Captain America #218
One Day in Newfoundland!
Captain America has come to the aid of a woman named Veda after she was attacked in the street. Claiming to know something about his past, Cap agrees to hear her out. When they are attacked a second time, Steve decides to take her back to the only place he feels she’ll be safe: Avengers Mansion. There, Veda hands Steve a photograph of a woman she is related to. He recognizes the woman in the picture as Agent-R one of the government operatives that was present when the Super-Soldier Serum transformed him into Captain America.[1][2] As Veda tells Cap that she has Agent-R’s diary she tries to seduce him when Iron Man walks in to tell Cap about the work he’s done on the Avengers submarine. The Golden Avenger is shocked to see Captain America with a woman other than Sharon Carter and tries to excuse himself.
Meanwhile, Sharon Carter arrives at SHIELD headquarters to see if anyone can tell her what Captain America is doing, still upset after seeing Veda kiss him earlier that evening. Nick Fury doesn’t know where Steve is and suggests she talk to the Falcon. That’s when she walks in on Sam was he is training SHIELD’s new Super-Agents: Blue Streak, Marvel Man, Texas Twister, and the Vamp. When she tells Wilson what happened, he doesn’t think much of another woman kissing Steve, pointing out that Cap loves Sharon regardless of what she saw. Sharon, unfortunately, isn’t sure she can still believe this.
Back at Avengers Mansion, Captain America is interested in hearing more about the team’s sub and tells Veda to stay put while he goes to check things out with Iron Man. In the lower levels of the mansion, Iron Man reminds Cap that the sub is the same vessel they used to rescue him from suspended animation many years earlier.[3][4] Coming across an old recording from that day, Captain America plays it back to see if it will offer any clues to his missing past. Steve hears himself in the recording talking about how he hit the water off the coast of Newfoundland, which would makes no sense since Baron Zemo’s drone was launched in the United Kingdom on the other side of the Atlantic. Deciding to investigate this further, Cap has Iron Man fly him to Newfoundland to look for clues that might explain why he might have been in Canada in 1945.
Parachuting from a Quinjet over Newfoundland, Captain America lands in a nearby forest where he changes out of his costume and goes to the nearest town. Walking around, he wonders what mysteries of his past he might find here. Sitting down for a meal at the Red Lobster Inn, Steve spots some men in uniforms running past the window carrying heavy boxes. Finding this suspicious, Steve slips away to change into Captain America to follow them. He trails them to the pier where the men disappear down a trap door. Entering himself, Cap is ambushed by the men, who are now armed with bladed weapons. During the fight, Steve wishes he still had his super-human strength, but his trust in his abilities allows him to win the fight despite the seemingly impossible odds.[5]
Captain America is congratulated for his victory by the man employing them. This turns out to be Lyle Dekker, a Nazi spy that Captain America clashed with back during World War II.[6] He has been waiting out the years hoping that Captain America would return to Newfoundland and is surprised to discover that the hero has no memory of this encounter. Dekker assures the Captain that everything will be revealed soon enough after he sees Dekker’s latest work. Leading Captain America into his lab, Lyle Dekker reveals his invention a massive android that has been constructed to resemble Captain America himself!
Recurring Characters
Captain America, Falcon, Lyle Dekker, Iron Man, Edwin Jarvis, SHIELD (Sharon Carter, Marvel Man, Texas Twister, Bluestreak, Vamp), SHIELD (Sharon Carter, Marvel Man, Texas Twister, Bluestreak, Vamp)
Continuity Notes
Agent-R was identified by this codename in Tales of Suspense #63 and Captain America #109, while Captain America Comics #1 referred to her by the codename Agent X-13. Adventures of Captain America #1 identified this woman as Cynthia Glass. Veda’s have gone unsubstantiated following her later death in Captain America #225. See below for more details.
This story has multiple mentions of Steve Rogers trying to learn about his past. He discovered that he is suffering from selective memory loss in Captain America #215. He finds answers, of a sort, in issue #225.
This of course is a reference to Avengers #4. Per the Sliding Timescale, Cap was rescued from suspended animation about five years prior to this story.
Of course, what retelling of Captain America’s time in suspended animation would be complete without rehashing the fact that Bucky apparently died when the drone exploded. Modern readers will know that Bucky actually survived and became the Russian assassin known as the Winter Soldier. Cap won’t learn this until many years later in Captain America (vol. 5) #14.
Steve Rogers gained super-human strength when Viper’s venom reacted with the super-soldier serum in his body back in Captain America #157. This marks the first acknowledgement that these powers eventually faded away.
Although Dekker is depicted as an older man here, the Sliding Timescale will make it impossible for someone who was active during World War II to still be alive without some means of slowing or stopping the aging process. Marvel has yet to provide an explanation for how Dekker manager to appear as a man in his late 50s/early 60s here, not even in the Ameridroid profile featured in Captain America: America’s Avenger #1. Next issue, Dekker is revealed to be a brilliant scientist capable of building devices like a mind-transfer device and a massive android, I think it’s safe to assume he had developed a means to retaining his vitality until the modern age.
Topical References
The Avengers sub is depicted as having a reel-to-reel tape recorder on board. This should be considered a topical reference due to the fact that this is now an obsolete technology.
Dekker states that he has been waiting for Captain America’s return for three decades. This was the passage of time between World War II and the Modern Age when this comic was published in 1978 and should be considered topical. The gulf of time between WWII and the Modern Age continues to grow every year. For more on that, click here.
The Cynthia Glass Issue
Veda’s claims to be the daughter to Cynthia Glass have not been verified to be true or false. When this story was published in 1978 it was plausible that Veda could have been the daughter of Agent-R. However, due to the fact that the Sliding Timescale causes the gulf of time between World War II and the Modern Age to grow larger with each passing year it becomes increasingly impossible for Veda to be the daughter of Agent-R without some kind means of prolonging her life and slowing the aging process. I choose to consider Veda’s statement a topical reference much in the same way that Peggy Carter’s relationship to Sharon Carter is subject to change due to the Sliding Timescale. As such, I choose to interpret Veda as being an alleged descendant of Agent-R and not her daughter.
That said, Cynthia Glass was revealed to be a Nazi spy and was killed shortly after Steve became Captain America per Adventures of Captain America #1-4 and Steve Rogers: Super Soldiers #1-3. The fact that Captain America doesn’t remember that here could probably be blamed on his selective memory loss, suggesting that it’s more of a patchwork of missing memories that don’t just include his past prior to Project: Rebirth, but also some key events that happened during the experiments.
