Avengers (vol. 3) #69
Red Zone: Part 5
The Red Skull, posing as Secretary of Defense Dell Rusk, has used the resources of the American government to create and unleash a flesh-eating bioweapon called Project: Bloodwash. As the so-called “Red Zone” expands across South Dakota, Warbird heads to Mount Rushmore to recover his fellow Avengers who found the bunker the weapon originated from. Accompanying her is Hawkins, a Park Ranger that has been tagging along since this crisis first began.
Along the way, she receives a call from Pepper Potts, an employee of Tony Stark. Pepper is in a panic because the military came and arrested both Tony and the Black Panther. This just as a team of Wakandan scientists have arrived to assist in the efforts to make a cure against Bloodwash. However, the scientists refuse to start working until they get the go ahead from T’Challa.
Carol doesn’t know where they are and before she can advise Pepper to do anything, the fog from the Red Zone becomes too thick to transmit through. She puts this issue aside for now as they have just arrived at the bunker. She and Hawkins help Captain America and the Scarlet Witch get the Vision and Ant-Man into the chopper. Seeing that the Vision had been ripped apart, Carol asks what the hell happened. She is told that Jennifer’s bio-suit got trashed in a firefight with AIM and she started getting sick. Jack was ordered to carry her out of the Red Zone, but suddenly She-Hulk went berserk and ran off. That’s when Carol points out that Jack’s body naturally absorbs radiation and theorizes that it was somehow affecting She-Hulk as she got her powers from gamma radiation.[1] While they don’t know for sure, Captain America assures the others that they’ll go looking for her after they prevent the Red Zone from turning America into a graveyard.
Soon, everyone is taken to the nearest hospital in Pierre, South Dakota. The only member of the team not needing medical attention is Captain America.[2] As the Scarlet Witch is getting patched up, Steve tells her to use her hex powers to keep the Red Zone from spreading any further for as long as possible. When she promises to try, Cap heads out to find a helicopter so he can track down and confront the man responsible for this disaster: Secretary of State Dell Rusk.
Rusk is currently at the Pentagon where the Avengers liaison, Henry Gyrich, just discovered that Rusk was secretly the Red Skull. Pummeling Gyrich, the Red Skull decides to create another “terrorist attack”. By pushing a button on his desk, a gas being seeping into nearby offices, knocking everyone out.
At that same moment, Tony Stark and the Black Panther are being kept in a holding cell, but not for long. Tony has activated a rescue beacon and moments later, his Iron Man armor comes smashing through the wall to free them. Suiting up, Iron Man and Black Panther break free from their cell and discover that everyone outside has been knocked out with gas.
Back in Rusk’s office, Gyrich promises the Red Skull that his plans to create a Fourth Reich will fail. The Skull scoffs at this because he has come to embrace the American way and adopted a twisted version of capitalism. He is determined to use power and fear to become the dominant rule of a new America. That’s when Captain America comes crashing in through the window and tells the Red Skull to stop saluting the flag.
The two get in one of their typical battles which involves trading punches while also arguing over whose country had the greater philosophy. Since Cap can either evade or block his blows, the Skull pulls a gun and shoots Gyrich three times in the chest. He then opens a secret panel to show off that he has the Falcon shackled to the wall. As predicted, Captain America races to save his friend only to discover that there is a glass screen between them. At the push of another button another screen drops behind Captain America. His prison then begins to fill with the Bloodwash. As Captain America begins succumbing to the bioweapon, the Red Skull reveals his master plan: He intends to plant evidence that will accuse Wakanda for Bloodwash in order to spark a war between America and the African nation.
Moments later, Iron Man and Black Panther come crashing in through the door. The Red Skull turns to face them with a grin then quips that he was just talking about T’Challa.
Recurring Characters
Avengers (Captain America, Iron Man, Scarlet Witch, Black Panther, Vision, Falcon), Red Skull, Henry Gyrich, Pepper Potts, Edwin Jarvis (voice)
Continuity Notes
Since Avengers (vol. 3) #58, Jack of Hearts needs to be placed in a specially prepared Zero Room to drain off his access energies, otherwise he will reach critical mass and explode. We learned this in issue #61, and that it is getting worse. It’s later reveal that his sudden instability is due to the fact that his body is absorbing gamma radiation from his teammate the She-Hulk something that won’t be uncovered until issue #67. So no, the Jack of Hearts situation isn’t really resolved. It’ll solve itself when Jack is seemingly killed when his body explodes in Avengers (vol. 3) #76.
Captain America reminds Carol that he had once been frozen for decades. This, of course, is a reference to Avengers #4.
Topical References
At the scene of a major highway accident, one of the overturned vehicles has a bumper sticker that reads “United We Stand”. In the context of this story, the phrase was used in a lot of patrotic speeches following the terrorist attacks on 9/11. It was used to show support to first responders who stepped up during the attacks, and later in support of the troops during the war in Iraq. While you can still get these bumper stickers, the slogan has been co-opted by other groups with very different agendas than unity. Given the context that this bumper sticker in this story it should be considered a topical reference.
