Warlords: Part 3

Captain America has come to Dresden, Germany, to find out how locally made CAT tags ended up in the hands of a terrorist cell that recently attacked America.[1] Upon entering the building some bombs go off causing the it to collapse on his head. Unable to get out in time, Steve uses his indestructible shield to shield him from the falling debris. Trapped under the rubble, Steve still has enough room to change into Captain America.

Not willing to remain trapped, Steve then begins using his shield to batter his way through the rubble. Spotting a way to climb out, the person responsible for detonating the building drops a grenade down the hole. Steve blocks this with his shield as well and scrambles out before his attacker can drop another grenade.

As the smoke clears, Steve can see that the man behind this is wearing a larger version of the CAT tag device. He quickly lunges at his foe and demands answers for all of this. Cap manages to yank off his belt, stripping his foe of more grenades and a combat knife. That’s when the smoke from the explosion clears enough for Rogers to get a good look at his opponent’s face. He is shocked to see a man with a horribly burned face and chalk white skin facing him.[2] This is the true face of the terrorist Faysal Al-Tariq. Taking advantage of Steve’s momentary pause, Al-Tariq begins beating on the hero. He is disappointed that Steve caught him before he could leave, as he had left clues here that would lead Rogers on a wild goose chase across the world.

As they fight, a German police tactical unit arrives on the scene. Just as Captain America overpowers his foe. Steve intends to spare Al-Tariq’s life as he wants to see him go to trial for his crimes. He reveals that he knows that he didn’t actually kill Al-Tariq or his men in battle, that they ended their lives using the CAT tags and demands to know if its true that they can use the devices to cheat death and possess the bodies of others. In answer, one of the German officers smacks Captain America in the back of the head with the butt of his machine gun.

However, Faysal orders his assassins to stand down and set up a perimeter around the area for the next 10 minutes then leave with or without him. When they protest this, he tells them that Captain America is his equal and he can only die by his hands. Faysal then explains that his soldiers CAT tags do not have the capacity to body swap, but his does, hence how he managed to cheat death and appear before Captain America in this other body. He explains how he created this technology and it didn’t involve any kind of trickery to get SHIELD to buy into the devices as well. He is pleased that countless other military and law enforcement agencies have adopted the technology as well, and looks forward to remotely activating the kill switches to kill them all.

The two continue to fight it out but are evenly matched. They end up falling through the debris of the blown up building. There, Faysal offers Captain America an offer — He’ll spare everyone’s lives if Steve can correctly guess what country he comes from. Steve retorts by saying he is from Hell, which amuses him. However, he continues explaining his origins. He tells Captain America that his father — a small farmer — was killed by guerillas that were armed with American made bullets. These same soldiers interrogated his mother and then shot her and burned down the family home. Those flames are what gave Faysal the face he now wears today. He then asks Cap again, what country is he from?

Captain America only responds by saying that the United States has learned since those days and has changed (Not really Steve, but you keep telling yourself that lie). He then begins beating Al-Tariq into submission. He doesn’t believe that someone who could have felt the loss of innocent life could do what Faysal has done unless they were all consumed by nothing but hatred. A decent person would never allow that type of pain to happen again, even willingly give up their life to do so. He finishes his speech by telling Al-Tariq that he is no better than the warlords that created him.

With his foe defeated, Captain America removes the CAT device from its harness and sees that the light is still green. He then tosses it into the flames below and begins carrying his defeated enemy out of the ruined building so he can face justice for his crimes.[2]

Recurring Characters

Captain America, Faysal Al-Tariq

Continuity Notes

1. In case you haven’t been paying attention this has been the running plot of the last five issues of Captain America.

2. The ultimate fate of Faysal Al-Tariq or verification of his origins have yet to be explode time of this writing in February, 2023. However, Marvel Atlas #2 confirms that he originated from Iraq.

Topical References

• Faysal Al-Tariq claims that he family was around during the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union. However, his origins have not been independently verified, so it’s unclear if this should be considered a topical reference or not. Given he has the technology to create CAT tags, suggests the possibility of extending his life span.