Captain America #404
Man and Wolf Part 3: Children of the Night
Searching for his missing pilot, John Jameson, Captain America is investigating reports of werewolves upstate. With the aid of Doctor Druid, Cap is led to the town of Starksboro, Massachusetts where the pair are surrounded by an army of werewolves. While Cap fends off the attackers with his fists, Doctor Druid employs more subtle methods by using his hypnotic abilities to mesmerize some of the werewolves. He then instructs them to fight off the other creatures. He then uses his powers to pull himself and Captain America to safety.
Meanwhile, in the nearby laboratory of Nightshade, the scientist is testing out her new werewolf formula on the mutant Wolverine. While she succeeds in turning Logan into a werewolf, the effects only last for a moment before his healing factor purges that formula from his body and reverts him back to human form. When Wolverine wakes up and tries to break free, he is put under the hypnotic spell of Nightshade’s mysterious employer.[1] With Logan now under their control, he instructs Nightshade to let him loose since he is feral enough as is and will be useful in protecting the sanctuary they are creating for his “moon children”.
Back outside, the werewolves are still busy fighting with one another. With the creatures pre-occupied, Doctor Druid then casts a spell of invisibility so that he and Captain America can explore the town unseen. Not long after this, Moonhunter arrives with another werewolf to look for the intruders. However, with the sun coming up the werewolves are beginning to revert back to human form, much to Moonhunter’s annoyance because he now has to hunt up some clothing for all the naked people who will be roaming the town.
While in New York City, Steve’s ex-girlfriend arrives at Avengers Headquarters to visit him. However, the new secretary — Donna Maria Puentes — tells Bernie that Captain America is out. This is just as Jarvis is about to take Dennis Dunphy, aka Demolition Man, out for a walk. He greets Bernie and tells her how D-Man is in a near catatonic state after a recent accident. When Jarvis invites her to join them, Bernie accepts as she is a huge wrestling fan and looks forward to spending time with a former big name in the industry.[2]
Back in Starksboro, Moonhunter finally decides to tell his master — the mysterious Dredmund — about Captain America and Doctor Druid being spotted in the area. His master is furious and tells him to go back out and find them before they spoil everything. Outside, still cloaked by invisibility, Cap and Druid are surprised to see the locals acting as though they did not spend the evening as werewolves. As they look around, Cap can’t help but remember his past encounter with Nightshade and how she once turned his partner the Falcon into a werewolf that one time, and wonders if there is some kind of connection.[3] They decide to look for clues about what’s going on in the town hall. Once inside they are caught by Nightshade who orders the enthralled Wolverine to attack them.
Logan charges at Captain America and knocks him outside, where they fight it out on the street. This is a shocking spectacle for the locals who — thanks to Druid’s invisibility spell — can only see Wolverine. Cap quickly realizes that Wolverine is under some kind of hypnosis and tries to get him to snap out of it. Unfortunately, this doesn’t work and while he struggles with the feral mutant, Moonhunter arrives and shoots Steve with a tranquilizer dart. When Captain America wakes up sometime later, it is just as Nightshade is injecting him with her werewolf formula.
Recurring Characters
Captain America, Wolverine, Doctor Druid, Dredmund the Druid (unidentified), Nightshade, Demolition Man, Bernie Rosenthal, Edwin Jarvis, Donna Maria Puentes
Continuity Notes
The mystery man here is revealed to be Dredmund the Druid in Captain America #405.
There is a lot going on all at once. Let me explain:
Bernie Rosenthal has been a huge professional wrestling fan for quite some time. We first learned this in Captain America #271.
Dennis Dunphy got his start in the Unlimited Class Wrestling Federation back in Thing #28. He had a promising career until he left it behind to become Captain America’s new sidekick in Captain America #328.
More recently, D-Man was lost in the Arctic for some time after getting caught in a Quinjet explosion in Captain America #349. He was later shown to be frozen in a block of ice in issue #384. He was freed from the ice and later rescued by US Agent and Falcon in Captain America #400.
Dunphy has been in a state of selective amnesia that has prevented him from speaking or remembering who he is. This condition will persist until Captain America #418.
Nightshade has been doing the whole turning-people-into-werewolves thing for a while now. She transformed the Falcon and others in to werewolves in Captain America #164, however the process was not permanent and everyone was restored to normal after the sun came up.
Real World
For weeks, Crossbones has kept Rachel Leighton prisoner in an abandoned bomb shelter where he has been forcing her to train and regain her killer instinct.[1] When she is able to defeat him in one-on-one combat, he congratulates her by gifting her with a brand new Diamondback costume. Once she has changed into her new outfit, Crossbones decides it is time to test her abilities by forcing her to go on a mission for him. As they head back to New York City, Crossbones tells Diamondback that her first mission for him will be to get into Avengers Headquarters and steal bags of Captain America’s Super-Soldier Serum enhanced blood from the med-lab.[2]
They stop at a payphone where Diamondback calls ahead and learns that Captain America is away on a mission. Crossbones decides this is the perfect opportunity to send her in and warns her not to betray him as he’ll know, as he rigged her new costume with a camera. Crossbones is sending her on this test to make sure that she is properly brainwashed before he offers Diamondback to the Red Skull in order to get back in his good graces.[3]
Diamondback goes into Avengers Headquarters through the front door where she is greeted at the front desk by Michael O’Brien and the new secretary Donna Maria Puentes. She tells Michael that she has come to pick up a few things from the guest quarters where she was staying. Since Captain America had previously given her priority clearance she is let through without much thought. However, when Donna looks at the security monitors, she notices that Diamondback isn’t heading for her quarters but the sub-basement. She and Michael then witness her go into the med-lab and begin taking the blood bags out of the storage fridge.
Recurring Characters
Diamondback, Crossbones, Michael O’Brien, Donna Maria Puentes
Continuity Notes
Rachel had retired as Diamondback after a near death experience in Captain America #388. Crossbones later kidnapped her in issue #396 and has been conditioning her ever since.
After getting caught in a meth lab explosion, Captain America needed a full blood transfusion to get the tainted blood out of his system. The drug laced blood was then filtered so the Super Soldier Serum could be returned to his body. However, Cap opted not to undergo another transfusion as he wanted to prove that it was the man, not the serum that made him Captain America, as seen in Captain America #372-378. This proved to be a moot point as it was later revealed that trace amounts of the serum still remained in his system and was replenishing itself, as revealed in issue #384.
Crossbones was fired from the Red Skull’s employ by speaking out of turn in Captain America #394.
