Captain America (vol. 3) #36
Maelstrom Within
Maximum Security continues from Peter Parker: Spider-Man #24…
The streets of New York are under siege by hordes of alien creatures. Connie Ferrari soon finds herself running for her life as some of these creatures chase her. She is heading to the apartment of her boyfriend, Steve Rogers, in the hopes that she can be safe there. Unfortunately, the alien invaders chase her into a dead end alleyway. Luckily, Captain America arrives and fights off Connie’s attackers.
Since Connie doesn’t know that Steve Rogers and Captain America are the same man, Cap tries to disguise his voice and not say too much to tip her off. When Connie says that she is heading to her boyfriend’s apartment, Steve tells her to hurry and don’t look back. Once Connie is gone, Cap then races back to his apartment before she gets there. He manages to stash his shield and get his boots and gloves off before she starts knocking at his apartment door. Throwing a house coat over his Captain America uniform, Steve invites her inside. As they talk about what is happening outside, Steve figures that this isn’t a coordinated invasion as the aliens seem very disorganized. He assures her that the Avengers will deal with it. He then asks her to put a pot of coffee on while he goes and checks on the neighbors.
Once Connie’s back is turned, Steve quickly changes back into Captain America and leaves out the window. As he crosses the rooftops, he tries to make sense of what is happening but is still confident that the Avengers are more than up to the job of resolving this crisis.[1] Getting his motorcycle from its hiding place on a nearby rooftop, Captain America heads to Avengers Mansion to get some answers.
Meanwhile, in Kazakhstan, Nick Fury continues his investigation into a SHIELD agent named David Ferrari, Connie’s brother. David seemingly died while on a mission for the spy agency.[2] He breaks into a Hydra facility there as they are more adept at tracking terrorists than any law enforcement agency could. Sure enough, after looking through the computer records there he discovers that David Ferrari is still alive.
Back in New York, Captain America manages to get to the front gates of Avengers Mansion before he is swarmed by alien invaders. As he fights them off he is assisted by a man with a high tech energy weapon that can repel the invaders. He introduces himself as Sarron. He claims that he has been studying aliens for years and it helped him prepare for just such an invasion. He believes he knows how to stop the aliens but will need Captain America’s shield in order to pull it off due to its unique composition.[3] Captain America isn’t sure that he can trust Sarron, but he assures Cap that he is on the level even claiming to have worked with Thor in the past.[4]
Sarron takes Captain America to the observatory atop the Statue of Liberty where he has set up a device that will pierce the barrier trapping the aliens on Earth and Cap’s shield is the key to reaching the correct vibrational frequency to do so. Once the machine is all set up, Sarron reveals that he’s not exiling the aliens, but escaping. He then turns into his true form, that of Mercurio the 4-D Man and attacks Captain America with his thermo-dynamic abilities. He gloats that in escaping he will destroy the Statue of Liberty in the process. Although he knocks Cap over the railing, the hero manages to grab hold before he falls to his death. He then pulls himself back onto the balcony and pulls his shield free from the device before Mercurio can teleport away.
Furious at being denied his escape, Mercurio tries to attack Captain America but the feedback from the machine seemingly destroys him before he can.[5] Leaping off the balcony, Steve safely splashes down in the water just off Liberty Island. Coming back to shore, Steve regrets that Mercurio had to perish as that wasn’t the outcome he was going for. However, Rogers was determined to preserve the Statue of Liberty at all costs. With the battle now over, Cap heads back to Avengers Mansion so he and the Avengers can resolve this crisis.
… This story continues in Maximum Security #1.
Recurring Characters
Captain America, Connie Ferrari, Nick Fury, Mercurio the 4-D Man, Answer, Hydra
Continuity Notes
As per Maximum Security: Dangerous Planet #1, the Galactic Council had decided to seal off the Sol system from the rest of space and turn Earth into a prison planet for intergalactic criminals. The Avengers will spent much of this event trying to free the Earth. See Maximum Security #1-2 and Avengers (vol. 3) #36.
David Ferrari is a SHIELD agent and sister to Connie Ferrari, who is dating Stever Rogers at the time of this story. In Captain America (vol. 3) #20, we learned that Connie believes that her brother died after enlisting to the military and dying in a hazing ritual gone wrong. This was actually a cover story. In Captain America (vol. 3) #35-36 that he was secretly a SHIELD agent. After using an a bioweapon called the Omega Compound to destroy the enemy while on a mission, he was believed dead for years. However, he faked his death and has been secretly operating as the Answer and plotting to take over the world. See Captain America (vol. 3) #41-43.
Here, it is stated that Captain America’s shield is made of a unique blend of Vibranium and Adamantium. This assertion is not correct. The creation of Captain America’s shield by MacLain was first told in Captain America #303. It has always been stated that MacLain mixed Vibranium with an unknown steel alloy in a process that he has not been able to recreate since. Early editions of Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe (#2, 15, and Deluxe Edition #2) that incorrectly state that the Shield was a mixture of Vibranium and Adamantium. However, this is later stated as incorred in Avengers Annual 2001. References to Adamantium being part of the composition has been expunged since Cap’s profile in Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe: Avengers 2004 #1. However, the Adamantium entry in Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A-Z #1, refers to this unknown metal as “Proto-Adamantium”.
The footnote here references Thor #208 and this is a hint as to Sarron’s true identity as Mercurio the 4-D Man. For all the detectives who wanted to figure it out before turning to the next page, I guess.
Mercurio somehow survives this and is among the aliens who ally with Earth’s heroes to prevent the planet from being taken over by Ego in Maximum Security #3.
Topical References
When being chased by aliens, Connie Ferrari likens it to an episode of the Twilight Zone. This was an anthology science fiction series that ran from 1959 to 1963. It was popularity endured enough to spawn a feature film in 1983 as well as two revivals in 2002-2003, and 2019-2020. This could be considered a topical reference, however Twilight Zone has been adopted into common language as short hand to explain an unbelievable paranormal or alien experience.
The TVs in this story are depicted as CRT models. This should be considered a topical reference as this is an obsolete technology.
Maximum Security Reading Order
Maximum Security: Dangerous Planet #1, Amazing Spider-Man (vol. 2) #22, 23, 24, Iron Man (vol. 3) #33-34, Peter Parker: Spider-Man #23-24, Captain America (vol. 3) #36, Maximum Security #1, Thor (vol. 2) #30, Uncanny X-Men #387, Black Panther (vol. 3) #25, Captain Marvel (vol. 4) #12-13, Incredible Hulk (vol. 2) #21, Iron Man (vol. 3) #35, Bishop the Last X-Man #15, Maximum Security #2, Thunderbolts #45, 46, 47, Marvel Knights #6, Gambit (vol. 3) #23, X-Men (vol. 2) #107, X-Men Unlimited #29, Avengers (vol. 3) #35, Maximum Security #3