Captain America #219
The Adventures of Captain America
Having traveled to Newfoundland to investigate a mystery about his forgotten past, Captain America has discovered the hideout of an old Nazi spy named Lyle Dekker who has been waiting decades for his return.[1] Before they get into their last encounter, Lyle asks Captain America if he remembers the first time they clashed with one another. Steve still has a vivid memory of those events which took place in 1944, and he reflects back to the day in question…
At Camp Lehigh, Private Steve Rogers and company mascot Bucky Barnes were on potato peeling duty when their commanding office, Sargent Duffy, came to relieve them. Duffy cannot understand how these two fuck ups are allowed a furlough when he’s stuck on base and tells them to get out of his sight.
This of course is just a cover for a mission for Captain America and Bucky. The orders come from the President Roosevelt himself, telling the pair to investigate a series of accidents that have been happening at Democracy Pictures, the film studio that has been producing a serial based on the adventures of Captain America to boost the public’s morale.[2] Parachuting down onto the Democracy film lot in Hollywood, Captain America and Bucky land in the middle of a shoot of the studio’s lastest western epic. There Bucky is star-struck meeting his hero, Sundown Dawson. Offering Bucky a ride on his horse, Six-Gun, Dawson shows the two heroes around. It’s on this tour that Captain America first met Lyle Dekker who was working as a special effects artist. Little suspecting that Dekker was a Nazi spy, Cap was impressed with his skill at creating realistic looking miniatures.
They eventually end up in the studio where the Captain America serial is being shot. There they are introduced to the director, Whit Spencer as well as Glenn Reaper, the actor playing Captain America in the serial. Cap is not impressed with the costume they are using as its not very accurate and in the wrong colors. He’s also not happy to see that his film counterpart uses a gun instead of a shield and doesn’t have a Bucky as his own. Spencer insists that this liberal adaptation of Captain America will work better with audiences. The pair then sit back as the next scene is about to be filmed. It features a shootout between Captain America and some mobsters. One of the actors is firing off rounds of a machine gun that has been loaded with live ammunition. Realizing what’s going on, Cap and Bucky leap in to shield Reaper from the bullets. Although he saves Glenn’s life, the actor was struck in the arm. As he is being carried away for medical attention, Reaper asks the real Captain America to help finish the serial in his place. Steve accepts the request since it will allow him to keep a closer eye on the production and sniff out the one causing the accidents.
Over the next few weeks, Steve Rogers steps in for Glenn Reaper after rigorous training from a stuntman named Tim Irons. Meanwhile, Lyle Dekker uses a televiser prop to contact his master, the Red Skull and inform him that the real Captain America is on the set. The Skull orders Dekker to eliminate Captain America once and for all, something Lyle believes he can pull off thanks to the heat-ray prop that he created that actually works. During the next shoot and actress named Adrian is strapped to a table as the script calls for her to be a helpless victim of the heat ray that needs to be rescued from Captain America. When the cameras start rolling, Adrian realizes that the heat ray is real and begins screaming for help. Cap calls for Bucky to toss him his shield and he uses it to deflect the heat ray until Bucky can disable its power source.
With his cover now blown, Dekker grabs Bucky and uses him as a hostage to make his escape in a truck. Captain America follows after Dekker on a motorcycle. Eventually he catches up with the truck and leaps onboard, forcing it to serve over the edge of the highway and into the ocean. Cap quickly rescues Bucky and swims up to the surface where he finds no trace of Dekker. The two heroes are then pulled to shore when Sundown Dawson arrives and tosses them a line. In the aftermath of the battle, Captain America assumes that Dekker had drowned and returned to his work. A few months later, Steve Rogers and Bucky Barnes go to the theater to watch the first chapter of the Captain America serial and despite the differences from real life, are impressed by how well made it is.
… As Captain America finishes his recollection, Dekker points out the obvious: that he survived that encounter after all and has been waiting to get revenge against Captain America ever since. Before revealing the mysteries of their last encounter, Dekker intends to use Captain America as a guinea pig for his latest experiment. Shocking the hero into unconsciousness, Dekker intends to use Cap to bring his Ameridroid — a massive android replica of Captain America — to life.
Recurring Characters
Captain America, Lyle Dekker, (in flashback) Bucky, Red Skull, Mike Duffy
Continuity Notes
There is a lot to unpack here so let's break it down:
Since Captain America #215, Steve Rogers has been suffering from selective memory loss and no longer remembers much about his past before joining Project Rebirth.
Last issue, he listened to a recording of when the Avengers freed Cap from suspended animation in Avengers #4. In it, Cap mentions splashing down in Newfoundland, which would have been impossible since Baron Zemo’s drone plane exploded over English waters.
Marvel has yet to officially explain how Dekker could still be vital after all this time due to the Sliding Timescale, which will make the length of time between World War II and the Modern Age grow larger with each passing year. I think it’s safe to assume that since he is a brilliant inventor he probably constructed a means of slowing the aging process.
This of course is a reference to a real-life series serial series about Captain America that was produced by Republic Pictures in 1944. It a 15 part story starring Dick Percell playing the role of Captain America. This serial took a lot of liberties with the source material. This serial actually exists as part of the Marvel Multiverse. Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A-Z #5 designates it as Reality-600001.
Topical References
Dekker states here that it has been three decades since the end of World War II and the Modern Age. This should be considered a topical reference. As I’ve stated above, the Sliding Timescale makes the gulf of time between these two periods grow larger with each passing year.
