Super-Patriot: Part 2

Rachel Leighton, aka Diamondback, has taken her old flame Steve Rogers, aka Captain America, out to see a baseball game.[1] She hoped that it would get his mind off the recent loss the Avengers have suffered. Steve is still pretty depressed, but assures her that the team will bounce back eventually.[2] Suddenly, in the middle of the game, the opposing team mascot takes off his mask and addresses the audience. He tells them that the entire stadium has been rigged to explode unless everyone hands over their valuables to his men who are now canvassing the stands.

In no mood for this type of nonsense, Steve changes into Captain America and ambushes the man barking orders and takes the detonator away from him. That’s when he is ambushed by Batroc the Leaper, his old enemy, and the mastermind behind this plot. Steve isn’t happy to deal with him either. When Batroc gets the detonator back, Cap calls his bluff on setting off the explosives. As it turned out, Batroc was trying to pass off a novelty pen as a bomb detonator. Realizing the jig is up, the Frenchman tries to flee the scene but Captain America knocks him out with his shield.

Meanwhile, aboard the SHIELD Sub-Carrier, rogue agent Mike Nolan informs the Red Skull that the Senator Winslow caper went off without a hitch. With a few more high paying jobs like this, they will soon have enough money for Nolan to stage a coup within SHIELD. However, now that he has purchased a suit of strength enhancing armor, the Red Skull has no more need of Nolan or his rogue agents. Nolan responds by trying to use the voice activated immobilization code for the Skull’s new armor. Unfortunately, it doesn’t work because the Skull had the forethought to disable it. When Nolan and his men try shooting him, the suit’s defenses kick in to protect him and he easily beats them all into submission. The Red Skull then reiterates that their business relationship is at an end and if Nolan wants to continue pressing his lucky, the Skull will kill them all. Seeing that he’s not going to win this, Mike agrees and the Red Skull departs. Nolan then tells the others to get back to work because SHIELD isn’t going to overthrow itself.

By this time, Captain America and Diamondback are leaving the baseball stadium. Steve admits he took a bit of a risk in assuming the detonator was just a pen, but he didn’t get through the war without taking risks.[3] That’s when someone comes up and asks Cap for his autograph. Steve obliges and soon a crowd of fans begin forming all around him. By the time Steve is done and changed out of his costume it is already night time. When they get back to the outside of his apartment, Rachel asks if she can come upstairs. Steve teases her briefly about it before inviting her in. The two spend the night together and in the morning, Rachel abruptly leaves telling Steve that she needs to run some errands. She is a little stern about this, but she is all smiles when she leaves his apartment.

For the rest of the day, Steve tries to go about his normal life, but what went down with the Avengers still weighs heavily on his mind. Eventually, he finds himself sitting at home staring at his Avengers ID card hoping that a call will come through, but none comes. Diamondback, meanwhile, goes back to her apartment where the Red Skull is waiting for a progress report. She tells him everything that went down the day before. He is pleased with her progress and wants to move forward with the next phase of the plan. He orders her to return to his apartment that evening with a bottle of wine to drink. When Rogers isn’t looking, the Red Skull wants her to put some deadly poison in his glass that will kill Captain America in a matter of moments.

That evening, Mike Nolan and the crew of the Sub-Carrier are contacted by Nick Fury. He wants them to investigate Hydra’s activities as something went down that has them in a frenzy. When Fury ends the call, Nolan and his fellow mutineers wonder if this is a coincidence or if Fury is on to them.[4]

Back in New York, Steve and Rachel are about to settle in for another viewing of Steve’s favorite movie, 1942’s Yankee Doodle Dandy. When he is busy queuing up the movie, Rachel slips the poison into his wine glass. However, just as Steve is about to take a sip, members of the Serpent Society — Asp, Bushmaster, and Puff Adder —0 come crashing in through the wall. The trio have the element of surprise and Asp quickly knocks them out with her venom blast. When the couple wake up they are in costume and chained up at the Serpent Society’s hideout. Their leader, King Cobra, explains that they came after them when they recognized Rachel when she appeared at the baseball game with Captain America.[5][6] They captured her to get revenge for her betrayal and Captain America is an added bonus. King Cobra thanks Cap for “gifting” his trademark shield.

Recurring Characters

Captain America, “Diamondback”, Batroc the Leaper, Red Skull, Serpent Society (King Cobra, Anaconda, Asp, Black Mamba, Black Racer, Bushmaster, Coachwhip, Fer-de-Lance, Puff Adder, Rattler, Rock Python), SHIELD (Nick Fury, Mike Nolan)

Continuity Notes

1. Attracted to Captain America, Diamondback went straight so the two could date. Their relationship lasted from Captain America #371 to 433. She left Steve to work as Superia’s bodyguard in exchange for a cure for Steve’s deteriorating Super Soldier Serum (something that had been affecting him since Captain America #425). However, Steve was cured independently in issue #445 and the two never reconnected. The woman here is not the real Diamondback but a sophisticated Life Model Decoy, as we’ll learn in Captain America (vol. 4) #32.

2. They are really underplaying what happened between issues. The Scarlet Witch went batshit crazy and used her powers to trash Avengers Mansion as well as kill Ant-Man, Jack of Hearts, Hawkeye, and the Vision. This all went down in Avengers #500-503. Although the Avengers do bounce back, Tony Stark’s tighter finances forces him to shut down the team in its current form in Avengers Finale #1. He will form a new, more scaled down version of the group in New Avengers #1-5.

3. When talking about making it through the war, Diamondback teases him by reminding Steve that he spent decades frozen in ice. This is true, as you probably know because they’ll never let you forget the events of Avengers #4.

4. While posing as Nick Fury, Nolan recruited Captain America and Diamond back to rescue a US Senator that was a prisoner of Hydra. See last issue.

5. The real Diamondback was a founding member of the Serpent Society back in Captain America #310. During their frequent clashes with Captain America she soon became attracted to him and the pair started dating in issue #371. When King Cobra found out, he tried to put her through a mock trail but she was rescued by Captain America and Paladin as seen in Captain America #380-382. She has been on the outs with the group ever since.

6. At the time of this story, Asp and Black Mamba were actually members of BAD Girls, Inc. a team of female mercenaries for hire that was formed alongside the real Diamondback. The group first formed in Captain America #385. The BAD Girls, Inc. profile in All-New Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe #3 states that the real Diamondback hired the Serpent Society to hunt down her LMD impostor.

Topical References

• Steve Rogers and the Diamondback LMD are depicted attending a Major League Baseball match between the New York Yankees and the New York Mets. Also depicted is the Mets mascot, Mister Met. The game is played at the old Yankee Stadium. This should all be considered topical references as these are real world baseball teams and as unlikely as it may be for two long standing teams, they could change names or relocate. While the original Yankee Stadium still stands (it is a historic building) the team has since moved to a new stadium that opened in 2009.

• This issue states that Steve’s favorite movie is 1942’s Yankee Doodle Dandy. This wouldn’t be considered a topical reference. As someone who lived in the 1940s and being put in suspended animation, Steve’s tastes mostly match the era in which he grew up.

• There is a scene where Steve returns to a video rental place to rent Yankee Doodle Dandy on DVD. This whole scene should be considered topical. Physical video rental stores are a fast dying industry as is the DVD due to digital technologies making it easier to consume media without leaving one’s home.

Avengers Disassembled Reading Order

Iron Man (vol. 3) #84-85, Thor (vol. 2) #80-81, Captain America and the Falcon #5, 6, 7, Captain America (vol. 3) #29, Avengers #500, 501, 502, 503, Iron Man (vol. 3) #86, 87, 88, 89, Captain America (vol. 3) #30, 31, 32, Fantastic Four #517, 518, 519, Spectacular Spider-Man (vol. 2) #15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, Thor (vol. 2) #82, 83, 84, 85, Avengers Finale #1, New Thunderbolts #1