Taking AIM Part 2: Island of Spirits

This story continues from Captain America #440…

On the island of Boca Caliente, a young boy is running for his life when suddenly he is ambushed by a wolf. However, the creature is not attacking him, but helping the boy hide from a group of soldiers working for Advance Idea Mechanics that are sweeping the area. The boy and his new friend find what they are looking for, Captain America who is recovering from a recent battle. Seeing the boy he first thinks it is his old partner Bucky, but quickly realizes that his eyes were playing tricks on him. However, moments after he says this, a now adult Bucky now appears out of nowhere, leaving Cap to wonder just what the hell is going on.[1]

Elsewhere on the island, the Avengers — Black Widow, Giant-Man, Quicksilver, Hercules, and Crystal — have arrived and are clashing with AIM. They take down the soldiers while also rescuing the innocent residents of Boca Caliente that are caught in the crossfire. Strange things start happening in the battle, such as when Hercules is knocked to the ground and it suddenly turns metal for a brief moment. Eventually, the foot soldiers are incapacitated. Unmasking them, the Avengers are surprised to see that they weren’t fighting humans at all, but Super-Adaptoids disguised as regular soldiers. When there is another sudden energy flare, the Black Widow orders everyone to press on. However, Hercules — sick of not being told everything about their mission — demands that Natasha tell them what’s really going on, once and for all.

Even though they have no time to lose, the Black Widow reveals to the group that AIM is trying to recreate the Cosmic Cube, a powerful weapon that can alter reality.[2] When Quicksilver chastises Natasha for treating them like children, his words causes the camp he grew up in to suddenly appear before them. They are then greeted by Django Maximoff, Pietro’s adopted father.[3]

At that same moment, Captain America struggles to make sense of what is happening and is convinced that the Bucky that has appeared before him must be an elaborate fake. However, Cap isn’t so sure when Bucky spots the two AIM soldiers looking for them and executes a maneuver where he bounces off Cap’s upraised shield to attack them from the air, something that only Bucky himself would have known how to do. After dispatching their pursuers, Cap, Bucky, and the little boy notice the flair of energy coming from the AIM lab in the distance.

Inside the facility, AIM director Alessandro Brannex is putting the final steps of Project Resurrection into motion. When he receives a status update on what’s going on outside he is unhappy and orders an offline agent brought to him right away. As Brannex heads back to his office he is ambushed by the Red Skull who had managed to sneak into the facility using a suit of armor that utilizes cloaking technology.

While just outside, Captain America’s partners Jack Flag and Free Spirit have been barred at the entrance by two Adaptoids that have taken on the forms of the Rhino and Knockout. After Jack is knocked out, Free Spirit decides to throw the fight by pretending to be knocked out as well. With the battle over, the Adaptoids drop their super-human forms and begin dragging the two humans inside. Free Spirit continues playing possum to buy herself time and figure out what Project Resurrection is.

Back at the fabricated Transian camp, “Django Maximoff” welcomes the Avengers to sit by the fire to recuperate from their recent battle. Seeing Quicksilver’s adopted father back from the apparent dead deeply upsets Hercules because of his recent loss of Taylor Madison.[4] Black Widow and Giant-Man try to get him to calm down and Crystal realizes that they are trying to prevent him from willing her back into existence.

Elsewhere, Captain America and Bucky are heading toward the AIM facility when suddenly the serum that has revived Cap begins to wear off.[5] He trips and almost falls off a cliff but Bucky manages to catch him. When they look down at the rocks below they spot the Falcon laying unconscious on the ground. However, before they can head down and rescue them they are ambushed by the newly resurrected MODOK, who vows to destroy them all.[6]

… This story continues in Captain America #441.

Recurring Characters

Avengers (Captain America, Giant-Man, Quicksilver, Hercules, Black Widow, Crystal), Free Spirit, Jack Flag, Falcon, AIM (MODOK, Alessandro Brannex), Red Skull

Continuity Notes

1. As far as Captain America knows, his former partner Bucky Barnes died in 1945 in the same explosion that sent him into suspended animation for decades, as seen in Avengers #4. What Cap doesn’t know is that Bucky survived and was transformed by the Russians into an assassin called the Winter Soldier. Cap will eventually learn the truth in Captain America (vol. 5) #11.

2. 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.

3. As explained in Avengers #185-187, Django Maximoff took in Pietro and his sister Wanda when they were children and raised them as his own. Django later died of a heart attack while trying to save his adopted children from the demon Chthon. What Pietro doesn’t know at this time is that Django was also his maternal uncle. This will be revealed in Scarlet Witch (vol. 2) #11.

4. Hercules met and fell in love with Taylor Madison in Avengers #349, as part of a plot by Hera to break Hercules’ heart. However, Zeus knew about this and actually used his magic to create Taylor in order to catch Hera red handed. The magic that brought Taylor to life proved finite and she vanished from existence soon after Zeus dropped the hammer on his deceitful wife, much to the anger of Hercules. See Avengers #384 (this story misattributes those events to issue #385).

5. 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. Since Iron Man #314 and Captain America #438, Cap has been forced to wear a suit of life support armor in order to keep himself alive. However, in Captain America #440, he was injected with a serum by Superia in order to temporarily restore him to his peak.

6. Up until this point, MODOK was dead after he was assassinated by the Serpent Society who were hired by AIM to eliminate their former leader. See Captain America #313.