Warlords: Part 1

At an underground bunker below Virginia, Nick Fury and a group of government officials go over the Faysal Al-Tariq incident. After saving the town of Centerville and apparently killing Al-Tariq, Captain America unmasked on live television and revealed his true identity.[1] This is in an effort to encourage terrorist groups to seek reprisals against him and not the United States.

The government officials are furious that Captain America would compromise his usefulness like this. Fury, on the other hand, disagrees as Steve Rogers never does anything of the sort. He then pulls up a holocaust scenario on the interactive map. He tells them that when he looks at these AI models he knows that while the entire country would be decimated in a nuclear attack, he believes that Captain America would find a way to survive.

That’s when Fury gets a call telling him that there is a visitor to see him. Seconds later, the alarms begins going off and the bunker goes into red alert. It’s Captain America and he refuses to wait outside. The Living Legend of World War II fights his way through the soldiers guarding the facility and gets past blast doors before they can snap shut. When he is outside the chamber, Fury orders the red alert cancelled and the soldiers to stand down.

Once inside, Steve drops a CAT tag — supposedly used to measure the vital signs of soldiers and send out a beacon when they die to aid in recovering the body — and drops it on the table. Cap explains he pulled one of one of the terrorists he fought in Centerville after he died. He recognizes the device as the same one Fury tried to get him to wear before the start of the mission.[2] Cap demands to know who makes the devices and who they have been provided to. That’s when one of the government officials speaks up. He tells Captain America that that information is privileged and that his presence in this bunker is in violation of National Security. Steve gets up in this man’s face and reminds him that a hostile aircraft just dumped cluster bombs on an American town 300 miles inland. Cap sternly tells him that his job is protecting the people and the American Dream, not their secrets. Fury writes down an address and hands it to Cap, who then leaves without another word. The official that Steve chewed out then turns to Fury and warns him that while he can’t order the SHIELD director around, he can certainly make his life a living hell.

As Steve Rogers exits the bunker and walks past the gate, the guard stands at attention and salutes him. Cap stops and salutes back, then reminds the soldier that he is not an officer. The soldier only responds with “I know who you are, sir. We all know.” This makes Steve smile as he is glad that someone still does. Getting on his motorcycle, Steve looks at the slip of paper Fury gave him and notes that the address is in Dresden, Germany. He plans on taking the next flight out in the morning. He’s happy to be home this evening because it is the 4th of July and people are celebrating Independence Day. He rides past some people celebrating by watching fireworks. As he passes through an idyllic Virginian town Steve begins imagining a quiet little house with a wife and children someday.

However, as Captain America crosses the top of a nearby dam at Great Falls, an explosive goes off blowing up his motorcycle. The blast almost sends him over the edge of the dam, but he manages to grab hold of the railing and pull himself back on. Suddenly, heavily armed soldiers come charging at him from both sides of the dam. With no way around and out gunned, Steve leaps off the dam hoping to swing off a flagpole down below. He misses the pole but manages to grab the American flag hanging from it. That’s when one of the enemy combatants fires a grenade launcher at him. The explosion sets both Cap and the American flag on fire and sending them falling into the water below. Seconds later, only the American flag floats to the surface.

Recurring Characters

Captain America, Nick Fury

Continuity Notes

1. Although Faysal Al-Tariq was seemingly killed last issue. In reality, he ended his life using a high tech CAT tag that then transmitted his life force into another body, as we’ll see in Captain America (vol. 4) #6.

2. Fury offered Steve a CAT tag in Captain America (vol. 4) #1 but he refused to wear it. He noticed Al-Tariq and his men were wearing them last issue.

Topical References

• This story is set on July 4th and the main plot point being Captain America saving a town in the middle of celebrating Independence Day. Since the holiday is integral to the plot, this should not be considered a topical reference. Not sure if this would also break the Sliding Timescale, I’m not about to chase down the first time July 4th is celebrated in a Marvel comic at this time. However, it’s entirely possible that it does, because holidays often go against the timescale. See my bit about Christmas.

Timeline Discrepancies

The Warlords story arc is set on July 4th, which creates some issues in terms of the timeline of events. The previous arc, Enemy is said to have taken place on Easter Sunday, which would be sometime between late March and early April. Despite the fact that there is apparently 3.5 months between arcs, everything else plays out like it is an immediate continuation. Given the urgency of the plot elements it also becomes is incredibly unlikely that there would be that much of a gap in between events. As far as chronologies go, the Offiicial Marvel Indexes state that the first 25 issues of this volume of Captain America run concurrently with one another, with very few appearances in other stories.

References to issues #1-3 taking place on Easter Sunday shouldn’t just be considered topical, but an error and be ignored.