Adventures of Captain America #4
Angels of Death, Angels of Hope
Captain America had traveled to France in order to save Lieutenant Colonel James Fletcher who held the secret behind the Super Soldier Serum. Cap arrived too late to save Fletcher, who killed himself in order to keep the secret behind vita-rays a secret. This led to a chase across Paris. Climbing up the Eiffel Tower, Cap was ambushed by Zahnmorder, sending both men over the balcony and holding on for dear life.
That’s when the Red Skull arrive to take control of the situation. Considering Zahnmorder a complete failure, the Skull shoots him in the head, making him let go of Captain America’s leg. Soon, the Skull is surrounded by soldiers, forcing Cap to surrender. They then take the elevator back to the ground where Steve discovers that both Bucky and Cynthia Glass have been captured as well. It’s here that the Red Skull boasts that the Nazis will ultimately crush America. Cap refuses to believe it and that’s when the Red Skull chooses to reveal to him that Cynthia Glass has the Nazi spy, Agent X, this entire time.
Defeated, Captain America and Bucky are loaded into the back of a transport truck. They are then taken to an airport and flown into the heart of Nazi Germany. From there, they are driven to a nearby concentration camp. There, Bucky gets a real eye full of the atrocities that the Nazis are committing to their prisoners, including mass graves of the dead. They are then brought to a massive arena that has been constructed by the prisoners. There, the pair are stripped down, hosed down, and forced to wear the same garb as the other prisoners as they are tossed into a jail cell for the night. The entire time, Steve has been unresponsive to everything around him.
Later that evening, Adolf Hitler himself comes down to see Captain America with his own eyes. However, upon seeing the American super soldier being treated like a common prisoner, Hitler gets upset and orders his soldier to put him back in his costume and treated humanely. He wants Captain America to be at his best when he is utterly defeated in combat. After Hitler leaves, Bucky gives Steve an impassioned speech, urging him to keep fighting no matter what because he is Captain America. Moments later, guards return with Steve’s Captain America costume and lead him out after he changes into it.
Once they are gone, Bucky uses a paperclip he swiped from one of the doctors to pick the lock on his cell. He ends up bumping into Cynthia Glass and punches her in the face for betraying them. Cynthia admits that she feels nothing but shame and she reveals that she had come down to slip Bucky the master keys to the facility so he and Steve can use them to escape.
While Captain America is brought to the arena to battle the Red Skull to the death, Bucky knocks out a guard and steals his uniform so he can move around easier. Needing a big distraction to save Cap, he frees a bunch of camp prisoners to help him. In the arena, weapons are laid out for the Red Skull and Captain America is given back his shield. When Hitler order the battle to begin, the Skull enters the arena from one of the gates. Wearing a suit of armor and wielding a round shield with a Swastika on it, the Skull attacks. As the two fight, the Skull boats over his superiority and goes for morning star weapon to attack the Captain with. The Skull manages to knock Captain America to the ground. He then goes for a sword, fails to slice off the heroe’s head as Cap springs back up to his feet proclaiming that he won’t go down without a fight.
Meanwhile, Bucky leads the freed prisoners to the armory and leaves them to arm up while he checks out a garage for a vehicle to use. Inside, he is delighted to find a Nazi Panzer tank that would work perfectly. As everyone climbs aboard, Bucky gets some inspiration when he passes by an open bucket of red paint and writes “Die Nazi Scum” on the front of the tank.
Back in the arena, Captain America has turned the battle around and soon the only people cheering in the stands are the concentration camp prisoners who were forced to attend. When Captain America beats the Skull into submission, he decides against killing him. Addressing Hitler and the crowd, Steve gives an impassioned speech about how America will persevere as it is a nation of freedom, not destroying others. That’s when Bucky and the other freed captives come smashing through the wall in their tank and begin gunning down the guards.
Hitler orders one of his soldiers to open fire on Captain America. Cap quickly grabs the Red Skull’s round shield and uses it to protect himself and is pleased with how easily it can be tossed when throwing it at them. However, in knocking Hitler and the soldier over, Cap has now left him open to the Red Skull who has managed to get ahold of a gun. Cynthia quickly picks up Cap’s own shield and tosses it to him. Captain America is able to protect himself from the flying bullets, but Cynthia ends up getting fatally gunned down in the process.[1]
Bucky then drives the tank between Cap and the Skull and suggests they get out of there. They then flee the scene, but the Red Skull and some soldiers chase after them in a car. Although Bucky manages to blow up the car with the tank’s artillery cannon, the Red Skull manages to leap off in time and land on the tank. However, Captain America manages to kick him off as they arrive at the airport. From there, Cap and Bucky steal a plane and fly back for London. Watching his enemies fly away, the Red Skull briefly contemplates committing suicide for allowing this failure. However, he stops short of pulling the trigger as he vows to make it his sole purpose to eliminate Captain America once and for all.
On the flight back to England, Bucky goes to check on Steve and finds him by himself in the back of the plane. When Buck asks what’s wrong, Steve explains that he is still mourning the death of Cynthia Glass. Even though she was a Nazi spy, Steve loved her and never got the chance to tell her.
Soon, Captain America and Bucky return to America where they are welcomed back by President Franklin Roosevelt himself. The footage is captured by reporters and added to a news reel that is played in theaters. This reel are watched by Steve’s old friends Eliot and Pat. Eliot, who wasn’t much of a patriot before Steve went off to become Captain America finds himself clapping and cheering along with the rest of the audience.
Recurring Characters
Captain America, Bucky, Nazis (Red Skull, Zahnmorder, Agent X, Adolf Hitler)
Continuity Notes
This is the last we’ll hear of Cynthia Glass, who remains among the deceased. She will be mentioned again in Steve Rogers: Super Soldier #1-3.
Translations
“Roter Schädel” = “Red Skull”
Der Zahnmörder = The Tooth Killer
“Der fuhrer” = “The leader”
“Schwein” = “Pig”
“Närrin” = “Fool”
“Acht, nein?” = “Oh no?”
“Heil” = “Hail”
“Aufmerk-Samkeit!” = “Attention!”
“Mach schnell!” = “Very quickly!”
“Fraulein” = “Young lady”
“Deutschland” = “Germany”
“Achtung!” = Attention!”
“Anfangen” = Begin!”
“Unglaublich!” = “Unbelievable!”
“Haltenstalle hör auf!” = “Stop!”
“Todestrafe zu der super soldat” = “Death to the Super Soldier!”
“Herr” = “Sir”
“Guten tag” = “Good morning”
“Jawohl” = “Yes sir”
“Vas is” = “What is…”
“Verflucht!” = Damn!
“Mein Herr” = “Sir”
“Achtung” = “Attention”
“Nein = “No”
Story Chronology
As I stated in the entry for the first issue of this series, this story is not generally considered part of continuity. However, elements of this story have later been introduced into mainstream continuity. That said, the story can easily be added to continuity (See isse #1 for my justifications). Without further adue this is how I think this issue would fit in with the rest of Captain America’s continuity…
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Last issue and this one are the only ones that aren’t really intruding on various other points of Captain America’s chronology and the bult of the stories can be slotted in between the insertion I made between Cap’s chronological appearance in Steve Rogers: Super Soldier #3 and his next chronological appearance in Captain America (vol. 4) #2. There really isn’t much else to add here other than what I’ve already said in the previous issue.
Following this story, the chronology would pick up from Cap’s flashback in Captain America (vol. 4) #2 and continue on just as the MCP has chronicled it.
