Captain America #405
Man and Wolf Part 4: Dances With Wolves
While searching for his missing pilot, John Jameson, Captain America has stumbled upon the town of Starksboro, Massachusetts, where the population has been transformed into werewolves. Captured after a battle with Wolverine, Cap finds himself the latest test subject of Nightshade’s werewolf experiments. Injected with the werewolf formula, Captain America transforms into a super-powerful wolf and instantly breaks free. This alerts the attention of Nightshade’s employer, the mysterious Dredmund who tries to use his hypnotic powers on the transformed Captain America. His mind fragmented and confused by his transformation, Cap resists this attempt and flees outside. There, Cap is made ill by the sunlight. Dredmond orders the townspeople to capture him and uses his magic to transform them all back into their werewolf forms even though it is broad daylight out. They then pursue Captain America as he runs feels into the nearby forest.
Meanwhile, back in Manhattan, Bernie Rosenthal and Edwin Jarvis take Dennis Dunphy — aka Demolition Man — out for a walk in Central Park in the hopes it will help heal his mind. When Jarvis has to get back to Avengers Headquarters to restock the pantry, Bernie convinces him to let her stay out with Dennis a while longer.[1] As they walk, Bernie tries to get Dennis to remember his old wrestling career. However, this conversation is interrupted when a purse snatcher grabs her bag and runs away. She tells Dennis to do something, but he just stands there staring off blankly. Annoyed by his inaction, she tells Dunphy to stay put and runs off to try and catch the thief.
Back in Starksboroh, Doctor Druid enters the local church and sees that someone has filled it with druidic artifacts that rivals his own collection. Looking around he also discovers that whoever is responsible has also managed to reassemble the Moongem.[2] That’s when the mastermind behind this whole plot makes himself known. It is Dredmund the Druid and soon the two men engage in a mental struggle for dominance.
In the forest nearby, Captain America continues to flee from his pursuers. Knowing that he could convince the werewolves that he is not their enemy, he tries to reason with him only to discover that he cannot talk in his current form. That’s when he is ambushed by Wolverine, who has been enthralled by Dredmund into a loyal slave. After a brutal throw down with Logan, Cap tosses the feral mutant into the arriving werewolves and flees once more. As Cap runs for his life, Druid continues to struggle against Dredmond’s power. He realizes that the Moongem is the source of Dredmund’s power and vows to defeat him and destroy it.
In New York, Bernie is unable to catch the thief who took her purse so she returns to the spot she left Dennis and is shocked to discover he has wandered off somewhere. She decides to call the Avengers Headquarters to see if he returned home, only to be told he isn’t there. Bernie realizes that she is in big trouble.
Meanwhile, Moonhunter circles the area around Starkboro on his sky-cycle and quickly finds Captain America running out of the woods. He snares the wolf-man with his noose but Cap is so strong he is able to yank Moonhunter off his flying machine and drags him along the ground as he struggles to get free. At that same moment, Dredmund uses his power to levitate an object behind Doctor Druid. This causes a momentary distraction that is enough to give the villain an opening to overpower his opponent, knocking the Doctor out. By this time, Captain America has returned to town where Nightshade discovers that he is now susceptible to her verbal commands and orders him to come back inside.
Recurring Characters
Captain America, Doctor Druid, Wolverine, Dredmund the Druid, Nightshade, Moonhunter, Demolition Man, Bernie Rosenthal, Edwin Jarvis
Continuity Notes
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.
The Moongem was a found on the moon and brought to Earth by astronaut John Jameson. For a time it was bonded to him causing John to transform into the Man-Wolf, as first seen in Amazing Spider-Man #124. The gem was removed from John’s body and reduced to dust in Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man Annual #3. It was kept at ESU until Dredmond stole it in issue #402.
Cross Country
After weeks of captivity at the hands of Crossbones, Diamondback has been conditioned her into being his loyal minion.[1] To test how loyal she is, Crossbones sends her into Avengers Headquarters to steal bags of Captain America’s Super-Soldier Serum enhanced blood from the med-lab.[2] Able to get inside thanks to Captain America giving her security clearance, it is all smooth sailing until she is caught in the act by Michael O’Brien, the Avengers head of security. However, she manages to bullshit him into believing that she is taking the blood in order to lure Crossbones into a trap. When she signs out the blood at the front desk, Michael suggests they send her out with fake blood instead, but Diamondback insists that Crossbones will figure out the deception, putting her life at risk.
When she returns to Crossbones, who is waiting in a car outside, she shows him that she completed his mission. He is very pleased with her and reveals that his claims that she was wired with a camera were all a lie to see if she would comply with his orders. He then tells her to buckle up as they have a long ride ahead of them. Over the next thirty-six hours they drive nearly non-stop until they reach the Colorado Rockies. There, Crossbones intends for them to climb up to the Red Skull’s current hideout where he intends to offer Diamondback up to him in the hopes that the Skull will take him back.[3]
However, as they scale the mountain their presence is detected and they are soon ambushed by the newest members of the Red Skull’s Skeleton Crew — Cutthroat, Jack O’Lantern, and Blackwing — who are under orders to kill the intruders.
Recurring Characters
Diamondback, Crossbones, Michael O’Brien, Donna Maria Puentes, Skeleton Crew (Cuttthroat, Jack O’Lantern, Blackwing)
Continuity Notes
Crossbones kidnapped Rachel and had trained her back into fighting form between Captain America #396 and last issue.
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 for speaking out of turn in Captain America #394. Little does he know that the Skull has already replaced him with Cutthroat, as seen in issue #395.
