Captain America #305
Walk Upon England!
Steve Rogers is hard at work on his latest assignment of the Bennett Advertising Agency. Stopping to marvel at his work, Steve is shocked when he is suddenly wearing an unfamiliar costume that vanishes just as suddenly appeared. Noting that it was styled after the British flag, Steve is curious enough to plan a sudden trip to England to investigate the situation.
Meanwhile, Nomad is out on patrol on his own and tries to convince himself that he can handle crime fighting on his own. However, he is embarrassed when one the crooks don’t take him seriously and flee when he attacks him. Adding insult to injury, the grateful shop keeper mistakes him for Captain America.
Hours later, Steve Rogers arrives at London’s Heathrow Airport.[1] Ducking into a nearby washroom, Steve changes into Captain America and rides the London Underground into the heart of the city. While searching for clues, he is struck by a mystical blast shot by a mean wearing the costume that briefly materialized on Steve back in America. The attacker vows to destroy Captain America and introduces himself as Captain Britain. Although Captain America encountered his British counterpart in the recent past, he doesn’t recognize this new costume.[2] Captain America finds himself on the defensive as his opponent is far more powerful due to his magical powers. Tossing Captain America into the air, Britain sends him crashing through St. Paul’s Cathedral and falling to his doom.
Back in the United States, both Bernie Rosenthal and Jack Monroe arrive at Steve’s apartment to find he is not home. Bernie is worried about him until she finds a note saying that he has gone to England for a few days and that he’ll be back.
Meanwhile, Captain America’s battle against the man claiming to be Captain Britain continues across the city of London. Ultimately, Cap is knocked out when Britain fires a beam of mystical energy that causes the side of a building to collapse on him. When Cap wakes up, he finds himself shackled to the wall of some underground dungeon with another man he doesn’t recognize. That’s when “Captain Britain” returns and reveals that he is actually Mordred the Mystic.
Modred explains that his memory returned after the home of Bova, his caretaker, was destroyed.[3] Drawn back to England, Modred set up operations in an abandoned castle in Cumbria. Blaming Merlin for his corruption at the hands of the Book of Darkhold, Modred attacked the wizard’s champion, Captain Britain. Overpowering the hero with his magical powers, Mordred then attempted to steal Captain Britain’s costume so that he could use its mystical circuitry to augment his own power. However, during the process, Captain Britain interrupted the transfer spell causing his uniform to briefly be sent to Captain America in New York.
Although Modred succeeded in usurping Captain Britain’s costume, he knew he had to deal with interference from Captain America. With both the Captain’s now his prisoner, Modred then begins plotting his revenge against Merlin.
Recurring Characters
Captain America, Captain Britain, Modred the Mystic, Nomad, Bernie Rosenthal
Continuity Notes
Steve Rogers recounts the last time he was in England. This was in Captain America #253-254 and 256-257 where he battled Baron Blood, revisited Greymore Castle, and shut down Matrix 8 with the Hulk.
The last time Captain America and Captain Britain crossed paths was during the Wraith War in Rom #65. At the time, Captain Britain was still wearing his original costume. Captain Britain’s costume was abruptly changed by Merlin in Marvel Super-Heroes (UK) #377.
Modred goes into a lot of his personal history and recent activities here:
Modred was first corrupted by the Darkhold back in Marvel Chillers #1. Becoming a pawn of Chthon, he was transported to the present day where he was active for some time.
He recently tried to free his master, who took possession of the Scarlet Witch’s body. Both were stopped by Captain America and the Avengers. Left in a catatonic state, Modred was left in the care of Bova, one of the High Evolutionary’s New Men. See Avengers #185-187.
Modred remained in Bova’s care until her home was destroyed by Magneto in Vision and the Scarlet Witch #4. This was because Magneto was led to believe that Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch were his children. This proves to be false per Uncanny Avengers (vol. 2) #5.
Topical References
Steve Rogers is depicted as flying to England in a Concord jet piloted by British Airways. While these super-sonic jets were used for commercial air travel when this comic was published the fleet was retired from use by 2003. It’s appearance here should be considered topical. References to British Airways should also be considered topical as it is a real world company.
Likewise, this story states that Steve’s trip to London only took three hours. Which was the average travel time in a Concord. If he were flying a more conventional commercial airliner the trip would take closer to 8.5 hours.
Another anachronism here is that Steve and the other passengers are depicted disembarking the plane by a runway ladder. This should be considered topical as most major airports now have sky-ways, tunneled enclosures that lead passengers from the terminal to the plane without having to go outside.
The massive tower Captain America swigs onto is referred to as the Post Office Tower here. Now owned by British Telecom it is currently known as the BT Tower. The use of its old name here is, obviously, topical.
