Captain America #326
The Haunting of Skull-House
Since his final battle with the Red Skull, Captain America has had Skull House under constant observation for any sign of activity.[1] On Halloween night, he is informed by his Stars and Stripes support team that somebody turned on a light at the abandoned mansion, prompting Captain America to go and investigate and find out who is there and what they are doing.
Searching every room, Captain America finds the mansion deserted until he enters the room where he fought the Red Skull for the last time. He is then visited by someone claiming to be the ghost of the Red Skull. However, Captain America doesn’t buy this, believing that this is some kind of trick. To prove that he is the genuine article, the projection of the Skull removes his “mask” to reveal the face of the true Red Skull before vanishing.
Still unconvinced that this is the Skull’s spirit, Captain America follows the apparition to the replica rathskeller elsewhere in the facility. There, the Red Skull introduces him to the alleged spirit of Vladimir Korda, the ULTIMATUM soldier that Captain America had recently killed in battle.[2] The Skull tells Captain America that in order to atone for Vladimir’s death, he must kill himself. The Red Skull then summons the spirits of other individuals who have died under Captain America’s watch in the recent past: MODOK, the Porcupine, and the Scourge of the Underworld.[3] When Captain America still refuses to end his own life, the Red Skull orders the others to attack. As Captain America fights for his life, he still doesn’t believe any of this is real. His hunch would be correct as he is being observed from a secret control room by Doctor Faustus.
When Captain America buries his attackers in a cave in, Faustus decides to change tactics. He then has Steve Rogers visited by phony version of his parents, Bucky, and Sharon Carter. They all tell Cap to stop fighting and surrender to death telling him to enter a bright white light so they can spend be reunited for all eternity.[4] However, Steve refuses to do so, believing that his loved ones would never ask him to willingly give up his own life like this.
Realizing that his scheme is an utter failure, Doctor Faustus decides to flee before he is found and captured.[5] However, as he tries to leave his control room he is attacked by the Red Skull’s ghost who is unhappy with the intruder in his home and begins choking him.[6] When Captain America later finds Faustus, the evil psychologist is in a catatonic state. Unsure of what happened, Cap removes his old foe from Skull House confident that the Red Skull is dead for good.
Recurring Characters
Captain America, Doctor Faustus, Red Skull
Continuity Notes
The Red Skull seemingly died of old age in Captain America #300. However, he survived thanks to Arnim Zola who transferred his mind into a clone of Steve Rogers body. See Captain America #350.
Cap was forced to kill Korda to prevent him from murdering some hostages. See Captain America #320.
Regarding the “spirits” of the recently deceased:
MODOK was killed by the Serpent Society in Captain America #313. Despite this, he will be resurrected by AIM in Captain America #440-441/Avengers #387-388.
The Porcupine died after accidentally goring himself on one of his own quills in Captain America #315.
The Scourge of the Underworld was killed by another Scourge operative after being captured by Captain America in Captain America #320.
Not everything about Captain America’s deceased loved ones is on the level:
His parents, Joseph and Sarah Rogers are absolutely dead. His father died of influenza in the 1920s and his mother died of pneumonia when Steve was still a teenager. This was revealed in Captain America #255.
Joe Roger’s depiction here is of a loving father who just wants to be reunited with his son. This contradicts what we learn about him in Captain America (vol. 7) #1-2, which depicts Joe as an abusive alcoholic. See below for more details.
At the time of this story, Bucky is believed to have died in 1945 in a drone plane explosion, as seen in Avengers #4. Years later it’s learned that Bucky actually survived and was transformed by the Russians into the assassin known as the Winter Soldier. Cap won’t learn the truth until Captain America (vol. 5) #14.
Bucky mentions how Steve was allowed to get past his guilt over his “death”. He is referring to Captain America #297, wherein the Red Skull forced Steve to relive the day Bucky “died” with Jack Monroe taking the place of James Barnes.
Sharon Carter was believed to have died via self-immolation in Captain America #237, while she was believed to have been brainwashed by the National Front. In reality, she faked her death in order to go into a deep cover mission for SHIELD. She will turn up alive again in Captain America #444.
Here, Doctor Faustus is depicted in a wheelchair and he blames Captain America for his condition, saying it happened during their last encounter. This was in Captain America #231-236 which ended with Faustus exposed to a heavy dose of his own mind control gas. However, when we last saw Faustus in Marvel Team-Up #132-133, he was fully mobile. The Faustus profile in All-New Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A-Z Update #4 clarifies by saying that his exposure to the gas was overtime an exasperated leading up to his appearance here, leaving him in a wheelchair.
The “ghost” of the Red Skull seen attacking Faustus at the end of this story is not the spirit of the Red Skull. As stated above, the Red Skull was still alive at this point. The Skull profile in Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe ‘89 Update #6 clarifies by stating that the real Red Skull had hijacked the Faustus hologram to punish the doctor for failing. Although Faustus is left in a catatonic state here, he snaps out of it by his next appearance in Captain America #420.
Topical References
Here, the Red Skull states that Vladimir Korda was born in 1946. This date should be considered topical since Vladimir is likely an individual with a normal human life span. Modern readers should instead interpret this to mean that Korda was about 41 when he died rather than a specific date. This age can be determined by subtracting the year this comic was published (1987) with 1946.
Joe Rogers
The depiction of Joe Rogers here is based on the representation of the character in Captain America #282-283. He appears as a bespectacled and well read man who is a loving father and bears a striking resemblance to Steve himself. This contradicts Iron Man #172 and Captain America (vol. 7) #1-2, where he appears as a hard working laborer who fell into a cycle of alcoholism and abusive behavior during the Great Depression.
Marvel has yet to explain these discrepancies at the time of this writing in December, 2021.
The two vastly different recollections might be based on how these events were perceived. In Captain America #282-283, Steve Rogers was suffering the effects of a hallucinogenic opiate that caused him to imagine his parents being present in the room with him. One could assume that these hallucinations were idealized version of his father as opposed to the reality.
One could assume that Steve maintained this perception of his father as abuse victims usually distort the memories of their abuser as a coping mechanism, especially when that abuser is a loved one like a parent.
That said, the depiction of Joe Rogers here is a hologram created by Doctor Faustus and not a product of a drug induced hallucination. It’s not explained how Faustus knew of Steve Rogers father to depict him in this way. My theory is that Faustus — who has been known to sometimes use drugs to warp the perceptions of his victims — likely developed the opiate Viper used on Captain America in issue #282-283. A potential behind the scenes involvement would have allowed him to learn what Steve Rogers hallucinated about and was able to create a hologram based on that vision of Joe Rogers.