Clashing Symbols

At the University of Wisconsin, the Buckies are assaulting foreign exchange students at the International House dorm room. They accuse them of being spies for foreign governments that are considered enemies of the United States. After beating up some of the students they spray paint the dorm sign as well as burn a message on the law with poorly spelled xenophobic threats. After they are finished, the Buckies run off to rendezvous with their leader, the Super-Patriot to inform him that their mission was as success. The Super-Patriot wishes he could be there, but until his public relations manager gives the green light he can’t be seen doing something that will turn the American public against him.

Meanwhile, Steve Rogers is in town to visit his fiancée, Bernie Rosenthal. He is very nervous because they haven’t seen each other since she decided they needed a break in their relationship while she is at law school.[1] Bernie is happy to see him and Steve is surprised to see that she cut her hair really short. After a quick introduction to her dorm mates, Bernie takes Steve up to his room. Their catching up is interrupted when Paul, one of Berni’s neighbors, tells her about the Buckies attack on the International House. That’s when Steve reveals that the Buckies are the reason why he came, because the group have been engaging in vigilante activity to spoil his good name as part of the Super-Patriot’s smear campaign against him.

Bernie goes off with her friends to check things out, giving Steve the opportunity to change into Captain America and investigate himself. When he arrives at International House, he finds the police reluctant to accept his assistances. The students attacked by the Buckies are also unhappy to see him as they think he was involved in the attack. The situation soon grows volatile when spectators outside — divided between those who support what happened and those who do not — begin getting worked up and are about to explode into violence. Seeing that there is nothing he can do here, Steve quickly leaves before anyone gets hurt. When Bernie returns to her dorm, she remembers an article about Super-Patriot she read recently. From it, they learn that Super-Patriot is scheduled to address the audience at the AmericAid charity concert that is happening the following evening. Using Captain America’s Stars and Stripes network to secure tickets the two decide to go and confront the Super-Patriot in person.

Meanwhile, in Washington, DC, a member for the tax department is reviewing tax returns that have been flagged for being out of the ordinary. One is for Steve Rogers, who received a large sum of money from the United States government over the last year. Finding this out of the ordinary, he decides to bring it to the attention of the head auditor.[2]

The following evening, the AmericAid opens to a sold out crowd. Back stage, Super-Patriot meets with a reporter to explain that his costumed identity is a symbol of what America actually represents and his intentions to replace Captain America as the country’s leading superhero. When he goes to give his speech, he is unaware that Cap himself — as Steve Rogers — is in the crowd listening to his speech. Watching the Super-Patriot pandering to the audience, Bernie admits that he is an amazing public speaker. However, Steve isn’t interested in his speech and instead wants to confront the Super-Patriot about his unethical ways of trying to boost support and tarnish Captain America’s good name.

Changing into Captain America, Steve uses his Avengers ID to get back stage so he can confront the Super-Patriot after his speech. Captain America tells the Patriot that he has come to expose his deceptions but the Super-Patriot refuses to surrender without seeing who would win in a fight.[3] Going into the parking lot outside, Captain America refuses to give the Super-Patriot what he wants. However, when he turns to walk away, the Super-Patriot tries attack Cap from behind. This forces Cap into the defensive and he quickly discovers that the Super-Patriot has super-human strength. Captain America is able to hold his own but soon his fists begin getting sore and he gets out of breath. That’s when the Super-Patriot takes out his throwing stars and manages to land one square onto Captain America’s chest. Cap isn’t hurt thanks to the thick chainmail of his costume, but is surprised that his opponent was able to hit him and wonders if he is slowing down with age. The Super-Patriot on the other hand considers the fight a victory for him and walks away.

Later that evening when Steve meets up with Bernie back at his van, he is pretty depressed over his inability to defeat the Super-Patriot in battle. Bernie realizes that she is going to have to spend the rest of the evening trying to cheer Steve up instead of telling him that she wants to end their engagement.[4]

The following evening, the auditor investigating Steve Rogers’ tax returns has been granted access to look further into his background. Gaining access to government records he discovers that Rogers is actually Captain America and wonders what he should do about this discovery.

Recurring Characters

Captain America, Super Patriot, BUCkies (Lemar Hoskins, Hector Lennox, Jerome Johnson), Bernie Rosenthal

Continuity Notes

1. Steve and Bernie dated from Captain America #248 to 317. She put a pause on their relationship because she needed time away from Steve to focus on her continued education and staying meant getting sucked into his double life as Captain America.

2. Steve Rogers tax records lists him as Steve G. Rogers here. However, per Captain America #247, Steve doesn’t have a middle name. That said, the G. probably stands for Grant, which was added to his records as part of a false identity created for Steve during World War II in the event he was captured by the enemy. See Captain America #225 and 247 for more details. One could assume that after setting up this fake identity nobody went back to fix Cap’s tax records.

3. Captain America reminds the Super-Patriot about the warning he gave the last time they met. That happened in Captain America #323.

4. Bernie proposed to Steve back in Captain America #292.

Topical References

• The Buckies accuse the foriegn exchange students at the university of being spies for “Khaddafy”, they are likely referring to Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, who ruled that country from 1969 until his death in 2011. At the time of this story was written there were tensions between the United States and Libya. These references should be considered topical.

• Super-Patriot is depicted drinking a can of Old Milwaukee beer. This is topical as Old Mill is a real world product.

• Bernie Rosenthal has a poster of Elvis Costello’s album Trust on the wall in her dorm room. This album was released in 1981 and unless you want to think Bernie into retro music this is another topical reference.

• Bernie’s dorm mate Paul believes that Captain America voted for Ronald Reagan. This is topical because Reagan’s administration ran from 1981 to 1989 and Reagan himself later died in 2004.

• Bernie makes references to a number of magazines: Time, Newsweek and Rolling Stone. They are topical because they are real world publications.

• Steve Rogers is stated to having an income of $37 thousand in the previous year and $1,037, 000 in the current year. Adjusting for inflation these amounts would be around $90 thousand and $2.5 million in 2021 money respectively.

• The rock benefit show is called AmericAid ‘86. The year (1986) should be considered topical.

• Speaking of topical references the following bands are name dropped as being involved in the event: Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, Mick Jagger, the Talking Heads, Madonna, Run DMC, Willie Nelson, (presumably Tom Petty and) the Heartbreakers, and Tina Turner.