Arena for a Fallen Hero

Fast on the heels of his battle against the Demon Druid, Captain America is brought to SHIELD headquarters to check on his partner the Falcon. Cap is eager to see how his friend is doing after it has been revealed he had apparently been a sleeper agent for the Red Skull for years.[1]

There he is barred from seeing Sam by Jeff Cochren, the acting director of SHIELD while Nick Fury is absent. Cochren explains that the recent revelations about Falcon’s past has made him a potential security risk until they know the truth. In order to help Sam’s recovery, Cochren tells Cap that he has to fight the Falcon to the death, saying that it is the only way to break the Red Skull’s programming.

This comes as a shock to Captain America, who agrees to battle Falcon in SHIELD’s arena none-the-less. When the battle is interrupted by illusions of some of Captain America’s greatest foes, the Avenger begins to suspect that Doctor Faustus is somehow involved. Things are further confused when Cap battles what appears to be an illusion of the original Masters of Evil, leading him to wonder if the Enchantress might actually be behind all of this. Up in the control room, Countess Valentina de la Fontaine sees them madness going on in the arena and tries to put a stop to it. To her surprise, both Cochren and Eric Keonig subdue her.

Meanwhile, in the arena below, seeing Captain America kissing what appears to be the Enchantress snaps Falcon free of his catatonic state. However, what comes back is the mind of Snap Wilson, who still thinks it is a few years earlier and doesn’t remember his time as Captain America’s partner. As Sam quickly orientates himself in the use of his mechanical wings and his mental command over his hawk, Redwing, Cap tries talking sense into him. However, Falcon doesn’t start believing Cap until he orders Redwing to attack. Gambling on his safety, Captain America stands still convincing the hawk that he is no threat and it stops its attack.[2]

Realizing that there must be some truth to what Captain America is saying, they are then confronted by Nightshade who has survived their last encounter and is the mastermind behind the hallucinations they have experienced. Having enthralled all the male SHIELD agents in the facility and unable to take direct control of Cap or the Falcon, she orders the spies to kill them all.

Recurring Characters

Captain America, Falcon, Nightshade, SHIELD (Countess de la Fontaine, Eric Koenig, Jeff Cochren), Redwing

Continuity Notes

1. The Red Skull claimed that Sam was a drug dealer named Snap Wilson who he brainwashed into being Cap’s ideal partner with the Cosmic Cube in Captain America #186. All-New Captain America #3 reveals that Snap Wilson was actually a fabrication. There are still many unanswered issues about this recent revelation. Click here for more details.

2. There are a lot of references dropped during this battle I’ll just address them all in one footnote:

   • One of the attackers are the giant mutant spiders that Captain America faced during his battle with Yellow Claw in Captain America #165.

   • When Cap suspects Doctor Faustus, a footnote reminds readers that Cap first faced him in Captain America #107. However, he fought Faustus more recently in issues #161-162.

   • Captain America recognizes the original Masters of Evil, stating here that the Black Knight is dead and the rest of the team disbanded “years ago”. The criminal Black Knight suffered a fatal fall during his battle with Iron Man in Tales of Suspense #73.

   • The version of the team here comprises of the original member seen in Avengers #6, but also includes the Enchantress and the Executioner who joined the group in the following issue.

   • At the time of this story, the Masters of Evil were last together in Avengers #54-55.

   • Cap mentions how Baron Zemo murdered his former partner, Bucky Barnes. In Avengers #4, it was revealed that Baron Zemo’s final wartime scheme led to Captain America being frozen in suspended animation for decades. Cap was led to believe that Bucky was dead for years. He will learn years later that Bucky survived and was transformed into the Russian assassin known as the Winter Soldier in Captain America (vol. 5) #14.

Topical References

• Captain America states that the Masters of Evil disbanded “years ago”. This should be considered a topical reference as it denotes the passage of time between publications from Avengers #55 (August 1968) and this story (September 1975). Per the Sliding Timescale, only about 2.5 years has passed between stories.

• Likewise, Falcon no longer remembers anything prior to his first meeting with Captain America in Captain America #117. Here it is stated that the year this happened was 1969. This, again, is a reference to publication dates that should be considered topical. In this case only about 1.5 years has passed between stories.