Captain America #396
Trick or Treat
Captain America and Thor have traveled to Skullhouse in order to determine if the Red Skull is truly dead.[1] There they are captured by Arnim Zola who insists that the Nazi war criminal is indeed decease, before ordering Doughboy to drown the two heroes in nearby Devil’s Lake.[2] The massive pile of pliant goo then sucks the pair into its body heads to the lake where it sinks to the bottom.
Elsewhere, Cutthroat has passed the entry exam to become the Red Skull’s new right hand man. In order to hone his current fighting skills, the mercenary is then given personal training from the Taskmaster. Observing the training session are Mother Night and the Machinesmith. Mother tells her comrade how Cuttthroat was the lone survivor in a three way battle to the death to determine who would lead the Skeleton Crew. She also expresses her growing concern that the Viper — recently busted out of prison by the Red Skull — will corrupt and betray the man she loves, but can’t seem to get through to him.[3] The Machinesmith warns Mother Night to tread carefully as going against the Red Skull’s wishes could lead to worse punishment than Crossbones received for crossing their master. At that same moment, the Taskmaster defeats Cutthroat and tells him that he’ll need to do a lot better if he is to go up against Captain America, Cutthroat retorts by saying that unless Taskmaster has actually fought the hero he should keep his opinions to himself.[4]
Back at Devil’s Lake, Thor manages to free himself and Captain America by throwing Mjolnir through Doughboy’s body. Cap then swims to the surface so he can get back to Skullhouse, leaving Doughboy in Thor’s capable hands. When he arrives back at the property, the entire house is gone leaving behind only the foundation. Steve then calls Peggy Carter to inform someone that he’s about to go investigate the sub-basement of the house alone and to send help if they don’t hear back from him soon.
In New York City, John Jameson — Cap’s personal pilot — drives Rachel Leighton to her first typing class. As she is getting out, John kisses her on the cheek which shocks and surprises her. Since she is dating John’s boss, she tells him that its probably a better idea that he not pick her up after class. Realizing he screwed up big time, Jameson begins chastising himself for crossing the line.
Meanwhile, Captain America descends into the basement of Skullhouse. When Thor contacts him to say that Doughboy has been dealt with, he dispatches the thunder god to search the skies for the missing structure. Cap then begins his search, remembering the last time he was in the basement back when the Skull kept him prisoner in Skullhouse how how the Skull seemingly died in the encounter only to cheat death.[5] Hearing someone coming, Captain America ducks under a stairwell as Blackwing and Jack O’Lantern arrive to scope the place out. Apparently, the mansion that used to stand here used to belong to Blackwing’s family before it was taken over by the Red Skull.[6] When the two villains have their backs turned, Captain America ambushes them from his hiding place.
At that same moment, at a Rocky Mountain retreat, the Red Skull is discussing future plans with Viper when his butler interrupts to tell him he has a call from Arnim Zola. The mad scientist reports that he was able to remove Skullhouse from its original location by shrinking it down to size. The Skull is pleased and orders Zola to bring the mansion to his location in the Rockies.
Back at at the former site of Skullhouse the battle between Captain America, Blackwing, and Jack O’Lantern rages on. Cap manages to fend off Blackwing’s army of bats and most of their gadgets. That is until Jack tosses a grenade full of hallucinogenic. The affect causes Cap to believe the ground is splitting open under his feet making it appear that he is falling toward a massive burning jack o’lantern head.
While in Manhattan, Rachel has finished her class and flags down a taxi. When it pulls up she is horrified to see that Crossbones is in the back seat. Before she can get away he grabs her and pulls her inside. As the taxi pulls away Crossbones tells her that he has decided that they should become reaquainted.[7] Having vowed to retire as Diamondback, Rachel wonders how she is going to get herself out of this situation.[8]
Recurring Characters
Captain America, Thor, Diamondback, Arnim Zola, Doughboy, Blackwing, Jack O’Lantern, John Jameson, Taskmaster, Cutthroat, Machinesmith, Mother Night, Red Skull, Viper, Crossbones, Peggy Carter (voice)
Continuity Notes
Here, Thor is referred to as a “new Thor”. This is not the original thunder god but Eric Masterson who was forced to take Thor’s place after he was banished in Thor #432. This will remain the status quo until Thor #457-458.
The Red Skull faked his death using one of Arnim Zola’s bioplastoids to replicate his body down to a molecular level. See Captain America #393. Cap won’t figure out the truth until next issue.
Cuttthroat applied for the top job within the Skeleton Crew after the Red Skull fired Crossbones for speaking out of turn. He also recently freed Viper from prison as her nihilistic goals match his own. This happened over the last two issues.
Technically, Taskmaster has fought Captain America, it just wasn’t Steve Rogers. He trained John Walker in Captain America #334. However, at this point in his career he hasn’t fought the true Cap one-on-one. He knows Cap’s shield thanks to his photographic reflexes that allow him to duplicate anyone’s physical moves just by watching them, as explained in Avengers #195-196.
When his original body was dying of old age, the Red Skull kidnapped Captain America for one final battle that took place from Captain America #296-300. Although the Red Skull seemingly died then, his mind was downloaded into a cloned body created from Cap’s DNA, as revealed in Captain America #350.
As revealed in Daredevil #123, Blackwing’s father is the mobster Silvio Manfrini, aka Silvermane. However, as of this writing, the explanation as to how the Manfrini family home ended up owned by the Red Skull as been unrevealed as of this writing in July, 2022.
Crossbones, aka Brock Rumlow, and Rachel go way back. As will be revealed in Captain America #400, Brock was the leader of the Savage Crims street gang. Also members were two of Rachel’s brothers, making her interested in joining as well. Brock took an interested in Rachel but rather than letting her join he raped and beat her. Her brothers tried to get revenge in retaliation but he brutally murdered two of them.
Rachel decided to retire as Diamondback after she was thrown overboard and left to drown by her old foe Snapdragon, as seen in Captain America #388.
Where to Begin
The BAD Girls Inc have recruited Impala into their ranks and are now seeking resources to hunt down Snapdragon in order to get revenge for their friend, Rachel Leighton, aka Diamondback. In order to get around the decide to break into the former hideout of the Serpent Society and steal one of their Serpent Saucers.[1] When they force their way inside, an alarm goes off at Avengers Headquarters prompting Peggy Carter to dispatch Sersi, the only Avenger available to investigate the alarm.
Meanwhile, Black Mamba and Asp try to access the Society’s computers but there is no longer any power inside the hideout, making their search for information useless. They decide to focus on taking the Serpent Saucer, however without power getting the ship out of the hanger is also proving a challenge. That’s when Sersi arrives on the scene. When Impala tries to throw a javelin at the Eternal, she uses her powers to turn it into harmless flowers. She then uses her transmutation abilities to turn the BAD Girls into literal snakes. Eager to get back to the party she just left, Sersi radios back to Avenger Headquarters. However, Peggy insists that she question the three intruders and find out who they are. Exasperated, Sersi reverts Black Mamba back to human form and tells her to make the story good, otherwise she’ll make turning the trio into snakes seem like a blessing.
Recurring Characters
BAD Girls Inc. (Asp, Black Mamba, Impala), Sersi, Peggy Carter
Continuity Notes
The Serpent Society were shutdown by Captain America, Diamondback, and Paladin as seen in Captain America #380-382.
Topical References
The Serpent Society’s computer is depicted as having a CRT monitor. This should be considered a topical reference as this is considered a obsolete technology.
