Devastation!

Following his battle with Animus, Captain America helps rescue crews with the people trapped aboard the train that the villain de-railed. The whole time, Steve blames himself for what happened since Animus was targeting Captain America. His thoughts are interrupted by the arrival of Nick Fury, who arrived after seeing what happened on the news.

Even though Steve has been at odds with Nick Fury and SHIELD, he needs their help unlocking the mysteries of his past.[1] Fury flies Steve back to New York City and to SHIELD headquarters. Along the way, Cap asks Fury to make arrangements for him to meet with Mason Harding, the man who created the Madbomb for the Loyalist Forces of America.[2] Although Fury is against the idea, he reluctantly agrees to make arrangements when Steve explains that Harding might be the only person able to remove the memory blocks from his mind. When they arrive, Dum Dum Dugan comes to them with what he had been able to dig up on Agent-R and her potential connection with the woman named Veda who has entered Captain America’s life. He shows them the last known photo of Agent-R, which shows half of her face had been horribly disfigured. This comes as news to both Captain America and Nick Fury and Dugan is ordered to try and dig up more information on Agent-R.[3]

Soon, Captain America is brought to the federal penitentiary where Mason Harding is serving out his sentence. Harding is told about Captain America’s situation and seeing how tortured the hero is, reveals that he once built a device that could probe the human mind. This gives Cap hope to finally unravel the mysteries of his past and makes arrangements to get Harding the equipment he needs.

Meanwhile, Veda meets with Kligger, her boss within the Corporation. He is concerned to hear that SHIELD is currently investigating Veda and her claims that she is related to Agent-R. Although Veda assures him that she is loyal to the Corporation, Kligger has come to see her as a liability. He then activates a laser that incinerates Veda, leaving nothing but a pile of ash. Kligger then asks his secretary to get the janitor to clean up the mess.

By this time, Mason Harding has been released from his cell and has finished constructing his mind probe device under the watchful eye of Nick Fury, who doesn’t fully trust him. Despite this, Captain America goes through with the mind probe. Although the process is painful, it works at breaking through the mental blocks that have kept his past hidden….

Steve Rogers was the youngest son of Walter and Elizabeth Rogers. His older brother, Mike, was incredibly athletic much to the joy of their father. Steve however was frailer than his older brother and developed an interest in the arts, a past time that Elizabeth encouraged. Steve’s lack of athletic ability was a disappointment to his father. As Steve grew older and more focused on the arts and reading, Walter Rogers took great issue over the boy’s reclusive pursuits. Overhearing his father complaining to his mother about him angered Steve and soon a a wedge was driven between father and son.

As an adult, Mike Rogers enlisted in the military much to the delight of his father. When Mike returned home for a visit, Walter took the opportunity to speak down to Steve, who had grown to become a pacifist and question America’s involvement in the war. Not long after this, Steve enrolled in art school in New York City. He was taken away by the sights of New York and became involved in the arts community. In December of 1941, Steve heard a radio report about the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, where his brother was stationed. When Steve called home, his mother confirmed that Mike was killed in the attack. Devastated by this news, Steve was made even more upset when his father refused to talk to him.

Later that day, Steve went to the moves and saw a news reel about the conflict happening in Europe. Seeing the horrors caused by the Nazis, Steve went to enlist in the military but he was rejected due to a heart murmur and his scrawny physique. Upset at this rejection, Steve’s complaint was overheard by a high ranking military official who got Steve involved in the Super Soldier Program and the rest was history….[5][6][7]

… Steve comes out of his trance screaming about how the Axis powers made a mockery of his ideals and how he would risk anything for the chance to avenge his brother. In a panic, Mason Harding shuts down the device and when he and Fury check on Captain America, they are shocked to discover that the device somehow deactivated the Super-Soldier Serum in his body, reverting Steve Rogers back to the scrawny young man he was before becoming Captain America.

Recurring Characters

Captain America, The Corporation (Kligger, Veda), SHIELD (Nick Fury, Dum Dum Dugan), Mason Harding

Continuity Notes

1. In Captain America #215, Steve Rogers discovered that he does not remember much of his life prior to his joining Operation: Rebirth and becoming Captain America. He has been on a quest to uncover the truth ever since.

2. Mason Harding was forced into creating the Madbomb for the Loyalist’s Elite in order to pay for his daughter’s medical treatment. See Captain America #193-200.

3. Veda claimed to be a relative of Agent-R in Captain America #218. Agent-R was an operative that was present at Project: Rebirth, first seen in Captain America Comics #1 as Agent X-1. This woman was later identified as Cynthia Glass a Nazi spy who was later exposed and died shortly after Steve became Captain America. See Adventures of Captain America #1-4 and Steve Rogers: Super Soldier #1-3. This creates all sorts of issues with continuity. See “The Cynthia Glass Problem” below.

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

5. These events are later revealed to be false in Captain America #247, which reveals that these were memory implants put in place in the event Captain America was ever captured and interrogated with the Nazis. Walter Rogers was a real person but was unrelated to Steve. These memories were based on the life of Grant Rogers, Walter’s son who also died at Pearl Harbor just like their eldest boy, Mike. The only true events here are Steve seeing a newsreel about the war in Europe, and his failed attempt at enlisting and later recruited into Project Rebirth.

6. That man who recruits Steve into the Super Soldier Program is unnamed here. Captain America: Sentinel of Liberty #2 identifies him as General Chester Phillips.

7. Steve Rogers was actually born on July 4, 1922 to Joseph and Sarah Rogers and grew up in New York City during the Great Depression. His parents died before he was a teenager and he eked out a life of poverty alone. All other origin stories place Steve Rogers applying for the military in late 1940 and he was active as Captain America at the time of the attacks on Pearl Harbor. See Adventures of Captain America #1 and Avengers: Roll Call #1 (Steve’s date of birth), Captain America #255 (Steve’s upbringing and his mother’s identity), Captain America (vol. 7) #1-2 (the identity of his father) and Marvels Project #4 (Steve’s life just prior to enlisting in the military)

Topical References

• Nick Fury references all the major television networks of the era: CBS, NBC, and ABC. Since these are real-world television networks their references here should be considered topical. Except for maybe ABC, since that station — along with Marvel Comics — are now owned by Disney and they like doing brand synergy.

The Cynthia Glass Problem

There are all sorts of issues with Veda’s claims that she is related to Cynthia Glass. Marvel has never provided any kind of clarification and the character is killed off this issue and the plot line is dropped after this story. The truth remains a mystery.

Specifically, Veda claims to be the daughter of Agent-R, which becomes increasingly impossible due to the Sliding Timescale. As such, it’s my view that Veda’s alleged familial relation to Agent-R is similar to that of Sharon and Peggy Carter, whose relationship has changed over the years for similar reasons. As such, I view Veda as an alleged descendant of Agent-R as opposed to her daughter.

Later stories, particularly Adventures of Captain America #1-4 and Steve Rogers: Super Soldier #1-3 reveal that Agent-R is a woman named Cynthia Glass who was later exposed as a Nazi spy and was killed shortly after Steve became Captain America.

The existence of a photo of a much older Agent-R with a horribly scarred face is in direct contradiction to this. Which raises questions: Why doesn’t anyone remember this?

Captain America’s inability to recollect this is easy enough to explain away: He is suffering from selective memory loss at the time of this story, it would be easy to blame his inability to remember Cynthia Glass on this.

Nick Fury, on the other hand, wasn’t directly involved with Project: Rebirth, other than helping Abraham Erskine flee Nazi Germany (as seen in Marvel Project #2) he might not be intimately well versed in every bit of minutia about the project and its staff, hence why he has Dum Dum search the records.

So why would this photo appear in the records? Well, as we’ll learn in Captain America #247, the memories revealed in this story were actually false memories implanted into Captain America’s mind in the event he was captured by Nazis. As we saw in issue #222, the US military even went so far as to falsify its records on Steve Rogers to perpetuate this misinformation. It stands to reason that the military probably did this with nearly everyone that was involved in Project: Rebirth. This has some credibility when you consider that Captain America #255 explains that Abraham Erskine operated under the alias of Joseph Reinstein.

The next question, if Veda was lying about her connection to Agent-R how did she come across the information? As we’ve seen across many Marvel stories that feature the Corporation, it has spies everywhere within both government and the business world. In fact, the leader of the Corporation’s east cost operations, Kligger is revealed to be a United States Senator in Incredible Hulk #231.