Monumental Menace

Captain America is about to get ready for the day when suddenly a compact car comes crashing in through his apartment window. Being controlled remotely, the vehicle then tries to run down the hero. Leaping out the hole in his wall, the car follows after him and crashes to the ground, exploding. Grabbing for dear life on the window ledge of the apartment below him, Steve Rogers is cussed out by the old woman who lives there, who accuses him of being a peeping tom. Embarrassed by all this, Cap manages to de-escalate the situation and convince the woman to let him use her phone as his had been disconnected.

First, he calls Avengers Mansion where Jarvis informs him that the woman named Veda has left without any word about where she went. He then calls Nick Fury and tells the SHIELD director about what happened.To Fury, the attack sounds like something the Corporation is capable of doing and warns Cap to be on his guard. It’s also during this phone call that Cap learns that the Falcon has gone missing.[1] Ending the call, Captain America thanks the old woman for letting him use her phone and leaves. No sooner is he gone does the “old woman” remove her life like mask, revealing that she is actually Veda herself. She then calls her boss, Kligger — the head of the Corporation — and tells him that the attempt on Captain America’s life was a failure.[2]

Steve Rogers goes back upstairs to his apartment to assess the damage. Then, after changing into some street clothes and shaving his face he takes a train to Washington, DC to see what he can find out about his mysterious past.[3] He soon arrives at the Pentagon where his Avengers priority status gives him access to the facility’s wartime records. He’s surprised to find that they still have a file on Steve Rogers. He learns that his middle name is Grant, that he is an Aquarius, and that he was born in Maryland to a father who was a diplomat.[4] With this information, Steve travels to the mansion in Maryland where he supposedly grew up. He finds this at odds with what little memories he does have of the past, which told him he always lived in New York and can’t reconcile these memories with what he learned.

Since the mansion is locked up tight, Steve goes to the local newspaper to see if there are any records about the Rogers family that lived there. When he begins inquiring about the Rogers family, the local archivist who is well versed in town history believes Steve is the spitting image of Mike Rogers, the eldest son of the Rogers family who died in 1941 during the attack on Peal Harbor. Hearing that the Rogers had a second son, he learns that all reference to the boy was left out of the papers by request of the patriarch of the family, Walter Rogers. When Steve asks why that is, the archivist has no idea.

Returning to Washington, DC that evening, Captain America goes to the Lincoln Memorial as it is always a source of inspiration to him. As he is reflecting on the recent revelations about his past he is shocked when the Lincoln statue stands up from its seat and begins attacking him. Reminding himself that it is not a living thing, Captain America shatters the massive statue with his shield. With the danger passed, he stops to mourn the destruction of a national monument. That’s when the laughter of the man responsible for animating the statue steals his attention. Whirling around Cap is surprised to see a primitive looking man with a massive cranium wielding a strange translucent club filled with circuitry. This being, a perversion of both early man and its future potential, introduces itself as Animus and announces that he is going to be the one who kills Captain America.

Recurring Characters

Captain America, The Corporation (Kligger, Veda, Animus), SHIELD (Nick Fury, Dum Dum Dugan), Edwin Jarvis

Continuity Notes

1. The reason why Falcon has gone missing is because his nephew, Jim Wilson has been on the run from the Corporation since Incredible Hulk #208. His connection to Jim will not be revealed until Captain America #230.

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

3. In Captain America #215, Steve realized that he no longer remembered much of his past prior to his joining Operation: Rebirth and has since been looking for clues that might reveal the mystery of his roots.

4. These records are proven to be false as revealed in Captain America #247. During World War II, Captain America was given false memories that tied him to the family of Walter Rogers as a cover story in the event he was captured by the Nazis. Grant, as it turns out was the name Walter’s son and whose life Steve’s false background was patterned after. His real background has been pieced together over the years revealing that he has no middle name. He was the only child of Sarah and Joseph Rogers. They lived in New York City during the Depression. Both of his parents died before he was a teenager. His date of birth is July 4, 1922, making him a Cancer. See Captain America #247 and 255, Adventures of Captain America #1, Avengers: Roll Call #1, Captain America (vol. 7) #1-2 for all the scattered details.

Topical References

• The car that crashes through Captain America’s apartment is depicted as a late 70s model Volkswagen Beetle. These vehicles were discontinued in 1979 and have since been designated as a classic vehicle and not a lot of them are still around. Unless you want to believe that Animus had a penchant for throwing vintage cars at people I think it’s safe to assume that the make and model of the vehicle should be considered topical. And yes, I know about the new models that were made between 1997 and 2019, but these are considered distinct and different models to the original.

• The train that Steve takes to Washington is referred to as a Metroliner here. This should be considered a topical reference as these high speed trains were retired in 2006 and replaced with brand new Acela trains that could travel at far greater speeds.

• The old man at the newspaper refers to the Rogers family as though he knew them personally. This would become increasingly impossible due to the fact that the Sliding Timescale causes the gulf of time between World War II and the Modern Age grow larger with each passing years. As Marvel is unlikely to address the issue of some old man who appeared in a comic over 40 years ago, I think we can safely presume that instead of being someone who knew the Rogers, he is an archivist that is well versed on local history, at least that’s how I’ve chosen to interpret it above, you mileage may vary.