Tales of Suspense #63
Somewhere Lurks the Phantom!
Iron Man has returned to Stark Industries after his recent battle against the Mandarin.[1] He tells Pepper and Happy to hold all calls and reports and disappears into Tony Stark’s office. This is because Stark has come up with a way to be able to keep his heart pumping without having to wear his armor 24/7.[2] Tony quickly modifies the main component so it triples the power output. After installing the component, Tony removes the power pods from his Iron Man armor to see if he will survive without them. After five tense minutes, Tony deems the replacement a success. Stripping off his armor, Tony Stark emerges from his office revealing that he is alive, much to the delight of both Happy and Pepper. Realizing that he can never be with Pepper, Tony decides to secretly encourage her to pursue a relationship with Happy by telling them that he is engaged to get married to a debutant from Boston.
Soon, the entire facility is informed that Tony Stark is still alive. As Tony does his rounds, Doctor Birch asks to discuss something with Tony, but Tony put it off until next week.[3] Tony tries to listen to everything he is told, but his mind is still on how much he loves Pepper and how much he wants her to be happy.
That evening, a menace calling himself the Phantom breaks into Stark Industries and plants a timed incendiary device in one of the factories. This causes a fire, which prompts Tony to change into Iron Man. As firefighters arrive to put the flames out, Iron Man ventures into the inferno and finds the remains of a device, proving that the fire was intentionally set. This is followed by other acts of sabotage that causes plant security, the head of the union, and government officials to question Stark’s ability to run a safe business. Iron Man begins doing patrols of the facility and one night he catches the Phantom. Unfortunately, the Golden Avenger is caught in a bomb blast and the villain gets away.
The following day, Tony is visited by the head of the union, who warns him that staff will go on strike if Stark doesn’t do something about the saboteur. The following night, Iron Man is looking for the Phantom again and finds Happy Hogan is doing the same thing. The pair spot the saboteur, and Iron Man smothers the latest bomb planted by the foe. The villain then tries to escape the shuttle component of Stark’s new “moon missile” rocket. Iron Man catches the shuttle in mid-air, and forces the Phantom out of it and into the arms of security. Tony then races back to his office to change out of his Iron Man armor.
When the Phantom is brought there a moment later, he is unmasked and revealed to be none other than Doctor Birch. Apparently, Birch became the Phantom because he was annoyed that Tony always put off their talks. Tony scolds the disgruntled employee by pointing out all of the things he gave Birch and then orders the guards to take him away. Not long after, Happy asks Tony if he can borrow one of the cars to take Pepper on a date. Tony agrees and is happy that Pepper seems to be warming up to Hogan. Despite this, Tony still feels nothing but despair.
Recurring Characters
Iron Man, Phantom, Happy Hogan, Pepper Potts
Continuity Notes
The battle with the Mandarin took place in Tales of Suspense #61-62. Everyone was left to believe Tony Stark was dead in issue #61 when the Mandarin blew up Tony’s house.
Tony Stark has had shrapnel in his body after stepping on a tripwire back in Tales of Suspense #39. Tony has needed to wear his Iron Man chest plate at all times to keep the shrapnel away from his heart. Recently, in issue #59, his chest plate’s batteries were no longer powerful enough to do the job alone forcing him to wear his armor at all times.
Doctor Birch is never called by his first name in this story. It is later revealed to be Donald in Phantom profile in Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A-Z #9
Topical References
What makes Starktech so “revolutionary” in this story are transistors. A relatively new technology back then but now they are common in every piece of electronics.
The “moon missile” that Stark Industries has invented is a pre-moon landing rocket with a passenger capsule that is said that it could be piloted independently of the booster rocket. While this was a novel concept back in 1965, it’s not so impressive in the days of space shuttles.
The Origin of Captain America!
It is the early days of World War II, and while the draft is in effect, America has yet to enter the war. Despite this, Nazi saboteurs are trying to keep America out of the war. As such, President Franklin Roosevelt has called in his top military officials to ask them how things are coming along with Operation Rebirth. The lead General assures the President that they are ready to move forward. That’s when they are joined by Doctor Anderson who confirms that the final chemical formula is complete.
The three government officials then go to an unassuming curio ship where they are guided upstairs to a secret lab by what appears to be an elderly old woman. This is actually a female government agent wearing a disguise. With all the observers present, their test subject is brought into the lab. He is Steve Rogers a frail young man who was rejected from the draft. Doctor Erksein gives the young man a formula to drink and he is suddenly transformed to the peak of human perfection.
As Rogers marvels over his sudden transformation, a Nazi spy bursts in and fatally shoots Abraham Erksine in the back, ensuring that nobody other than Rogers is ever given the formula. When Rogers tries to catch the spy runs into a piece of machinery and is killed when it explodes.
Rogers then becomes Captain America and on behalf of the United States government, he smashes spy rings and saboteurs across the country, making headlines. As a cover, Steve Rogers is placed at Camp Lehigh where he plays the role of a bumbling private, much to the frustration to the camp Seargent, Mike Duffy. There, Steve becomes friends with Bucky Barnes, an orphan adopted by the base. The youth is a huge fan of Captain America and one day he walks into Steve’s tent while he was changing into Captain America. In order to maintain his secret identity, Steve agrees to let Barnes become his sidekick.
Captain America and Bucky’s first mission together was stopping a team of Nazi saboteurs who have just smuggled themselves into the country. Making short of the work of the spies and sends their rubber raft of explosives back to the submarine that brought them into America, blowing it to smithereens. Captain America is impressed with Bucky’s work after all the training they had done together and the two pledge to be crime-fighting partners from now on.
Recurring Characters
Captain America, Heinz Krueger, Murray Anderson, Cynthia Glass, Abraham Erksein, Chester Phillips, Homer Simms, Mike Duffy, Bucky, Franklin Roosevelt
Continuity Notes
Over the years, the origin of Captain America has been expanded upon in various other stories. The origin story above is adapted from the one presented in Captain America Comics #1. In the greater scheme of all of the origin stories that have been told, this version is one of the most condensed.
A number of characters are unidentified in this story, their names are revealed in other stories. These characters are:
The lead General of Project Rebirth is unidentified in this story. His last name was revealed as Phillips in Captain America #255. He is identified as Chester Phillips in Captain America: Sentinel of Liberty #2. He is called Richard Phillips in Captain America Annual 2000. A profile for the character in Captain America: America’s Avenger #1 clarifies that his full name is Chester Richard Phillips.
Doctor Anderson’s first name is revealed as Murray in Captain America #255.
The female agent who is disguised as an old woman is revealed to be Cynthia Glass in Adventures of Captain America #1. This is verified in Steve Rogers: Super-Soldier #1-2. Captain America: The 1940s Newspaper Strip #1 states that this woman was Betsy Ross, but this is not correct as the pair would not meet until the 2nd story in Captain America Comics #1, which takes place after the creation of Captain America.
Doctor Erksein’s first name is revealed as Abraham in Captain America #255. He has previously been identified as Doctor Reinstein in Captain America Comics #1 and Captain America #109. Both Giant-Size Invaders #1 and Captain America #255 reveal that “Doctor Reinstein” was a codename given to Erksein to keep his true identity a secret.
The assassin that killed Doctor Erksein is identified as Heinz Krueger in Captain America #109.
This version of Captain America’s origins also states that Steve Rogers drank a formula that gave him his powers. This is contradicted by Captain America Comics #1, which shows Erksine giving Rogers an injection, and Captain America #109 which shows Rogers being bombarded with vita-rays to get his powers. Captain America #255 clarifies that all three of these processes were used to turn Rogers into Captain America.
This story states that Steve Rogers is the only person to get the Super-Soldier Serum because the Erksine committed it to memory and did not write it down. This is not an accurate statement.
Prior to defecting to the United States, Erksine worked on Project Nietzche, which examined an American soldier named John Steele’s enhanced physiology (see Marvels Project #1-8). A professor named Eric Schmitt gave an early version of this formula to both Kevin Marlow and Brian Falsworth when they were imprisoned in a Nazi concentration camp. See Invaders #18 and Marvels Project #7.
Truth: Red, White and Black #1-7 reveals that the military tried to recreate the formula and tested it on black soldiers and Isiah Bradley was on of the surviving members of that project.
Doctor Murray Anderson, a scientist that was part of Project: Rebirth, was forced to use his knowledge to create a derivative of the Super Soldier Formula. This was used to create Captain America’s Nazi equivalent, Master Man. See Giant-Size Invaders #1.
Private Biljo White — a long-time friend of Anderson — also apparently had knowledge of the serum and that information was used to create Warrior Woman in Invaders #16-17.
William Burnside, who became the Captain America of the 1950s, created a flawed version of Erksine’s formula from old notebooks he found. See Captain America #155.
In Avengers 1959 #1-5, Nick Fury formed a group called the Avengers Initiative to prevent an organization called ICON (made up of Nazi war criminals) from profiting off a formula that combined the properties of the Super-Soldier Serum with the Infinity Formula.
The Black Widow Ops Program was a Russian program that also created its own version of the formula, the first recipient of it being Natasha Romanoff. See Black Widow (vol. 3) #5.
Project: Sentry was yet another attempt to recreate the formula. It instead created the Sentry. See Sentry (vol. 2) #8.
As explained in Marvels Project #5, a relative of Noah Burstein was involved in Project Rebirth. In the modern age, Noah attempted to recreate this work, giving powers to both Luke Cage and Warhawk. See Luke Cage: Hero for Hir #1, and Powerman and Iron Fist #83.
Also in the modern age, the Navy attempted to create their own version of the serum. Their test subject became the mentally unhinged Anti-Cap. See Captain America and the Falcon #1.
Jacob Erskine, a descendant of Abraham later attempted to recreate the Super Soldier serum as a cure for cancer. However, this ended when he was murdered. See Steve Rogers: Super Soldier #1.
Most recently, another Super Soldier Serum derivative turned Todd Ziller into American Kaiju. See New Avengers (vol. 4) #9.
This story depicts Captain America as always having his trademark round shield. This is not the case. In Captain America Comics #1, Cap first used a triangular shield and started using a round one in the following issue. It is revealed in Captain America #255 that Cap was given the round shield by President Roosevelt shortly after he became Captain America.
Bucky’s real name is James Buchanan Barnes as revealed in Captain America #255. This story presents the idea that Bucky blackmailed Cap into letting him be his partner. Captain America (vol. 5) #12 and Marvels Project #7 reveals that Bucky was trained to be Cap’s partner with the secret purpose of carrying out covert operations that would tarnish Captain America’s image. Bucky’s discovery here is later revealed to be a scene of a propaganda film made by the military in an effort to use Bucky as a counter to the Hitler Youth.
Bucky is referred to as an orphan whose father was a soldier at Camp Lehigh before his death. Per Captain America: Sentinel of Liberty #12, Bucky’s father died by accident during a parachute exercise.
For more on Captain America’s origins see Captain America Comics #1, Captain America #109, 176, 215, 218, 255, 270, 303, 423, (vol. 3) #3, (vol.4) #26, (vol. 5) #2, 12, 14, 25, Adventures of Captain America #1, Captain America and Bucky #620, Captain America Annual #10, 2000, Captain America Corps #1-5, Captain America: Reborn #2, Captain America: Sentinel of Liberty #1, 3, 7, 12, Marvel Super-Heroes (vol. 3) #3, Marvels Project #1-7, New Warriors #4, Steve Rogers: Super-Soldier #1-2, Tales of Suspense (vol. 2) #1, and Winter Soldier: Bitter March #2
