Captain America #370
House Calls
Caught in the middle of a clash between the Red Skull’s Skeleton Crew and the Hellfire Club, Captain America and Diamondback are buried alive in a collapsed sewer tunnel. When emergency crews arrive on the scene, Cap is able to dig their way out using his indestructible shield. After informing the authorities about what happened, Cap suggests that Diamondback return with him to Avengers Headquarters to compare notes.
Meanwhile, the Skeleton Crew returns to the Smith Building in Washington, DC. There, Crossbones sends the Voice off to get medical attention after he got his larynx crushed by the Black Queen.[1] Since their attempt to find the Red Skull at the Hellfire Club turned out to be a bust, Crossbones then calls a meeting with the rest of the Crew to figure out their next move.[2] Crossbones has a sudden moment of inspiration when he remembers Tristram Micawber, the diminutive psychic that Crossbones hired to help locate the Bloodstone for Baron Zemo.[3]
At Avengers Headquarters, Captain America learns from Diamondback that Crossbones and his team are looking for the Red Skull, who had gone missing recently after a conflict with Magneto. Their discussion is interrupted by the Avengers butler, Jarvis,[4] who reminds Cap that he has an appointment with Eric Masterson, the architect who is building the team’s new headquarters.[5] Cap excuses himself, and asks Jarvis to have the Avengers Crew keep Diamondback occupied until he returns.
At that same moment, the Skeleton Crew pays a visit to Tristram Micawber at his private office and demand his services to help him find the Red Skull. Micawber tells them that such a dangerous mission will cost a huge sum of money. Crossbones refuses to pay that price, instead giving Micawber a fraction of that amount. They soon take to the air in the Skeleton Crew’s VTOL jet. There Tristram is given one of the Skull’s ties, as the psychic needs a physical possession of the missing in order for his powers to work. He then leads Crossbones and his allies to a remote part of Bengen County, New Jersey where he divines the location of the bomb shelter where the Red Skull has been trapped for days. The thick amount of evil in the area is too much for Micawber to handle and he collapses to the ground. Since none of the Crew are doctors, they neither know what happened nor do they care and begin digging through the ground to find the hatch to the shelter.[6]
They soon find the bunker and Crossbones leaps inside. There he finds the Red Skull still alive but incredibly weak. He shocks them all by asking Crossbones to take him back to his home so he can die in peace. The Skeleton Crew comply and transport their boss back to Skull House. However, Crossbones refuses to let the Red Skull to just give up on living and decides to take him through his trophy room to remind him of his former glories as a means of reinvigorating his will to live.[7] Showing the Red Skull around does little to change his disposition. The Skull instead tells his minions that he wishes to see his enemy Captain America one more time before he dies. Although Mother Night thinks this is a bad idea, Crossbones insists that they have to follow the boss’s orders.
By this time, Captain America’s meeting with Eric Masterson has come to an end. He is then checks in on Diamondback who is fleecing the members of the Avengers Grew in a game of poker. That’s when Peggy Carter informs Cap that there are reports of the lights coming back on at Skull House. Cap decides to investigate and tells John Jameson to ready his jet. Refusing to be left behind, Diamondback insists on coming along.
When the pair arrive at Skull House, Cap suggests they just go in through the front door as the security around the mansion are such that whoever is inside must know they are there. Once inside, the Machinesmith lures the pair with a hologram of the Red Skull. Cap and Diamondback avoid a trap door in the staircase and fight their way through the animated statues in the Red Skull’s trophy room. Eventually, the Skull wakes back up and tells his minions to cease their hostilities and invite Captain America up into his bedroom. With Mother Night using her powers to disguise herself and Crossbones as doctors, Cap and Diamondback are allowed inside. Seeing his arch-nemesis gives the Red Skull a new will to live and he vows that once he has regained his health he will get his ultimate revenge against Captain America. Seeing the hatred in the Skull’s eyes convinces Captain America that this is a the real Red Skull, who has somehow cheated death in the past.[8]
Captain America tells his old enemy to rest and he and Diamondback leave without incident. Diamondback can’t believe they let the Red Skull go, but deduces that Cap probably doesn’t have enough evidence to prove that this is the real Skull. Captain America is still shaken by the absolute hatred in the eyes of his greatest enemy, however there is no doubt in his mind that this is the original Skull back from the dead, and prays that god will have mercy on them all.
Recurring Characters
Captain America, Diamondback, Red Skull, Skeleton Crew (Crossbones, Mother Night, Machinesmith, Fourth Sleeper), Fabian Stankewicz, Peggy Carter, John Jameson, Edwin Jarvis, Tristram Micawber, Eric Masterson, M’Daka
Continuity Notes
The Voice was injured last issue. His injury will put the Voice out of commission for many years until he pops up again in Astonishing Ant-Man #4.
The Red Skull was captured by Magneto who dumped the Nazi in a bomb shelter and left him to die in Captain America #367. Here, the Machinesmith mentions their previous plan to try and draw out Magneto by using a robot of the mutant, that happened in issue #368. The reason why Magneto isn’t falling for their bait is because he is busy trying to reform the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants with Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver as seen in Avengers West Coast #56-57 and 60.
This was during the Bloodstone Hunt which took place from Captain America #357-362. They sought out the fragments of the stone to try and resurrect the first Baron Zemo. Instead it became a vessel for the Hellfire Helix, forcing them to stop the creature and abandon their attempt to resurrect Zemo.
Here, Jarvis is depicted wearing an eyepatch. This is because his eye is still healing from injuries sustained during the Masters of Evil’s assault on Avengers Mansion back in Avengers #272-277, requiring he wear an the patch while his eye healed. Jarv is on the men and will wear the patch intermittently between Avengers #317 and 319. Avengers #326 explains this discrepancy by stating that Jarvis was spending time not wearing the patch in order to strengthen his eye as he got closer to full recovery.
The Avengers last headquarters, located on Hydrobase — was sunk in Avengers #311. Cap has been working on building a new headquarters at the site of the original Avengers Mansion ever since. This new HQ will open to the public in Avengers #329.
As of this writing (June, 2022) this is the last we see of Tristram Micawber. His fate is unrevealed.
Kudos to the late great Mark Gruenwald for his attention to detail because the Red Skull’s trophy room is full of a lot of references to the Skull’s past exploits. These include:
A replicate of the Death’s Head satellite suspended from the ceiling. The Red Skull once used this satellite to transform every agent of SHIELD into Red Skull duplicates back in Captain America #227.
On the left wall there is a portrait of the Exiles, Nazi war criminals who escaped persecution after the war and lived on Exile Island for years. This group was first seen in Tales of Suspense #41. At the time of this story the Exiles were last seen (other than flashbacks) in Astonishing Tales #4-5. They won’t be seen again until Avengers (vol. 4) #16.
Naturally, a Nazi like the Red Skull is going to have a portrait of Adolf Hitler on their wall. Hitler was integral to the creation of the Red Skull, taking young Johann Schmidt under his wing when he was a mere bellhop, as first told in Tales of Suspense #66.
On the back wall bookshelf is a Cosmic Cube. The Skull has used the Cube on a number of occasions to fuck with Captain America. Notable instances prior to this story include Tales of Suspense #79-81 and Captain America #115-119. This cube however, is an imperfect one that has had the consciousness of Adolf Hitler trapped inside it since Super-Villain Team-Up #17. It was last seen in Captain America #299. From here, it will eventually get stolen by the Kubekult who will try to jump start the device and have the mind of Hitler reshape the world in his own vision. See Captain America #445-448.
There are also a number of replicas of the five Sleeper robots. These killing machines were made to attack the world in the event that the Nazis lost the war. The first three were activated in Tales of Suspense #72-74. The fourth one was revived in Captain America #101-102 and is still active as of this story. The fifth one was reactivated and but was ultimately destroyed in Captain America #148.
There are also a number of Red Skull costumes on display. One is a green jumpsuit with a red swastika on it, first seen in Tales of Suspense #66, a tan colored suit with yellow gloves and ascot first seen in Tales of Suspense #89, another green jumpsuit with a emblem of on the chest featuring a red fist in a black circle which was worn in Captain America #143, lastly there is a Nazi SS uniform which the Skull wore in Captain America #263.
There are also a number of various Red Skull masks on display, each one resembling the style drawn by previous Captain America artists. There’s Jack Kirby’s rendition from Tales of Suspense #66, Gil Kane’s version from Tales of Suspense #89, Gene Colan’s rendition from Captain America #116, Sal Buscema’s version from Captain America #227, and lastly Mike Zeck’s version from Captain America #263. It should be noted that at the time of this story, the Red Skull not longer wears a mask after being exposed to his Dust of Death in Captain America #350.
Also present is a replica of the Ameridroid’s head, a giant android fashioned to look like Captain America which was first seen in Captain America #218.
There is also a statue of Bucky, Captain America’s wartime partner. At the time of this story, everyone believes that Buck had died before the end of the war as seen in Avengers #4. However, this statue probably represents the android of Bucky the Red Skull once used to lure Captain America into a trap in Tales of Suspense #88-91.
At the time of this story, Captain America believed that the Red Skull had died of old age back in Captain America #300. The Skull cheated death by having his mind transferred into a body cloned from Captain America’s DNA, as explained in issue #350. Although Cap had encountered the Skull in that very issue, he was unsure if this was the original or somebody taking up the mantle.
Topical References
Micawber states here that his fee is a million dollars. Crossbones instead pays him one hundred thousand. These amounts should be considered topical due to inflation being a thing. For example a million in 1990 money would be worth more than double that amount in 2022 money, as would 100 thousand.