Captain America: Sentinel of Liberty #1
Sentinel of Liberty
The 4th of July, Now[1]
Rather than spending time with his girlfriend Connie Ferrari,[2] Captain America is defending the country taking down a terrorist called Millennium Dawn in Philadelphia.[3] The battle takes them to the Liberty Bell where Millennium Dawn is taken down by Sharon Carter who has arrived with a team of SHIELD agents to take the terrorist down. As Cap and Sharon teleport up to the SHIELD orbital base, Steve can’t help but think about the past and how he and Sharon were once an item.[4] This causes him to think back to many years ago when they seemed like they were the only two agents alive…
Years Earlier[5]
The SHIELD helicarrier had just been hijacked by Agent 9, a SHIELD operative who has gone rogue in order to make a name for himself. Captain America and Sharon Carter have been sent in to stop him, as Agent 9’s photographic memory makes him a national security threat if his knowledge enters the wrong hands. At the time, Captain America only knew Sharon as Agent 13.[6] As they near the helicarrier, Cap tells Agent 13 to let him cover her since he doesn’t want her to get hurt. Sharon scoffs at this, knowing that Cap is fixated on her because she reminds him of a long lost lover from World War II.[7] That’s when Sharon opens up their top secret instructions. She is shocked to see that it is a Presidential order to terminate Agent 9 with extreme prejudice. Since she doesn’t want Captain America to know, she keeps this part of their mission a secret from him.
Once they land on the helicarrier they have to fight their way through a team of rogue SHIELD agents that have joined Agent 9. Captain America plows through them, but is careful not to knock anyone off the ship, saying that nobody is dying on his watch. Hearing this worries Sharon because of the orders she is keeping secret from Steve.
On the bridge, Agent 9 is using his knowledge of the other agents to blackmail them into helping him take command of the SHIELD helicarrier. He has Agent Thompson set a course for the ship and then heads down to the teleportation chamber to meet with his employer.
Elsewhere, Cap and Sharon have gotten to the lower decks of the helicarrier and have discovered a number of dead agents who have been exposed to some kind of toxin. With their faces shriveled up and turned red, Captain America notes that this is the trademark of his old enemy the Red Skull.[8] When the two catch Agent 9 crossing a catwalk, they get into a scuffle causing stolen documents and Sharon’s kill order to get scattered on the floor. As Agent 9 flees he blurts out Sharon’s real name, Sharon picks up a document that has Captain America’s true identity — that of Steve Rogers — printed on it. Cap, meanwhile, finds the Presidential kill order for Agent 9. Steve asks Agent 13 why she didn’t tell him about this, she doesn’t get a chance to explain as they are ambushed by more rogue SHIELD agents.
After they deal with these agents, Steve demands an explanation. Agent 13 tells him that while Cap is a good solider who will follow orders to serve his country, she does not view him as an assassin. She decided to carry out the order herself since she is used to getting her hands dirty as a SHIELD agent and it’s expected of her. When Steve asks if she doesn’t have a moral problem with taking a life, Sharon says that she has a personal one, namely changing the way he feels about her. That’s when she notices that Agent 9 is directing the helicarrier to the Capitol Building. That’s when a sudden power surge gives away Agent 9’s location: the teleportation room.
They catch Agent 9 struggling to complete the process of teleporting the Red Skull and his troops onto the helicarrier. Quickly, Captain America tosses his shield into the control panel. This cuts off the connection with the Red Skull, sending him back where he came from. There is still enough power for Agent 9 to hop into the teleporter and make an escape. This can be stopped if only Steve is willing to take a life. Gloating over all the top secret information he knows, Agent 9 then boasts that Captain America won’t take his life. Agent 13, is an entirely different matter and with her gun she shoots the control panel, causing Agent 9 to be disintegrated on the spot. Tossing the top secret documents into a nearby fire, Agent 13 declares their mission accomplished.
In the aftermath of the battle, Captain America tells Sharon that today he had to consider two important things: What he would have to do on this mission and how he felt about her. Because of Sharon’s actions, he didn’t have to make at least one of those hard decisions. In response to the other, Steve kisses Sharon…..
Now
…. Steve thinks about how that mission was so long ago and how things have changed since then. After turning over Millennium Dawn to SHIELD security, Cap heads down to give a report to the director of SHIELD. This turns out to be Sharon herself.[9] Steve finds this surprising given Sharon’s rocky career with the spy agency. Sharon admits that SHIELD had been involved in some shady things in the past, but now that she is in charge she is going to make sure that things are cleaner and that her agents won’t have blood on their hands, seeing Captain America as an example to live by. This pleases Steve and thanks Sharon for her hard work. As he leaves Carter’s office, Cap can’t help but smile over how far Sharon has come over the years.
Recurring Characters
Captain America, Sharon Carter, (in flashback) SHIELD (Nick Fury, Dum Dum Dugan), Red Skull
Continuity Notes
Although this story is intended to be taking place in the future, it is still part of Earth-616 continuity because it will match the status quo of later issues in the third volume of Captain America. Per the Marvel Chronology Project, the “future” portions of this story take place before the events of Captain America (vol. 3) #33.
Captain America had started dating Connie in Captain America (vol. 3) #20.
Here, Captain America wishes the Falcon were there to help him but states that Sam is still recovering from the Mad Thinker’s Cerebomb. As of this writing in December, 2022, that story has yet to be told.
Steve and Sharon dated on an off for years until she was seemingly killed in Captain America #237. In reality, she faked her death in order to go on a deep cover mission for SHIELD. Unfortunately, she was cut loose and left for dead and spent the years surviving as a mercenary. It was a much colder and hardened Sharon Carter who reunited with Steve in Captain America #445. More recently, in Captain America (vol. 3) #19, Sharon ghosted on Steve when he told her that he was still in love with her.
Per the Marvel Chronology Project, this flashback takes place between Cap’s appearances in Avengers #45 and 46, Tales of Suspense #94 and 95 for Sharon, Fury, and Dugan, and Tales of Suspense #91 and Captain America #101 for the Red Skull.
In the early Captain America stories in Tales of Suspense, Sharon was only known as Agent 13. Her real name wasn’t revealed to readers until Captain America #103.
This would be Peggy Carter, whom Cap met during World War II as first seen in Tales of Suspense #75. As we learned in issue #77 of that series, Cap was separated from Peggy during the liberation of France and never saw her again. Peggy is a blood relative to Sharon, as we’ll learn in Captain America #162. Peggy’s relation to Sharon has changed over the years due to the Sliding Timescale. Click here for details.
The Red Skull’s Dust of Death causes its victims faces to turn into a grim replication of his own death’s head mask. Publication wise, this was first employed in Captain America #184. This would appear to be the first chronological use of said dust, however since Cap recognizes it as the Red Skull’s handiwork, it appears that it has been used prior to this as well, likely in a story that is as yet untold time of this writing in December, 2022.
Sharon was put in charge of SHIELD by Nick Fury himself in Captain America (vol. 3) #31. She will serve as director until Fury reclaims the role in Captain America (vol. 3) #45.
Topical References
The present day events in this story state that it takes place on July 4, 2001. Publication wise, this comic was published in September, 1998 so this story is set in the “future”. The date used should be considered topical. Per the Sliding Timescale, stories published in 1998 up to October 2001 would have happened in the same year in universe. So rather than a few years, this story would take place a few months after the Captain America stories published in 1998.
