Two Americas, Conclusion

Four Years Ago

A frail young man, whose girlfriend was killed in a terrorist bombing, was selected by the Navy for a new experiment to create their own Captain America. This new process involved grafting a neural net processor to the subject spine. This, along with regular doses of a drug called acetovaxidol — AVX for short — is supposed to replicate the long lost Super Soldier Serum that created the original Captain America.[1] The head of this project is a high ranking Naval officer named Jimmy Westbrook. Westbrook is annoyed that the process doesn’t seem to be working on their test subject.

Now

While investigating the connection between the United States government and Cuba’s Rivas Cartel, Leila Taylor stumbled upon a mysterious chemical. This put a target on her back, prompting the Navy to send their operative an “Anti-Captain America” to eliminate her. Rescued by the Falcon (Sam Wilson) the two fled back to Miami where they were found by the Anti-Cap while trying to find out what the chemical was. However, before Anti-Cap could kill Sam, the real Captain America (Steve Rogers) has finally caught up to his impostor.[2]

With his shield shattered, the Anti-Cap threatens to use its sharp edge to slit Falcon’s throat. Steve tries to trade off the sample of whatever it is Anti-Cap is after. This is merely to create a distraction for Redwing — Sam’s pet Falcon — to attack from the side. Unfortunately, Anti-Cap is ready for the bird and knocks it out. He then figures that Cap is bluffing with a fake sample of the chemical. He decides to continue his hunt for the genuine article. He then throws Falcon into the real Captain America in order to cover his escape. As Steve checks on Sam and Redwing, they are joined by SHIELD agent Alisande Morales. She has been able to analyze the chemical and learned it is AVX, however they still have no idea what its for or what it does.

While Captain America goes after Anti-Cap, Sam calls the Daily Bugle who are waiting on the story that Leila Taylor was following. He asks Joe Robertson to check the Bugle’s records to see if they have anything on the drug AVX. Leila is furious to learn that Sam always knew about this new super-soldier and the possible connection between the government and the Rivas cartel and leaked it to the Bugle, knowing they’d send a reporter. Sam apologizes to Leila, saying he couldn’t have known they’d send her to investigate the story for them. By this time, Joe is able to find one very old record about AVX. He tells Sam that it was a super-steroid that was being tested on prisoners at Seagate Prison,[3] and how it apparently didn’t yield any results. He notes that the reason why testing stopped was because the drug would eventually be sweat out of the body, requiring frequent and regular dosages to maintain its effects.

Out on the streets, Captain America and Agent Morales are trying to catch up to Anti-Cap before he reaches their sub and uses it to go back to Cuba, and where they hid the real sample. They are then ambushed by Anti-Cap who punches through a wall to attack them. He grabs Alisande and tosses her in the ocean before fighting Captain America. Despite Steve’s fighting skill, the Anti-Cap is much stronger and he overpowers his foe. With Cap at his mercy, the Anti-Cap picks up his shield and prepares to strike. He pauses for a moment and thinks back to how he idolized Captain America and how he got to this point…

Three Years Ago

The young man who later became Anti-Cap was still not showing any progress. The young has also grown incredibly impatient after learning that there was another terrorist attack on American soil and refuses to give up on the project. Westbrook decides to do something drastic, a final ditch effort to see if the process will finally work. Pulling out his service weapon, he shoots the young man in the temple. At first, all this seems to do is kill the young man and waste the billions they have spent on this project so far. However, the youth suddenly gets up — having grown incredible muscles in mere seconds, and subdues Westbrook.

Jimmy talks him down before the guards open fire, and the young man realizes that they have finally succeeded. He tells them all that there is a the weapon on the latest war against terrorism.

Now

Anti-Cap is telling Captain America all of this as he is dragging him up onto the roof top of a tall building. He brags about how he has been operational over the last two years and completed successful operations in the Middle East, out of costume. He never understood how Cap fought in World War II wearing the American flag until he put the costume on himself. Now he understands and doesn’t want to take it off. He also reveals that he has gone rogue and that his handlers want to eliminate him, and tells Steve that his pursuit of Anti-Cap is only going to help them cover this all up. Its then that Cap finally fights back, sending them both falling to the streets. Steve tries to get Anti-Cap to realize that what he is doing is wrong and mentions the idealism he represents. His imitator admits that he admires Steve’s resolve, but he has grown to see that it is the politicians in Washington that are the enemy because they throw money at the conflicts that are happening globally when it should be a battle of will. He says that while Cap represented America’s hope, he himself represents its fear.

Anti-Cap tries to flee the scene in an ambulance, but Rogers leaps onto the hood. The struggles causes the ambulance to crash in front of the Torch of Freedom monument where their fight resumes.[4] Captain America can see that what Anti-Cap believes in is nothing more than fascism and he needs to be stopped. That’s when Falcon arrives on the scene and tells Steve about how Anti-Cap will get weaker the longer they fight because he is sweating out the AVX in his system. When Anti-Cap tries to leave in the SHIELD sub parked near the flame, Sam triggers that white phosphorous he planted on Cap’s shield. The white hot blast is enough to knock Anti-Cap out, and Steve is relieved that he is still alive. When the examine Anti-Cap’s body they discover that he had an AVX patch on his skin to sustain his superhuman powers. Now all they need to do is figure out what to do with him next.

Steve later arranges a meeting with SHIELD Director Nick Fury at a diner in Amarillo, Texas. They are soon joined by Jimmy Westbrook, who demands to know where Anti-Cap and the virus sample they were seeking to retrieve. Steve says that he won’t be getting either until there are some agreements made upon their release. Jimmy reminds Steve that this is a national security matter and that he and his organization are not the enemy. When Steve asks who “they” are, Jimmy realizes that he’s not going to get anywhere and leaves. Nick Fury muses that things are about to get interesting.

Recurring Characters

Captain America, Falcon, Anti-Cap, Leila Taylor, SHIELD (Nick Fury, Alisande Morales), Joe Robertson, Jimmy Westbrook, Redwing

Continuity Notes

1. The death of this young man’s girlfriend was shown last issue. As per Captain America Comics #1, the original Super Soldier Serum was created by scientist Abraham Erskine, who was killed by a Nazi spy after it was first used on Steve Rogers. It’s generally believed that the formula was lost as Erskine did not commit it to paper. However, derivatives have been made by others over the years to create the Destroyer (Mystic Comics #6), Master Man (Giant-Size Invaders #1), Warrior Woman (Invaders #16), and the 1950’s Captain America (Captain America #155), among countless others. There is one other connection here, but we’ll get to that in a second….

2. This, of course, has been occurring over the last three issues.

3. That’s not entirely true, the Seagate experiments are what gave Luke Cage (aka Power Man) his bullet proof skin, as seen in Luke Cage, Hero for Hire #1.

4. This seems to be an intentional choice on the part of writer Christopher Priest who tends to do callbacks to 70s era comics during this period. As such, this is likely a call back to Captain America #156, a story where Steve Rogers fought William Burnside, the deranged Captain America from the 1950s.

Topical References

• The flashback in this story is stated as having happened around the time of the terrorist attack that destroyed the original twin towers of the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. This should be considered topical because they have long been replaced by the new Freedom Tower.

• Likewise, this story is framed around Anti-Cap being created to be part of the War on Terror, which saw the United States invade both Iraq and Afghanistan. Another now dated reference.