Crossroads

The President of the United States, in light of everything that has happened, has called in SHIELD director Nick Fury to explain everything there is to know about Captain America.[1] Fury warns the Commander-in-Chief that knowing the truth is incredibly dangerous, noting that it was the real reason why Richard Nixon had to resign from office. This is corroborated by Fury’s right-hand-woman, Countess Valentina de la Fontaine. Regardless of the risk, the President tells Fury to tell him everything.

First, Nick asks the President to tell what he knows about Captain America and his origins. The story he knows is the myth they built around the character, that he was the ideal American who left his Iowa cornfield when his country called in order to serve during World War II. Fury explains that a lot of that was propaganda. However, it wasn’t all lies, as the Countess begins to outline.

She tells the President that Captain America was a a New Yorker. A frail and sickly man he tried to enlist in the military but was rejected. However, his need to serve was so great that when he was approached to participate in a top secret experiment to create a breed of super-soldiers, Rogers jumped at the chance. Unfortunately, the serum was too unstable and everyone except for Steve Rogers was left either horribly disabled or dead.[2] Cutting their losses, the molded Rogers to become their new agent, Captain America. Cap was a major asset during the war defeating foes such as the Red Skull, Colonel Von Wagner, and the Valkyrie.

The President cuts in with how he knows that Captain America went away for some time after the war was over. He then lists a number of the conspiracy theories that have come out of his disappearance: that he was in suspended animation, that he was brought to the present in a time machine, or that he was caught in some kind of energy vortex, or that this isn’t the original Captain America, but his son.[3]

When Fury says that none of those are true, the President asks what really happened to Captain America. Nick then reveals the dark truth: It was the United States government that shut Cap down. He explains that in 1945, Captain America was willing to go against President Truman over the use of the atomic bomb on Japan. Wishing to have full public support, Truman tasked Fury with the job of shutting Captain America down before he could sway opinions.[4] In fact, this was the original purpose in which SHIELD was formed. They would put Captain America in suspended animation over the years. When a new American conflict sprang up, they would thaw Steve Rogers out, wipe his memories, set him up with a new identity and send him into action. During the Korean War he was known as John Battle, and in Vietnam is was given the name Jack Strike. However, in every instance whenever Steve Rogers saw some kind of atrocity being committed it would stir up all his old memories and cause him to rebel, forcing SHIELD to put him back on ice again.

Eventually, Fury decided to retire Captain America and set him up with an idealic family life with two Life Model Decoys that posed as his wife and child. However, they were forced to reactivate Captain America again when the Red Skull resurfaced for the first time in all the decades since the war and started up trouble anew. From there, thinks snowballed as Captain America was needed to help form the Avengers and face new threats such as Baron Zemo, AIM, and MODOK.[5]

With the story over, Captain America then comes into the Oval Office. He tells the President that after everything that has happened to him he is now is uncertain where his loyalties like. For now, he wants to operate independently and free from government interference. He then rips off the eagle emblem from the front of his mask and tosses it to the ground, a symbolic gesture signifying his divorce from government duty. He warns Fury that any attempts to deactivate him again will me met with resistance. He also announces his intentions to travel the country and discover what America is like in this new era. Although Fury balks at this, the President understands Cap’s position and accepts it fully. As Captain America walks out of the room, the President solutes him and wishes him godspeed.

Recurring Characters

Captain America, SHIELD (Nick Fury, Countess de la Fontaine), Red Skull (in flashback)

Continuity Notes

1. Everyone who appears in this story except for Captain America are actually constructs created by Franklin Richards to populate the Heroes Reborn pocket universe, as explained in Heroes Reborn: The Return #1-4. This doubly true for Nick Fury, who is actually a rogue Life Model Decoy that took the “real” Fury’s place as we’ll learn in Captain America (vol. 2) #10.

2. This of course is a variation on the original Captain America origin from Captain America Comics #1. However, in the Prime Marvel Universe the reason why America couldn’t create an army of super soldiers was becuase the scientist who invented the formula was murdered by a Nazi spy after it was successfully tested on Rogers.

3. Of all these conspiracy theories, only one is derived from what happened in the Prime Marvel Universe. As you certainly should know by now, Cap was frozen in suspended animation for decades before he was revived in the Modern Age in Avengers #4. The energy vortex explanation is interesting because this was the premise to five part story arc of the Spider-Man animated series titled “The Six Fight Again”. Those episodes aired in September/October 1997, a few months after this issue was published. We the reference intentional? I couldn’t tell you for sure, but it seems more like a coincidence to me.

4. This was first shown in Captain America (vol. 2) #3. However, when the real Fury pops up in issue #12, he refutes a lot of these claims. Regardless of what the “truth” is, it is a mood point as everyone’s “past memories” are fake. Per Heroes Reborn: The Return #1-4, the Counter-Earth pocket universe has only existed for a short time but everyone was given false memories to make them believe it has existed for much longer.

5. This of course is recapping the events of Captain America (vol. 2) #1-6 and Avengers (vol. 2) #1-6.

Topical References

• The President of the United States is depicted as Bill Clinton in this story. Clinton was in office from 1993 to 2001. His appearance here should be considered topical.

• 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.