The Captain meets his greatest foe once again, but under different circumstances…
Creative Staff:
Writer: Nick Spencer
Art: Javier Pina and Andres Guinaldo
Colors: Rachelle Rosenberg
Letterer: VC’s Joe Caramagna
What They Say:
Only one man can lead Hydra into a new age of dominance and superiority! The Red Skull believes that he is that man! But Captain America thinks otherwise…it’s a no-holds-barred final throwdown that you will not believe!
Content: (warning, content section may contain spoilers)
Things inevitably had to lead to this, didn’t they? To start, Captain America narrates (seemingly to the Red Skull) how, just as Skull thought he was manipulating nd controlling Steve, Steve was manipulating people against him. he recounts how Skull lost Charles Xavier’s brain and was locked up, only to escape via his daughter Sin. Steve meets the Skull at his estate, and a flashback takes us to Germany in 1945-where Skull attempted to ambush Captain America with Nazi soldiers. Back in the present, Sharon Carter and S.H.I.E.L.D. learn that Hydra and the Red Skull have taken over a European nation and have Nuclear power! Back in the 1945 flashback. Captain America and Red Skull are speaking. The Red Skull asserts that He is Hydra, and Cap tells him that he’s not worthy of speaking of Hydra. In the present Steve and Skull are at the Red Skull’s estate, with Sharon unable to reach Captain America.
Skull demands to know what Steve’s Unity Squad was doing letting the Skull’s plan fall apart, but Cap responds that he was following who he was-He serves Hydra. Skull reasserts the point he made in the past about himself and Hydra, but Cap isn’t really having it. The good captain begins beating the Red Skull as we move to Sharon Carter talking to the World Security Council. The members of the council do not seem convinced they should do anything about Skull and Hydra yet, suggesting they wait or Rogers to come back. Sharon…does not seem to like their idea. Back with Skull and Rogers, Skull tries one last time to dissuade Rogers from his actions, shouting that he made everything Rogers knows and dreams for.
The captain is not dissuaded however, and Skull is quickly out of commission. Steve then meets Sin and Crossbones in another room, making the claim that Skull’s plan was really his all along. Steve says they have all the help they need and walks out in command of Hydra. In a last 1945 Flashback, a Cap disillusioned with the war speaks to the woman who introduced him to Hydra, where she tells him of a weapon being readied by the allies-the Cosmic Cube.
In Summary:
Well…I don’t have much good to say about this. Nick Spencer and Marvel continue their politically driven destruction of Captain America. What started as in interesting idea or joke has evaporated to a sad, unfunny joke. Cap continues to spit on the qualities that made him so loved as an American icon, and continue to show his rise as a secret Hydra agent. Even when Skull reveals all, Cap holds firmly to his new ideals and has now taken complete control of Hydra in preparation for this year’s Secret Empire event. The entire thing continues to be bleak in tone and the characters are written well until you get to the books main character. Cap is so far from the character he should be that it’s honestly just maddening to read. The book is still very politically charged and I would not recommend fans of Captain America read this book. This is just all kinds of wrong, and I can’t fathom how it’s still going on really. There’s just too many questions that pop up, and none are really good ones.
Grade D
Released By: Marvel Comics
Release Date: April 5, 2017
MSRP: $3.99
