Captain America #193
Screamer in the Brain
Captain America and the Falcon are enjoying some downtime at the apartment of Sam Wilson’s girlfriend, Leila Taylor. Suddenly, the pair are struck with mental bolts that briefly drive them insane while arm wrestling. After they shake off the effects, Leila suddenly goes mad and tries to attack them with a knife until they disarm her. When a brick is thrown through the apartment window, the pair look outside and are shocked to discover people are going mad in the streets.
Captain America races out to try and stop the violent mob but discovers they are just as insane. Spotting a strange metallic object in a nearby alley, Cap struggles with another bout of insanity while destroying the device. Once it has been destroyed, everyone returns back to normal. After saving some people from a falling street sign, Captain America is approached by a SHIELD agent, who explains that the weapon is called a Madbomb. As they are flown to a secret SHIELD installation, Cap and the Falcon are told that the Madbomb is part of a plot by a conspiracy planning on destabilizing the United States in advance of the upcoming Independence Day celebrations that year.
Inside, the pair are forced to fight through a series of traps that are set to prove their identity. This impresses the Secretary of State who is there to brief them further on the Madbomb situation. He tells them that the device unleashed in New York was one of many. The first, dubbed “Peanut” was unleashed on the small town of Miner’s Junction causing the locals to destroy the town. The next, dubbed “Dumpling” was larger and was used against River City, making its population of 200,000 people go mad. He then shows Cap and Falcon a photo they obtained of the next Madbomb, dubbed “Big Daddy”, which will have the power to drive the entire country mad.
Recurring Characters
Captain America, Falcon, Leila Taylor, SHIELD
Topical References
This story is stated as happening just before the United States Bicentennial of 1976. This should be considered a topical reference per the Sliding Timescale. Modern readers should instead interpret this attack as scheduled for the 4th of July, and not a specific milestone for the United States.
The Secretary of State in this story is depicted as Henry Kissinger, who served in that role from 1973 to 1977. His appearance here is topical as he is a real life person. He’s still alive as of this writing (June 2021) however, at 98 years old, he’s probably not long for the world.
