US Agent #1
Road to Redemption
The Scourge of the Underworld has arrived at a run down apartment building in Los Angeles in the search of their next target. Inside one of the filthy apartments, caring for four young children, they find Manuel Eloganto. Scourge has come to eliminate Manuel for past crimes he committed as the costumed super-villain known as the Matador. Elongato points out that he has been retired for years and makes up for his past by helping his sister raise her children while she works.[1] Resigning to his fate, Manuel asks Scourge to at least take the children out of the room as he doesn’t want them to see him getting murdered. Surprisingly, Scourge finds that they can’t pull the trigger and flees the scene. When Domino, Scourge’s handler, calls in for a mission update, Scourge shoots out the radio instead of responding.
Meanwhile, US Agent — aka John Walker — is out on patrol trying to find some kind of crime to break up so he can avoid a party being thrown at Avengers Compound. Spotting a man trying to fix a flat fire on the side of the highway, the Agent decides to land his sky-cycle and help since the old man reminds him of his late father. As they work together to put on a spare, the man introduces himself as Reverend Ned Nordstrom. Nordstrom notices that US Agent looks trouble and, after the work is done, hands him a church program and invites him to come and talk about his troubles.
The Agent scoffs at this idea as he returns to headquarters. There, Wonder Man’s party is still in full swing, but he still has no interest in participating. US Agent returns to his quarters where he fumes over the fact that his relationship with the other Avengers West Coast has not improved since he first joined up with the group. That’s when John notices that there is a blow up doll on his bed, and angrily swats it away, figuring that this must be a practical joke being played on him by Hawkeye. He is fed up with how the other Avengers don’t take this job seriously.
Walker then hits the showers and thinks about how he once had hopes and dreams. It all started when he underwent the Power Broker’s strength augmentation process and reinvented himself as the Super-Patriot. In those days, he was trying to prove that he was America’s true patriotic hero over Captain America. He got his chance when the US government selected John to replace the original Cap. This dream became a nightmare when two of his former friends — Left-Winger and Right-Winger — exposed John’s secret identity to the public. In response, the grassroots terrorist organization known as the Watchdogs kidnapped John’s parents and murdered them. Soon, the original Captain America won his identity back but the government still had a use for John, so they faked his death. They then set him up with the new identity of Jack Daniels and the costumed persona of US Agent. It was there, that the government assigned him to the West Coast Avengers.[2] However, he finds himself rudderless and trying to find new meaning.
Eventually, John decides to stop sulking and gets back into costume. He heads down to the coms room where Sandros — one of the Avengers aides — is monitoring radio broadcasts. US Agent decides to sit in and see if anything interesting comes in. Eventually, a distress call comes in from a woman claiming that she is being stalked by the Scourge of the Underworld. US Agent decides to handle this case on his own and flies out to a seedy bar on his sky-cycle.[3] Forcing his way inside, US Agent is able to find the woman he is looking for. She explains that she is being targeted by Scourge because she has been mistaken for her twin sister, who happens to be the super-villain known as Mysteria.[4] Hearing her story, US Agent agrees to help get the woman to safety.
Moments later, US Agent and the woman appear to climb onto the sky-cycle and take to the air. This is actually a blow-up doll from earlier and sure enough Scourge takes the bait and begins opening fire. Forced to crash land his sky-cycle after it takes a bullet, US Agent spots Scourge trying to escape in a van. John is able to leap onto the vehicle and tries to apprehend the crook. As they drive along a canyon highway, Scrouge suddenly leaps out the passenger door and down the side of the cliffs. US Agent barely manages to leap to safety before the van crashes into the side of canyon and explodes.
Having lost Scourge, US Agent calls the Avengers to pick him up in a Quinjet so he can get the woman safely back to headquarters for protection. Wonder Man answers the call and as they are flying back to base, the woman US Agent has been protecting lets slip that she knows a lot about the Scrouge of the Underworld, particularly that there is more than one assassin going by that name. Realizing that this woman isn’t Mysteria’s twin sister, US Agent deduces that she was once a Scourge herself and demands that she tell him the truth about her true identity.[5]
Recurring Characters
US Agent, Priscilla Lyons, Scourge of the Underworld, Domino, Matador, Avengers West Coast (Hawkeye, Wonder Man, Spider-Woman), Ned Nordstrom
Continuity Notes
Manuel Elongato got his start as the Matador in Daredevil #5. His retirement came after nearly drowning at the hands of the Man-Bull in Daredevil #129. His reformation doesn’t appear to have lasted very long as the Matador will later seen back in costume hanging out at the Bar With No Name in Spider-Man’s Tangled Web #13.
Here we are given the compulsary exposition dump that was common in these kinds of limited series. This one goes over US Agents history up to that point:
John Walker got his start as the Super-Patriot starting in Captain America #323.
Steve Rogers was later stripped of his Captain America identity by the government and John Walker was tapped to be his replacement. See Captain America #332-333.
Left-Winger and Right-Winger then blabbed John’s true identity during a press conference in Captain America #341. This led to the Watchdogs murdering his parents in issue #345 of that series.
John returned the Cap identity to Steve Rogers in Captain America #350. His death was faked in the following issue. His new identities as both Jack Daniels and US Agent were created in Captain America #354.
US Agent was assigned to the western team in West Coast Avengers (vol. 2) #44. The team was never happy that he was forced upon them.
US Agent wonders which Scourge of the Underworld he will be facing, noting that many have held the title:
The first one turned up in Iron Man #194. He was killed by his successor after he was captured by Captain America in Captain America #320.
The second became active around the same time as the first, appearing in Amazing Spider-Man #277. He was killed by the fourth Scourge after being captured by US Agent Captain America #362. This is the Scourge that killed the government agent posing as a Watchdog who helped fake US Agent’s death in Captain America #351.
The third Scourge was an operative of the Red Skull, first seen in Captain America #347. The Skull killed him for failing a mission in issue #394 of that series.
The fourth Scourge made his first appearance in Captain America #362. He is the one who is active during the course of the US Agent limited series.
All of these clarifications are made in the Scourge profile in Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A-Z #10.
She is claiming to be the twin sister to Mysteria Winters who first appeared in Captain America #387. She is not to be confused with Misty Beck the artificial woman created by Mysterio that we will first see in Ben Reilly: Scarlet Spider #9.
As we’ll learn next issue, this is Pracilla Lyons, aka Vagabond, who first appeared in Captain America #325. How she went on to become part of the Scourge Program will also be revealed next issue.
Topical References
US Agents passphrase with Pricilla Lyons is “Sheboygan Makes Good Sausages”, this was once the slogan for the Sheboygan Sausage Company. This should be considered a topical reference as this is a real world product.
