Captain America #301
All Good Things…
The Red Skull has died and Captain America is carrying his body out of Skull House so he can finally bury his past.[1] However, the Skull’s daughter, Mother Superior, and her Sisters of Sin arrive to take the body away. Captain America lets them have it without and conflict because all he wants to do is leave this cursed house and get on with his life.
Outside, Cap is reunited with his girlfriend Bernie Rosenthal, the Falcon, and a catatonic Arnie Roth. Moments later, the Avengers arrive to help, only to realize that the battle is over. They are shocked to see that Captain America has been visibly aged into an old man.[2] After Cap’s shield and Nomad’s costume are recovered, the Avengers take him back to Avengers Mansion to try and find away to reverse his rapid aging. They leave Hercules and Starfox to recover and bring back machines that might help them do the job.
Back at the Mansion, Steve has convinced himself that he is no longer fit to be a crime-fighter anymore and announces that he is going to retire from active duty. However, none of the Avengers accept this and Bernie insists that Cap find a way to restore his youth. Everyone unanimously agrees and Vision takes point on this important task. He sends the Wasp to bring in Hank Pym for his biology expertise while the android goes to consult with ISAAC, the world-mind on Titan that is wired into mansion’s computers.[3] As the Avengers go about their tasks, Bernie assures Steve that no matter what happens, she will remain by his side.
Elsewhere, Mother Superior and the Sisters of Sin have built a massive funeral pyre. Mother Superior, the Red Skull’s daughter, uses this moment to give a damning eulogy of her father who refused to make her his heir. Having outlived her father, Mother Superior announces that she has succeeded in doing so anyway and after spitting in the Red Skull’s face, unceremoniously tosses his body into the flames. She and the Sisters of Sin then depart without saying another word.
By this time, Hank Pym has arrived at Avengers Mansion and has begun examining Steve’s body. The prognosis isn’t good and he tells everyone that unless they can find a way to reverse his rapid aging, Captain America will die. The Falcon can hardly contemplate this and recounts how it was Steve Rogers who trained him into becoming a superhero.[4] In the hopes of finding a cure Hank asks Steve to tell him everything he knows about the Super-Soldier Serum that made him into Captain America. Steve recounts how he was too frail to fight in World War II and agreed to participate in a secret government program called Project: Rebith. Injected with the Super-Soldier serum, he was transformed into the pinnacle of human perfection and became Captain America.[5] He recounts how he fought in World War II until 1945 when he was thrown into suspended animation and later revived in the present day when his frozen body was recovered by the Avengers.[6] Unfortunately, Steve doesn’t know much about the science behind the formula and its creator is long dead and the formula never duplicated.[7]
That’s when Hercules and Starfox return from Skull House. However, not having the slightest idea what equipment would be helpful, the pair had brought back everything. Also arriving is Hawkeye, who has come to see Captain America possibly for the last time. Clint, who gave Steve such a hard time when he first joined the Avengers, thanks him for all the years of guidance and mentorship over the years. Hawkeye explains that this helped mold him into the man he is today.[8]
By this time, the Vision has finished conferring with ISAAC and has come up with a device that will restore Captain America’s youth. However, the process requires Steve to be sealed in a room that will be bombarded with radiation that is harmful to the others. Steve is then strapped to a table an bombarded with this energy that will hopefully return him to normal. The Avengers and Steve’s allies all watch from the other room. Bernie prays that this will work, thinking of everything they have gone through together and the bright future that stands ahead of them.[9]
Suddenly, the Sisters of Sin begin phasing through the wall of the chamber. Hawkeye wants to go in an protect Steve, but the Scarlet Witch stops him as it is too dangerous to open the door as they will all be exposed to dangerous radiation. Despite the fact that he is grossly outnumbered, Captain America gets loose from the examining table and begins defending himself. However, Mother Superior orders her minions to stand aside as she wants to fight Captain America alone.
Moments later, the rejuvenation process completes and the Vision deems it safe for them to end the room. The Avengers rush in to fight the Sisters of Sin only to discover that they have all been reverted to little girls, the Red Skull’s previous age accelerating process that was used on them having been reversed. More importantly, Steve Rogers has been restored to normal.[10] With Bernie standing by his side, Captain America tells his friends that it is good to be back in action.
Recurring Characters
Captain America, Sisters of Sin (Mother Superior, Sister Agony, Sister Death), Nomad, Falcon, Bernie Rosenthal, Avengers (Wasp, Hawkeye, Scarlet Witch, Vision, Hercules, Captain Marvel, Starfox), Hank Pym, Edwin Jarvis, Red Skull (corpse)
Continuity Notes
Although the Red Skull’s physical body died last issue, his mind lives on. As revealed in Captain America #350, his mind gets transferred into a clone body of Steve Rogers. He will start causing problems for Cap behind the scenes starting in Captain America #321.
Part of the Red Skull’s plan involved drugging Steve with a formula that caused him to rapidly age. This began in Captain America #290 and was revealed in issue #296.
After the Vision was incapacitated in Avengers #233, Starfox hooked him up to ISAAC in issue #238. This link will endure until issue #254 of that series after the Vision’s failed bid to conquer the world.
Captain America trained Sam Wilson and molded him into the Falcon back in Captain America #117.
Steve’s transformation into Captain America happened back in Captain America Comics #1.
Captain America was revived in the present day in Avengers #4.
While the serum was supposedly lost following the death of its creator in Captain America Comics #1, Steve’s statement is not entirely accurate as other versions of the formula were discovered or recreated at other times, some of which Steve is well aware of. One could assume that he has no idea how to find these other versions of the formula in the time he has left. Clearly the writer of this story didn’t bring these up for a few reasons, some of these revelations were made decades later, and others were likely omitted for narrative pacing.
Prior to defecting to the United States, Erksine worked on Project Nietzche, which examined an American soldier named John Steele’s enhanced physiology (see Marvels Project #1-8). A professor named Eric Schmitt gave an early version of this formula to both Kevin Marlow and Brian Falsworth when they were imprisoned in a Nazi concentration camp. See Invaders #18 and Marvels Project #7.
Truth: Red, White and Black #1-7 reveals that the military tried to recreate the formula and tested it on black soldiers and Isiah Bradley was on of the surviving members of that project.
Doctor Murray Anderson, a scientist that was part of Project: Rebirth, was forced to use his knowledge to create a derivative of the Super Soldier Formula. This was used to create Captain America’s Nazi equivalent, Master Man, per Giant-Size Invaders #1.
Private Biljo White — a long-time friend of Anderson — also apparently had knowledge of the serum and that information was used to create Warrior Woman in Invaders #16-17.
William Burnside, who became the Captain America of the 1950s, created a flawed version of Erksine’s formula from old notebooks he found. See Captain America #155.
In Avengers 1959 #1-5, Nick Fury formed a group called the Avengers Initiative to prevent an organization called ICON (made up of Nazi war criminals) from profiting off a formula that combined the properties of the Super-Soldier Serum with the Infinity Formula.
The Black Widow Ops Program was a Russian program that also created its own version of the formula, the first recipient of it being Natasha Romanoff. See Black Widow (vol. 3) #5.
Project: Sentry was yet another attempt to recreate the formula. It instead created the Sentry. See Sentry (vol. 2) #8.
As explained in Marvels Project #5, a relative of Noah Burstein was involved in Project Rebirth. In the modern age, Noah attempted to recreate this work, giving powers to both Luke Cage and Warhawk. See Luke Cage: Hero for Hir #1, and Powerman and Iron Fist #83.
Also in the modern age, the Navy attempted to create their own version of the serum. Their test subject became the mentally unhinged Anti-Cap. See Captain America and the Falcon #1.
Jacob Erskine, a descendant of Abraham later attempted to recreate the Super Soldier serum as a cure for cancer. However, this ended when he was murdered. See Steve Rogers: Super Soldier #1.
Most recently, another Super Soldier Serum derivative turned Todd Ziller into American Kaiju. See New Avengers (vol. 4) #9.
When Hawkeye first joined the Avengers in Avengers #16, he was frequently antagonistic toward Captain America because he saw him as an anachronism left over from an earlier time. They often argued as Clint had aspirations of replacing him as leader. Over time, Hawkeye learned to respect Captain America and the two became close friends.
There is a montage of various events in Bernie Rosenthal’s life entering the life of Captain America such as:
The first time she and Steve met, that was in Captain America #248.
When she was terrorized by Baron Zemo and Primus, this was in Captain America #275-279.
The time she watched Steve go through his training regimen in Captain America #290.
The time she and Steve celebrated Christmas together in Captain America #292.
Lastly, her recent capture by the Red Skull from Captain America #293-300.
As revealed in Captain America #298, the Red Skull used a machine to artificially age his daughter, Mother Superior, and her loyal Sisters of Sin into adults so he could mold them into his devout warriors faster than it would take for them to grow up naturally. Although they are de-aged here this does little to end the threat of the Sisters of Sin who will return to terrorize Captain America again in Captain America #355-357.
Topical References
The Indigenous people who worshiped Captain America while he was frozen in a block of ice are identified as Eskimos in this story. This should be considered a topical reference as this is no longer the correct term and, to many, it is considered offensive. The proper term is now Inuit.
