The Summoning!

Modred the Mystic has stolen Captain Britain’s costume so that its mystical circuitry can augment his own power. The sorcerer is now going on the rampage, laying waste to the city of London in the hopes of drawing out Merlin, whom Modred blames for his corruption at the hands of the Book of Darkhold.[1]

Below the besieged city, in an underground dungeon, Captain America and Captain Britain are Modred’s shackled prisoners. Despite the fact that they are trapped, Captain America struggles to break free.

Meanwhile, back in America, Arnie Roth has been released from the hospital and pays a visit to Bernie Rosenthal at her glass shop. Bernie is happy to see that Arnie is doing okay, but he tells her that his experiences as the Red Skull’s prisoner really fucked him up and he needs some time away from everything. He has decided to relocate to Florida. Since Steve is off in England, Arnie tells Bernie to say goodbye for him if Steve isn’t back before he leaves.[2]

Back in England, the two Captains manage to break free from their prison when Mordred’s siege causes enough structural damage to allow them to snap their bonds. Even though he is without his powers, Captain Britain agrees to help Captain America stop Modred.

Simultaneously, in Brooklyn, Nomad manages to stop a jewel store robbery with relative ease. He is pleased with his work and begins believing that he can hold his own without Captain America and looks forward to his new independent crime fighting career.

While in Modred’s dungeon, Captain America finds his shield. After recovering the weapon, the two Captains go to the surface and confront Modred. The sorcerer has been unsuccessful in forcing Merlin to appear before him and orders Captain Britain to summon him instead. The Captain says he can only do this while bonded to his costume and so Modred transfers it back, confident that his natural magical abilities will be more than enough to deal with the two heroes if they try to double-cross him.

With his suit back, Captain Britain uses his power to send a call to Merlin. Unfortunately, the wizard doesn’t answer his summons prompting Modred to continue his rampage. Flying to the Tower of London, he uses his magic to reanimate the remains of ancient knights that have been buried there. Although the undead horde greatly outnumber the two Captains, they quickly crumble when met with force. Modred then joins the battle directly and tries to blast the two men with bolts of arcane might. Captain America’s shield and Captain Britain’s uniform are able to shrug off this attack as the pair press forward. When they get close enough they grab Modred’s hands and force him to blast himself, knocking him out.

With Modred defeated, Merlin finally appears before them and congratulates the two Captains for defeating Modred. The ancient wizard decides to take Modred back to Otherworld in order to cure him of his evil. Although Captain America believes Modred deserves a fair trail, Merlin takes Modred away anyway, telling the two heroes that the sorcerer will be returned to Earth once the evil that taints his soul has been expunged.[3] Captain Britain assures Cap that Merlin is a force for good, but insists that there is nothing they could do anyway. When Britain suggests that Merlin would be unstoppable if he turned on them, Captain America disagrees, believing that with justice on their side they can defeat any foe.

Recurring Characters

Captain America, Captain Britain, Modred the Mystic, Nomad, Arnie Roth, Bernie Rosenthal

Continuity Notes

1. Modred corruption by the Darkhold was actually his own damn fault. See Marvel Chillers #1.

2. Arnie was captured and fortuned from Red Skull by Captain America #295 to 300, leaving him in a catatonic state. Here, Arnie — an childhood friend of Steve Rogers — states that he is going to visit his Uncle Wayne in Florida. That Arnie, let alone an uncle, can still be alive in the Modern Age is impossible due to the Sliding Timescale without some kind of explanation. See below for more details.

3. Modred will be seen again in Quasar #11, where he tries to escape Merlin’s captivity and free Chthon by manipulating Excalibur’s Phoenix. This plan fails hard.

The Trouble With Arnie

Back in Captain America #270, Arnie Roth is identified as being a childhood friend of Steve Rogers. However, due to the Sliding Timecale, the number of years between the end of World War II and the Modern Age continues to grow as the Modern Age is bumped forward in time. As such, it is becoming increasingly impossible for Arnie Roth to be the middle aged man he is depicted as in this story.

Usually, Marvel comes up with some kind of explanation to explain how a wartime character could still be alive. This tends to involve a character undergoing a process that slows or stops the aging process or having been brought forward in time. However, given that Arnie is an ordinary guy with an ordinary past, it seems unlikely that such a thing has come into play.

Marvel has yet to explain the continued existence of Arnie Roth. I posit a theory in my summary of Captain America #270. The TL;DR version is this: I theorize that this isn’t the real Arnie Roth, but a clone created by Baron Zemo, since Arnie’s reappearance was also part of a scheme by Zemo to get revenge against Captain America.

Which raises the question: How can Arnold have an Uncle Wayne that is still alive as the same issue comes up with the Sliding Timecale. If Arnie was born in the 1920s, an uncle would become impossibly old as, at the time of this writing, he would be over 100 years old. At the time of this writing (November, 2021) the oldest person in the world was 122 when they died in 1997.

So how do you explain it? Well, if we accept the possibility that Arnie Roth is a clone and that his background in the present day was all manufactured based on the real Arnie’s memories and Baron Zemo’s orchistration, then perhaps Arnie believes he has an uncle waiting for him in Florida when one doesn’t exist. Which could be an easy explanation because when Arnie returns again in Captain America #426 he doesn’t mention this uncle ever again.