Captain America Annual #4
The Great Mutant Massacre!
Captain America answers a classified ad asking for someone to adopt and care for a mutant. Also answering the call is the evil mutant named Magneto. The pair arrive at the same time and soon a battle breaks out between the pair.[1] The battle draws out Joe Keegan, the man who put out the advertisement. When both Cap and Magneto inquire about the mutant he was writing about, Keegan says that there are actually two. He explains that he is a long haul trucker who came upon the pair seeking shelter. Although Joe took them in, he realized that the mutants need a team of scientists to look after their well being.
When the Master of Magnetism demands to see the mutants, Joe flips open the face of his watch revealing the first. It is a tiny mutant he has come to call Mister One. Magneto is impressed by Mister One’s tiny size and realizes he will be perfect for what he needs and uses his magnetic power to snatch the watch of Joe’s wrist. That’s when the second mutant the massive Mister Two comes up behind Magneto. Mister Two crushed Magneto’s helmet and tosses him outside empty handed. Vowing to come back and take what’s his, Magneto escapes in his ship. With the evil mutant gone, Joe Keegan is more than happy to release Mister One and Mister Two over to Captain America.
The two mutants are handed over to SHIELD for examination and a week later, Steve Rogers comes to check on them. Doctor Hasley has been examining Mister One and connected the tiny mutant to a computer allowing him to communicate by turning his mental impulses into text. Hasley believes that Mister One and Mister Two are two beings that share the same mind. It’s at this point where Mister One demands to be brought outside and these thoughts transmit over to Mister Two, who then tries to break out of the facility. Luckily, Hasley has discovered that Mister Two is vulnerable to electricity and stuns him into unconciousness.
Meanwhile, Magneto is furious that Captain America has interfered with his plans as he recently gotten ahold of an alien ship piloted by a tiny alien race and Mister One would have been the perfect size to enter the ship and learn its secrets. He is interrupted by Peepers, one of the new members of Magneto’s Brotherhood of Evil Mutants. With the ability to see events at great distances, Peepers has been keeping an eye on Captain America and has tracked him to the SHIELD facility where Mister One and Two are being kept. Pleased, Magneto rallies the rest of his team which includes the serpentine Slither, the electrically based Shocker, the pyrokinetic Burner, and the super-strong Lifter.
By this time, Captain America has taken Mister Two outside the facility and finds the mutant is much gentler than his appearance suggests. Suddenly, they are ambushed by the members of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants. The pair are able to hold the Evil Mutants at bay until SHIELD agents arrive to drive them off. However, in the middle of the battle Mister Two suddenly enters a death-like coma and Captain America deduces that it has something to do with Mister One. Racing back to the lab, Cap discovers that the the attack was a decoy allowing Magneto to kidnap Mister One.
Back at his hideout, Magneto gloats over his victory when the rest of his team return. They demand to know what their mission is all about and he decides to let them in on his current plot. With attention off him, Mister One sends his mind back into the body of Mister Two and demands to be let free from his cell. Believing that Mister Two can lead him to Magneto, Captain America lets him free and follows after the massive mutant.[2] Peepers sees the pair coming their way and warns Magneto. While the rest of the Brotherhood keeps them busy, Magneto forces Mister One into the tiny alien ship to learn its secrets. In the ensuing battle, Mister Two is taken down by Burner’s flame powers leaving Captain America to fight alone. Feeling that his other self has died, Mister One knows that he cannot exist much longer without his symbiotic other-half and sets the alien ship to self-destruct in order to prevent Magneto from harnessing its secrets.
With the ship about to explode, Magneto escapes through a trap door. Captain America tries to follow after him but is knocked out in the blast. When he wakes up, there are no trace of Magneto or his Brotherhood. With nothing left to do, Captain America heads home knowing that Magneto is still alive and will strike again sometime soon.[3]
Recurring Characters
Captain America, Brotherhood of Evil Mutants (Magneto, Burner, Slither, Peeper, Lifter, Shocker), SHIELD
Continuity Notes
Magneto mentions the last time he and Captain America clashed. That was in Avengers #110-111.
Here, Captain America wishes he was able to get ahold of the X-Men as they have had the most experience with Magneto having fought many times since their first clash in X-Men #1. At the time of this story, the X-Men on the other side of the universe are preventing Shi’ar Emperor D’Ken from wiping out all existence with the M’Kraan Crystal. See X-Men #105, 107-108.
Obviously Magneto survived this dumb little story. Chronologically he appears in Classic X-Men #12. Abandoned by Magneto, this incarnation of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants will return as Mutant Force in Defenders #78-83 and 87.
