Captain America #445
Operation: Rebirth Chapter One: Old Soldiers Never Die
The world is in mourning as it reels from the news that Captain America is missing and presumed dead after months of struggling with his failing health.[1] Although there is no body, a ceremonial funeral is held in his honor. Members of the United States government, military, and members of the super-hero community all appear to pay their final respects as an empty coffin is lowered into a plot of land in Arlington National Cemetery.
Little does anyone know that Captain America is still alive and is being kept on ice in a secret laboratory somewhere. Scientists are have been working around the clock giving the Steve Rogers a flood blood transfusion and bone marrow transplant in order to restore him to normal. As the process completes itself, Captain America wakes up and breaks free from the block of ice he had been trapped in. He finds himself in a deserted lab wondering where he is and how he got there. After recovering his shield, Captain America is taunted by a voice over the PA system. As the computer monitors show images of his lost loved ones, the voice mockingly asks if Steve saw them during his brief time in the afterlife. The speaker is particularly harsh about Captain America’s love for Sharon Carter, scoffing about how “romantic” it was that he watched her die on video tape.[2]
Following the voice into the next room, Captain America is shocked that it is Sharon Carter herself. He is pleased to discover that she is still alive, however when he reaches out to hug her she tells him to back off.[3] She then explains that she is working for the man who wanted to cure Steve of his condition. She recounts how when Steve was laying on his bed dying she and a team of scientists used a portal to gain access to Avengers Mansion and take him away without raising any alarms, leaving his empty armor behind.[4] She then explains the medical procedure that was done to save his life. Steve points out that a total transfusion like this could have permanently removed the Super Soldier Serum from his blood and he has no way of knowing how useful he’ll be in whatever mission they have in store for him.[5] Sharon agrees and summons an army of men to attack Rogers with batons.
Captain America tries to toss his shield but misses his target. He is then quickly swarmed by his attackers since he only has the fighting prowess of an ordinary man. Sharon orders the men to stop and decides that this will have to do, insisting to Steve that they are on a tight mission and need to get moving. She then opens the portal to their destination, an enemy facility in outside of Green Bay. There they dispatch the guards and go looking for the man that chose them for this mission. As Captain America fights the guards he discovers that his Super-Soldier enhanced abilities are slowly coming back to him. He deduces that whoever the doner was that gave their blood and bone marrow to him must have had a version of the serum in their own blood as well. Steve then deduces who that person was and greets the Red Skull without even turning around as his old enemy comes up behind him. When Cap tries to attack, the Skull — who is stronger than Steve, for the moment at least — slaps him away.[6] The Nazi then gloats about it was his blood from his body — originally cloned from Steve Rogers — that saved his life and that Rogers owes him.
Sharon Carter reminds the Red Skull that they have a mission to complete and they need Captain America to do it. However, she hasn’t told Steve who it actually is that they are trying to stop. Rogers, however, cannot believe that it could be anything good if it means working with the Red Skull. However, Sharon insists that this threat is much bigger than Cap’s old foe.[7] Suddenly, there is a flash of light and the warehouse they were going to infiltrate has been transformed into a massive high-tech fortress. Sharon says that it is now too late, the New Fatherland is coming and it will usher in World War III.
Recurring Characters
Captain America, Red Skull, Sharon Carter, Rick Jones, Quicksilver, Thing, Black Widow, Cyclops, Ulysses Chapman
Continuity Notes
Captain America discovered his Super-Soldier Serum was breaking down in Captain America #425. This was having a negative impact on his health until he was completely immobilized and near death by issue #443.
Not everyone that Cap is shown here is actually dead. Let’s break it down:
Sarah Rogers: Steve’s mother is absolutely dead. As detailed in Captain America #255, Sarah died of pnumonia in 1935.
Bucky: Captain America’s first partner. Bucky seemingly died in 1945 in the same drone plane explosion that put Cap on ice for decades, as per Avengers #4. Years later, Steve will discover that Bucky is still alive and had been transformed by the Russians into an assassin called the Winter Soldier. See Captain America (vol. 5) #14.
Sharon Carter was Captain America’s first love in the present day, circa Tales of Suspense #75. Sent on a mission to infiltrate the Neo-Nazi group called National Force, Sharon seemed to be brainwashed into being a loyal follower by Doctor Faustus. Cap was later shown footage showing that Sharon had apparently immolated herself along with other National Force members chosing death over capture. See Captain America #231-237.
So what exactly happened to Sharon Carter for all these years? As far as she knows at the time of this story, as explained in Captain America #446, Sharon faked her death in order to go on a deep cover mission for SHIELD. However, during this operation the spy agency cut her loose for some unknown reason and spent years doing whatever it took to survive. It’s later revealed in Fury/Agent 13 #2 that Nick Fury pulled the plug on her mission because he mistakenly believed she was killed in action.
In order to prolong his life and regain his mobility, Captain America was given a suit of armor build by Iron Man in Iron Man #313. Steve wore it until he was near death in Captain America #443.
Steve briefly lost the Super-Soldier Serum previously when he underwent a full blood transfusion in Captain America #377. However, it was determined in issue #384 that the serum was rebuilding itself in his blood restoring him to his status quo over time.
When the Red Skull was dying of old age, circa Captain America #300, he cheated death by downloading his mind into a cloned by created from Steve’s DNA as seen in issue #350. In Captain America #437, the Red Skull learned of the limitations of the Super-Soldier Serum and ordered Zola to remove the imperfections from his version of the serum.
As we’ll learn next issue, the threat they are facing is call the Kubekult, a group that worship an impure Cosmic Cube with the consciousness of Hitler trapped inside it. See, Hitler cheated death in a similar fashion as the Red Skull, having his mind downloaded in cloned bodies. Resurfacing in the Modern Age as the so-called “Hate-Monger” the Hitler clone stirred up trouble until he attempted to recreated the Cosmic Cube. The Red Skull betrayed him by trapping his mind in the object. See Young Men #24, Fantastic Four #21, and Super-Villain Team-Up #17 for more on the Hate-Monger. This Cube was last seen in the Skull’s possession in Captain America #370.
Topical References
The President of the United States is depicted as Bill Clinton in this story. He was President from 1993 to 2001. His appearance here should be considered topical.
Super-Soldier Serum Biology: Transfusion Confusion
In this story, the Super Soldier deterioration is counteracted by a full blood transfusion and bone marrow transplant. It’s interesting to point out that Cap previously underwent a transfusion in Captain America #377. In that story, Cap’s blood had to be removed because it was flooded with meth after he was caught in a drug lab explosion. The process replaced his blood with a supply of a similar type only without the Super Soldier Serum. This apparently stripped Steve of the benefits that the Serum provided — namely allowing him to maintain his body at a the pinnacle of human perfection — however, later examinations in Captain America #384 showed that the Serum was replicating itself in his bloodstream again and maintaining his physical status quo. At the time Dr. Keith Kincaid theorized that the Super-Solider Serum worked like a virus and the trace amounts that were left over following the blood transfusion were replicating themselves in his body.
I think the process done in this story to cure Captain America worked at curing him because it completely replaced the broken serum from his body and completely replaced it with a fresh supply that wouldn’t break down. I think the key difference here is the bone marrow transplant that Steve also received. Perhaps it is in the bone marrow is where the Super-Soldier Serum reproduces itself in its “viral” fashion. The only way to completely remove all trace of the serum from his body require a total bone marrow transplant on top of a blood transfusion in order to completely flush it out of his system.
