We The People

A group of mercenaries from the Defense Intelligence Agency are observing an arms deal happening inside a warehouse. While the men are itching for action, their leader Colonel Max Klee, reminds them that they are under orders to observe. Inside a group of arms merchants are dealing with representatives of General Miguel Navatilas, the dictator of the Central American nation of Medisuela. It’s an exchange of drugs for weapons and it is interrupted by none other than Captain America. This gets a rise from Klee’s men, but the Colonel reminds them once again to follow orders to the letter, assuring them that if things don’t go as planned they’ll go in and clean things up.

Inside, Captain America is able to run rings around the men engaging in the illegal arms deal inside. One of them gets desperate and pulls a rocket launcher from one of the crate of weapons and fires on Cap. Luckily, the Star-Spangled Avenger is able to block the missile with his shield, but he is knocked flat on his ass from the blast. When the shooter — one of Navatilas’ men — preparers to fire another shot, the arms dealers try to get him to stop. They are too late and when the man pulls the trigger, the rocket launcher misfires and blows up in his face, killing him. Hearing the warning, Captain America tries to question the men about the weapons, specifically how they could know they were defective. That’s when Colonel Klee and his men enter the room and take control of the situation, thanking Captain America for his assistance. Cap is suspicious since he heard that the men selling the guns were working for the government, but Klee insists that his presence was due to miscommunication between government agencies. When recovering his shield, Cap secretly slips a piece of defective rocket launcher into his pocket.

As it turns out, Alfredo Navatilas is the subject of a lot of international news due his dictatorship in Mideseula as well as his drug running operations. This prompts the United States government to take notice. This has led to Attorney General Roger Mollech to begin an investigation into Navatilas and his drug smuggling operation that sees his product reach American shores. When reporters seek comment about his investigation shaping foreign policy, Mollech tells them that he’s disinterested in foreign politics and only works to indict criminals.

That evening, the Punisher, aka Frank Castle, is on a stake out of a drug house. Inside, the men who were selling illegal arms the night before are out again, this time exchanging a briefcase of cocaine for money. As the deal is being made, the Punisher is planting explosives onto the ceiling of the apartment below them. After the bombs are all placed, the Punisher detonates the explosives, causing the floor to blow out under the drug deal and sending everyone falling into the apartment below. The Punisher then steps out of cover and mows down the survivors with a machine gun.[1] Frank then chases the two drug dealers to the roof of the building.

There, one of the men tries to attack Castle with a chain. But before he can execute a man, a helicopter arrives to help them escape. As the chopper pulls out, the Punisher leaps into the air and grabs hold of the landing skid. Then, before they can shake him off, he tosses the chain into the rear rotor. This causes the chopper to crash land outside the Astor Place subway station. Both Frank and the drug dealer manage to bail out before the crash. Castle then chases the dealer into the subway and they leap onto a passing subway train. The two struggle between cars until the Punisher grabs ahold a of a piece of shattered glass and fatally stabs the man. Frank then bails off the train before it arrives at the next station. As Castle puts on a disguise and heads to the street he recalls how the two “drug dealers” were using a lot of military speak, suggesting that they might be working for the United States government.

The following evening, Roger Mollech’s assistant, Angela Stone, has arrived in Mediseula to deliver the money to General Navatilas. As it turns out, the United States government is working as a middle man to sell drugs in exchange for weapons so that Navatilas can defend his rule against those who are seeking to overthrow him.

Back in America, Cap has brought the piece he lifted from the arms deal to a scientist friend to examine. Looking at the fragment under a microscope, he detects tiny imperfections that caused the rocket launcher to backfire. More surprisingly, it appears that someone had intentionally tooled the imperfections into the weapon. Finding this suspicious, Cap heads down to the government warehouse where seized evidence is stored. There, the supervisor informs Steve that the confiscated weapons were signed out the moment the arrived and the man who took them was Colonel Max Klee. Using his connections, Rogers learns that the DIA are flying the weapons out of Andrews Airforce Base and hitches a ride. Sneaking into the plane in flight, Cap begins examining the weapons with a portable microscope and confirms that they also have the same imperfections. He’s then caught by the co-pilot while he is on the way to the bathroom, prompting Cap to bail out of the plane and parachute to the ground below. This is immediately reported back to Angela Stone who is furious but already has a plan to deal with Captain America.

Meanwhile, Frank Castle has been going through his underworld contacts to learn more about the drug deal he busted the night before. At a seedy bar, he compels a thug to direct him to a woman sitting at the bar who might have the answers he is looking for. This woman is Angela Stone, who suggests they go some place private so they can talk. She takes Frank to a seedy motel and before she can tell him what he wants to know, a man comes bursting in to try and silence her. He is quickly killed by the Punisher, who shoots the would be assassin in the head with his own gun. Angela then tells Frank that the drug deal goes pretty high up in the government and hands him a file of doctored intelligence that frames Captain America.

The Punisher then travels to Washington, DC and tracks Captain America to the Capitol Building, where the Avenger is meeting with a government official to learn more about the tampered guns. While he gets no closer to understanding why these sabotaged weapons are being sold, he uncovers that it is some kind of conspiracy. On his way out, Cap spots light reflecting off something, the tell tale sign of a sniper. Cap pushes his informant aside and takes a bullet in the shoulder. Seconds later, the Punisher fires a second shot hitting Captain America square in the chest, hitting him with enough force to send the hero’s trademark shield bouncing off the steps.[2]

Recurring Characters

Punisher, Captain America, Max Klee, Roger Mollech, Alfredo Navatilas, Angela Stone

Continuity Notes

1. The Punisher’s War Journal narrative makes an obligatory reference to his family being murdered. As seen in Marvel Preview #2, Frank Castle’s wife and two children were gunned down after witnessing a gangland execution.

2. The Punisher instantly going after Captain America is kind of a surprise as, later depictions in Civil War #1-7 and Punisher War Journal (vol. 2) #1-11 show Frank Castle as having an almost reverent respect for Cap as a soldier. One could assume that Castle’s attitude changed like the wind the moment that Angela Stone framed Cap for the illegal arms deal. His gruff attitude later on in this series could be attributed to Frank maintaining a façade to distance his mission from his reverence toward Cap, I guess.

Topical References

• The original twin towers of the World Trade Center are depicted as part of the New York City skyline in this story. This should be considered a topical reference as these buildings were destroyed in a terrorist attack on September 11, 2001 and subsequently replaced with the Freedom Tower.

• When a reporter informs their audience about Alfredo Navatilas she quotes a Time Magazine article that says his name strikes instant terror. This should be considered topical as Time is a real world publication.

• The TVs in this story are depicted as CRT model televisions. This should be considered topical as this is now an obsolete technology.

• After Roger Mollech leaves the swarm of reporters one of them notices “Barbara and Millie” coming down the hall. This is in reference to Barbara Bush and her pet dog Millie. Barbara Bush was the First Lady at the time this story was published, and Millie was the Presidential pet. This should be considered topical as Bush was First Lady from 1989 to 1993 and subsequently died in 2018. Millie was owend by the Bush family from 1985 until her death in 1997.

• The gang that is buying drugs call themselves the Die Hards, named after the 1988 film Die Hard. The action film was at the height of its popularity at the time this story was published, having spawned a sequel in 1990. Since Die Hard is now considered a classic film, this wouldn’t necessarily be considered a topical reference.

• Frank Castle makes multiple references to serving in the Vietnam War. This should be considered a topical reference as the Sliding Timescale would accelerate Frank’s age. Since History of the Marvel Universe #2, all Modern Age characters who served in Vietnam are now said to have fought in the Sin-Cong Conflict.

• At a government evidence warehouse, Captain America speaks with a man named Royko, who Cap remembers fighting alongside during World War II. Due to the Sliding Timescale, the possibility that someone who fought in World War II being still alive, let alone still working a job, has become increasingly impossible without some kind of means of slowing or stopping the aging process. As Royko is a bit character it seems unlikely that he would have had access to such a process. That said, references to Royko serving in World War II should be ignored as topical. One could assume that Steve recalls fighting alongside a relative of Royko and that is how the two bond.