Captain America #394

Jun 27

Jun 27 Captain America #394

The Crimson Crusade

While investigating the Red Skull’s hideout in Washington, DC, Captain America and his German counterpart Hauptman Deutschland have discovered that the Skull has been murdered. After shooting the Nazi in the head, the killer then wrote “Justice is Served” on the wall in the Skull’s blood. The pair inspect the body and discover that it seems real enough but they won’t know if this is some kind of trick until an autopsy is performed. Cap then goes looking around to see if the killer is still around somewhere. Instead he finds what appears to be the dead bodies of Mother Night and Crossbones.

When Cap returns to the Red Skull’s office, he compares notes with Hauptman Deutschland. He learns how the German hero had recently captured the Red Skull and his Skeleton Crew and extradited them to Germany to stand trial for their crimes. Unfortunately, they were duped into releasing the Skull into the custody of impostors posing as the Avengers Captain America, Thor, and Iron Man.[1]

The police are soon called in and the bodies are taken away to be examined by a coroner. The police also go over the security footage. They show the two captains footage that shows that Crossbones and Mother Night were apparently murdered by the Scourge of the Underworld, a serial killer who has been murdering super-villains for some time now.[2]

Little do any of them know that this is indeed a ruse created by the Red Skull who is spying on them from his new chalet hideout in the Rockies. He assures his Skeleton Crew that the bio-plastoids standing in as their corpses have duplicated their forms down to a molecular level so that any autopsies will confirm that they are really dead. After reprimanding Mother Night for questioning him, the Red Skull then gets down to business. He attends a meeting with the leaders of the various groups he has been funding in order to destabilize America. They include Watchdog Prime, the Scourge of the Underworld, Crucible of the mutant Resistants, the Skull’s daughter Sin, the Power Broker, Number Seven of the Secret Empire, the Taskmaster, Arnim Zola, Hydra leader Baron Strucker, and the Skeleton Crew’s Minister Blood.

Watchdog Prime speaks first, asking for exotic weapons that could help their organization. This request is denied by the Red Skull, who reminds him that the Watchdogs must always appear to be a grassroots organization formed by disenfranchised Americans and high tech weapons will shatter that illusion. Next the Scourge gives a status report, saying he has murdered Black Abbot, Lionfang, and the Wrench, but Shocker, Gamecock, and Steel Wind continue to elude him. Unhappy with this progress report, the Skull exposes Scourge to his dust of death, killing him on the spot.[3]

Back in Washington, the police are wrapping things up, but neither Captain America nor Hauptman Deutschland are certain if the Red Skull is truly dead or not.[4] Cap decides to head for home and sees if his girlfriend, Rachel Leighton, is still awake. She is the Avengers guest quarters exercising and agrees to go down for breakfast. There, Rachel expresses her desire to join the Avengers Support Crew since she has retired as Diamondback. She figures that with a bit of schooling she can brush up on her typing skills and become Steve’s executive secretary.[5]

Meanwhile, the Red Skull has decided that his plans need a shot in the arm by someone with new and fresh ideas. When Mother Night brings him a weak cup of coffee he angrily swats it onto the floor and orders her to wipe the mess off the rug with her cape. This suddenly gives him a moment of inspiration and calls a meeting with the Skeleton Crew. He tells them that he wants them to break the Viper out of prison since her devotion to nihilism closely matches his own. When Crossbones points out that Viper is utterly insane, the Skull fires him on the spot. Nobody else offers any other objections and the Machinesmith is told to recruit some of the Power Broker’s men to make up for Crossbone’s absence. Later, Mother Night goes down to Crossbones’ quarters to ask what he thinks about the plan to recruit Viper. He can tell that Mother fears that Viper would replace her as the Red Skull’s woman. As he packs his things, he tells her that his “firing” is only a short punishment and that he’s really on vacation until the Red Skull has a need for him again.

At Avengers Mansion, Captain America is finishing up a training session with Quasar and Sersi when he is told by Jarvis that Bernie Rosenthal is there to see him. She has come by to tell Steve that she just got a job at one of New York’s best law firms. Cap congratulates her just as Rachel happens by. Steve introduces the two women, not mentioning that he once dated Bernie or that he is currently dating Rachel. However, the two women aren’t stupid and figure it quietly figure it out for themselves.[6] Bernie decides that she has to get going, telling Steve to call her soon so they can celebrate.

The next day, the Skeleton Crew attacks a federal penitentiary in Virginia. They deploy members of the Power Broker’s Sweat Shop to storm the facility and break Viper out of her cell. Taking her back to their waiting aircraft, she is brought before the Red Skull. Introducing himself to Viper, the Skull explains that he has had her broken out of prison in order to help her fulfill her wildest nihilistic fantasies.

Recurring Characters

Captain America, Hauptman Deutschland, Diamondback, Red Skull, Watchdog Prime, Scourge of the Underworld, Crucible, Sin, Power Broker, Number Seven, Taskmaster, Arnim Zola, Baron Strucker, Minister Blood, Skeleton Crew (Crossbones, Mother Night, Machinesmith), Sweat Shop, Viper, Quasar, Sersi, Derek Freeman

Continuity Notes

Hauptman Deutschland’s capture of the Red Skull and his subsequent escape from German custody was documented in Captain America #387-391 and last issue.
The history of the Scourge of the Underworld is much more complex than what’s detailed here.
- It’s later revealed in US Agent #4 that Scourge is not one individual but an entire organization of vigilantes that were formed by the wartime hero known as the Angel. They have been killing super-villains since Iron Man #194.
- Captain America mentions how he faced the original Scourge who died and was since replaced by a successor. Captain America went after the first Scourge after he slaughtered virtually all the patrons at the Bar With No Name. When Cap finally caught Scourge, he was murdered by his successor as seen in Captain America #319-320.
- Captain America encountered the second Scourge after he was implicated in the mock assassination of John Walker, later US Agent, as seen in Captain America #351.
- What Captain America doesn’t know is that the Scourge seen here is a third individual who has been in the employ of the Red Skull as early as Captain America #347. The Red Skull’s association with the Scourge program is unclear, even in the most recent profile for the Scourge in Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A-Z #10. It states that either the third Scourge is a rogue operative, or the Skull has been secretly funding the program or something.
This Scourge lists a number of targets that he has gone after recently. They include:
- Black Abbott, who is stated as being killed here. This proves to be true when Abbott is among the many Scourge victims who are later resurrected by the Hood in Punisher (vol. 8) #5.
- Although Lionfang is stated as being killed here, he turns up again in New Avengers: Luke Cage #2-3. As of this writing (July, 2022) there is no official explanation for this discrepancy.
- Wrench has not been seen since the report of his death in this issue, at least time of this writing in July, 2022.
- Scourge mentions that the Shocker has eluded him thus far. This is because the Shocker is paranoid that he will become one of Scourge’s next victims as we see in Deadly Foes of Spider-Man #1-4.
Its mentioned that the Red Skull once had the ability to transfer his mind into a new body and that this was recently destroyed. When the Red Skull’s original body was dying of old age in Captain America #300, he had his mind downloaded into a cloned body made out of Captain America’s DNA, as explained in issue #350. Hauptman Deutschland destroyed this technology and the Skull’s spare clones in Captain America #387.
Rachel has decided to retire as Diamondback after nearly drowning at the hands of her old enemy Snapdragon as seen in Captain America #388.
Bernie Rosenthal was Captain America’s previous girlfriend. Steve and Bernie began dating shortly thereafter in issue #251. Bern figured out his double-identity in Captain America #275-276. Although Bernie proposed to him in issue #292, his duties as Captain America drove a wedge and Bernie ultimately decided to leave New York to pursue her legal career in issue #317. The two drifted apart shortly thereafter. Since then, Steve started dating Diamondback in Captain America #371. Bernie returned in Captain America #380 and has been actively trying to get back together with Steve. For his part, Rogers has been reluctant to tell her that he is seeing someone else because he isn’t sure how to explain his vastly different relationship with Diamondback.

Topical References

The Red Skull is depicted spying on the police investigation of his former hideout by using a portable handheld TV set. This is designed to look like the models that were commercially available at the time this story was published. This should be considered a topical reference as this is an obsolete technology for a number of reasons, smart phones being a thing for example.
Speaking of obsolete technology, Crossbones’ room is depicted as having a CRT television that uses an antenna to pick up signals. This should also be considered topical.

The Face of Fear

Asp and Black Mamba have returned to Avengers Headquarters in order to convince Rachel to come out of retirement as Diamondback and rejoin their new organization, Bad Girls Inc. However, Rachel insists that she is putting her costumed career behind her for her own health. Suspecting that something happened to her while they were aboard the S.S. Superia, Black Mamba uses her powers to manifest Rachel’s fear as an illusion. Seeing the image, Rachel blurts out Snapdragon’s name and is furious that her friends would violate her privacy by probing her mind like that. She tells Asp and Mamba to leave and never come back again, ordering Avengers staffer Michael O’Brien to escort them off the property.

Unwilling to give up on their friend so easily, Asp and Black Mamba decide to track down Snapdragon and get revenge, hoping this will convince Rachel to come back. The two decide to get a line on Snapdragon by going to the Bar With No Name — a popular drinking spot for super-villains — and asking around. However, the moment they arrive they are instantly recognized by Gold Digger, Battleaxe, and Steel Wind who decide to cash in on a bounty the Superia put on their head.[1]