Deathwatcher!

The Constrictor has stolen a Coast Guard vessel and is threatening to use its cannons to fire at the World Trade Center unless his ransom demands are met. Captain America sneaks aboard and ambushes the Constrictor aboard the ship.[1] However, before the Constrictor can fire the cannons an explosion rocks the ship. This was caused by a scuba team who infiltrated the boat in order to drown the crew for the amusement of their employer. With the ship now sinking, the divers depart so their master can enjoy the show.

However, Captain America and the authorities are able to save the crew and the Constrictor is taken into custody. Cap then speaks with Lieutenant Powel of the NYPD. Powel tells Captain America that he has been busy diffusing the escalating violence between the Gamble and Ferrini crime families. Captain America is then given a lift back to the mainland where he returns home to catch up on a freelance art assignment that is due in the morning.

Meanwhile, the leader of the scuba team — a man named Hansen — returns to a run down mansion where he exchanges his set suit for a butler’s attire. He then goes into the a massive monitoring room — the only maintained room in the house — to meet with his employer, the wealthy Samson Scythe. Scythe, who is in frail health and suffers from crippling boredom learns how their next project for his amusement is underway.

The following morning, Steve Rogers meets with the publisher of Concept, Inc. an important potential client. However, the owner — Irene Clancy — is more interested in Steve’s physique than his artwork and invites him out to dinner to talk business. When Steve politely declines, she tells him that she isn’t interested in commissioning his work. Walking out of the office, Steve is once again reminded of how much the world has changed while he was stuck in suspended animation.[2]

Meanwhile, Carlo Ferrini is celebrating his birthday at a fancy restaurant. When he goes to cut the turkey he is electrocuted by a trap set inside the meal by Hansen. Samson Scythe watches the mob boss get electrocuted from the comfort of his monitor room. Naturally, the Gamble family will get blamed for the death, providing Scythe with a so much more amusement.

Ferrini’s death prompts Sean Gamble to go to the police for protection because he had nothing to do with Carlo’s death. Lieutenant Powel then calls in Captain America to help protect the mobster. Captain America follows Gamble for days and prevents the mobster from walking into a trap set in an elevator. Captain America himself almost falls on the spikes set at the bottom of the shaft but protects himself with his indestructible shield. Watching Captain America risk his life for a mobster provides Sythe with endless amusement and decides to focus his next thrill on the Star-Spangled Avenger.

The following day, Steve Rogers is out riding his bike with Bernie Rosenthal in Central Park. Here he overhears a radio report about a nearby bank robbery and challenges Bernie to a race. As Rosenthal takes off, Steve slips away to change into Captain America and deal with the robbery. He is able to stop most of their bank robbers, but their leader manages to escape on a motorcycle.[3] Still, he manages to follow the crook from the rooftops and witnesses him entering the trailer of a long-haul truck to try and evade capture. Racing in after him, Captain America is restrained by two men. There he is greeted by Sythe and Hansen.

Samson explains that he has been murdering people for enjoyment because he has found life incredibly boring. He explains that this is because he was born into a wealthy family that allowed him to do whatever he wanted. However, he soon grew bored and enlisted in the military to find some kind of excitement. Deployed to a conflict in Southeast Asia, Sythe found joy in killing enemy soldiers but the conflict soon came to a quick end and he found himself back to his boring old life. Over the years he became so bored with everything his body withered as he only got sustenance from IV drips because even eating had become painfully bored to him. Seeking to relive the thrill of murder, Sythe hired Hansen — a friend from his military days — to go out and commit murders that would then be recorded for Samson’s amusement. He now has decided that he is going to have Captain America killed and leaves so he can watch the murder from his home.

However, Captain America manages to break free and — after learning the location of Sythe’s mansion — flies a Quinjet upstate to confront the madman in his own home. There, Captain America discovers that Sythe has set up a number of boobytraps for his opponent including robotic guard dogs, rooms flooded with gold dust, and sonic weapons hidden within the rooftop gargoyles. Captain America survives all these traps and confronts Sythe and Hansen in the central control room. There, Hansen tries to flame broil Captain America with a flame thrower but only succeeds in setting the room ablaze. As Captain America carries Hansen out, Samson crawls toward a fire extinguisher to put out the flames but grows bored with the effort needed to save his own life. Seeing himself in the TV monitors, Sythe instead becomes more interested in watching his own demise and dies in the flames.

When police and firecrews arrive on the scene, Captain America informs Powel of Samson Sythe’s involvement in the murder of Ferrini. Powel hopes this will prevent a gang war from breaking out. Cap agrees to help with this problem but wants to go home and get some rest first.

Recurring Characters

Captain America, Constrictor, Bernie Rosenthal

Continuity Notes

1. The Constrictor mentions the last time he fought Captain America. This happened in Captain America #228.

2. Cap was in suspended animation for decades and was revived in the present day in Avengers #4. Per the Sliding Timescale, Cap has been thawed out for roughly six years at this point.

3. Captain America wishes he had his own motorcycle to give chase and a footnote reminds readers that Cap recently acquired his hog in Captain America #259.

Topical References

• The original twin towers of the World Trade Center are depicted as part of the New York City skyline in this story. This should be considered topical as the buildings were destroyed in a terrorist attack on September 11, 2001 and subsequently replaced with the Freedom Tower.

• The Constrictor’s ransom request is for 10 million dollars, which was a lot of money when this comic was published in 1981, but not so much anymore. Adjusting for inflation that would be equivalent to over $30 million in 2021 money.

• Steve Rogers states that that it is the 1980s at the time of this story, this should be considered topical due to the Sliding Timescale. It causes the length of time between the end of World War II and the Modern Age to grow longer as the “present day” of the Marvel Universe is not tied to anyone time period.

• This story states that Sythe fought in the Vietnam War. This should be considered a topical reference. Per History of the Marvel Universe #2, all Modern Age characters with a Vietnam War background now have their military service changed so they have fought in the Sin-Cong Conflict instead.