The Death of Captain America Act 3 - The Man Who Bought America: Part 4

Captain America (James “Bucky” Barnes) is investigating Senator Gerald Wright, who he suspects is in league with th Red Skull.[1] Breaking into the Senator’s hotel room in the middle of the night, James discovers too late that it was all a trap. He is attacked by the other Captain America that Wright has been touting as the genuine article.[2] While this man is not the real Steve Rogers, he is insanely powerful and determined to kill James for something he has done.[3]

Meanwhile, at the Red Skull’s hideout, Sharon Carter has taken Sin hostage and is making her escape.[4] Sin tells Sharon that her father will see her dead for this. However, Sharon picked tonight to escape because the Red Skull and his cronies — Arnim Zola and Doctor Faustus — are preoccupied. Her assessment is correct, as they are too busy remotely observing the battle between the two Captain Americas. The Red Skull admits that using the other Captain America was a master stroke for dealing with James Barnes.

At the scene of the battle, James is beginning to feel winded and won’t be able to last much longer. His opponent is really fast and doesn’t seem to get fatigued. Barnes gets his opener when he dodges a punch that puts a hole in a nearby brick chimney. This hurts the other Cap, giving James the opportunity to hit him as hard as possible. Unfortunately, the impostor doesn’t have a glass jaw like Bucky had hoped. When the impostor strikes back he hits with enough force to send James flying across the rooftop and smash through a chimney. The impostor then tells James that he is a disgrace who doesn’t deserve to wear the colours.

Back at the Red Skull’s hideout, Sin starts trying to psyche out Sharon by suggesting that she is still following the conditioning of Doctor Faustus. This gets Sharon mad enough to drop her guard, giving Sin the opportunity to break free by head butting Sharon. When guards arrive, Sin tells them to stand down as she can handle Carter all by herself.

Meanwhile, the battle between the two Captain Americas take a shift. Bucky bounces his shield off the wall behind the impostor. He decks the impostor in the face while the shield strikes the back of his legs, taking him down. When James removes the phony’s mask he is shocked to discover that the man he has been fighting looks exactly like Steve Rogers. The man insists that he is the real Steve Rogers. Bucky says that if that is true, he asks “Steve” to tell him who he is. “Rogers” responds by saying that he’s the man who killed Bucky.

Sharon’s fight with Sin isn’t going so well either. Sharon is still sharking off the effects of the drugs they have been giving her and it is slowing down her reaction time. However, thoughts about what the Red Skull is going to do to her baby renew Sharon’s need to fight.[5] Soon, she and Sin are clawing at each other on the floor trying to reach a combat knife.

By this point, James is starting to figure out who he is actually fighting. Taking off his mask, he reveals who he really is. Seeing the fact of the original Bucky looking back at him confuses the fake Steve Rogers. Observing this, the Red Skull becomes angry as he knew it was too soon to put their Captain America out in the field. He orders Doctor Faustus to recall him from the field. When James apologizes for killing Jack Monroe, but this only makes “Steve Rogers” even more angry and he says James should be the dead one. He then hits Bucky with enough force to send him flying off the edge of the building. Luckily for Barnes, the Falcon arrives and saves him from a very messy fall.

As it turns out, Sam had his suspicions that the other Captain America was the one from the 1950s.[6] He decided to let James go off on his own as it would certainly confirm his suspicions or not. Still, what the other Steve Rogers said to James, about killing Jack Monroe, wasn’t wrong and he feels like he deserves it.

Back at the Red Skull’s hideout, the Skull is bickering with his two allies, Doctor Faustus and Arnim Zola. Faustus blames the failure of their Captain America on the time table that Zola has given them, pointing out that he hasn’t gotten the device from Doctor Doom reversed engineered yet.[7] That’s when a guard comes into the room and tells them that there has been an incident involving Sin and Sharon Carter. When they go into the hall, the Red Skull finds Sharon Carter with a knife buried in her belly. With her unborn child likely dead, the Red Skull furiously slaps his daughter in the face as she has no idea of the damage she has caused and curses ever letting her life.[8]

Recurring Characters

Captain America (Barnes), Falcon, Sharon Carter, Black Widow, Red Skull/Aleksander Lukin, Arnim Zola, Doctor Faustus, Sin, Captain America (Burnside)

Continuity Notes

1. Gerald Wright is absolutely in the back pocket of the Red Skull. This was revealed to be the case in Captain America (vol. 5) #35.

2. The real Captain America, Steve Rogers, is believed to have died in Captain America (vol. 5) #25 (He’s just time displaced, as we’ll learn in Captain America: Reborn #1-5). The Red Skull revived the Captain America from the 1950s in issue #37 to prop up as their own.

3. The other Cap was told that James killed his former partner, Jack Monroe, in Captain America (vol. 5) #38. He wasn’t being lied to as James — when he was the Winter Soldier — murdered Jack in Captain America (vol. 5) #4.

4. Sharon has been a captive of the Red Skull since Captain America (vol. 5) #32.

5. Sharon discovered that she was pregnant in Captain America (vol. 5) #30. The child is the product of a union between her and Steve Rogers back in issue #16.

6. The Falcon’s suspicions come as he had previously fought the 1950s Captain America. See Captain America #153-156.

7. The Red Skull obtained a chronal device from Doctor Doom in Captain America (vol. 5) #23. Arnim Zola has been trying to crack it ever since. It will be a key component in the Red Skull’s plot to try and steal Steve Rogers’ body, as seen in Captain America: Reborn #1-5.

8. As first told in Captain America #298, the Red Skull wanted a son as an heir. When his daughter was born he was about to throw her into the ocean until one of his minions convinced him to spare her life.