MRL - Captain America returns

[sonotadream]

For a bit of backstory, Captain America was created by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby in 1940 to be an explicit anti-Nazi, pro-intervention in WWII figure (and because editor Martin Goodman wanted a superhero to rival Superman). He quickly become Timely Comics most popular character. His popularity declined after the war and he was pretty much out of print until Stan Lee (whose first writer job had been with a Captain America story) decided to bring him back - in Stranger Tales #118, as a fake out.

That story seemed to be popular enough, and Captain America returned for real in Avengers #4.

 

Avengers (1963) #4 - Stan Lee/Jack Kirby

We catch up with Namor after his fight with the Avengers - wandering the ocean, still looking for his people and swearing war on humanity.

He ends up in the Arctic, where he finds an Inuit tribe worshipping a figure trapped in a block of ice - not a lot of cultural sensitivity in display here. Namor takes his anger out on the tribe and hurls the block of ice into the sea.

The current drags it South and the ice starts melting, revealing a human man. It comes across the Avengers submarine and they pull him aboard, where everyone recognizes the figure as Captain America, who has been missing since the end of the war.

 

When Steve wakes up, he’s calling for Bucky, only to remember that he's dead. The others question if he’s really Captain America, to which he declares he is. And then proves by almost beating Iron Man, Thor and Giant-Man in a fight.

Wasp stops the fight by returning to her regular size, surprising Steve with the presence of a girl.

Steve then recounts what happened to him at the end of the war. He and Bucky were in Europe. Their mission was to prevent an explosive-filled drone plane from taking off. They get aboard, the plane explodes and Bucky falls. Steve follows him into the frigid waters, not caring of he lives or dies 😟

He's fairly cognizant of what happened to him after: frozen in ice, the suspended animation stopped him from getting old, the worshipping natives…

He's even aware 20 years have passed 🙃

When the submarine arrives in New York, the Avengers disembark and take a moment to talk to the press. In this version, no one seems upset about the Hulk getting away.

Suddenly, there's a bright flash and the Avengers are replaced by statues. Thinking it's just a stunt to avoid them, the journalists leave and Steve finds a deserted pier when he finally emerges from the submarine - he was taking a nap.

He finds the statues strange, but thinks nothing else of it while he goes exploring. The fashions are different, the cars are sleeker, there's the UN building and TV, but people still recognize Captain America as he passes by.

Steve gets a hotel room to take another nap and wonders what happens next. He feels like he doesn't belong and that being Captain America is meaningless without Bucky.

And, then, he wakes up and Bucky is there!

Except it's not Bucky, it's Rick Jones, who looks and sounds exactly like Bucky.

He's not interested in that, though, he just wants to know what happened to the Avengers.

Hearing that the Avengers are missing, Steve is all business and immediately starts ordering Rick around. This gives Rick a bit of whiplash, as he was thinking Steve was some sort of madman, but they work together, inspecting the photos of the Avengers’ arrival at the dock. There they find a man holding a strange gun and Rick gets his brigade on the case, looking throughout the city for the man.

He's found in a hideout with some goons, who Captain America deals with. The man tries to hit Cap with his ray gun, but he's too fast and disarms the man - who turns out to be a green alien with wild hair.

As it turns out, he crashed on Earth centuries ago and was unable to unstuck his ship from the bottom of the ocean. He tried to find someone to help him, but humans were scared of him. He used the ray gun in self-defence, inadvertently inspiring the myth of Medusa.

He only went after the Avengers because Namor found him and promised he would help the alien free his ship in return.

Steve remembers the Sub-Mariner's name, but decides to deal with him later. First, he gets the alien to turn the Avengers back by promising him their help instead.

They keep the Captain's word and Thor manages to free the alien ship from the ocean floor due to his hammer's ability to manipulate magnetic waves (this had actually been established before, btw).

Meanwhile, Namor, aware that his plan had failed due to his underwater TV, finally encountered some faithful Atlantean soldiers and shows up, intent on defeating the Avengers this time.

Battle ensues, but Steve, unfamiliar with this crop of costumed fighters, decides to stay out of it and watch. Until Rick Jones shows up out of nowhere, being held hostage by Namor's troops, and Cap can't tolerate it.

Namor keeps the upper hand, though, until a rambling that feels like an earthquake sends everyone scrambling. It turns out to be the repaired alien ship, but, by the time it emerges from the water, Namor and his people are gone.

The Avengers welcome Captain America into their ranks, while Rick feels divided in his loyalty to the Hulk.

 

Captain America: Man out of Time #1-2 (2011) - Mark Waid/Jorge Molina/Bryan Hitch

Another fill-in the gaps series set in modern times.

It's the last days of the war in Europe. Bucky is excited about post-war life - he wants to go see the Grand Canyon - but Steve is feeling despondent. He assumes he’ll have to give up the shield and uniform and he doesn’t have a lot going besides being Captain America. (Not sure how I like Bucky in this issue. He feels very different from the guy in Captain America and Bucky, which came out the same year.)

They get orders to defend a new bomber drone prototype, but they barely arrive in time at the base. Assuming the plane is headed for the East Coast, they jump on it, but it’s actually rigged to explode. The last thing Steve sees is a big explosion and, when he opens his eyes again, he’s surrounded by the Avengers.

The vibe on the submarine is very different this time around. Everyone is suspicious of each other and only the Wasp gives Steve assurances they’ll help him figure this new world out.

Steve doesn’t realize it’s been 60 years until he climbs out of the sub and everything’s different.

Then, he hears a scream for help and he leaps into action. He helps a girl being attacked by two guys - who have guns, to his surprise - but she’s also scared of him and ends up shooting Captain America.

Welcome to modern New York, I guess.

Steve spends the second issue in a dreamlike fugue state. Every time he looks at Rick Jones he sees Bucky instead. The thing that brings him out? Discovering that Roosevelt died before the war ended. He doesn't think his brain could conjure something so cruel.

It's sweet. Also, a throwback to a time where we could respect our leaders.

After a brief visit to the ER, the plot follows the original pretty closely. Instead of the Teen Brigade, Rick has the internet. And Steve decides to do an acrobatic demonstration in the middle on Midtown, which 1. convinces Rick he might be the real deal and 2. gets the attention of the news, and other heroes who might be watching the news, or even work in the news.

They find the alien, who doesn't look like a knockoff Grinch, but just grey and reptilian, and seeing a man from Mars finally gets Steve out of his funk and ready to go home.

 

Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes #2 (2004) - Joe Casey/Scott Kolins

Jumping to another take on Steve Rogers wakes up in the future, this one skips the submarine confrontation. Everyone's back at the mansion and Giant-Man is running some tests to figure out if Steve really is Captain America.

The results are concordant with Cap's 1940's files, but what everyone's worried about it's his emotional state. Steve claims not to remember much, although it's unclear it he's talking about going MIA or the war in general.

He's having nightmares and ends up meeting Rick Jones on a late night kitchen run. Rick is on a kitchen run of his own, invited by Jarvis and two of them fill Steve on what's going on with the Hulk. (There's no you look just like Bucky in this one. There’s no mention of Bucky at all, if I’m not wrong.) Jarvis is a bit starstruck by Captain America and thinks it's good he's here to help inspire people.

He shows Steve the Avengers charter to prove their intentions are aligned.

Meanwhile, Tony figures he can use a loophole to take advantage of Captain America's security clearance. He's having trouble convincing the NSC - or, at least, the NSC agent tasked with evaluating the Avengers - that the team can be relied upon.

Thor doesn't approve of using trickery, he doesn't think it's honourable. Tony has doubts if he’s really a God.

Two weeks later, in order to fight the Lava Men from Avengers #5, Tony takes advantage of the loophole and gets closer to make the Avengers legit, while Steve shows he might not be ready for field work.

Random stuff

The first thing Steve sees on TV is someone eating maggots for money. I think this one wins the Biggest Culture Shock award.

The NSC agent much prefers dealing with Tony Stark rather than his glorified bodyguard.

 

It’s interesting to read three versions of the same events back to back, even if they contradict each other a bit. They also have a different take: there’s the focus on silly Silver Age adventures; there’s the focus on how it feels to time-travel 60 years into the future; and there’s the behind the scenes look at the formation of the Avengers.