Brothers

SHIELD Director Sharon Carter has called in Captain America for an important mission brief. She and Dum Dum Dugan show him footage of a series of attacks on Hydra bases committed by Advanced Idea Mechanics. While at its surface this might seem like a good thing, however, Sharon fears that the violence will escalate to an all out war that could claim the lives of innocent people. More over, the attacks seem to be carried out by a single man, Protocide.

Steve had just learned that Protocide — aka Clinton McIntrye — had received an early dose of the Super Soldier Formula just days before he himself became Captain America.[1] Steve wonders what it would have been like had McIntyre not seemingly died from his dosage and brought back to life in the present day and turned into an assassin for AIM. He wonders if McIntyre lived, would Bucky had never become his partner, and never died?[2]

Agent Cameron Klein has gathered intel on Advanced Idea Mechanics regarding this matter and says that the conflict with Hydra has been speared on by AIM’s new and ambitious leader. That’s when Nick Fury returns from his secret mission and offers his aid. Steve declines the offer, saying that the matter of Protocide is personal and he will deal with it. Nick accepts this but asks to speak to Cap in private about something. Once they are in private, Fury reveals that his girlfriend Connie Ferrari’s brother, David, is still alive. In fact, he never died in a military hazing accident gone wrong, but was believed to have died during a top secret operation for SHIELD. In order to keep it all a secret, the hazing story was fabricated so that Connie — a skilled lawyer — didn’t go poking around in matters that didn’t concern her. However, Nick has recently come upon some intel that David has somehow faked his death and is still alive. Worse, David has gone rogue and needs to be taken down. Fury is telling Steve all of this out of respect and tells the hero that he can deal with the information however he sees fit.

That evening, Steve is a on a dinner date with Connie, he spends most of the meal thinking about how certain things in the modern world have been harder to adapt to than others, and how to bring up the subject of Connie’s brother. When he does bring it up, its totally bad timing as he gets an important message and has to leave. Connie is upset that he brought up her brother but opens up about it, saying that not having any family members left her feeling alone. Steve understands how she feels and they are about to kiss when there is a knock at the door. It turns out to be Chet Madden, one of Connie’s clients. He is dealing with more legal trouble from the government and needs her help. Before leaving, Steve thanks Chet for the baseball tickets from the other day. When Connie heads into the kitchen to brew some coffee, Chet makes a phone call and asks for all the information his organization can find on Steve Rogers.[4]

Changing into Captain America, Steve bounds across rooftops and atop vehicles as he checks in with SHIELD. Sharon tells him that their moles within Hydra have reported another Protocide attack on the waterfront. She wants Steve to handle it because SHIELD’s resources have been limited ever since the Red Skull stole their helicarrier.[5] Steve assures her that he won’t need it and heads off to the scene of the battle.

Cap arrives on the scene just as Protocide is bowling through a squad of Hydra agents. When Steve fights it out with Protocide, he lets his anger get the better of him. However, when the Hydra agents try to take advantage of the one-on-one brawl and kill both Cap and Protocide, Steve is able to deflect their weapons fire with his shield. Next thing he knows it, both her and Protocide are fighting side-by-side and something about it feels like this is the way things should have been.

The brawl takes the pair atop the ledge of a reactor core. There, Protocide is struck by a shot from a Hydra neural gun. However, Steve manages to grab Clinton’s hand before he can fall into the reactor. This proves to be a fatal mistake as Cap shouldn’t have truthed that McIntyre could be reformed. Once safely back on the ledge, Protocide knocks Cap into the reactor and leaves him for dead.

Recurring Characters

Captain America, Falcon SHIELD (Sharon Carter, Dum Dum Dugan, Nick Fury, Cameron Klein), Connie Ferrari, Protocide, AIM (Chet Madden), Hydra, (flashback) Abraham Erksine

Continuity Notes

1. As per Captain America Comics #1, the Super-Soldier Formula was famously lost when its inventor, Abraham Erskine, was killed by a Nazi spy. Although Steve has been commonly referred to as the "only” recipient of the formula, that’s not entirely true. The man found by AIM was a soldier named Clinton McIntyre. As will be revealed in Captain America Annual 2000, he was a rejected candidate due to not meeting the psychological profile. However, one of the military brass stole a second dose of the formula and gave it to McIntyre. However, this was only one part of a three part process, and without the other three components of the formula, Clinton went on an insane rampage until his heart gave out on him. The military then quickly covered it up and lost his body in a top secret storage facility. His body was recovered by AIM in issues #26-27. Captain America fought him in issue #35.

2. Captain America’s wartime partner Bucky seemingly died in 1945 when he was caught in a drone plane explosion as seen in Avengers #4. Cap will go on thinking he was dead for years. However, shortly after this story he will learn that Bucky had survived and was transformed by the Russians into an assassin called the Winter Soldier. See Captain America (vol. 5) #14 for details.

3. 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.

4. Steve previously met Chet in Captain America (vol. 3) #35. Chet Madden is revealed to be the current leader of AIM in Captain America (vol. 3) #39.

5. The SHIELD helicarrier was stolen by the Red Skull in X-Men (vol. 2) #91/Annual 1999. It will remain in his possession until it is recovered in Captain America (vol. 3) #45-48.

Topical References

• During Steve’s date with Connie, he thinks about all the things he has or has not adapted to since being revived in the present day:

  • When commenting about female lawyers, Captain America recounts how there weren’t any that he knew about dating back to 1935. The first female lawyer in American history was Ada Kepley in 1870. However, female lawyers still uncommon until the mid-20th century. Here, Steve states that there are two women sitting on the Supreme Court. That was true when this comic was published in 2000 when the only female Supreme Court judges were Sarah Day O’Connor (who joined in 1981 and sat until she retired in 2008) and Ruth Bader Ginsburg (who joined in 1993 and sat until her death in 2020). The number of female justices referenced here should be considered topical as this number will change over time. For example, time of this writing (February, 2023), there are currently four female judges sitting on the Supreme Court.

  • He also states that he could figure out how to work a computer and a CD player. While CD players are still a thing, they have fallen out of common use in favor of digital and streaming audio formats. As this is a technology on its way to obsolescence, its reference here should be considered topical.

  • He also references Glenn Miller and Snoop Doggy Dogg. Since Miller is a reference to the era that Steve Rogers grew up in before World War II, that would not be considered topical. The reference to Snoop Doggy Dogg, however, as the rapper was at the height of his popularity when this comic was first published. Snoop has undergone many name changes over the years, but seems to have settled on callimg himself simply Snoop Dogg.

  • Steve also states that he had been frozen in ice for “forty-plus years”. The amount of time Captain America has spent in suspended animation should be considered topical. Due to the Sliding Timescale, the length of time between the end of World War II and the start of the Modern Age will continue to expand. For more on this, click here.

• Steve is depicted having a pager to receive messages. These devices were at the height of their popularity when this story came out. However, they fell out of use as cell phones became more common, particularly when text messaging became a thing. While pagers still exist they have largely fallen out of common use and the technology is on its way to obsolescence. As such, its depiction here should be considered topical.

• Steve specifically states that Chet gave him and Connie tickets to see the New York Mets. This should be considered a topical reference as this is a real world baseball team.