Shadow Hunt

The Avengers — Black Widow, Hercules, Quicksilver, and Crystal — have come to the Northwest Territories in Canada to investigate a strange energy signature that the Black Widow detected. There, they found a ruined science lab. They are also ambushed by the Red Skull, who has captured the Widow’s long time confidant, Ivan Petrovitch. Hanging from a ledge, the team is vulnerable, but the Black Widow manages to fire a widows sting that sends the Skull fleeing, allowing them to climb up to solid ground. Hercules is annoyed that exerting himself like this is leaving him winded now that he is no longer immortal.[1]

After searching the rubble they find no trace of the Red Skull. As the group sets up a makeshift camp and check on Ivan, Hercules decides to climb out of the crater and retrieve a first aid kid from their downed Quinjet.

Meanwhile, somewhere in the Caribbean, another massive facility has been constructed to collect a unique source of energy from space. A SHIELD spy has infiltrated the facility and is examining the situation. They report back that this is an identical facility to the one in Canada and if the same disaster strikes again it could destroy the entire planet.

Back in the Northwest Territories, Hercules is still climbing out of the crater when he finds what appears to be Captain America trapped on a ledge. Cap warns Hercules that the Red Skull is up to something incredibly dangerous and that their foe has his base of operations just around a rocky spur. “Captain America” is actually the Red Skull disguised by a holographic image inducer and when Hercules turns his back the villain jolts him with the power gauntlets of his body armor, knocking the former god unconscious.

Down below, Quicksilver and Crystal begin demanding answers from the Black Widow as she has been secretive about this mission the entire time. Ivan also warns them to leave at they are in terrible danger. They are then attacked by the Red Skull again who has the advantage thanks to his strength enhancing armor. He takes particular glee in trying to choke the life out of Quicksilver simply for the fact that he is both a mutant and Romani, a group that the Nazi considers inferior to himself.[2] When the Black Widow saves her comrade, the Red Skull realizes that while her comrades may be ignorant to what happened at this facility she knows what’s going on and demands that she reveal where they have taken the object they both seek.[3]

Back in the Carribean, the SHIELD spy tries to set up explosives to destroy the facility. Unfortunately, he is too late as the facility is being activated. The sudden surge of energy then incinerates the spy. The sudden flare of energy can be seen in the nearby town of Boca Caliente. Among the witnesses is a spy working for the Red Skull who reports her findings back to her master.

In Canada, the battle between the Red Skull and Black Widow rages on. While the Skull now lives in a cloned body created from Captain America’s DNA, he lacks the fighting skills of his greatest enemy.[4] Although he believes that the enhanced body armor and high-tech weapons it carries will more than make up for it, the Black Widow is able to short out his weapons systems with her widow’s bite. That’s when the Skull receives word about the situation in Boca Caliente. Deciding that continued conflict is pointless, the Skull teleports away much to the Widow’s aggravation. Natasha also chastises herself for not being able to beat the Red Skull. Ivan tells her that it is not important and suggests they check on their friends.

Soon the Avengers repair with Quinjet and return to the mansion in order to figure out their next move. When they land on the roof they are greeted by Captain America, who is now wearing a suit of armor himself. He tells the team that he hasn’t been completely honest with them in the past and now he wants to set the record straight.[5]

… This story is continued in Captain America #440.

Recurring Characters

Avengers (Captain America, Quicksilver, Hercules, Black Widow, Crystal, Deathcry), Red Skull, AIM, Ivan Petrovitch,

Continuity Notes

1. Hercules was stripped of his godly powers in Avenges #384. This will remain the status quo until he is made immortal again in Ares #1-5.

2. Here, the Red Skull refers to Quicksilver as both a mutant and the son of Magneto. This is what everyone believed at the time. The facts:

   • The idea that Quicksilver was the son of Magneto was first floated in Vision and the Scarlet Witch #4, by Bova the cow woman created by the High Evolutionary. She claimed that Magneto’s wife, Magda, had come to Wundagore Mountain to get away from her insane husband and give birth to her twin children. In this account, she gave birth to Pietro and his sister Wanda, aka the Scarlet Witch. They were then passed off to Django and Marya Maximoff.

   • However, it has since been revealed that the Maximoff twins are actually the children of Natalya Maximoff. It was also revealed that they were kidnapped by the High Evolutionary when they were children and he experimented upon them. To cover up his work, he made it so future genetic tests had them register as mutants. See Uncanny Avengers (vol. 2) #4-5 and Scarlet Witch (vol. 2) #4 and 12.

3. What’s going on? Well, Advance Idea Mechanics are trying to recreate the Cosmic Cube, as seen in Avengers #386-388 and Captain America #440-441. AIM created the first Cosmic Cube in Tales of Suspense #79. However, the powerful device ended up out of their hands and gaining sentience and transforming into the entity known as Kubic in Captain America Annual #7.

4. When the Red Skull found himself rapidly aging he sought a means to cheat death when his original body died in Captain America #300. It’s later revealed in issue #350 that the Skull managed to transfer his mind into a body cloned from Captain America’s DNA.

5. Captain America obtained this armor in Iron Man #314 and Captain America #438 in order to keep himself alive. In Captain America #373 Cap was caught in a meth lab explosion that reacted dangerously with the Super Soldier Serum in his veins forcing him to eventually purge it from his body in issue #384. By issue #425 of that series, Cap’s health begins to go into decline. Cap will eventually be cured of this condition in issue #445 of Captain America.

Topical References

• Here, the Red Skull refers to Quicksilver as a gypsy, which was a commonly used term when this story was published. This is now a dated term that is considered by many to be racist. The correct term to use is Romani. However, its use here is not necessarily topical since it is the Red Skull who is using it and what with him being a Nazi and all. It seems unlikely that he would be using a politically correct term.

• The Black Widow says that the Red Skull’s time should have ended 50 years ago. This is the measurement of time between the end of World War II and when this story was published and should be considered topical. As the Sliding Timescale pushes the Modern Age forward the length of time between the end of the war and the start of the Modern Age will continue to grow. If you like math, I explain how that all works here.