Captain America (vol. 4) #16
Ice: Part 5
Seeking to learn the truth about how he was put in suspended animation decades ago, Captain America and his Atlantean ally Hana went to confront the Interrogator in Lemuria. Tragically, things turned violent and after a brief escape, Hana was murdered. Now surrounded by Lemurian warriors, Captain America is goaded by the Interrogator to cross the line and kill those who murdered the woman he loved.[1]
Angered by this senseless loss of life, Captain America defeats the Lemurians and knocks out the Interrogator. Suddenly, he is aboard the SHIELD helicarrier thinking he has been picked up by the spy agency. After turning over Hana’s body for autopsy, both Nick Fury and Sharon Carter offer their condolences.
Sharon and Steve then talk in private about what happened and the two admit that they still have feelings for one another.[2] Soon, they are making love in Sharon’s private quarters. The two admit to one another that they have love only for each other. Suddenly, the scene changes and Sharon is dead, apparently at the hands of Baron Blood. Not only that, but Blood has killed other bodies that are scattered all around the graveyard that they are now in. Steve, as Captain America, attacks Baron Blood who begs Cap to decapitate him once more.[3] However, Steve won’t bring himself to kill and beats Baron Blood into unconsciousness instead.
The scene suddenly resets again and Captain America is back aboard the SHIELD Sky-Destroyer. This time as the romance plays out, Steve and Sharon are married. They take a bath together and she surprises him by revealing that he is pregnant with their child. The two then go out to dinner to celebrate. This time, the fantasy is interrupted by the Interrogator and his warriors who gun Sharon down. The Interrogator says that this would never have happened if Steve had only killed him. Not yet realizing that this is all an illusion, Steve lunges at his foe and tries to strangle him to death. This doesn’t work, as the Interrogator’s body only serves host to the living alien hand attached to the body. This allows Steve to regain his composure and realizes that the Interrogator has been playing with his mind.
That’s when the illusion breaks and Steve discovers that Hana is still alive. The Sub-Mariner has also finally arrived to help as well. As it turned out, Steve and Hana never escaped after the Interrogator first got his tendrils in him. Everything after that moment has all been an illusion. Steve is able to pull out all the tendrils through sheer force of will, impressing Namor. The Prince of Atlantis explains that he stumbled upon the Interrogator’s plot and sent Hana to protect Steve until he could complete his royal duties and join up. As it turns out, Hana was a member of the Sub-Mariner’s Praetorian Guard and was sworn to secrecy not to reveal who she really was or the purpose of her mission, she couldn’t even reveal Namor’s involvement. Namor also knows that the Interrogator is working for somebody else, but his intelligence sources don’t know who.
That’s when the Interrogator tries to ensnare all three of them in his tendrils again. Captain America refuses to allow this to happen and yanks them away. This inadvertedly rips the alien hand off the Interrogator’s body. Captain America demands to know who hired the Interrogator to mess with his life like this. Dying, the villain provides the name of the person responsible for all of this: Dell Rusk. Captain America can’t understand why the current Secretary of State would want to toy with his memories like this.[4] The Interrogrator can’t say, but his final words are that Rusk had achieved his ultimate goal in the end: Turning Captain America into a killer.[5]
Recurring Characters
Captain America, Sub-Mariner, Interrogator, Hana
Continuity Notes
There is a lot going on here off the top, so let me break it down:
Since Captain America (vol. 4) #10, the reason Captain America ended up in suspended animation at the end of World War II was called into question. Refuting the original account told in Avengers #4. It has been suggested that Steve was put on ice by his own government after he spoke out against the planned nuclear bomb drops on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Steve seemingly got confirmation over in issues #13 and 14. We’ll learn at the end of this issue that this was actually all a frabrication created by the Red Skull.
Hanna has been hanging out with Steve for unspecified reasons since issue #10 after she saved his life from drowning in issue #10 as well. This reveals that she was sent by the Sub-Mariner to protect Steve from the Interrogator. She was seemingly murdered last issue.
Steve Rogers and Sharon Carter have been attracted to one another since they first met in Tales of Suspense #75. The two have had an on-again-off-again relationship for years. As of Captain America (vol. 3) #50 they agreed to spend time apart, as Sharon wanted to get her life back in order before settling down. The two will be “on” again in Captain America (vol. 5) #16.
Baron Blood is an immortal vampire who has been active since World War II, starting in Invaders #7. In more recent times, Captain America battled him to the death. A fight that ended with Steve decapitating the creature as seen in Captain America #253-254. Technically speaking, as a vampire, Baron Blood has already dead and is one of the undead. Blood ended up cheating death anyway, being resurrected in Knights of Pendragon (vol. 2) #10. He will continue cheating death on the regular from then on.
Dell Rusk turns out to be an alter-ego of the Red Skull as we’ll learn in Avengers (vol. 3) #65-70. From here, the back story that Steve was actually put into suspended animation by the government instead of during a battle with Baron Zemo is forgotten and (at least time of this writing in February, 2023) never to be mentioned again. When Steve’s origins are revisited in Captain America (vol. 5) #6, they go back to the status quo originally told in Avengers #4.
As of this writing, the Interrogator remains among the deceased. Hana is also has not been seen since, her current whereabouts are unknown time of this writing.
