Captain America and the Falcon #8
Brothers and Keepers, Part 1: Death by Design
In a hotel room in Germany, a man wakes up to see the message “Designed only to kill” printed on the closed captioning on the television. When he looks at the displays on his alarm clock and cell phone, they both have the same message printed on them. Running out of the room in a panic, he finds MODOK — leader of Advanced Idea Mechanics (AIM) — waiting for him outside. MODOK says that he is at alert status zero and demands that the man identify himself. When he responds in German, MODOK takes this as a non-response and eliminates him.
Meanwhile, in Columbia, Captain America (Steve Rogers) is air dropped into the middle of a conflict with the local military is clashing with the Rivas crime cartel. The commanding officer asks Cap to give it another 10 minutes before personally engaging. He radios to his partner, the Falcon (Sam Wilson) to have him wait. However, Sam is in the local Chinatown, but can’t wait because he has already begun his part of the operation. He busts up a poker game being played by some Chinese mafia types. Their leader, Tommy, remembers Falcon from his days as the hustler named “Snap” Wilson.[1] Sam tells Tommy that his days of working with the Rivas Cartel are over. To prove this point, he turns on the news which is covering the conflict happening in Columbia. Sam regrets how Tommy got involved in all of this and since their families used to know each other, Falcon tells Tommy to start honoring his father by getting out of crime. Knowing that Tommy is operating as a “bank” for the Rivas, he uses a machine gun to shoot a hole in the wall, revealing all the ill gotten money. He then sets it all on fire before flying back out the window he came through in.
Back in the jungles, Captain America pushes through the resistance. He notices that most of the fighters are poor farmers that are being exploited to support their families. It doesn’t sit well with him that they are in turn being victims of America’s war on drugs either. The best he can do is focus on his mission and grab the asset they have come to capture. In one of the tents, Steve finds and captures a member of the US Navy, one of Jimmy Westbrook’s men.[2]
In Berlin, a man is out celebrating his marriage anniversary with his wife. After they toast to their union, the man excuses himself while he goes to the bathroom. As he takes a piss he notices some of the tiles on the floor have been raised to spell out “Designed only for killing” on the floor. That’s when the titles suddenly begin falling through the floor, revealing MODOK hiding underneath!
In New York, Daily Bugle editor Joe Robertson is brushing his teeth before going to bed for the night. His wife is droning on about various mundane things while he half-heartedly responds. Suddenly, a sniper’s bullet strikes the bathroom mirror just as he bends down to spit in the sink. Putting a great deal of fear into Robertson over how narrowly the bullet missed him.
Later, Captain America has returned to New York and his hotel room.[3] In the shower, he thinks back to his bizarre and brief romance with the Scarlet Witch (Wanda Maximoff). Things got stranger still when the pair were recently at the United Nations. When Steve tried to talk to her about it, Wanda acted as though nothing had happened.[4] He also thinks about how the “bio-weapon” that Jimmy Westbrook was seeing to obtain was a DNA sample taken from MODOK. When he steps out of the shower, he finds Sam Wilson reading the Daily Bugle in the living room.[5] The two begin talking about this recent development involving MODOK and what it could mean. For a moment, Steve wonders if the “affair” he had with Wanda was actually a hallucination put into his mind with MODOK. Sam brushes this off, saying that this was nothing more than a moment of passion that Wanda instantly regretted and wanted to move past on. Getting back to the root of the trouble at hand, they come to the conclusion that the only way they’ll get answers is to question Anti-Cap.
When they arrive at the Wakandan Embassy, they find that Anti-Cap is not doing so well due to the fact that he is suffering withdrawal from the drug AVX, which is what makes him a super-soldier. When they ask for information on Jimmy Westbrook, Anti-Cap scoffs at the idea of them busting him, saying that Westbrook is untouchable. Sam finds this questioning useless and storms out of the cell. Steve tries to convince Anti-Cap what’s at stake, but the young man doesn’t have anything more to say other than the fact that time is running out. After Steve leaves the room, Anti-Cap notices a scrap of paper on the floor. Unfolding it, he finds the words “BITE ME” written on it.
Captain America and Falcon then pay a visit to Joe Robertson at the Daily Bugle to convince him to finally publish the story. However, he is reluctant to do so because of the attempt on his life the night before. That’s when J. Jonah Jameson barges in and demands to talk to Sam about the damages done to his office the day before.[5] This, however, is a distraction so Joe can pull Cap aside and talk about his concerns regarding Falcon. He doesn’t like how the Falcon has been acting like a loose cannon, carrying guns, and threatening people. He also has noticed that Steve seems to be out of it and tells him to get his act together. He then tells Cap something else about the sniper who shot at him. When Joe went to look out the window, he saw the Falcon flying away. Cap thinks that is crazy until Robertson asks about Sam owning a rifle. Steve remembers that when Sam was in his hotel room earlier he had a rifle of the same make that shot at Joe. That’s when Steve gets a priority alert. Rushing outside to get Sam, he discovers that Wilson shoved the bill for damages into Jameson’s mouth and then disappeared.[6]
Cap rushes to the Wakandan Embassy where Anti-Cap has gone into cardiac arrest. As Steve races to his side, Anti-Cap tells him that he always envied Rogers. Cradling Anti-Cap in his arms, Steve laments over his imposter’s death and blames himself for what happened.[7]
Recurring Characters
Captain America, Falcon, Anti-Cap, AIM, MODOK/Damocles Rivas, Joe Robertson, J. Jonah Jameson, Omoro, Eleanor Robertson (voice only), Redwing
Continuity Notes
When Captain America first met the Falcon back in Captain America #117, he seemed to be the ideal partner. It was later revealed in Captain America #186 that the Red Skull had used to alter Sam’s mind to make him a sleeper agent. He was allegedly a crook named “Snap” Wilson. However, after that this story and this one, in All-New Captain America #3, it is later revealed that “Snap” Wilson was a fabrication. The Red Skull created this false identity as a bit of racist gaslighting to make Sam question his identity. As of this writing (March, 2024) it is unclear how people remember “Snap” Wilson if that persona never existed. My assumption is that the Skull didn’t just alter Sam’s mind, but that of reality itself to make people “remember” something that never happened.
Jimmy Westbrook is a member of the Office of Naval Intelligence. He has been working with the Rivas Cartel to obtain a DNA sample of MODOK for some nefarious purpose. Cap and the Falcon have been investigating this and their “Anti-Cap” super-soldier over the last seven issues.
Steve has been staying at a hotel because his apartment was trashed by the Serpent Society in Captain America (vol. 4) #30.
Steve had what seemed to be a brief love affair with Wanda in Captain America and the Falcon #5-7. However, this was apparently some kind of illusion brought on by the fact that the Scarlet Witch was losing her mind. Cap and the Avengers soon discovered how far gone Wanda was in Avengers #500-503.
Steve and Sam recount how MODOK has both been used by or in charge of AIM. This has been the case since he was first seen in Tales of Suspense #94.
Sam’s sudden change in character an apparent “reversion” to his “Snap” Wilson persona is never fully explained. The Falcon profile in Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A-Z #4 suggests that this might be because the Scarlet Witch used her powers to manipulate him. I think it is safe to assume that such a change in his personality had lingering effects past the Avengers Disassembled storyline.
This is not the end of Anti-Cap, he’ll survive this heart attack, as we’ll see next issue.
Topical References
The opening sequence features a lot of obsolete technologies on display including a CRT model television and an analogue cell phone that has an antenna and physical buttons.
The AIM operative is also watching The Late Show with David Letterman. It features a bit with Letterman talking to his house band leader Paul Schaffer. This should be topical as the two men were on the show from 1993 to 2015.
CNN is specified as covering the conflic between the Columbian military and the Rivas family. This is a real world network.
A the Chinese drug dealers hideout there is another CRT television. This one also has a DVD player. While this format is still used, it is falling out of common use thanks to the advent of blu-ray as well as streaming video and is on its way to obsolescence. They are also holding 30 million dollars for the Rivas, this would be worth more in present day money due to inflation.
Tommy has a poster of Mao Zedong, who was the leader of China from 1943 to 1976. Since this comic was published decades after Zedong’s death, one could assume that this poster is here in a historical context and its depiction should not be considered topical. Many Chinese people still hold Mao in high esteem even decades after his death.
Captain America states here that the poor farmers make about $400 on every kilo of cocaine sold and how that amount would be worth about $70k in the United States. These amounts are based on the value when this comic was published in 2004. These prices have likely changed due to inflation/demand.
The United States “War on Drugs” kicked off in the 1970s and has been a polarizing issue for a myriad of reasons. Mostly because it takes an abstinence approach to drug addiction with heavy and punitive punishments. It has also caused a great deal of violence and loss of life globally in prevention efforts while wasting over a trillion dollars as of this writing (March, 2024). It has been called an abject failure even though it is continued to be enforced despite the decriminalization of substances (namely marijuana), science based addictions treatments, and the prescription medication abuse overtaking the use of illicit substances. Some day the “War on Drugs” could potentially come to an end so be ready to consider this a topical reference at some point. Although I wouldn’t hold my breath on that.
When Captain America refers to the plight of the Columbian farmers, Sam sarcastically calls him “Jane Fonda”. Jane Fonda is an American actress who has been active since 1959. Other than her entertainment credits, she is best known for her anti-war, feminist, and LGTBQA2S+ activism. She is 86 years old as I write this (March, 2024), and isn’t long for the world. One could also replace her name with a more contemporary example.
The hotel Captain America is staying in is identified as a Marriott Wyndam Hotel in Battery Park. This is a real world hotel chain.
The rifle used to try and shoe Joe Robertson is identified as a Remington model. This is a real world brand of firearm.
Translations
There is dialogue in this story presented in other languages without a translation they are:
German: “Bitte toten sie mich nicht!! Wir meinten sie kene verletzung!!!” = “Please don't kill me!! We meant no harm to you!!!”
Chinese: “西喜新 迎天时西 谊生时” = “When the sky welcomes the west, when friendship is born!”
Chinese: “春际市喜新加 喜新天!!” = “Chunji City is happy with the new addition and happy with the new day!!”
Chinese: “时西生谊生时由 谊迎!!” =” When the west is born and the friendship is born, the time is welcomed by the friendship!!”
German: “"Fröhlicher jarhestag, liebling. Ich liebe sie." = “Happy anniversary, darling. I love you.”
