad at his side; and Steve's girlfriend Bernie Rosenthal knows all about his double life.

Now let's continue.

CHANGING PARTNERS

When Steve left town for a while, Nomad was on his own. Despite the fact that he was still adjusting to the modern world, he'd been doing all right for the most part. He teamed up with Spider-Man against the villain Taskmaster (a mercenary who was able to fight off several of the Avengers by himself) and any mistakes he'd made while teaming up with Cap had been, for the most part, reasonable and understandable.

While Cap was gone, Nomad fought a brand new villain called Madcap. Madcap had the unique ability to inspire temporary madness in others and targeted Nomad. The young hero suffered a hallucination that he was trapped wearing a composite costume of his own uniform and Cap's. Even after the effects worse off, the image haunted Nomad and he wondered if perhaps he was preventing himself from finding his own identity by staying on as Cap's sidekick. Thanking Steve for everything he'd done, Jack left to find his own path.

Not long afterwards, another regular cast member set sail. Bernie had become increasingly bothered by Steve having to divide his life between being with her and being Captain America. She decided to leave New York in order to go to law school and when Steve was unable to even stay for her going away party, she concluded that they did not have a future together. After she left, the two called off their engagement, though they did keep somewhat in touch to maintain a friendship.

One of Cap's most memorable adventures following Bernie leaving was when he was turned into a teenager. The villainous Mother Superior was back and had formed a terrorist cult, recruiting and brainwashing teens to her side. Cap decided to go undercover and asked fellow Avenger Sersi for help. As an Eternal with a penchant for magic, Sersi had great power and was the inspiration for the mythological figure Circe. Cap asked if she could use her abilities to disguise him as a teen. Sersi did so, but to Steve's surprise it wasn't just a cosmetic change. His body was actually reverted to what it had been when he was in his early teens, which means he no longer had his super-soldier abilities to help him out.

It seemed like the beginning of a sitcom-like adventure ("Hey, let’s make Cap a KID!") but actually became a disturbing, horrific tale that evoked images of evil no less than a Klu Klux Klan-like group bent on domination. Cap just barely got out alive.

But because he's a super-hero, Steve didn't get a chance to catch his breath before another enemy came up again. Baron Helmut Zemo had sworn vengeance on Captain America, whom he held responsible for the death of his father Baron Heinrich Zemo. After being defeated a few more times by Captain America, he decided that what he really needed was Daddy's help. "The Bloodstone Hunt" was just that. Zemo, with a group of recruits, set off to find a mystic gem known as the bloodstone to resurrect his father from the grave.

During this adventure, the former criminal Diamondback (who used to be one of the Serpent Society) proved that not only was she a valuable ally to Cap but also had serious romantic interest in him. This wasn't like how Batman and Catwoman were for years, where you thought perhaps they'd find romance if only she would stop stealing stuff. Diamondback was prepared (albeit somewhat reluctantly) to stop her criminal activities and become Cap's new on-again, off-again partner.

When Steve was finally convinced she was serious about ending her criminal career, they began dating but never got to take it to a serious level. Part of the reason was because Diamondback later realized she simply wasn't as willing to die for the good fight and principles as Steve was, a realization that made her feel shallow compared to him.

During "The Bloodstone Hunt", readers and Cap also met a new menace: Brock Rumlow AKA Crossbones. He was a twisted and sadistic killer with the physique of an Olympic weightlifter, skilled in martial arts and sharp-shooting. He also knew Diamondback from years before, when he had been a gangbanger and had raped her.

But Crossbones wasn't just a fighter, he was sly. The guy had actually been sent by the Red Skull (who was still alive, but in hiding) to fetch the bloodstone himself. Rather than confront Cap directly, Crossbones watched him from afar, studying him and his allies, making sure he had a good measure of the man before a fight ever ensued. Crossbones also led a small team of the Skull's cronies known as the Skeleton Crew.

Baron Zemo's plot failed though and Papa Heinrich was not brought back from the dead, which was unique when you consider how often people ARE resurrected in comics. But Crossbones and the Skeleton Crew made several more appearances, fighting not just heroes like the Avengers but also the Hellfire Club (frequent enemies of the X-Men) and the criminal forces of Wilson Fisk, New York's Kingpin of Crime (who was known mostly for fighting Daredevil and Spider-Man). Basically, if anyone, good or evil, threatened the Red Skull’s plans, Crossbones and the Skeleton Crew was there to knock them down.

And he wasn't the only new pain in Cap's side. Two other menaces showed up who seemed like twisted reflections of our heroes. There was Flag-Smasher, the leader of ULTIMATUM. Flag-Smasher was apparently the son of a diplomat who had come to the conclusion that nations were, in theory and practice, wrong. The planet had to be united as a whole and not bother with borders if it was to become truly united. So, he and ULTIMATUM used terrorist activities to bring down symbols of nationalism such as embassies and the like, attempting to force people to give it alll up and come together. Naturally, he hated Captain America on principle, seeing the hero as advocating nationalistic feelings and xenophobia.

Flag-Smasher was a very good fighter who enjoyed carrying around machine guns and a spiked mace, so silly name or not, you didn't wanna mess with him.

Another nutjob our hero had to deal with was the new hero Super-Patriot AKA John Walker (no relation to the Golden Age hero called Patrio). Walker considered himself a Captain America for the next generation, believing the Star-Spangled Avenger was too old and set in his ways, living by ethical codes that did not apply beyond the 1940s.

Walker wasn't alone in his agenda either. He had three buddies who worked with him, the Bold Urban Commandos or "BUCkies." All four men had also received superhuman strength from the man known as the Power Broker, who supplied genetic and physical enhancement for a price. The BUCkies and the Super-Patriot decided they were going to wage war on whoever was a potential enemy to their extreme views of how America should be. Walker was a violent man who acted on instinct rather than concerning himself with strategy or making sure innocents didn't get caught in the crossfire. Armed with super-human strength and a blade that could surround itself with fire, he clashed with Steve both figuratively and literally. As far as Cap was concerned, Walker was a menace, as bad as those he hunted.

But where there are enemies, there are also allies. Cap continued working with the Avengers and Nick Fury at SHIELD and also had a couple of team-ups with Spider-Man. Later on, he met Denis Dumphy, a man with superhuman strength who'd been part of the Unlimited Wrestling Circuit, a short-lived wrestling organization where superhumans were allowed to fight against other superhumans and thus no normal people were endangered.

Wearing a costume that seemed to be Daredevil's original outfit with Wolverine's mask, Dennis called himself the Demolition Man (or just "D-Man"). After helping Cap out on a case he became an on-again, off-again partner. D-Man was a well-meaning if occasionally comical and bumbling crime-fighter.

JUST CALL ME "CAPTAIN"

As we were entering the mid 80s, most Americans had grown more and more cynical and suspicious of politicians. Money and corruption was considered the rule rather than the exception. Captain America reflected that distrust and fear in one of Mark Gruenwald's best story arcs: "Captain America No More."

It started when Cap and the Avengers found themselves at odds with Freedom Force, a government sponsored team of mutants who had all once been criminals and terrorists. It was a serious wake-up call that these former enemies of humanity were trusted more by the government than the Avengers.

Weeks later, Cap found himself facing off against the psychotic named G.I. Max, a recent attempt to create another super-soldier that went wrong. During the fight, G.I. Max was cut down by a stray bullet from his own commanding officer and died. A few days afterward, Cap was called in to meet with the newly-formed federal Commission on Superhuman Activities, who had been behind Freedom Force.

The CSA had been formed by the government to monitor the super-hero and super-villain communities and tried their best to bring either one under some kind of control. A couple of their major players were Henry Gyrich (who had caused the X-Men and the Avengers several problems in the past) and Valerie Cooper (who had a long association with Charles Xavier and would years later head up the govt. sponsored X-Factor team). Mutants were a big concern for the CSA, leading to their activation of Project: Wideawake, which would be spoken about for years before readers learned that it involved the creation of specialized sentinels (mutant-hunting robots who've often fought the X-Men).

But at this moment, mutants were not the CSA's main concern. Captain America was. Members of the CSA decided that Captain America was dangerous as a free agent. If he were "Captain AMERICA", they wanted him 100% loyal to the U.S. administration and to the orders of the military hierarchy, for the sake of P.R. if nothing else. If Steve couldn't comply with this, then he would be fired because the identity, uniform and shield of Captain America were all products of Operation: Rebirth, a military project. Likewise, Steve would not be allowed to operate under the name "Captain America" afterwards or wear a facsimile uniform that identified him as such.

Cap asked for advice from a lot of people but in the end he had to follow his heart. He had, for the past several years (especially ever since his time as the original "Nomad"), been a man determined to represent the ideals of America rather than the government itself. He turned in his costume and shield and walked away.

  

To add insult to injury, John Walker of all people was chosen to become the new Captain America. And his Bold Urban Commando cohort Lemar Hoskins was selected to become the new Bucky. The two began undergoing not only some serious physical training (at the hands of the Taskmaster, who had been recruited by the CSA) but also education in American history and speech/grammar. The CSA wanted to make sure that Captain America and his partner both sounded like articulate, educated men in order to best serve their public image.

Meanwhile, Steve went off on his own, trying to figure out where he now stood in life. After a while, he came across an inevitable conclusion: he was who he was, a super-soldier driven to protect and avenge those who needed him. He couldn't continue as Captain America? Fine, he'd wear a different mask. But he didn't want a completely new identity that was unrecognizable. After all, when he'd taken on the identity of Nomad, he had been initially mistrusted by the police and even by Namor the Sub-Mariner. So his new identity would be a nod to his previous one while being distinct enough to avoid directly disobeying the orders of the CSA.

Wearing a mostly black costume, Steve called himself "The Captain." Joined by his old friends the Falcon, D-Man and Nomad (who was now dating a woman vigilante called Vagabond), Steve jumped back into the super-hero battlefield, taking on criminals and old enemies like the Serpent Society.

Feeling that something was still missing, he later went to Tony Stark (AKA Iron Man) and asked if the billionaire genius could build him a replacement shield. At this time, Tony was in the middle of planning on attack on all those who had illegally obtained technology based on his Iron Man armor (including some federal employees). He was hoping that by giving Cap this shield, it would indebt Steve to him and ensure the Captain would not interfere in his "Armor Wars." He happily gave Steve the replacement shield, not telling his old friend about his true agenda.

Steve later learned of Tony's true purpose and was furious with him. When Iron Man later attacked the Vault (a super-villain prison), the Armored Avenger was intent on disabling the high-tech battlesuits that the guardsmen wore since it was based on his own stolen designs.

During the fight, the Captain showed up and attacked him, attempting to defend the guardsmen since they were federal employees who were simply doing their job and depended on the weapons and protection of their armor to aid in policing the various super-criminals they watched over. The two heroes fought but then Steve was distracted when he saw an injured guardsmen in need of help. Tony took advantage of this and blind-sided Steve with a sucker blast.

Cap later confronted Tony at his office, throwing the replacement shield in his face and demanding that Tony turn himself in not only because he'd attacked federal guards but also because his attack on the Vault had allowed five criminals to escape. Tony escaped Cap's justice, leaving the super-soldier feeling betrayed.

Though they would patch things up months later, Captain America and Iron Man had now learned just how divided they could be when the chips were down and sides had to be chosen. Many years later, this theme would come up again on a whole new level in a story called Civil War.

TWISTED AMERICAN HERO

John Walker may have worn the costume, but his behavior was not that of the same Captain America. He was violent and, despite his new training, often didn't think beyond his first impulse. But the CSA was fine with him because both he and Lemar followed orders and that was the most important thing.

One of the readers of Captain America wrote into Marvel saying that he was quite disturbed that there would be a black super-hero called "Bucky", since "buck" was a derogatory term for a black man in the southern U.S. Taking this to heart, Mark Gruenwald gave us another example of art imitating life and we saw a guardsman speak to Lemar about the very same problem.

When Lemar countered that he'd meant no offense and had only taken the name because it had been the same as the original Captain America's sidekick, the guardsmen asked what dignity there was in a young black man who was partner to the current Cap using the name of a white teenage boy who'd been a sidekick. Taking this seriously, Lemar had the Commission give him a new uniform and a triangular shield similar to Steve's original model. He was now "Battlestar."

Now ready for a public introduction, Battlestar and the new Captain America attended a press conference. They explained that the original Captain America had stepped down and had turned over his identity to a new man, whose name would be kept secret. The public had mixed feelings about this but before anything else could really be said, the conference was attacked. The two Bold Urban Commandos who had not been recruited by the CSA had decided they were going to take revenge on their two buddies who'd made it big and left them behind. As "Right-Wing" and "Left-Wing", they grabbed hold of the microphone and publicly declared John Walker's true identity. They were about to do the same to Lemar but were stopped in time. The two then escaped, the damage already done.

Weeks later, a group of white supremacists called the Watchdogs went out and attacked and killed Walker's parents as revenge for when Walker had busted them a while back. The new Captain America flew into a rage, attacking the Watchdogs without mercy. Blaming Left-Wing and Right-Wing for his parents death (as they were the ones who revealed his secret identity), he captured the two men and tied them to a gas tanker that had a flaming-blade burning into it. He left another such blade nearby, saying that if they were lucky they could free themselves before the first torch-blade was able to cut through the metal and ignited the fuel. Left-Wing and Right-Wing could not reach the other blade in time and they died in a fiery explosion as John Walker smiled in grim satisfaction.

Meanwhile, Steve Rogers was making enemies on his own end. Not only was the CSA after him for disobeying the "spirit" of their orders to not continue as Captain America, but he also had to fight off the forces of the mutant terrorist Apocalypse. And when the Serpent Society turned President Reagan into a maddened snake-man, it was up to Steve Rogers to break into the White House, fight him and cure him.

 

You heard me. Captain America had to fight President Ronald Reagan in the Oval Office itself because the Commander-In-Chief had been termporarily transformed into an evil mutant reptile. This is why comics in the 1980's were awesome!

Of course, since people weren't likely to believe his story that the President had been turned into a snake-man and gone a little nuts, Steve was forced to run, branded as a federal criminal and a fugitive for having broken into the White House and attacked the President.

While avoiding the government, Steve wound up teaming up with some other super-hero friends again and forming a make-shift version of the Avengers. At this same time, Thor showed up on Earth again (having been gone for a while, involved in godly matters and the like). When Thor learned that his comrade-in-arms Captain America had been forced to give up his uniform and hide from the government, the god of thunder flew into a rage and proclaimed that he would wage war upon Washington DC himself. Cap pleaded with him to calm down and not do anything rash and Thor reluctantly agreed.

Thor listened more to Captain America's story, learning of Iron Man's manipulative betrayal. Thor was shocked by this, as he'd trusted Iron Man as well. Then, he wondered if perhaps it was not Captain America himself who was the problem. Perhaps Steve was ill and acting irrationally. That would explain why both the government and a former ally had turned on him.

Thor's musings were interrupted when an attack came. During the battle, Thor lost hold of his mystical hammer Mjolnir, the great weapon that was the source of much of his power, allowing him to fly and command the weather, and which was enchanted so that only someone truly worthy could even pick it up (which, to date, was only Thor and an alien named Beta Ray Bill). Knowing that his friend needed the hammer to turn the tide against their enemies, Steve reached out for it, hoping that perhaps luck would be on his side and he could at least drag it towards the thunder god.

And then, an amazing thing happened. Captain America lifted the hammer as easily as his own shield and in one fell swoop took down a dozen enemies. Sensing the power that now flowed through him, Steve thought that maybe he should get rid of it soon before it could even begin corrupting his judgment and tossed it to Thor.

 

When the fight was over, Thor apologized to Steve for doubting him. The fact that he'd been able to lift the hammer  proved that he was of sound mind and a truly noble spirit, as the enchantment would not have allowed such power to fall into the hands of a disturbed mind. Aside from Thor and the alien warrior Beta Ray Bill, Steve Rogers was now the third person in history who had been able to actually lift and wield Mjolnir (okay, Loki did it once but he used dark magicks to cheat). As far as Thor was concerned, this meant that he and Steve were more than comrades, they were blood-brothers and their bond was one that not even death could rend asunder. It was a shining moment in the history of Steve Rogers.

Finally, Steve's investigations led him to conclude that the CSA had been manipulated by someone outside their organization, a shadow-player who had specifically targeted the Star-Spangled Avenger, intending to cripple our hero emotionally by stripping him of his identity and to then ruin his legacy by giving the mantle to a violent loose cannon.

Steve finally confronted this shadow-player, who called himself "Mr. Smith" ... and he looked exactly like Steve Rogers. But this appearance couldn't hide who he truly was. The sinister way in which he smiled, the way he enjoyed watching from afar as he smoked and chewed on his cigarette holder, the way he boasted and announced his superior intellect ... It was the Red Skull.

As Steve listened, the Skull explained that when he was near death not too long ago, his body rapidly aging, he had taken precautions by enlisting the aid of the geneticist Arnim Zola. Once his body had died in Captain America's arms, his consciousness was immediately transferred into a new body that Zola had created for him, a body cloned from Cap himself. The Red Skull was reborn in the body of a super-soldier.

The Skull then manipulated John Walker into attacking Steve Rogers and the two fought, Walker unwilling to listen to Steve's explanations that not he but the Red Skull, wearing his face, was the real enemy here. During the battle, the Skull neared on the two warriors, readying his cigarette holder which was secretly equipped to deliver his famous "dust of death." Steve tossed his shield at the Skull and forced him to bite down hard in reflex, snapping the holder and causing the dust to be released on himself. The Skull choked and just barely escaped the room, leaving the two Captains by themselves as their fight finally ended.

   

The Skull didn't die, of course. Being the cautious guy he was, the Skull had designed the "dust of death" to not be lethal to his own body chemistry. But just as it caused his victims to take on a red, skeletal appearance, it did the same to him now. For years, he had worn a mask as the Red Skull. Now, the red skeletal appearance was actually burned into his very face. He had Captain America's physical attributes but was now scarred for life.

With the Skull's influence exposed, and with Steve having proven in many ways that he was a better Captain America than Walker, the CSA rethought its position. Soon afterwards, they announced to the press that the original Captain America was back. Steve walked out on stage, back in costume, and Walker stood nearby. Then, in front of a shocked audience, someone shot John Walker and ran off. The attacker shouted, "Justice is served!" This was the signature motto of Scourge, a vigilante who'd been killing off criminals in the Marvel Universe for the past several months in a variety of different comics.

But this was a ruse. The man who'd shot John Walker was not the real Scourge but actually an agent of the CSA. The organization had decided to fake Walker's death in order to create a new identity for him and continue using him as a field agent. With the new cover identity of "Jack Daniels" (okay, what genius in the federal government came up with that idea?), John grabbed the costume Steve had used as "The Captain" and took on the new alias "USAgent." He was then assigned to the Avengers West Coast branch, much to the displeasure of the team's members.

We were nearing the grim and gritty late 80s, early 90s and it seemed that U.S.Agent was Marvel's way of having a grim, violent Cap while also being able to keep their original character at the same time. Not a bad marketing idea, actually. Sadly, rather than just darker and edgier, U.S.Agent usually just came off as a jerk. Over the years, he would change his costume a few times, taking on some badly designed new looks until finally going back to the old "Captain" uniform.

Mark Gruenwald had made magic with the "Captain America No More" storyline. Exactly why this storyline has not been collected in trade paperback is beyond me, considering how well-received and influential it was (okay, the minor fight with the hippie villain Brother Nature was kinda dumb, but still!). So you fans need to write in to Marvel and say "Hey! Collect the Captain America No More story-arc already! Geez!"

DEATH AND DRUGS

Along with that story, Gruenwald took Scourge, a guy who'd been appearing in random Marvel comics and killing off third-string villains with explosive bullets, and made him into a personal enemy for Cap. Before Cap made much headway in finding the lethal vigilante, Scourge went undercover as a bartender at a criminal hangout called The Bar With No Name and killed about 20 costumed super-villains (which even the Punisher hasn't done). Cap went undercover as Mirage (one of Scourge's victims) to lure the vigilante out. It worked but then Scourge was killed by someone else who shouted "Justice is served." A succesor perhaps?

Eventually, we learned that Scourge was not a single person but a small group of trained fighters and gunmen. Many readers had theorized about this since some of Scourge's disguises seemed impossible to all be the work of one person, especially when one of those missions involved what was definitely a woman killing the first villain called Titania and shouting "Justice is served!" It turned out the organization had been started and funded by the original Angel, a human crime-fighter from Marvel's Golden Age who had become obsessed with grief after an innocent bystander was killed during one of his battles. The U.S. Agent later was involved in taking down the Scourge group.

We also learned that the Red Skull had placed one of his own agents in the organization, meaning one of the Scourges actually took orders from him. Gruenwald also revealed that the Skull had influenced and funded parts of the Watchdogs and ULTIMATUM, all for his own purposes of destabilizing America and keeping enemies busy rather than focusing on him. He had also tracked down the Communist agent who had assumed his identity during his years in suspended animation. Proclaiming that there could only be one Red Skull, the Nazi had his Communist successor executed by shooting him and allowing him to fall from a helicopter.

 

In Gruenwald's hands, the Skull wasn't just a Captain America villain, he was a major player with a deep foothold in the Marvel Universe. It was also symptomatic of the late 80s when more and more comic and movie villains were being portrayed as evil businessmen.

This newfound power did not endear the Skull towards certain villains. During the storyline "Acts of Vengeance", Captain America's arch-enemy was at least in the same room as the X-Men's prime nemesis. The mutant terrorist Magneto confronted the Red Skull and asked him flat-out if he was indeed the same Red Skull who had operated during World War II and served for Hitler. The Skull boasted that indeed he was, not realizing that this was very dangerous to say to a man who had enough power to blow up the Pentagon and who'd been a prisoner in Auschwitz where his family had died.

Magneto took his revenge on the Nazi, burying him alive. It was weeks before Crossbones found the Red Skull, starved and on the brink of death.

Cap went on doing what he did best. He and Diamondback were becoming quite the item. And John Jameson (son of Daily Bugle publisher J. Jonah Jameson and occasional of Spider-Man) joined Cap as an assistant and chauffer.

Readers got to see Cap's darker side when the story "Streets of Poison" had him drugged and acting like a sadistic version of himself. But after this somewhat interesting (though perhaps drawn-out) story, Cap seemed to fall in terms of quality. Stories came and went and people weren't really interested.

Silly plots came up such as Cap dressing like a female villain in order to infiltrate a group of femme fatales. Or the time Cap was turned into a werewolf (nicknamed "Capwolf"). With the exception of a few occasionally touching tales (such as in Marvel Holiday Special when Cap met Bucky's surviving sister during Christmas and told her of her brother's brave life), it seemed the Captain America title was not really hitting any marks.

One story that was very personal for Cap was in the pages of Avengers. In the story "Under Siege" (collected in trade), Baron Helmut Zemo organized a brand new line-up for the Masters of Evil. Unlike previous incarnations of the group, this team wasn't meant to be a mirror-image of the Avengers but was stacked to over-power them. Zemo was able to ambush the Mansion and took down several Avengers before things even began to go right for the good guys. He even had Jarvis the butler tortured in front of the heroes.

Although the Masters were later defeated, Zemo got in a serious mental victory. Breaking into Cap's storage locker, Zemo got hold of Steve's few remaining personal items that had survived World War II. In front of Cap's eyes, he ripped up the only photo of Steve and his mother. He may not have killed the Avengers, but Captain America was hit excruciatingly hard by that act.

 

It was Zemo's first true victory over Steve and, added with his attack on Avengers Mansion, finally put him in the category of being a true arch-enemy.

NEW TAKE

In 1991, Marvel decided that perhaps a slight revision/expansion of Cap's origin was what was needed to get fans interested once again in the star-spangled avenger. Perhaps by seeing his early days, they would gain a new appreciation for him.

Fabian Nicieza and Kevin Maguire wrote and penciled the four-issue mini-series The Adventures of Captain America: Sentinel of Liberty. The mini-series was affectionately referred to by some readers as "Captain America: Year One." The story expanded Steve's origin tale, adding new wrinkles. For instance, we learned that Steve was in fact one of four candidates for Operation: Rebirth. All four were subjected to rigorous training and intelligence tests. When the prime candidate for the program was seriously injured and another was disqualified due to health reasons, the army eventually fell on Steve as the best guy left.

In this expanded story, it also showed that Steve's transformation was not just a matter of having himwalk into a lab and drink the super-soldier serum. In fact, even after he was selected as the best candidate, he spent weeks training intensively, learning military strategy, firearms, martial arts, weight-training and the like. For the super-soldier serum and the vita-rays to be most effective, Steve had to be in the best shape possible.

Another new twist on the origin story concerned Doctor Abraham Erskine (the inventor of the super-soldier serum who'd been codenamed "Dr. Reinstein"). In the previous tellings, it had been said that Erskine had memorized the formula so none could copy it. In this revision, we found out that was merely a rumor Erskine had deliberately fostered. The truth was that while certain parts of it were memorized, yes, the majority of the formula was outline in notes that had been divided between himself and three other people. Col. Fletcher, who was in charge of Operation: Rebirth and was becoming a mentor to Steve, was given papers detailing the secrets of the vita-rays, which Erskine considered the most valuable part of the entire process becuase without the proper radiation bath, the process could have unforeseen side-effects (such as the 1950s Cap who went nuts).

Another addition to the story was the presence of Col. Fletcher, the "American Eagle", a war hero who oversaw Operation: Rebirth and who took on a mentor-like role with Steve. Inspired by Fletcher's nickname, Steve sketched out a few drawings of a super-hero he made up called "American Eagle" or "Mr. America." When it was later decided that Steve would be a rallying symbol to the people, the PR boys saw his sketches and used  them as a basis for the design of the Captain America uniform.

Another alteration concerned Bucky Barnes. In this new origin story, Bucky was not merely a happy-go-lucky kid who played soldier. Nicieza made him a con-artist. It was revealed that Bucky constantly got in trouble for cheating at cards or conning people, but even when he was caught he was often able to get himself out of a jam by simply talking his way around the situation.

In this new version, Steve didn't allow Bucky to operate as a partner so much as he was tricked/sweet-talked into doing it. And even Steve had to admit that Bucky was valuable to him simply because the kid's clever criminally-inclined mind worked in ways his own didn't. As Bucky explained himself in the story, "It's like this – I can do the dirty little tricks [Captain America is] not allowed to do. I can get the information that goes beyond regular military methods. I may look young, but I'm a very worldly guy."

Bucky was true to his word. When he and Cap were later captured by the Skull, Bucky was able (with some help) to stage a prison break. In the process, he actually hijacked a German tank, painting "DIE NAZI SCUM!" on the side of it just before he used it to attack the Nazi army. This Bucky wasn’t just a sidekick, he was a loose cannon Cap had to sometimes keep on a leash.

It was a pretty entertaining (though occasionally predictable) mini-series. And although it’s not exactly considered cannon at this point (partially because so few people have actually read the damn thing), several elements of it influenced later re-tellings of Cap's early days. Forever afterwards, Bucky was portrayed as a clever, street-wise con artist. And the fact that Erskine had not memorized the super-soldier formula but had divided up notes that were later stolen was a great explanation as to how the Nazis were able to create Master-Man and how the Captain America of the 1950's was able to recreate a version of the serum for himself and Jack Munroe.

DIVIDED ALLIES. A NEW LOOK.

Another thing that bolstered interest, at least for a short while, was when Captain America got involved in a cross-over that included the titles Avengers, Quasar, Wonder Man and Avengers West Coast. The story was called "Operation: Galactic Storm." Many years before, Cap and the Avengers had gotten involved in a war between the Kree and the Skrull alien empires. Now, there was a conflict brewing between Kree and the Shi’ar (who normally only involved themselves with the X-Men). Cap led a team into space.

One of the major Kree leaders was the Supreme Intelligence, an organic super-computer that looked like a great big head with tentacle hair. After the Supreme Intelligence had ordered a massive attack that took out many lives, Iron Man suggested that the Avengers go and destroy him. Captain America said he would have no part in that, that the Supreme Intelligence was a living thing and he would not charge into action with the express intent of assassinating someone out of vengeance. Iron Man claimed that as a super-computer, the Supreme Intelligence was not a living being and deserved no mercy.

The Avengers divided between those who were fine with destroying the Intelligence and those who weren't and once again Cap and Iron Man found themselves on opposite sides of the fence. Iron Man pulled rank, saying that as the only founding member of the Avengers who was present he had ultimate authority. After the battle was over, Captain America left the Avengers again for a time.

Sadly, as before, the stories were rather lack-luster for a while. Writers tried a change in direction by giving Cap a new job and headquarters. Showing he was a rather clever cookie, Steve opened up a costume shop (which he lived above). This way, if any Avengers or other heroes came to Cap for help, people on the street who saw them enter and exit would simply believe they were satisfied customers.

But that wasn't the only change. Cap was got a whole new look. After undergoing some medical tests, Steve found out that he was dying. Years of putting his body through extreme stress was catching up with him and the super-soldier serum in his veins was starting to break down. Cap wasn't willing to lay down and die quietly. He was still Captain America and needed to continue living as such. But soon, his body was growing too weak to let him do so.

To compensate for his weakness, Tony Stark built him a new suit of armor that increased his strength and agility (and even had rocket boots). Understandably, fans didn't respond well to this new, clunky armored look Cap was sporting.

During the "Cap Gets Sick and Wears Weird Armor" storyline (okay, it wasn't called that, but you know what I'm saying), Cap also met a couple of new heroes directly inspired by him. Free Spirit and Jack Flag were both vigilantes that took their cues from Cap and tried to be 90's style sidekicks to the Sentinel of Liberty. They were, as to be expected, not really popular. Another example of how the phrase "90's-style" rarely references anything that was actually good.

 

On the flipside, Cap also said good-bye to old friends. His old buddy Arnie passed away due to cancer. Young Ram Riddley had once been one of Cap's biggest fans and had been in charge of the Captain America Hotline. But after his parents were killed by criminals, he lost faith in justice and his hero and he vanished from Cap's life.

After several battles that taxed his increasingly-weak body, Cap returned to Avengers Mansion, sensing the end was near at last. He lay down on a bed and closed his eyes. Moments later, the Avengers came to check only to find that the body was gone. Steve's armor lay empty on the bed.

The Avengers weren't sure where the body was or who could have broken in and taken it without being seen. But judging by Cap's condition during those final hours, they all knew he couldn't have survived the night in any event. Wherever he was, Captain America was dead ...

... Right?

OLD FRIENDS

Mark Waid, writer of the wildly successful mini-series Kingdom Come and The Flash for many years, jumped on board Captain America and was determined to bring him back to his roots as a super-soldier who both inspired and intimidated. His first storyline (which has been collected) was fittingly called "Operation: Rebirth."

As the world held a funeral for him, Cap woke up not in Heaven but on a lab table. He was not only alive but healthy again. Looking around the complex, he found himself confronted by ... Sharon Carter, his former love who had been killed years earlier by the Grand Director.

The tape Cap had watched of Sharon dying had been faked so as to aid her in going deep undercover overseas. When her mission was decided to be a wash, SHIELD cut its losses and left her there. As she was forced to survive through theft and prostitution, Sharon grew bitter and resentful towards SHIELD and Steve for abandoning her (she didn't realize that Steve thought she was dead). Still, she’d evidently retained some feelings for Steve because a frequent alias she used was "Fraulein Rogers."

During her own activities, Sharon became aware of a group of A.I.M. nuts who called themselves the Kube Kult. Remember that story years ago when the Red Skull teamed up with Hate-Monger AKA the clone of Hitler? And then the Red Skull had betrayed Hitler by imprisoning his mind within the Cosmic Cube? Well, Mark Waid definitely remembered it. Turns out a bunch of AIM scientists were convinced that Hitler's spirit would soon rise from the Cube again. Not wanting to see Hitler rise from the grave, Sharon teamed-up with the only man who she knew for sure had money and resources and would definitely not want the Fuhrer back: the Red Skull.

The Skull didn't want the man he'd betrayed to return to physical existence and have a Cosmic Cube at his disposal. But for this mission, he decided that his best weapon would be the man who'd been created to personally defeat Hitler: Captain America. Learning of Cap's condition, the Skull had a lab prepared to treat him. When Cap returned to Avengers Mansion and lost consciousness, Sharon and the Skull's men teleported in moments later. They took Cap back to the lab and got to work on him immediately. With Cap’s condition, the only way to save him was a full-blood transfusion.

If the donor had been a normal human, this would have left Steve normal as well. What was needed was a donor who also had the super-soldier serum in his veins, so that Cap would remain the living fighting machine he’d been for decades. The Skull was the only candidate, as he lived in a body cloned from Cap.

Cap naturally didn’t like being indebted to the Red Skull for his life nor was he fond of having been reunited with Sharon only to find he didn’t necessarily trust her anymore. But even if Hitler wasn’t going to rise back to life, the idea of Nazi/AIM cultists possessing a Cosmic Cube was too much to contemplate. Much as he hated it, he worked side-by-side with the Skull to fight the Kultists. During the battle, Cap was transported inside the Cube itself, which was part of the Skull’s plan. With Steve inside the Cube, he hoped that his mind and the mind of Hitler would battle and destroy each other, leaving only himself to access the power. Cap found himself in a simulation of the 1940s, believing he was back where he belonged, alongside Bucky and on his way to take out Hitler.

Eventually, Cap's subconscious mind forced him to see the truth. He couldn’t hold on to the fact that he was a "man out of time." Like it or not, the past was the past and he needed to become concerned with the present. To the Skull’s amazement, Cap mentally forced himself out of the Cube. The Skull tried to reach for the Cube to use it, but Cap threw his shield, slicing off the Skull’s arm and cracking open the cosmic device. There was a blast of energy and it looked like the Skull was vaporized.

Cap and Sharon then went off and joined forces fighting some evil. But life is never easy for Steve Rogers. During the battle alongside the Red Skull, Cap had been forced to attack some American troops and disobey a direct Presidential order. For this reason, he was deemed a traitor to the U.S. Finding himself in a similar position to what the CSA had put him through, Cap discarded his costume and wore a dark uniform that was basically what his suit would look like if you took away all hints of red and white. As the “Ex-Patriot”, he proved himself to the American government after a few missions and was allowed to take back his original identity without fear of legal penalty.

You'd think things would go well after that, but sadly no. Marvel decided that it was gonna shake up some of their core titles, Captain America included. In the crossover event "Onslaught", all of the heroes of Earth were threatened by a Onslaught, a creature of mental energy created by the minds of Magneto and Professor X of the X-Men.

At the end of the story, it was revealed that the body mass of a person would weaken Onslaught if that person entered his energy form. Mutants would empower him, so it was up to the Avengers and the Fantastic Four to make the sacrifice. Cap charged into Onslaught alongside his fellow heroes and the villain erupted in a blast of energy, seemingly killing everyone involved.

While the Marvel Universe had to recover from having its greatest heroes die, readers dealt with something else. Having their familiar heroes be revised and reinterpreted.

HEROES REBORN

The idea was simple. Give Captain America, The Avengers, Iron Man and The Fantastic Four to some of the hottest artists and writers and have them revamp/revise them as if their origins were happening from ground zero in the 90s (very similar to the idea behind the Ultimate Marvel line of comics that would come out years later). Captain America was given to Jeph Loeb to write and Rob Liefeld to draw.

And I'm gonna tell you right now, I don't like Liefeld's art. I just don't. But I got no beef against Loeb and have indeed enjoyed many of his stories, so I’m going to limit my criticism to his story as opposed to Liefeld's art.

In the Heroes Reborn reality, Captain America had been in operation during World War II much as we knew he had in the original Marvel Universe. But he was not frozen after a battle with the original Baron Zemo. What happened in this reality was that when the U.S. dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Cap disagreed with the move. While he understood the President had his reasons, he did not agree with the loss of civilian life the attack involved.

But the U.S. government decided they couldn't allow Captain America to walk around and risk him publicly stating that he disagreed with the President, not when they needed public support. So, Nick Fury, head of a special new division called SHIELD (named as a reference to Captain America in this universe) was given the task of making sure Cap wasn’t around to talk. Fury had Cap placed under hypnotic suggestion. He forgot his real name and his life as a costumed super-soldier. He lived out a new life as an ordinary citizen. When Fury realized that the super-soldier serum prevented Steve from aging (and apparently made his blood green in color), he had Steve put under new hypnotic suggestion every few years, moving him to a new life and a new location.

This went on for decades until an old soldier found Steve and reminded him of who he really was, even giving him back his shield. Steve regained his memories just in time to help SHIELD stop the Red Skull and Master Man, who were both in the middle of a new scheme. During the adventure, Steve was helped by an Air Force pilot named Sam Wilson (call sign "Falcon") and a teenage girl gymnast named Rikki Barnes.

The story was a bit melodramatic at times (I think Cap should make speeches before rushing into a battle rather than actually quoting the pledge of allegiance during a fight). And there were one or two elements I didn’t like. But the concepts were very nice and I thought the idea of the U.S. govt. keeping Cap "asleep" for years rather than having him literally be unconscious for decades was a very interesting idea and gave a clear set-up for Steve’s mistrust of politicians.

Of course, the problem with this change is that because Cap did live out all those decades (even if it was under false identities), it eliminates any element of being a "man out of time", which is one of the successful staples of the character.

In the Heroes Reborn Avengers title, Cap was put in charge of putting together a team of super-humans that he would lead, answerable to SHIELD. And then later, Cap and his Avengers showed up in Heroes Reborn Fantastic Four when they helped end an invasion by Namor and Atlantis (Namor recognized Cap, so it was established that the Invaders did indeed exist in this reality).

A few months in, it was clear that readers weren't that fond of the Heroes Reborn reality. Perhaps it was the fact that artist Rob Liefeld seemed to give him bizarre body proportions and breasts (oops, there went my objectivity). Or perhaps it was just that this Cap and his story didn't feel quite right. Either way, readers wanted Cap and the other heroes back in familiar territory and able to interact with the mainstream Marvel Universe again.

After a year, a story called Heroes Return brought the Avengers and Fantastic Four back home. It was revealed that just as they were about to die within Onslaught’s energy form, Franklin Richard (son of Mr. Fantastic and the Invisible Woman) had used his vast psychic energies to save them all, transporting them to a "pocket universe" he created. This universe was just large enough to hold a facsimile of Earth and a few other planets, no more. Discovering the truth about their lives, the Avengers and Fantastic Four (along with Doctor Doom who had also been transported into the pocket universe) all made their way back to the mainstream Marvel Earth.

With Cap back home, Mark Waid stepped back into the title. He decided to give Cap a new emotional blow when our hero had to abandon his shield during a fight. With his faithful weapon seemingly lost, Cap had to use an energy-based shield for several adventures. It was like learning how to walk again, as he could not throw this shield but he could turn it into a staff.

Cap also began working more and more with Sharon Carter again and the two began to become friends at least.

The Red Skull returned once more, only to be defeated again. Mark Waid spent an entire issue retelling the Skull's origin from his own point of view. But to Mr. Waid's great annoyance, Marvel actually re-edited the script/text of the story without telling him, fearing that his story could be misread as being sympathetic to the Nazi cause. Furious, Waid left the title soon afterwards.

Waid (along with other writers) also worked on a short-lived title called Captain America: Sentinel of Liberty that told stories from different eras in Cap's history. A few of them were fun (such as an early adventure between Cap and Iron Man), some were quite enjoyable and interesting (an Invaders story where the three heroes had to fight the Sub-Mariner's mother and a group of Nazi-created androids) and some were faintly ridiculous (learning that one of Steve's ancestors had been a sort of Captain America figure during the Revolutionary War). Fortunately for those who didn't like some of the sillier stories, it was assumed by editing and fans that some of these tales could fit into a "What if …?" or "imaginary" category.

The series ended with issue 12 by giving a retrospective of Bucky. Just like Nicieza, Waid portrayed Bucky as a smart-ass smooth talker. He also showed that the kid was more willing to fight dirty than Cap was. When entering a battle, Bucky said he wasn’t ready yet. Picking up a machine gun, the young man then smiled and said that NOW he was ready to fight some Nazis. Waid’s idea that Bucky Barnes had actually been a mite more inclined to violence than Cap was would come up again in a few years.

NOMAD: THE WANDERING VIGILANTE

So yeah, while we're talking about Buckies, let's speak again of Jack Monroe. And Baron Zemo. But mostly of Jack.

As the 90s arrived, there was a surge of grim and gritty heroes who wanted to compete with guys like the Punisher and Wolverine. In Captain America Annual #9 (1989), Nomad got a grim make-over. He ditched his cape and mask for a trench coat and sunglasses. He kept the "N" belt and the big buckles on his shirt, but that was all the super-hero-ness he exuded.

After having operated on his own for a while and being dumped by the girl named Vagabond, Nomad was now a far more cynical, harder-edged vigilante, much to the chagrin of his former buddy Cap. Nomad went around looking for drug dealers and mobsters who needed to be punished and he wasn't afraid to break his knuckles in the process (which granted, is hard to do with superhuman strength, but you get what I'm saying).

Nicieza gave him a four-issue mini-series and then an ongoing title. For the first several issues, Nomad tackled issues such as racism, AIDS, drugs and gang violence rather than spending a lot of time against costumed criminals. He wasn’t isolated from the rest of the Marvel Universe though. He teamed up with Deadpool, the Punisher and Daredevil in the crossover "Dead Man's Hand" and he joined several of Earth's heroes in the crossover The Infinity Crusade (though his role there was very minor).

After sometime, Nomad began to lighten up and let his more compassionate side out more. He even got an adopted daughter he named Bucky. In one story, Nomad was afraid that he and Bucky might’ve been infected with HIV (Bucky due to drug-abusing parents and Nomad because of unsterile medical care he’d recently received). Nomad looked at the test results but the story didn’t tell the readers what they were.

Due to a lack of interest, eventually Nomad's series was cancelled. It ended when he was attacked and killed by a Nazi militia in his hometown, the same group that his Nazi-sympathizing father had joined some time ago.

A few years later, the Onlsaught crossover happened. While Cap, the Avengers and the Fantastic Four were all lost in the Heroes Reborn universe, a vacuum occupied the Marvel Earth. Where were the heroes who would defend her against the biggest menaces that were out there, such as alien invaders and super-powered terrorists?

Baron Helmut Zemo had formed a new Masters of Evil team to take on the Avengers but now that they were gone he wasn't sure what to do. Then, an idea occurred to him. Disguise the Masters of Evil as brand-new super-heroes and then after gaining the public’s trust, turn around and take over the planet.

This story was tackled in The Thunderbolts written by Kurt Busiek. Busiek took Zemo several steps further in the threat category. Under Busiek's direction, Zemo examined his hatred of Captain America and realized that for years now he had been motivated solely to avenge his father. But with Captain America seemingly dead, now what? Why not live up to what his father had dedicated his own life to? World domination.

Of course, the Avengers returned and mucked things up. What's more, some of his cohorts decided they actually preferred being Thunderbolts rather than Master of Evil. As the series went on, Zemo tried to go on with his schemes. And strangely enough, he found himself changing and maturing. Where once he would have killed a man for even insulting him, he now learned patience and the value of strategy from being a leader who had to be responsible for a tight-knit team. He gained an appreciation for group dynamics and for using an enemy's strength against himself. This new mind-set came in handy, because Zemo was attacked by the new Scourge.

 

The new Scourge and Zemo fought viciously in Zemo's lair. Finally, their battle ended in Zemo's private study, which housed a display case that held the tattered remains of what had been the costume of Bucky Barnes. The new Scourge took this personally and killed Zemo immediately. As Zemo died, he tore off Scourge's mask and saw that it was actually Jack Monroe (though readers had to wait a couple of issues to find that out).

Seemed that Jack hadn't died, he'd been injured and then recovered by the government, placed in suspended animation (probably so they could study more of what the super-soldier serum did to his body exactly). He was then released by Henry Gyrich (who himself was under hypnotic control) and was brainwashed into becoming the new Scourge. Once he was free of the brainwashing, Jack went back to being a vigilante, re-adopting the first version of his Nomad outfit.

What happened to him in the end is a story we'll get to. Also, I should note that due to circumstances too complicated to go into here, Zemo later turned up alive again as well. Though to Cap's surprise, he was no longer seemingly interested in world domination. Instead, Zemo claimed that he found out that saving the world was just as interesting and thrilling a challenge and thus he'd altered his goals. Naturally, Cap still didn’t trust him.

Back to Cap. After Waid left the title, Dan Jurgens picked up Captain America. But the guy didn't gain much reader interest. His stories introduced yet another evil super-soldier "Protocide." Which might have been cool, if we hadn’t already seen the same idea played out in the Grand Director (the Cap of the 1950s) and Flag-Smasher (a sort of "anti-cap") and Master Man (Nazi super-soldier) and G.I. Max and John Walker and the recently introduced character Nuke, who was seen in the title Daredevil and said to be a by-product of a later attempt to recreate Captain America during Vietnam. Jurgens stories seemed "been there, done that" to many fans. As readers entered the 21st century, it looked like not many were reading Captain America.

And then an event happened that shocked America. A series of plane hijackings by terrorists horrified the country. And months later, Captain America returned with a new relevance.

And we will discuss that, Ultimate Captain America and Liefeld's rip-off character in Part 3.