Captain America #129
The Vengeance of — The Red Skull!
As Steve Rogers travels across the country by motorcycle he is unaware that he is being remotely tracked by his old foe the Red Skull. The villain, is also tracking King Hassab, the ruler of Irabia who is on a goodwill tour of the United States.[1] The Skull decides to roll both his revenge against Captain America and kidnapping the royal into one.
With both heading toward the town of Ashville, the Red Skull has his minions change the road signs to redirect them to Clifton instead. This will take King Hassab’s convoy away from a Secret Service detail waiting to meet him in Ashville. The Red Skull then follows the king’s limo in a helicopter that is obscured from view by a cloud of mist to throw off the Air Force escort that is also following the king. When Hassab and his envoy arrive in Clifton, the locals are confused about his early arrival. People also take not of the strange storm cloud that has suddenly appeared overhead. As Steve Rogers arrives in town behind the king he recognizes some of the Red Skull’s men lurking around town and ducks away to change into Captain America.
When the Red Skull springs his trap, he uses a massive magnet on his helicopter to pick the king’s limo up off the street and carry it away. Captain America attempts to stop this from happening but after fighting through the Skull’s minions on the ground he is too late to stop King Hassab from being airlifted away. The Red Skull’s helicopter then converts into a super-sonic jet and takes off for their secret hideout in the mountains.
Undaunted, Captain America races after them on his motorcycle and is able to track the Red Skull down to his secret hideout. Having anticipated the Avengers’ arrival, the Skull sends his men to attack him. Cap allows himself to be captured and thrown in a cell as that was the only way he would be able to get into the hideout. There, Captain America uses his shield to bend the bars of his cell so he can squeeze out. He then catches the Skull and his men trying to flee on a rocket sled that will take them down to a rocket that the Red Skull intends to use to launch the king into space. Captain America follows after them and learns that the Skull kidnapped Hassab in order to try and plunge the world into war.
Fighting through the Skull’s men, Captain America begins fighting his old foe one-on-one. The struggle sends them rolling onto the elevator platform and ultimately, the Red Skull is knocked into the rocket. When the ship begins blasting off, Captain America leaps to safety and watches as the Red Skull is shot into space, ending his threat. With the battle and the threat of war over, Captain America looks forward to hitting the road again because he still has a lot more country he wants to see.
Recurring Characters
Captain America, Red Skull
Continuity Notes
This story states that King Hassab comes from a nation called Irabia. Which is, obviously, made up. However, outside of this issue there are no references to Irabia, not even in Marvel Atlas #1-2. Since there are countless fictional nations in the Marvel Universe, one could assume that Irabia does exist it was just not noteworthy enough to include in the Atlas since it is not seen, only mentioned.
