Captain America #371

Jun 28

Jun 28 Captain America #371

Cap’s Night Out

After their trip to Skull House, Captain America tells Diamondback at he’ll see her around. She takes offense to this because she wants to have a closer relationship with him. She suggests that they spend an evening out together, out of costume, so they can have some fun for once. Cap is reluctant but Diamondback insists on it, giving him her address and telling her to meet at 8 pm sharp.[1]

Upon returning to her apartment, Diamondback calls her fellow Serpent Society member, Black Mamba, and tells her that she needs a complete makeover for a big date. Delighted to hear the news, Black Mambam — aka Tanya Sealy — takes Diamondback — aka Rachel Leighton — to see her hairdresser to dye over Rachel’s magenta hair. Wanting to make sure her friend has a good night on the town, Tanya secretly plans to have other members of the Serpent Society watch over her so nothing interrupts Rachel’s good time.

While at Avengers Headquarters, Captain America tells the Avengers Crew that he’ll be off on a date that evening, much to everyone’s approval. He then has Jarvis go out shopping for some new clothes that will be suited for an evening on the town.[2] Before heading out, Steve considers putting on his Captain America costume and shield on under his street clothes, but decides against it since Diamondback asked him not to. When he arrives at her apartment at 8 pm, he realizes that he never told her his real name and after a moments consideration decides he can trust her with it, since he doesn’t guard his double identity as closely as others do.[3] Both Steve and Rachel are impressed with how they have both cleaned up for their date and after awkwardly exchanging their first names they hop in a cab to go out for dinner in the village. Little do they know that Black Mamba and Asp are following them in a limo to make sure they date goes off without a hitch.

The couple find themselves both nervous in the back of the cab and struggle to come up with conversation. Soon, the taxi gets caught in traffic due to a police barricade up the street. Asp decides to duck out of the limbo and investigate the hold up. She comes across a hostage situation between the police and the rooster-themed villain Gamecock. Gamecock has taken his ex-girlfriend hostage and demands the police leave him be so he can settle his domestic dispute in private. Asp recognizes that this will go on forever if she doesn’t step in. Rounding the corner, she is able to snake one of her venom blasts around and strike Gamecock. This knocks the ridiculous villain on his ass long enough for the police to move in and make an arrest.

When traffic gets flowing again, Steve and Rachel arrive in Greenwich Village only to discover that the Italian place he wanted to take her to has gone out of business. They settle for a nearby Mexican restaurant instead where they have a delightful meal together.[4] Steve then takes his date out to see a magic show at the Mostly Magic club. There, the headlining juggler has his act interrupted by the costumed magician-turned thief named Trump who attempts to steal the show and people’s wallets. However, Black Mamba is in the back of the room and she uses her power to create a seductive illusion to lure Trump off the stage. Everyone thinks this is part of the show and give the performance a standing ovation. For a brief moment, Rachel suspects that Trump’s sudden departure was due to Black Mamba’s power, but quickly dismisses the idea.

After the show, Steve takes Rachel for a walk and shows her the old apartment building where he grew up. He is surprised to see the building is still standing and reminisces on the past.[5] At it turns out, Rachel also grew up on the Lower East Side and he shows him an old building where she and her gang used to hang out growing up. This trip down memory lane is interrupted by the sound of a super-human battle around the block. This turns out to be the former wrestler Poundcakes duking it out with Jackhammer.[6] Jackhammer is trying to convince Poundcakes to go out on a date with him but she isn’t having any of it. However, before Steve can break off the date to deal with this situation the limo carrying Asp and Black Mamba suddenly pulls up in front of the two combatants. Out comes the driver — the Serpent Society’s Anaconda — who trounces the two and yanks them into the limo before speeding off.

Steve and Rachel are able to enjoy the rest of their evening without any further interruptions, but eventually the night comes to an end. Steve walks Rachel home and both admit they had a lot of fun and agree that they need to do it again sometime. Although Steve just wants to be friends, Rachel still kisses him goodnight before heading upstairs to her apartment. As Steve walks home, Black Mamba and Asp consider following him to learn more about Rachel’s mystery date but decide against it.

Back at Avengers Headquarters, Steve is getting ready for bed and thinks about how different Rachel is to his last girlfriend, Bernie Rosenthal. For a brief moment he thinks about the emptiness he has felt in his life since Bern left him and even contemplates calling her to see how she is doing. He then reminds himself that calling his ex-girlfriend at 3 am in the morning after going on a date with another woman is an incredibly stupid idea. As he drifts off to sleep, Steve thinks about how — for the longest time — the only thing he ever needed was fighting the American Dream, even if it was to the determent of his personal wants and needs. However, he considers thinking about a serious relationship with Rachel. However, he is going to have to convince her to give up her criminal activities once-and-for-all before he considers anything serious.

Recurring Characters

Captain America, Diamondback, Trump, Gamecock, Poundcakes, Jackhammer, Asp, Black Mamba, Anaconda, Peggy Carter, Michael O’Brien, John Jameson, Fabian Stankewicz, Edwin Jarvis

Continuity Notes

Here, Captain America recalls the last time he went out on a date was with Bernie Rosenthal some time back. The couple dated started dating in Captain America #251, but drifted apart when Bernie went to law school in Captain America #317.
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.
At the time of this story, Steve Rogers double-identity was unknown to the public thanks to a global mind wipe was done to make everyone forget Captain America’s secret back, as explained in Avengers #107-108. Steve’s identity will remain a secret until he publicly reveals his true identity in Captain America (vol. 4) #3.
Steve mentions here that he doesn’t drink because his father was an alcoholic. Ol’ Joe Rogers loved the drink. Joe’s drinking problem was first brought up in Iron Man #172. Steve’s homelife prior to his father’s death won’t be visited until Captain America (vol. 7) #1-2.
Here, Steve talks about how his mother did other people’s laundry to support herself and her son. This would have been after Joe Rogers died. This was first revealed in Captain America #255.
Rachel grew up hanging out with a street gang called the Savage Crims, led by Brock Rumlow the guy who would grow up to become Crossbones. See Captain America #400 for the details.
Poundcakes brags about being a superstar in the Unlimited Class Wrestling Federation. Poundcakes is indeed a pro-wrestler when she isn’t moonlighting as a super-villain. See Marvel Two-In-One #54.

Girl Talk

When Rachel enters her apartment after a night out she finds Black Mamba waiting for her inside. Tanya has come by to find out how Rachel’s date went that evening. Rachel is in a fabulous mood and is looking forward to future dates. When she talks about how law abiding her date is, Rachel reveals that he is the reason why she wants to go straight.

Tanya is concerned about this declaration and asks Rachel if changing her life for someone else is worth it, saying the right man should accept her for who she is. Mamba also points out that Rachel doesn’t have many employable skills outside of the crimes she committed as a member of the Serpent Society. This spoils Rachel’s mood and realizing that she ruined her night, Tanya apologizes and decides to see herself out.

Tanya’s observations puts Rachel into a rage and she storms around her apartment thinking about what kind of future she could have on the right side of the law since going straight wouldn’t pay the bills as well as remaining a criminal. However, since Captain America is somehow able to survive she figures that there must be someway to do it. She is upset that her need to be loved by Steve is adding complications to her life that she wasn’t ready for.

However, the following morning, Rachel wakes up and calls Tanya. The two make up for what was said the night before. Rachel has also made up her mind about going straight and asks if Sidewinder’s sister still works at a fashion boutique on the Upper West Side, because she was thinking of going to see if she needs any new sales clerks.