Captain America #159
Turning Point!
Waking up from a vivid dream, Steve Rogers finds himself a prisoner of his fellow police officers: Sergeant Brain Muldoon, and Bob Courtney. They are convinced that Rogers is the Cowled Commander and are willing to use torture to get the truth out of him. Steve, who is secretly Captain America, pleads with them to see reason. Muldoon doesn’t believe him due to Steve’s erratic career as a rookie cop. They then decide to leave Steve to stew over his situation before questioning him further.[1]
Left alone, Steve thinks about how he was easily taken prisoner because of his shifting strength levels since he was exposed to Viper’s venomous darts.[2] Feeling great again, Steve is surprised when he has the strength to snap his ropes. He then realizes that exposure to Viper’s venom somehow gave him super-human strength. Since the real Cowled Commander is about to start a crime wave this evening, Steve changes into Captain America and leaves out the window. No sooner does he do this that he spots a squad of patrol cars racing to the Diamond District. He follows them there and discovers the Eel, Scarecrow, Plantman, and the Porcupine robbing one of the businesses there.[3] While Captain America leaps into battle, the police are held back by a massive vine grown by Plantman.[4]
As Captain America is being swarmed by the Scarecrow’s crows, the Falcon arrives on the scene with his prisoner the Viper and his pet hawk, Redwing. Redwing drives off the crows and Falcon joins the battle against the super-villains. The Eel, revealing that the Viper is his brother, then shocks Falcon with one of his electro blasts. While Captain America catches his partner out of the sky, the villains try to make a run for it. As Cap and Falcon try to give chase they are blocked by a police car carrying the Commissioner, who is also attempting to catch the crooks. Although the Commissioner says it was an accident, Captain America has grown suspicious of him after a bomb went off after their last meeting. Also arriving on the scene are Sharon Carter, happy to see Captain America alive after the bombing. Also arriving are Muldoon and Courtney who are searching for Steve Rogers, and Leila, who has become enamored with the Falcon and wanted to see him in action.[5]
They all want to help Captain America and the Falcon catch the Cowled Commander, but Cap says it is too dangerous. With Redwing leading them to the Crime Wave’s hideout, Sharon and the others follow after the two heroes despite orders to do otherwise. Although Captain America and Falcon manage to ambush their foes, one of Plantman’s giant plants strangle them into unconsciousness. When they wake up the duo find themselves trapped in a room with steel walls. Communicating over an intercom the Cowled Commander who intends to kill them with a deadly gas. What the villain doesn’t account for is that Captain America now has super-human strength and he manages to rip the door open with his bare hands. In the ensuing battle, the Crime Wave is defeated and the Cowled Commander is unmasked.
Captain America and Falcon are both shocked to discover that it is Brain Muldoon himself! Learning that Sharon and the others are being held prisoner, they are quickly freed. As Muldoon is being led off to the police he explains his entire scheme was an attempt to repair the tarnished reputation of the NYPD, which was taking a public relations beating over the bribery scandal. He hoped that this would also bring public support to new and sweeping police powers.
Recurring Characters
Captain America, Falcon, Cowelled Commander, Crime-Wave (Viper, Scarecrow, Porcupine, Plantman, Eel), Sharon Carter, Bob Courtney, Leila Taylor, Redwing
Continuity Notes
Steve Rogers has been operating as a police officer under the direction of Commissioner Feingold since Captain America #139 (Feingold’s name isn’t revealed until Defenders #13, BTW) Muldoon was suspended on bribery accusations in Captain America #152. Before then, Brain was heavily critical of Rogers and did not like that he would get special assignments from the Commissioner.
Cap was exposed to this venom in Captain America #157. It’s interaction with the Super Soldier Serum will give him super-human strength until about issue #218 of this series.
The criminals here mention how they last worked together in X-Men #23. X-Men is noted as “late lamented” because at the time of publication the X-Men comic was only publishing reprints and was on the verge of cancellation. It should also be noted here that, per the Plantman entry in Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe: Master Edition #2, this isn’t the real Plantman but one of his simuloids created out of plant matter to carry out his bidding.
Porcupine says he owes Captain America for his last defeat. That happened in Captain America #130.
Leila’s last name is not given here. Captain America #188 reveals that it is Taylor.
Topical References
The Viper makes a reference about the “Man From Glad”, this is a reference to the mascot for Glad brand garbage bags. The pitch man from the company was active from the 60s through the 80s. It’s reference here should be considered topical for obvious reasons.
