The Night Flyer!

Captain America is battling Nazi soldiers outside of a stronghold of the Red Skull. As the battle rages the fortress catches fire in an explosion. As he tries to reach the Red Skull, the Nazi boasts how their eternal struggle will continue on for all eternity with no end in sight. Vowing to destroy the Skull once and for all, Steve Rogers wakes up and discovers it was all a nightmare. He is calmed down by the Falcon who has just returned from a mission to find Cap. Steve is recovering in a SHIELD hospital after he was blinded in an earlier battle with the Red Skull and Arnim Zola. Although Steve is expected to heal, he needs time to rest until his eye sight is restored.

That’s when SHIELD agents wheel in another patient. A man in a full body cast known only as “The Defector”, who has flipped on his employers to the spy agency. He has been moved to this facility while in protective custody. That evening, a double-agent sneaks into the room to assassinate the Defector but his presence is detected by Steve Rogers. Despite his blindness, Steve is able to overpower the would-be assassin and toss him out of a window.

Word gets back to the assassins employers, Kligger and Veda, who are part of an organization called the Corporation.[1] Since Kligger’s operative failed he agrees to allow Veda to bring in the Night Flyer. Both are unnerved by the Flyer due to the fact that he is a cultist and mystic. When the call goes out, the Night Flyer agrees to eliminate the Defector for the Corporation. After getting off the phone with Veda, the Flyer then answers a similar device. There an unknown voice reminds the Night Flyer that he cannot fail because he is the perfect man.[2]

With his high-tech hang glider, the Night Flyer soars from his mountain-side hideout and heads toward the SHIELD hospital where the Defector is being cared for. However, is spotted by the Falcon who has been patrolling the area. The Falcon attacks the Night Flyer, drawing the attention of the SHIELD agents on the ground who begin opening fire on the intruder. Dodging the gunfire, the Night Flyer leaps from his hang glider into the hospital through one of the windows. Although the Falcon follows him, he fails to prevent the Night Flyer from shooting his target. However, it turns out that the body everyone thinks is the Defector is actually a decoy.

The Night Flyer is soon surrounded by Steve Rogers, the Falcon, and a company of SHIELD agents. Although the assassin turns over his weapon, he assures them that he will not fail in his mission.

Recurring Characters

Captain America, Falcon, The Corporation (Kligger, Veda, Night Flyer), SHIELD

Continuity Notes

1. Kligger’s full name is not given here. In Incredible Hulk #231, he is introduced as Eugene Kligger Stivak.

2. Going to say it here but whatever Kirby had intended for the Night Flyer doesn’t make any sense. He then abruptly left the title after this story arc leaving the character to be fleshed out by other writers. Needless to stay an idiot with a hang glider didn’t get much use in the years since and a no explanation is made about who or what the Night Glider really is. Even his profile in Captain America: America’s Avenger #1 offers little by way of explanation.