The Superia Stratagem Part One of Six: Maiden Voyage

Captain America races to the apartment of his girlfriend Diamondback, aka Rachel Leighton, to discover it in shambles after some kind of attack.[1] In the rubble, Steve finds a metal briefcase full of equipment and gets permission from the police to take it back to Avengers Headquarters for analysis.[2][3] Returning home, Cap then calls the Wasp so he can get a line in Paladin, the last person who probably saw Diamondback.[4]

Paladin answers the call and upon arriving at Avengers Headquarters, he tells Cap that when he last returned home he found a note from Rachel saying that she was going out to catch the rest of the Serpent Society. That’s when Peggy Carter calls to tell Steve that the police just found an injured member of the Serpent Society on the Bay Bridge. Cap and Paladin race to the scene just in time to see Rock Python and Puff Adder being loaded into an ambulance. Asking Python what happened, the snake tells Cap that they had just finished kidnapping Diamondback, Asp, and Black Mamba when they were suddenly attacked by a cyborg. Based on the description, Cap is led to believe that it is MODOK.

However, Captain America’s deduction isn’t entirely right, Rachel and the others have been taken by MODOK’s female successor MODAM. She had collected the trio as well as Anaconda as they have been invited to a special gathering aboard a cruise ship called the S.S. Superia. Along the way, Diamondback and the others are given envelopes with a large sum of money inside. This leaves Rachel to wonder who wants them aboard this ship so badly and why.[5]

Meanwhile, Captain America has returned to headquarters to look up the Avengers records on MODOK to see if his creators at Advance Idea Mechanics have resurrected him recently.[6] Instead he discovers that AIM has given up their terrorist ways and have decided to become a proper corporation that operates out of the island nation of Boca Caliente.[7] Steve decides to pay AIM a visit to learn the truth. When he goes upstairs he is surprised to see Paladin is still hanging around. The mercenary has canceled his upcoming trip to Geneva to help Cap rescue Diamondback and the others.

By this time, MODAM has delivered the BAD Girls and Anaconda to the S.S. Superia. Upon arrival, Anaconda has fully recovered and tries to attack MODAM again but is quickly incapacitated with a mind blast again. Rachel isn’t sure what to expect aboard the cruise ship and so she activates a homing device hidden in the heel of her boot.

Later, John Jameson flies Captain America and Paladin to Boca Caliente aboard Cap’s aircraft, the Flagship. There they are greeted by Alessandro Brannex, the CEO of AIM, who welcomes them to his island with open arms.[8] When Cap asks him about MODOK, Brannex assures him that AIM wouldn’t do anything of the sort as it would be too costly and could compromise their current operations if the cyborg tried to take over their organization again. Cap and Paladin leave soon after, but they are convinced that while MODOK hasn’t returned, Brannex knows of another entity of similar construction and isn’t talking.[9] As they leave Boca Caliente, John Jameson picks up Diamondback’s distress signal coming from somewhere nearby.

Meanwhile, Diamondback, Asp, and Black Mamba have had time to look around the ship. All of the passengers turn out to be female super-villains who have all been gathered. However, they still haven’t figure out who has gathered them or why. Elsewhere aboard the ship, the Flagship has been detected on radar and word is given to Superia. She orders the ship to be shot down. Moments later, the Flagship is attacked by an unseen bogey. John Jameson tries his best to evade it but is suddenly put into a trance. Taking control of the ship, Captain America can’t stop it from nose diving into the ocean. With no other choice, he activates the ejector seats. As he, Paladin, and John Jameson’s parachutes deploy, they are suddenly ambushed by MODAM.

Recurring Characters

Captain America, Paladin, BAD Girls Inc. (Diamondback, Asp, Black Mamba), Impala, MODAM, Nightshade, John Jameson, Anaconda, Rock Python, Puff Adder, AIM (“Alessandro Brannex”), Edwin Jarvis, Peggy Carter, Wasp (voice only), (unidentified) Nightshade, Superia

Continuity Notes

1. Diamondback and her friends Asp and Black Mamba were attacked by members of the Serpent Society as revenge for the rest of the team to get busted. They were kidnapped by the snakes only to then be captured by MODAM. See Captain America #380-386.

2. Here, John Jameson refers to himself as “Skywolf”, this is a nod to the fact that John used to transform into the werewolf known as the Man-Wolf thanks to a strange stone he recovered while on a space mission to the moon. This first happened in Amazing Spider-Man #124. However, at the time of this story John had long been cured of this condition since Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man Annual #3.

3. It should also be noted that rather than the usual Presidential signature, Cap’s Avengers ID card has the United Nations logo stamped on it. This is because, at the time of this story, the Avengers had their government backing pulled. Cap then parlayed to have the team become sanctioned UN peacekeeping force. See Avengers #326-329.

4. The reason why Captain America calls the Wasp to get a line on Paladin is because the pair briefly dated. See Avengers #271 and 273.

5. It will be revealed in Captain America #391 that Superia is gathering the worlds strongest female super-humans together to protect them from a global sterilization plot. She is doing so in an effort to create the female dominant future that Thundra hales from. (Marvel Encyclopedia: Fantastic Four identifies this possible future as Reality-715)

6. MODOK (first seen in Tales of Suspense #40) was created by AIM to be a living computer, however the process grove George Tarleton mad and he became MODOK, as explained in Captain America Annual #7. More recently, the Serpent Society was hired by AIM to kill their rogue creation, which they successfully carried out in Captain America #313. It’s interesting to note that AIM did briefly resurrect MODOK in Iron Man #205. However, he was just a mindless drone that was seemingly destroyed by Iron Man. MODOK will get properly resurrected in Avengers #387.

7. AIM has been pretending to operate with an air of legitimacy as a corporation since Quasar #9.

8. This isn’t really Alessandro Brannex, but AIM’s Super-Adaptoid. As explained in Captain America #441, the Adaptoid killed and replaced Brannex. The android took his place prior to the events of Quasar #9.

9. This is because MODAM was created by AIM And has been active as one of their operatives. See West Coast Avengers (vol. 2) #36, Solo Avengers #16, and Quasar #9.

Topical References

• The sum of money included with the invitation to Superia’s ship is said to be 100 thousand dollars. This dollar amount should be considered topical due to the Sliding Timescale and inflation. While 100 dollars in 1990s money was a lot, it wouldn’t be considered a lot by today’s standard. Adjusting for inflation this amount would be 214 thousand dollars in 2022 money.

The Masque Club

On the top floor of the Smith Building in Washington, DC, the Red Skull has opened the Masque Club. It is an exclusive members only establishment where patrons have to wear a mask. This allows for the Nazi and his operatives to mingle with clients out in the open without exposing their true identities. As Crossbones talks a beautiful woman into going down to his private quarters to show off his exotic weapons collection, the Red Skull and Mother Night are meeting with Baron Strucker, the leader of Hydra. The Skull is in the middle of assuring Strucker that security in the Smith building is top notch when he is interrupted by the Machinesmith who has brought him a phone for an urgent phone call. Briefly speaking with the caller, the Skull orders the Skeleton Crew to assemble in their meeting room.

Crossbones is the last one to arrive, but when he finally shows up the Red Skull plays back his earlier conversation. The call had come from Arnim Zola who has called to warn the Red Skull that someone has destroyed the Skull’s spare clone body and the device used to make them, cutting the Nazi off from his ability to cheat death.[1] The Red Skull is furious that someone managed to pull this off without being detected and orders the Skeleton Crew to find out who is responsible. Crossbones decides to take his team to interview Zola to see what they can find out.

Left alone, the Red Skull wonders which one of his enemies is responsible for this attack.[2] Losing his temper, he pulls a luger pistol out of a desk drawer and empties the clip shooting random objects in his room to blow off some steam. As he storms back outside, he passes one of the newest employees of his Masque Club. He is secretly amused to see the Skull in such a state and wonders if he is angry over what he pulled off in Swizerland.[3]

Recurring Characters

Crossbones, Red Skull, Mother Night, Baron Strucker, Machinesmith, Arnim Zola, Fourth Sleeper

Continuity Notes

1. When the Red Skull died on old age in Captain America #300, he had a contingency plan in place. He had Arnim Zola take a DNA sample from Captain America to create a cloned body to download his mind into at the moment of death. This was all explained in Captain America #350. This is the same technology that Zola used to help Adolf Hitler cheat death as the Hate-Monger, see Super-Villain Team-Up #17.

2. Of his many foes, the Red Skull theorizes that either Magneto, the Kingpin, or Doctor Doom could have had the resources to destroy his spare clones. The reasons:

   • Magneto has a strong dislike for the Red Skull what with the Skull being a Nazi and Magnus being a Holocaust survivor and all. During the Acts of Vengeance conspiracy, Magneto kidnapped the Red Skull and left him to die in an abandoned bomb shelter in Captain America #367. The Skull nearly died but was luckily found and rescued by the Skeleton Crew in issue #370.

   • The Red Skull and the Kingpin first ran afoul of one another when the Kingpin was attempting to become the leader of Hydra in Captain America #145-148. More recently, the two sparred over control of drug trafficking in New York City in Captain America #372-378.

   • Doctor Doom: Doom and the Skull have found themselves at odds with one another. The Skull once tried to conquer Latveria in Astonishing Tales #4-5. The pair clashed again in Super-Villain Team-Up #10-12.

3. This mystery man ruining the Red Skull’s shit is later revealed to be Hauptmann Deutschland in Captain America #389. He is operating on behalf of the German government to extradite the Skull and make him face punishment for the crimes he committed during World War II.