Captain America (vol. 2) #2
Secrets
Steve Rogers has just been told he is the long lost hero of World War II, Captain America. With his family in danger from the World Party Neo-Nazi organization, he races him to make sure his wife and son are safe. Once home, he discovers that Peggy and Ricky are in an unresponsive state.
That’s when SHIELD Director Nick Fury arrives to remind Rogers of the oath he took decades earlier.[1] Not recognizing who Fury is, Steve pins him to the wall and demands answers from him. However, Nick doesn’t provide any until he finishes reciting the Enlistment Oath that all soldiers take when they sign up with the United States Military. Fury then warns Steve that there are eleven different ways he could kill him and suggests he let go so they can talk things out. Rogers complies, telling the SHIELD operative that he has two minutes to explain himself.
Nick Fury introduces himself as the director of SHIELD and, by extension, Steve’s boss. He also confirms something the late Abraham Wilson told Steve only moments ago: That he is really Captain America.[2] To prove this, Fury tells him that his family is merely a cover. Using a device in his watch he reactivates Peggy and Ricky who, as it turns out, are nothing more than Life Model Decoys — sophisticated and life like robots that can pose as ordinary people. Steve is shocked when his family is deactivated once more. To really drive the truth home, Fury even ghoulishly removes Peggy’s face panel revealing the robotoic components inside. Steve is shocked by this revelation and Fury justifies it by telling Rogers that he didn’t give SHIELD or the President of the United States much choice.
At dawn, young Rikki Barnes wakes up to find her brother John rifling through her drawers looking for valuables. She is shocked to see that her brother has shaved his head. He proudly tells her that he is leaving home to join up with the World Party and is not coming back. Ricki tries to convince her brother to come back because — despite his problematic behavior — she still cares and she worries that something bad might happen to him.
Meanwhile, aboard a United States Navy aircraft carrier out on a covert mission, Sam “Falcon” Wilson is about to go on a test flight in his fighter plane. However, he is stopped before he can take to the air because an important communique has come in from SHIELD. At first, Wilson thinks it might be a job offer, however it is merely a notice informing him that his father Abraham is deceased.[3]
Back in Philadelphia, at the church headquarters for the World Party, the organization has captured SHIELD Special Agent Hunt and are torturing him to find out what he has told the outside world. Hunt scoffs at their interrogations, telling Master Man and Hauptman that SHIELD will do to them what the Allies did to the Nazis back in World War II. This angers Master Man, aka Alexander the Great, who vows that he has spent too many decades preparing to fail now. This interrogation is then interrupted by the man who has been fronting the World Party this entire time, the notorious Nazi war criminal known only as the Red Skull. The Skull considers Hunt to be nothing more than a mongrel. He explains that their victory is assured because the United States is consumed by hatred and bigotry that has left the country heavily divided and therefor already defeated just as they are beginning to fight.
Recurring Characters
Captain America, Sam Wilson, Rikki Barnes, SHIELD (Nick Fury), World Party (Red Skull, Master Man), John Barnes, Hauptman
Continuity Notes
Might as well get this out of the way: Everyone in this story except for Steve Rogers and Sam Wilson are constructs created by Franklin Richards to populate the pocket universe they all exist in, as explained in Heroes Reborn: The Return #1-4. Fury here is doubly not the real Nick Fury, this is a Life Model Decoy who went rogue and took the real Fury’s place as we’ll learn in Captain America (vol. 2) #10. Steve and Sam were transported to this pocket universe by Franklin Richards in order to save their lives after they, the rest of the Avengers, and the Fantastic Four sacrificed themselves in Onslaught: Marvel Universe #1.
In the Heroes Reborn timeline, Captain America was against the United States using the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Rather than have him sway public opinion, President Truman had Captain America put in suspended animation. Steve would be thawed out occasionally for other conflicts but ultimately put back on ice when he rebelled. More recently, Fury decided to thaw Steve out and place him in an ordinary life with no memory of his past so he could enjoy his retirement. This worked until Abraham Wilson sacrificed his life to return Captain America’s lost shield to Steve. See Captain America (vol. 2) #1, 3, and 7 for details. However, some of these facts are later refuted in Captain America (vol. 2) #12. It’s all really a moot point as this back story isn’t real anyway, they are all false memories to sell the fact that this version of Earth existed for a long time rather than existing for about a year. See Heroes Reborn: The Return #1-4, again.
Technically speaking, Abraham Wilson is not Sam Wilson’s father based entirely on the fact that Sam is from the Prime Marvel Universe and Abraham is merely a product of Franklin’s imagination. His parents are actually Paul and Darlene Wilson, as per the Falcon profile in Captain America #277/Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe #4.
Topical References
The TV in the Rogers household is depicted as a bug honking CRT model. This should be considered a topical reference as this is an obsolete technology.
This story states that World War II ended 50 years prior to this story. This should be considered a topical reference due to the Sliding Timescale. As the Modern Age is pushed forward in time, the gulf of years between the end of World War II and the start of the Age of Heroes will continue to grow.