Red Glare

The Red Skull has become the personification of a Cosmic Cube.[1] The threat is enough that the Watcher has come to warn Captain America of what will happen if the Skull is not stopped.[2] Taking Cap and Sharon Carter a day into the future they witness that the Red Skull has used his newfound power to enslave the entire United States.[3] Seeing America destroyed hits Captain America hard and Sharon finds herself deeply affect, particularly since she is one of the many heroes that have been crucified by the Red Skull in this dark future. Captain America demands to know how they can stop the Red Skull. The Watcher decides to show him instead of telling him. Taking them back to the present day, Uatu teleports them off to a massive alien ship that is flying through space. As they go, the Watcher tells them that the key to stopping the Skull is to prevent him from reaching his full potential.

Back on present day Earth, the Red Skull is amusing himself by using his power to create an army of loyal Neo-Nazis in New York as well as overpower the Avengers. Although he can do this with great ease, the Red Skull discovers that his reality altering powers has a limited range for the time being and that he needs to find a way to boost them. In the meantime, he decides to use his newfound powers to root out the weak so that he will rule over a nation of the strong.

In deep space, Captain America and Sharon are brough aboard the original starship that was once piloted by the being that was eventually transformed into Galactus.[4] The ship is being drawn to Earth by the Red Skull’s power and its arrival will spell doom for the entire planet. He reminds Captain America about the time that the time traveler known as Korvac had once attained god-like powers from a mere fraction of knowledge taken from Galactus. Cap remembers this quite well since he was present when Korvac nearly wiped out the Avengers, but chose suicide when he realized that nobody trusted him.[5] The Watcher goes on to explain that since this ship survived the collapse of the last universe and the Big Bang that created this one, it has a vast trove of information and should the Red Skull obtain access to this storehouse he will learn how to unlock the full power of his reality altering powers. Uatu tells Cap that the only solution to this situation is to kill the Red Skull before he can get this power. Captain America however refuses to take a life — even that of his arch-nemesis — and insists that there must be some other way. As he argues ethics with Uatu, Sharon grabs one of the high tech weapons off a gun rack on the wall and pockets it in her jacket, deciding that if Steve won’t kill the Red Skull, she will.

At SHIELD headquarters, Tony Stark has sequestered himself in one of the labs so he can examine what caused Captain America’s trademark shield — a weapon that is supposed to be virtually indestructible — to shatter like brittle glass. Examining the remains in a powerful microscope Tony finally uncovers the truth. He cannot believe what he is seeing, but it explains everything.[6]

In New York City, the Red Skull has used his powers to turn the January weather into a 160 degree heatwave. He then makes the entire population incredibly hungry and tantalizes them with an apple up on a raised rock tower and has people fight to see who gets it. That’s when Captain America arrives to oppose him. Although he too begins to be effected by the field of extreme hunger, his relentless attack on the Red Skull causes him to divide his focus. Frustrated with having his plans interrupted, the Skull teleports himself to Oxford, Mississippi. There he causes a massive flood and watches as people fight over the top of a church tower, the only high ground in the area. Once again, Captain America — teleported to the scene by the Watcher — is there to oppose him. Once more the Skull is forced to go someplace else and start over. In Los Angeles, the Skull causes a devastating blizzard where the only shelter available is a single phone booth.

When Captain America arrives again, the Red Skull becomes fed up with the constant interference. Deciding to turn back the clock on his enemy, the Red Skull uses his power to trap Captain America in a block of ice. Sharon rushes to his aid and uses a chunk of concrete as an improvised hammer to shatter the block of ice. Although she succeeds in freeing Captain America, to her horror she discovers that the Skull turned back the clock even further by stripping Steve of the Super-Soldier Serum that makes him Captain America![7]

Recurring Characters

Captain America, Red Skull, Sharon Carter, the “Watcher”, Avengers (Iron Man, Thor, Wasp, Justice)

Continuity Notes

1. How the Red Skull acquired the power of a Cosmic Cube is a bit complicated. See, his physical body was incinerated by an exploding Cube in Captain America #448. Living as a disembodied shadow for a time, the Skull discovered that he was infused with the Cube’s energies and used it to reform his body with the Cube inside him, as we saw in Captain America (vol. 3) #14.

2. The individual who appears as the Watcher here is actually Korvac in disguise as we’ll learn next issue.

3. Since Captain America will stop this future from happening next issue, it would be come an alternate reality. However, as of this writing (August, 2022), Marvel has yet to give it a reality number.

4. For more on the origin of Galactus see Thor #169. This story references Super-Villain Classics #1, which reprints and fleshes out that story out.

5. The original Korvac saga was chronicled in the pages of Avengers #167-177. (this story gets it wrong and backwards as it footnotes issues #169-167. The letterer must have been asleep at the switch.)

6. So the situation around Captain America’s shield is a bit on the complicated side. Here are the details:

   • As originally explained in Captain America #303, the reason why Cap’s shield is neigh indestructible is because it was made using a unique fusion of Vibranium and Adamantium.

   • Years ago, the shield was damaged during a battle with Doctor Doom who, at the time, wielded the power of the Beyonder. After Doom’s defeat, Captain America was able to repair his shield through sheer will power. See Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars #11-12.

   • More recently, in Captain America (vol. 3) #13, Captain America’s shield shattered at a touch under mysterious circumstances.

   • It’s later revealed in issue #21 that when Steve repaired the shield during Secret Wars a single atom wasn’t correctly repaired. This imperfection would reverberate through the shield over the years until it ultimately shattered. Steve will restore his shield to normal in Captain America (vol. 3) #22.

7. The Red Skull trapped Captain America in a block of ice ala the time he spend in suspended animation between 1945 and when he was revived in the Modern Age circa Avengers #4. He also rolled back the clock stripping Steve of the Super-Soldier Serum he first received in Captain America Comics #1.