Field of Angels

While investigating the Scourge of the Underworld, US Agent was captured by the organization that funds the super-villain assassins who take that name. Subjected to torture, John is told that the mercenary known as Bloodstain is actually his brother Mike, who has long believed have been dead for years.[1] John is then given an offer to join the Scourge program and let go to think it over. Although Bloodstain is nearly certain that Walker will join up with them, he continues tracking the hero to make sure.

US Agent returns to the home of Reverend Ned Nordstrom, a priest that he convinced to keep a captured Scourge prisoner in his basement. When he arrives, John admits that he wants to have that talk he promised the Reverend but he’s not quite ready yet. Instead, he heads downstairs to check on Priscilla Lyons, a former Scourge on the run for her life, who has been guarding her captured counterpart since US Agent left.

Entering the basement room where they have been keeping the Scourge, US Agent is ambushed by the trained assassin. John overpowers his attacker and demands reveal everything he knows about his trainer, Bloodstain. Specifically, he wants to know if Bloodstain’s claims that the Scourge Program is a top secret organization created by the United States government. Unfortunately, the Scourge doesn’t know anything about that either because he really is in the dark about the program’s origins or he’s a very convincing liar. Walker decides to find out and so he and Priscilla drag the Scourge out to his car.

However, before they can leave the Reverend’s property, they are ambushed by yet another Scourge operative who has come to eliminate both Priscilla and their captive. US Agent brawls with this operative until a third Scourge shows up and gets the drop on Priscilla. This new comer orders US Agent to stand down or he’ll shoot the girl. As John tries to figure out what to do, the Scourge he was fighting tosses a smoke bomb in his face. This allows the Scourge to get free and shoot his captive ally in the back of the head, killing him. However, before he can turn his gun on Priscilla, she strong arms her Scourge and uses their gun to shoot the other in the gut, forcing him to flee. As US Agent recovers from the smoke bomb, the unmask the remaining Scourge and discover that she is a woman named Carapice, the woman who interrogated John back at the Scourge hideout.[2]

They bring Carapice inside to treat her wounds, but the woman needs an ambulance or she’ll bleed out. First, John calls the number given to him by his “brother” and tells Bloodstain that he has made up his mind and wants to join the Scourge program. He then asks “Mike” to meet him back at the warehouse where they met. Walker then questions Carapice, threatening to let her bleed out unless she reveals who is really behind the Scourge program. She tells him that the only person who might know the truth is their handler, the mystery man known as Domino. With the ambulance finally arriving, John and Priscilla prepare to head out. Before they go, Reverend Nordstrom warns John that the only way he can achieve salvation is through faith in a higher power. John admits to Ned that he once had faith, but it had let him down. Nordstrom questions this, asking John if it was really faith that let him down, if it is really he who let down his faith.

With the info he got from Caparice, US Agent is able to track down Domino’s mobile base of operations. There, he strong arms the information broker and demands that he take him to the real backer for the Scourge program. Domino complies and US Agent is driven to a sprawling mansion. There he is introduced to an elderly man confined to a wheelchair and John can hardly believe that this old man is behind the Scourge program. The old man introduces himself as Thomas Halloway, who once adventured as the costumed superhero known as the Angel back in the 1940s.[3] He explains that while other heroes of his era pursued altruistic goals, Halloway became a costumed adventurer because he was exceedingly wealthy and got bored and reveled in the adventure.[4] That all changed on the day that a crook gunned down a young woman while fleeing the scene of a crime. The even devastated Thomas and spent years consumed by guilt.

Seeking to atone for his past mistakes, Halloway sought a different approach to crimefighting but obsessed for years trying to come up with a better way. He eventually found it when he met Dominic Dunsiane, aka Domino, who provided him with the intel and resources he needed to create the Scourge program. Their solution was to train an elite team of assassins to eliminate super-villains, saving lives by taking threats out of the picture. His motivations for doing so to wipe out the filth that had been undermining America’s character.

Listening to all of this disgusts US Agent, who points out to Thomas that his actions are subverting the American justice system. Regardless of Halloway’s motivations what he is doing is illegal and wrong and the Agent vows to testify against him in court. Thomas won’t allow that and orders his nurse to shoot John. As it turns out, the “nurse” is actually Bloodstain in disguise. Although winged in the shoulder with a bullet, John fights Bloodstain who finally admits that he is not really Mike Walker. In the ensuing clash, Bloodstain shoots down a number of stone statues of angels that Halloway has on his lawn. One toppels over and fatally crushes Domino. Two more would have fallen on US Agent except for the fact that they crash into each other and are supported by their own weight. Seeing the sunlight shining between the angel’s wings, US Agent can’t help but wonder if this is not some kind of religious sign. He then lunges at Bloodstain as he frantically tries to reload his weapon. When he does open fire, US Agent has his shield out, which deflects the bullets and sends them all ricocheting back into Bloodstain, apparently killing him as well.[5]

With his wheelchair overturned in the battle, Thomas Halloway writhes on the ground demanding that someone help him up. US Agent ignores his pleas so he can heads off to get the authorities.[6]

Later, as US Agent is recovering in the hospital he is visited by Priscilla Lyons and Reverend Ned Nordstrom. They tell him that Carapice is expected to recover. As they talk about what went down at the Halloway estate, John tells the Reverend about his apparent religious experience. He isn’t certain if it was a message from god, but figures that at least someone was trying to tell him that he was being spared for a reason. He knows he has a lot of amends to make, and figures that will be his only true path to salvation.

Recurring Characters

US Agent, Priscilla Lyons, Scourge of the Underworld (Bloodstain, Carapice, Domino, Angel, Scourge), Ned Nordstrom

Continuity Notes

1. Mike Walker was an American soldier that went off to war in Southeast Asia and was killed in action, per Captain America #333. Per History of the Marvel Universe #2, this conflict is referred to as the Sin-Cong Conflict. See below.

2. US Agent was captured last issue and interrogated by Carapice. This allowed the Scourge operatives to try and trick him into thinking that Bloodstain is his brother Mike.

3. When this comic was first published, it was entirely possible that Thomas Halloway could still be alive in the Modern Age. However, as this became increasingly impossible due to the Sliding Timescale, an explanation needed to be made. Marvel Mystery Comics #20 features a text story about the origins of the Angel, stating that — as a young man — he tampered with some powerlines to prevent an innocent man from being executed in the electric chair. Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe: Golden Age 2004 #1 went on to state that Halloway was somehow affected by his exposure to this electricity and that it slowed his aging process. This is how he can still be alive in this story.

4. This is not entirely true, as we’ll see in Marvels Project #1. In that story, it is revealed that Halloway treated the ailing and elderly Two-Gun Kid. It was a combination of the Kid’s stories about the future and an chance encounter with the original Human Torch that convinced him to become a hero. Seems like a glaring omission in his story. One could assume that Halloway is either growing senile and forgot this fact or he’s keeping this to himself because he doesn’t want to affect history in some way.

5. As of this writing in January, 2023, both Domino and Bloodstain remain among the deceased.

6. This is the last was see Thomas Halloway, at least as of this writing. He’s briefly mentioned again in Captain America #442. It is stated that there wasn’t any evidence to charge Halloway and he was released from custody. Jack Monroe becomes a government controlled Scourge from Thunderbolts #34-50, but he has no known connection to the original organization. As of this writing, the Scourge program is no longer in operation.

Topical References

• References to Mike Walker fighting in the Vietnam War should be considered a topical reference. This is due to the fact that the Sliding Timescale has pushed the Modern Age forward enough that its increasingly unlikely for Modern Age characters to have been around at that time. The advent of the Sin-Cong Conflict in History of the Marvel Universe #2 was to replace all Modern Age references to the Vietnam War happening in the “present” or “recent past”. It just so happens that the Sin-Cong Conflict bled into neighboring Vietnam.

• Domino is depicted as keeping all of his data on CD-Roms, which were a relatively new technology around the time this comic was originally published. While they are still around today, they have fallen out of favor for more advanced data storage methods and are virtually obsolete by today’s standard. Their use here should be considered topical.

• The computer monitors in this story are also depicted as CRT models. This is yet another obsolete technology.

• US Agent figures that Thomas Halloway must be about 80 years old. Which would have been an appropriate age for someone who was alive in 1940s to be around the time this comic was originally published. However, as the Sliding Timescale pushed the Modern Age further away from World War II, the gulf of time between these two periods will continue to grow. That said, modern readers could assume that John Walker’s assessment is not correct since Halloway looks like he’s 80 and Walker had yet to learn that this man was alive during World War II.