Captain America (vol. 2) #8
Serpents and Eagles Part I: A Small Hisssss
After cutting ties with the government, Captain America (his cowl now adorned with the letter A) has decided that he needs to get back in touch with America.[1] To this end, he has decided to ride across the country on motorcycle. This comes as a disappointment to Rikki Barnes, his new partner, as she had just underwent a great deal of SHIELD training and hopes that they’d be fighting crime side-by-side. Steve assures her that they’ll be able to do that once he gets back, but this is something that he needs to do because he needs to know if the America he stood for during the war still exists.
Eventually, Steve Rogers arrives in the town of Mexica, Texas, where the police have surrounded a diner where there is a hostage situation between authorities and the Sons of the Serpent. When Steve asks the local sheriff what’s going on, he is told that the Sons of the Serpent are a local militia.
Inside the diner, the Sons of the Serpents are getting antsy about the police outside. The leader of the group also takes issue with a black veteran because, surprise, the Sons are also racist pieces of shit. The old man points out that his family has lived in America for generations and fought in six American wars, but this doesn’t do well to quell the situation. In fact, the leader of the ground decides to execute the man on the spot. Offering no resistance, the old man closes his eyes and makes peace with the world before his would-be killer can pull the trigger.
However, before they can shoot the elderly man, Captain America comes crashing in through the front window. Cap trounces them easily but when one of the Serpents tries to shoot him in the back, the old man saves Cap by swatting him with his cane. The old man then tells Steve that he served in World War II and while he never saw Cap in action, he remembers his brothers stories and reports that he died of cancer a few years earlier so he thanks Cap on his behalf for everything he did during the war. Captain America corrects him, saying that he is the real hero for fighting for his country and solutes him for his service.
Outside, Captain America is thanked by the sheriff for all his help. He is told that law enforcement has also surrounded the Sons of the Serpents compound out of fear that they are stockpiling illegal weapons. Cap decides to head down to see if he can lend a hand. There, the authorities give Captain America the opportunity to speak with the leader of the compound over the phone. The man spouts all sorts of xenophobic nonsense about how the American Dream doesn’t work anymore and how foreigners are ruining the country, and how it was law enforcement that inflamed the situation first. Steve calmly asks the leader to come outside so they can talk face-to-face.
Instead, the entire group comes out on a number of high tech flying ships and begin attacking the assembled law enforcement gathered outside. Captain America pushes as many people to safety as possible. Cap is only able to take down a single ship with two occupants before the rest flee the scene. As emergency crews are summoned to deal with the wounded, an FBI agent informs Cap that the other Sons of the Serpent chapters across America have gone to ground after this incident but the two they captured are taking in for questioning. Captain America figures that this is all far from over and vows that once he gets through with them, the Sons of the Serpent will have wished it had.
Recurring Characters
Captain America, Bucky, Sons of the Serpent
Continuity Notes
Other than Captain America himself, all of the characters in this story are constructs created by Franklin Richards to populate the Heroes Reborn pocket dimension. See Heroes Reborn: The Return #1-4 for all the details.
Topical References
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.
One of the gas stations in Mexica is depicted as a Texico brand. This should be considered topical as this is a real world brand.
The sheriff likens the Sons of the Serpent situation to the Branch Davidian incident in Waco, Texas. The Branch Davidian was a religious cult led by David Koresh. The group became a great deal of concern to law enforcement when the group started to stockpile weapons. Their compound in Waco, Texas was sieged by law enforcement in 1993. The entire incident was absolutely bungled and it resulted in the death 86 casualties. This is, of course, a topical reference.
One of the Sons of the Serpent refers to Native Americans as “Indians”. This term is a hold over from early colonists of North America mistaking the “New World” as being India and as such mistakenly referred to the local indigenous population for being residents of India, hence the name Indians. The term stuck for hundreds of years, way longer than it should have. By today’s standard the term is considered pejorative and offensive to many. The proper terms would be Native Americans, Aboriginal, or Indigenous American or by referring to them by the specific community they come from. That all said, a racist character using the pejorative term wouldn’t necessarily be considered topical here since a racist is going to use an offensive term. Bigots going to bigot.
It is increasingly impossible for someone who was alive during World War II to still be alive in the Modern Age of the Marvel Universe due to the Sliding Timescale. As such, how the old man in the diner can be a WWII vet is unexplained based on those rules. Marvel has not offered an explanation and I don’t expect one to be forthcoming. In my summary for issue #1, I theorize that WWII vets are still alive in Franklin’s pocket dimension because that’s how he created that world, which is a reasonable enough explanation if you ask me.
