Captain America #395
Rogues in the House
Captain America and his girlfriend Rachel Leighton are exercising together in the Avengers training room. Rachel explains that even though she has retired her Diamondback identity to become Steve’s executive secretary, she isn’t going to let herself get out of shape.[1] This reminds Steve that he has a bunch of paperwork to get caught up and tells her that he’ll see her at lunch time barring any kind of emergency.
Captain America is going over the recent activities of the other Avengers, taking notes on where to focus the team’s priorities.[2] That’s when Peggy Carter interrupts to tell him that he has a call from Bernie Rosenthal. Bernie wants to celebrate getting a job at a local law firm. However, Steve is reluctant to make the time. Bernie knows exactly why, figuring out that he is dating Rachel after being introduced to her the day before. Rosenthal insists that she is not jealous and asks Steve to bring Rachel along.[3] Thankfully, Steve gets another call before he can give her an answer. The call is from Agent Freeman of the FBI who tells him that the autopsy on the Red Skull has been completed. He reports an odd finding, that the Red Skull’s finger prints match Captain America’s. Cap explains that the Skull had recently transmitted his mind into a body cloned from his own DNA.[4] Although this seems to confirm that the Skull is dead, Cap asks that they keep his file open just in case.
The Red Skull is actually alive and well having faked his death and retreated to a secret chalet in the Rocky Mountains. He has broken the Viper out of prison and is offering her the opportunity of a lifetime. He had her freed because she has a fellow nihilist and wants to fund all of her future operations. The Viper explains that she refuses to be anyone lacky, but the Skull assures her total autonomy, saying that all he seeks is the utter collapse of American society by any means necessary and is willing to allow her to accomplish these goals however she sees fit. Intrigued by the idea, Viper unzips her costume and joins the Red Skull in his hot tub, telling him he has a deal. This is witnessed by Mother Night who is afraid that Viper might take her place as the Red Skull’s concubine and wishes Crossbones were still around to convince their master that he is making a terrible mistake.
At that moment, Crossbones has returned to New York after getting fired by the Red Skull. He has taken a taxi to the Bar With No Name, a drinking establishment that caters to super-villains. However, he arrives just as Battleaxe, Gold Digger, and Steel Wind are attacking Asp and Black Mamba in order to collect the bounty on their heads.[4] Annoyed that he can’t have a drink in peace, Crossbones decides to leave.
Back at Avengers Headquarters, John Jameson finds Rachel in the Avengers library and learns how she is going to trying out on the staff. John looks forward to having another female face around, admitting to her that his fiancée Kristine has decided to end their relationship.[5] John asks Rachel to keep him in mind if she knows any friends who might be interested in an ex-astronaut like himself, especially if they are as attractive as she is. This leaves Rachel to wonder if John is coming on to her. While in Captain America’s office, Cap is getting a briefing about how Eric Masterson — Thor’s replacement — allowed the Absorbing Man and Titania to go free during their last rampage.[6] Masterson insists that he had good reason to do so, so Cap decides to cut him some slack as they need his power until the original Thor returns.[7] After offering to go through some training routines with Eric, Cap then calls in Hercules and Quasar to question them about the Enchantress incident.
Meanwhile, back at the Red Skull’s hideaway, Mother Night has been charged with the task of finding a replacement for Crossbones on the Skeleton Crew. Answering the job opening are the Mangler, Deathstroke, and Cutthroat.[8] The trio pass the written test and are brought into a room where they are ordered to fight to the death, with the victor winning membership onto the Skeleton Crew. As the three men fight for their lives, the Red Skull and Viper have been DTF this entire time. After freshening up, the Red Skull is contacted and informed that there are trespassers at Skullhouse.
This would be Captain America and Thor who have come to the Red Skull’s familial home to determine if the Red Skull is really dead.[9] Inside, they look around until they are ambushed by Doughboy the pliant creation of Arnim Zola. With the intruders captured, Zola appears before them and after assuring them that the Red Skull is indeed dead, he orders Doughboy to carry Cap and Thor out to Devil’s Lake and drown them.
Back in the Rockies, Mother Night checks on the three combatants to see who survived. At first, she thinks all three applicants are dead when suddenly Cutthroat gets up and asks for medical attention.
While in New York City, Rachel Leighton is being driven to he evening typing class by John Jameson. The pair happen to pass by Crossbones’ taxi cab grabbing his interest.[10]
Recurring Characters
Captain America, Avengers (Thor, Quasar, Hercules, Sersi) Arnim Zola, Doughboy, Red Skull, Viper, Mother Night, Diamondback, Peggy Carter, Bernie Rosenthal, Derek Freeman, John Jameson, Mangler, Deathstroke, Gold Digger, Battleaxe, 8-Ball, Oddball, Impala,
Continuity Notes
Rachel had decided to retire as Diamondback after nearly getting drowned by her old enemy Snapdragon in Captain America #388.
The various reports from individual Avengers make references to things that have been going on in other Avengers related titles:
Hercules, Thor, and Quasar’s encounter with the Enchantress: Hercules had tricked Quasar into fighting Thor, a scheme that was usurped by the Enchantress to try and destroy Thor. See Thor #437.
Sersi in Lemuria: Sersi was called back to assist the Eternals in their current clash with the Deviants as seen in Eternals: The Herod Factor #1.
Rage investigating a kid beat up by the cops: This is Rage’s school friend Carmello Martinez. This will lead the Avengers and the New Warriors clashing with the new Hate-Monger. See Avengers #341-342.
The Vision assisting Dr. Miles Lipton: The Vision befriended Lipton while investigating Roxxon’s involvement in his son Alex’s death. Lipton was able to reboot the Vision’s damaged personality circuits, restoring his capacity for feelings. See Avengers Spotlight #40.
When the Red Skull’s original body died of old age in Captain America #300, he downloaded his mind into a cloned body created from Captain America’s DNA as revealed in issue #350. However, this technology was destroyed by Hauptman Deutschland in Captain America #387, preventing the Skull from using this as an escape route again. The Red Skull faked his death at the hands of the Scourge of the Underworld in issue #393 using one of Arnim Zola’s bioplastoids. Steve will deduce the Skull is still alive after he discovers that Mother Night — who also faked her death at the same time — is still alive in Captain America #397.
Asp and Black Mamba have a bounty on their head after they assisted Captain America and Paladin in shutting down Superia’s attempt to create a Femazon nation by sterilizing nearly every woman on Earth. It was a whole thing. See Captain America #387-392.
John’s ex-fiancée is Kristine Saunders. The pair had been together since Amazing Spider-Man #124. She stuck by him even when he was cursed with becoming the Man-Wolf, and helped find a cure in Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man Annual #3, which was the last time we saw her prior to this issue.
This is in reference to the events of Thor #436 wherein Absorbing Man convinced Eric that he and Titania wanted to go straight. Feeling sorry for the couple, Masterson decided to give them a chance and allowed them to go free.
The original Thor was banished after seemingly slaying Loki in Thor #432, this forced Eric into the role of god of thunder in his absence. This will remain the status quo until Thor is freed from Masterson’s subconscious and restored as thunder god in Thor #457-458.
It’s later revealed in Captain America #408 that Cutthroat is Diamondback’s brother. He is trying out for the Skeleton Crew to take Crossbones’ place on the team to get revenge against him. What for? Well…..
Red Skull’s assertion that Skullhouse is his familial home is more symbolic than it is literal since the Skull was born in Germany to impoverished parents and spent most of his formative years as an orphan (See Red Skull #1-5). In fact, next issue it’s revealed that the mansion was previously owned by the mobster Silvermane. How it came into the Skull’s ownership has never been fully investigate as of this writing in July, 2022.
This is because Crossbones and Rachel go way back to when she was still a teenager. Two of Rachel’s brothers were members of the Savage Crims gang which was led by Brock Rumlow, the man who would become Crossbones. Brock raped and beat Rachel when she tried to join the gang and then murdered two of her brothers. See Captain America #400 for all the gory details.
Topical References
Crossbones’ cab fare is stated as being $4. This price should be considered topical due to inflation that cab fare in New York City has been going up exponentially since this comic was published. Don’t believe me, try seeing how far a $4 cab ride gets you in Manhattan today.
After winning the brawl with Mauler and Deathstroke, Cutthroat asks Mother Night if she has any Band-Aids and Aspirin. Typically brand names of real world products would be considered a topical reference in a case like this. However, Band-Aids and Aspirin brands have so commonly associated with the products they sell that they have become propriety eponyms and their usage here would not be considered topical.
The Big Brawl
Asp and Black Mamba have just learned that their former partner, Diamondback, was nearly killed by Snapdragon and made it their mission to track her down and get revenge. The go to the Bar With No Name for information on Snapdragon’s whereabouts. Instead, they end up in a fight with Battleaxe, Gold Digger, and Steel Wind who are eager to collect the bounty that Superia put on their head.
However, the bar brawl turns in the favor of the two villains-turned-private-investigators when Impala arrives to lend the pair a hand. As the trio escape the bar together, Asp and Black Mamba ask Impala if she’d be interested in joining BAD Girls, Inc. Intrigued, Impala asks them to tell her more about their new venture.[1]
Recurring Characters
BAD Girls Inc. (Black Mamba, Asp, Impala), Steel Wind, Gold Digger, Battleaxe
Continuity Notes
BAD Girl’s Inc. was the brainchild of Diamondback before she retired. She formed the group with Asp and Black Mamba after they worked together to take down their former team the Serpent Society as seen in Captain America #380-382.