Captain America #224
Saturday Night Furor
It’s early Sunday morning when a pair of joggers find Captain America floating face up in the water along the shores of Spuyten Duyvel.[1] They take the hero back to there home and care for him until he wakes up. Not only does Captain America not remember what happened the night before but, when he takes off his mask to look at his face in the mirror he is shocked to discover he looks much different and his hair is black instead of blonde.
Captain America races back to Avengers Mansion and shows his teammates what happened to him and that he has no memory of what happened the night before. Looking at Captain America’s “new” face, Iron Man quickly discovers that Steve is wearing a mask made out of synthetic skin over his face and uses a tool built into his armor to remove it.
When asking about his whereabouts the previous evening, the Wasp reminds him that they were all guests at a charity function organized by Stark International. They recall that Steve met up with a man named Al Avision who claimed to have known Steve from the “Last War”. Hearing this, Steve thinks this to mean that Avision claimed to have known him from World War II somehow and begins investigating this lead. Searching the city and questioning the like of Nick Fury and the criminal Doctor Faustus yield nothing but dead ends. Returning to Avengers Mansion to exercise and blow off some steam, Steve discovers that his arm is sore. Pulling up his sleeve, he finds a number of punctures he thinks might be bee stings. When runs the wounds through a computer analysis he learns that he was exposed to Brazilian spider venom.
Getting inspiration, Steve then checks the Avengers phone records and discovers that he received a call from Al Avision before the party. He then calls the Avengers together again and asks them to try and remember every detail they can about this Avision character. Both the Beast and the Vision point out that Al was too young to be involved in World War II and suggest that it might have been an earlier conflict.[2] Suddenly, Steve realizes that Avision was talking about the Madbomb war against the Loyalist Forces of America.[3] He puts in a call to General Argyle Fist who is surprised to hear from Captain America as he is supposed to be stopping the sale of Madbomb parts by members of the criminal underworld.
Steve suddenly remembers that Al Avision was an alias that Astor used when they met up at the party. They attempted to infiltrate the auction undercover, there they discovered that it was being held by the villains known as the Tarantula and Senior Muerete.[4] The pair were able to easily see through Captain America’s disguise. While Kent was murdered, Cap was knocked out by a combination of the Tarantula’s poison tipped foot spikes and Muerte’s electrifying touch and his body dumped. Finally remembering everything, Captain America races to where the Madbomb parts were being dropped off and quickly defeats both the Tarantula and Muerte in combat. That’s when General First and his team arrive to mop everything up.
Recurring Characters
Captain America, Tarantula, Senior Muerte, Nick Fury, Avengers (Iron Man, Thor, Yellowjacket, the Wasp, Scarlet Witch, the Beast), Edwin Jarvis, Argyle Fist, Denis Nayland Smith, Doctor Faustus
Continuity Notes
This issue is not a continuation of the story from last issue but a filler story that takes place earlier. According to the Marvel Chronology Project it takes place after the events of Captain America #221. Official Index to the Marvel Universe: Captain America incorrectly attributes this story as happening after Captain America #198. This cannot be correct as this story deals with the fallout from the Madbomb conspiracy, which issue #198 takes place in the middle of the conspiracy.
The Beast specifically references the Vietnam War to which Captain America states that he got involved in but worked solo. This is referring to Captain America #125. However, references to the Vietnam War should be considered topical. Per History of the Marvel Universe #2, all references to the Vietnam War taking place during the Modern Age are now considered to be part of the Sin-Cong Conflict.
Captain America battled the Loyalists and foiled their plot to drive the entire country mad in Captain America #193-200.
This Senior Muerte claims to be the original. However Ramon Garcia, the original Senior Muerete, died in Luke Cage, Hero for Hire #11. Powerman and Iron Fist #63-64 reveals that this is actually his brother Phillip who is only pretending to be his brother here.
Topical References
The hotel where the Stark International party happens is identified as the Statler-Hilton. This should be considered a topical reference as that was the name of the hotel at the time this comic was published in 1978. At the time of this writing (July 2021), this hotel is no longer owned by Hilton. Now owned by the Vornado Reality Trust it has reverted by to his original name, the Hotel Pennsylvania.
