Captain America (vol. 5) #4
Out of Time: Part 4
In the Financial District of New York City, Aleksander Lukin — CEO of the Kronas Corporation — gets a call from his assassin and tells him to continue as planned until he is contacted again.[1] Lukin’s assistant, Leon, doesn’t like how Aleks is using Comrade Karpov’s assassin, or his recent acquisition of the Cosmic Cube from the Red Skull.[2] He warns Lukin that something that powerful is bad luck. Likin asks Leon if he is going to play nursemaid all day or help him with his take over of the Roxxon Energy Corporation.
In Brooklyn, Steve Rogers’ morning training is interrupted by a call from Nick Fury. A request for Captain America from the army’s Criminal Intelligence Division has come through SHIELD. Fury theorizes that it might have something to do with the recent death of the Red Skull, but can’t get anymore information unless the military invites SHIELD to get involved in the case. Steve says he’ll go and soon contacts his friend Tony Stark — aka Iron Man — to have the fastest jet he owns ready to go at LaGuardia in ten minutes.
At that same moment, Nick Fury calls a private meeting with Sharon Carter to discuss new developments in the Red Skull murder case. When Sharon asks why Steve isn’t present, Fury explains that Cap has enough on his mind right now and he needs to confirm a few details before he brings it up. Namely, that a sniper rifle was found in unclaimed baggage at Dulles International Airport. The ballistics match that of the gun that was used to kill the Red Skull. The prints on the weapon all belong to Jack Monroe, aka the Bucky of the 1950s, aka Captain America’s former partner Nomad.[3] Monroe’s possible involvement is why Nick wants to keep this under wraps for now. As a former SHIELD operative, Jack Monroe was unknowingly chipped with a tracking device and they pinpoint his location and he wants Sharon to find him. After Carter leaves on her assignment, Nick gets some security footage that he requested from London in the hopes of identifying the Red Skull’s killer. The fact that Interpol was stonewalling SHIELD up to this point gives Fury a good idea who they might be dealing with.[4]
Meanwhile, Captain America finds himself at Arlington National Cemetery where someone has defaced the graves belonging to William Nasland and Jeff Mace. When he asks the soldier who brought him if he knows the significance of the name, he is told that these were important soldiers and nothing else. He tells the astonished soldier that these were the men who filled in as Captain America when he went MIA in 1945. William Nasland got his start as the hero known as the Spirit of ‘76 and he was the first to take over as Captain America. He fought alongside Fred Davis, Jr. who became the new Bucky. Nasland died protecting then Senator John F. Kennedy from an android called Adam II.[4] To was Jeff Mace, previously known as the Patriot, who took over from Nasland and ensured that JFK would one day be President. Thinking of Kennedy, Steve wishes he had been around to see all he accomplished, from the Civil Rights to the Moon Landing. He’s embarrasses himself a little by thinking the soldier by his side was alive when all that happened. As they leave the grave site, the soldier deduces that if the backgrounds of Nasland and Mace were classified, then the vandalism had to have been someone who knew the truth. Steve admits that this probably looks like someone taking a shot at him.
As Steve heads back from the cemetery, he wonders who was responsible for this act of vandalism and how it might tie into the other mysteries he’s investigating. That’s when his thoughts are interrupted with another memory from his last mission with Bucky. In this one, he and Bucky had just been captured by Baron Zemo and his Nazi goons. Steve had been shackled and was being forced to watch as Zemo’s men whipped Bucky. As Steve tries to make sense of these new memories, a bullet blows out the tire of his motorcycle. Instinctively, he rolls out of the crash and sees that the shooter is his old foe Crossbones. As Crossbones sprays more bullets, Cap struggles to keep the memories back so he can focus on the battle at hand, Unfortunately, the more he tries, the more the lost memories force their way into his head.[5]
Unfortunately, Steve is too disorientated to fight back and Crossbones quickly trounces him. When Cap accuses him of defacing the graves back at Arlington, Crossbones' suddenly realizes something is up. Not only does he not want to finish off Captain America when he’s not at his fighting best, but he’s now suspicious of the Russian guy who called him and told him he could find Captain America here. Crossbone then takes off, leaving Captain America to wonder who Crossbones was referring to.
Later that night, Sharon Carter has tracked Jack Monroe’s GPS tracker to an abandoned building. Entering and following the signal, she opens a door and is startled when Jack Monroe’s dead body tumbles out. That’s when someone behind her says she picked the wrong door. Before Carter can turn and face Jack’s killer, he knocks her out with a single blow with his cybernetic fist.
Recurring Characters
Captain America, SHIELD (Nick Fury, Sharon Carter), Red Skull/Aleksander Likin, Winter Soldier (unidentified), Crossbones, (flashback) Baron Zemo, Bucky, Spirit of ‘76/Captain America (Naslund), Patriot/Captain America (Mace)
Continuity Notes
This assassin is later identified as the Winter Soldier, who is actually James “Bucky” Barnes, Captain America’s wartime sidekick. Long believed dead, he was actually rescued from the ocean by Lukin’s mentor Vasily Karpov who transformed him into the assassin that he is today. Bucky has believed to be dead since Avengers #4. The Winter Soldier isn’t named until Captain America (vol. 5) #6 and his origins aren’t explained until issue #11.
The Winter Soldier has been on a bit of a killing spree. He seemingly murdered the Red Skull to steal the Cosmic Cube in Captain America (vol. 5) #1. He also killed Mother Night last issue. The Skull cheated death however, transferring his mind into the Cosmic Cube. It now inhabits Lukin’s mind, something that won’t be revealed until Captain America (vol. 5) #14.
Nick Fury gives a brief run down on Jack Monroe’s career history:
He start off his career in the 1950s as that era’s Bucky, fighting along side William Burnside, the Captain America of the 1950s. Their adventures are chronicled in Young Men #24-27, Captain America Comics #76-78, and Men’s Adventures #27-28.
It’s later revealed that their Super Soldier Serum drove them mad, forcing the government to put them in suspended animation. Fury mentions how they were revived in the present, the 50s Cap and Bucky attacked the original, thinking him an impostor. See Captain America #153-156.
Burnside ended up getting brainwashed by Doctor Faustus and tricked into thinking he killed Jack in Captain America #236. After Faustus was defeated, Burnside was believed to have been killed and Monroe ended up in SHIELD custody to be cured of his madness.
Jack returned and convinces Steve Rogers to become his new partner in Captain America #281, becoming the new Nomad in the following issue. He had two stints working with Cap, the first ending in Captain America #305 and the next lasting from issues #337 to 345.
Jack went solo from there, becoming a drifting vigilante. The majority of those tales were told in Nomad #1-4 and (vol. 2) #1-25. This career was ended when Jack was taken down by the government and put on ice again.
More recently, Jack was forced into becoming the latest Scourge of the Underworld, as seen in Thunderbolts #34-35, 38-39, and 41-50.
Jack isn’t the real killer, but is being framed. He was murdered last issue. How he got from being a Scourge to a drunk loser getting shot in the street see Captain America (vol. 5) #7.
Then we get a run down of some of the men who were Captain America and Bucky. As per Avengers #4, Steve Rogers and James Barnes went MIA in 1945. Here are the details:
Nasland first appeared as the Spirit of ‘76 in Invaders #14-15, this was the same story where he fought Steve Rogers that is mentioned here. After Steve went missing in ‘45, Nasland was selected to succeed him, as seen in What If? #4, the same story where he died at the hands of Adam II.
Jeff Mace start as his career as the Patriot in Human Torch Comics #4. He took over as Cap after Nasland was murdered in What If? #4. Per Captain America: Patriot #4, Jeff would continue to fight as Captain America until 1950 when he retired. Somehow surviving into the modern age, he later died of cancer in Captain America #285.
Also mentioned is Fred Davis, Jr., a former bat boy for the New York Yankees he first appeared in Marvel Premiere #30. He was selected to succeed James Barnes as Bucky in What If? #4 as well. Davis also had retired as Bucky by 1950. The reason he isn’t being targeted here is because, at the time of this story, he was an active member of the V-Battalion as seen in Thunderbolts #37.
It’s later explained in Captain America (vol. 5) #6 that the Cosmic Cube is straightening out Cap’s confused memories about what happened on the day that Bucky allegedly died. The original version of events were told in Avengers #4. The flashback here is a new memory that joins the countless other stories that expand on these events. See also Avengers #56, What If? #4, Captain America #215, 220, (vol. 5) #4, 6, 8, 11, 25, Captain America: Sentinel of Liberty #12, Captain America: Reborn #1, Captain America: Man Out of Time #1, not to mention the false accounts told in Captain America (vol. 4) #10 and 12.
Topical References
When Fury is talking about the tracking device they implanted in Jack Monroe years earlier is “primitive” compared to Global Positioning Systems, as though it came from an era before GPS. Modern GPS was first available for use in 1985. So if we were going by publication date, Fury’s statement would be true because Jack’s post SHIELD activities started in comics published in 1982. That said, this should be considered a topical reference as the Sliding Timescale has pushed the Modern Age of the Marvel Universe forward in time enough that it begins after the start of the 21st Century, when GPS was at the very least widely available to government agencies like SHIELD. Modern readers could reinterpret this to mean that something is interfering with the tracking signal making it harder to pinpoint Jack’s exact location.
The security footage requested by Fury is depicted as being on some kind of disc format, likely DVD given the year this comic was published. This should be considered a topical reference. While disc based data storage is still available it has fallen out of use thanks to advances in internet connectivity and more efficient ways of transferring and storing data.
The last two digits in Jeff Mace’s year of death have been obliterated by the damage done to his tombstone, but it appears as though it was sometime in the late 1900s. Whatever year was intended to appear here should be considered topical. This is because Mace died in the Modern Age and as such is subject to the Sliding Timescale.
The soldier escorting Steve through Arlington states that he was born in 1973. This should also be considered a topical reference as it is relative to the age of a Lieutenant in the military at the time this comic was published in 2005. Modern readers should interpret this to mean he was born 32 years prior to the main story, or about 21 years prior to the start of the Modern Age.