Captain America #287
Future Shock
The Present
Captain America has broken into the Brand Corporation building on Long Island with a clone of Luther Manning to search for the missing and time-lost Deathlok. The cyborg, brainwashed by Brand has fatally shot his clone, who is just barely hanging on. As Captain America fights the deranged Deathlok, the Manning clone recounts how he was sent back to this era to bring Deathlok back to the future. After Deathlok knocks out Captain America in battle, the clone manages to get close enough to grab the cyborg by the arm. This physical contact causes their minds to link and Deathlok is forced to remember his entire past and breaks free of the Brand Corporation’s mental control.[1]
Deathlok then turns on the Brand Corporation and rescues Captain America. Needing to shut down the operations, Deathlok blows up the Brand laboratory and the two flee the exploding building.
Not far away, Bernie Rosenthal — Steve Rogers’ girlfriend — meets up with her parents and sister for dinner. Steve was supposed to join her but went off as Captain America to investigate the Brand Corporation and Deathlok, leaving Bernie to make an excuse for his absence. She tells her parents that Steve is stuck in the city because he has a deadline to fullfill as a freelance commercial artist. Her parents aren’t impressed by this and when they begin judging Steve, Bernie gets upset and is frustrated over the fact that she can’t tell them her boyfriend is really Captain America. Unable to get through to her parents, Bernie runs up to her old bedroom to be alone.
Back in Manhattan, Nomad is on patrol hoping to make it on his own as a superhero without Captain America to guide him. He comes across a woman being mugged in an alley and comes to her rescue. After Nomad knocks out the crooks he is instantly smitten by the young woman he has saved.[2]
While on Long Island, Captain America explains to Deathlok why his clone came to the past looking for him. Deathlok realizes that he needs to get back to his own time, but Cap asks what happened to the heroes in his future. Deathlok reveals that they were all vanished a decade in his past. This shocks Captain America because it is the same year that they are currently in. However, before he can get more information, Deathlok takes off to the subway where his clone first appeared in this era. Calling out to Godwulf, whom he knows is monitoring things in the future, Deathlok is teleported back to his own time. As he begins to disappear, Captain America leaps toward the cyborg and is teleported away as well.
The Future
When both Deathlok and Captain America appear in the future, Godwulf is in awe over Captain America. He is honored to have Captain America present to help them liberate their future. When Captain America asks just how bad things are in this era, Godwulf takes him up to the surface to see the ruins of New York City.
Recurring Characters
Captain America, Deathlok, Nomad, Luther Manning clone, Brand Corporation, Roxxon’s Nth Command, Godwulf, Bernie Rosenthal, Nancy Rosenthal, Sister Pleasure (unidentified)
Continuity Notes
There is a lot of Deathlok history that is covered here. The details:
Deathlok’s origins are recounted: In the future, a soldier named Luther Manning was injured during war games and was recreated into a cyborg in the not-too-distant-future. See Astonishing Tales #35.
How he created a clone of his original body in the hopes of transferring his mind into it. All this did was create a copy of Manning complete with memories. See Astonishing Tales #33.
Deathlok was plucked out of time by Mentallo and the Fixer to assassinate the President of the United States and was thwarted by the Fantastic Four. This happened in Astonishing Tales #36 and Marvel Two-In-One #27.
Deathlok ended up being stolen by Roxxon and allegedly used to attack Project PEGASUS and was destroyed only to be rebuilt. Those events were detailed in Marvel Two-In-One #54. However, the Deathlok entry in Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe: Deluxe Edition #3, this was actually a robotic duplicate created by Roxxon and not the real Deathlok.
Deathlok’s future was that of the Prime Marvel Universe (Earth-616) until the two realities were diverged following the events of Captain America #289. Per Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe: Alternate Universe 2005, Deathlok’s future has been designated Reality-7484. For more on how to chart Deathlok’s timeline to that of Earth-616, see below.
As innocuous as this rescue appears, Nomad is actually being set up by as part of a complex revenge scheme orchestrated by the Red Skull. The young woman he saves here is actually Sister Pleasure, one of the Skull’s loyal Sisters of Sin. See Captain America #296 for the details. The Red Skull’s plot comes to fruiting in Captain America #293-300.
Topical References
Deathlok’s future is stated as taking place in the 1990s, that he was pulled back in time to the year 1976 and that the current year in present day Earth-616 is 1983. All of these dates should be considered topical. See below.
This story is stated as taking place in the year 1983 and the 1950s are said to have taken place 30 years prior. Both of these references should also be considered topical. The Sliding Timescale pushes time forward so that the number of years between the 50s and the Modern Age will continue to grow larger.
Interpreting Deathlok’s Timeline
Because Earth-616 operates on a Sliding Timescale, the events that take place in the Modern Age of the Marvel Universe are not assigned to fixed dates as the events are constantly pulled forward in time. As such, many of the dates that Deathlok references should be considered topical. Deathlok’s future is stated as taking place in the 1990s and while there is arguments about if his timeline exists on a Sliding Timescale or not, it is the position of this index that it does. I get into that in greater detail here.
The narrative of Captain America #287 chooses to measure time by the publication dates of key stories rather than the Sliding Timescale. With all that in mind, the dates in question should all be considered topical and should be interpreted as follows:
1976: This date is in used in reference to what year it was when Deathlok was pulled back in time to the present day of Earth-616 in Astonishing Tales #36, which was published in July, 1976. This story would take place during “Year Three” of the Modern Age.
1983: Is stated as the year that Luther Manning was injured during the war games and transformed into Deathlok. This year is based on the original narrative of the Deathlok stories in Astonishing Tales and are in relation to the timeline of Earth-7484. This year would be congruent with the year of publication of Captain America #286-289 which was published between October 1983 to January 1984. Which falls under “Year Six” of the Modern Age.
1991: The Luther Manning clone came from this year. This date is taken from the Deathlok timeline of Earth-7484. Based on this index’s assessment this future would (prior to its divergence from Earth-616) would have taken place approximately 10 years in the future of this story, or “Year Sixteen” of the Modern Age.
Based on all of these interpretations, Deathlok was was pulled back in time to the present day about three years prior to this story, Deathlok’s timeline would have begun the same year this story takes place, and that his future activities would occur about ten years after the fact.
However, that all said, Deathlok’s timeline was divorced from the Earth-616 timeline when Captain America prevented the catalyst that brings about Deathlok’s timeline in Captain America #289.