Captain America #242
Facades!
Captain America has received a call from Peggy Carter and arrived at the meeting place to help if she is in any kind of trouble.[1] He is suddenly ambushed by Peggy, Nick Fury, Gabe Jones, and Dum Dum Dugan. The reason for the attack is that Peggy wants revenge against Cap for murdering her relative, Sharon.[2] Cap can’t believe what he is being accused of and tries to convince Peggy that there was nothing he could do to save Sharon.
However, these are not actually Captain America’s allies, but androids created by the Manipulator. He observes the situation from his hideout with Brain Muldoon, who has hired the assassin to help him get revenge against Captain Aemrica.[3]
Muldoon is getting impatient and questions why the Manipulator wants to psychologically torture Captain America instead of just getting it over with. The Manipulator explains that he is driven by determining what it takes to break people ever since his own father — broken by life’s many pressures — took his own life. This inspired the future Manipulator to begin studying behavioral psychology and he then applied those skills to being an assassin-for-hire to fund himself while also giving him opportunities to test his theories.
Turning their attentions back to the monitor, they witness as the Peggy Carter android reveals to Captain America that she has taken his former partner, the Falcon, prisoner. Little does Captain America know that this is yet another android and is horrified when “Peggy” uses her ray gun to incinerate the “Falcon”, turning him to a pile of lifeless ash. She then tries to shoot Cap, but he deflects the blast with his shield. It strikes the fake Peggy, incinerating her as well. Examining the remains, Cap realizes that neither she nor Falcon were flesh and blood individuals. Unsure if Fury, Dugan, and Jones are real or not, he demands to know why they have attacked him. “Fury” explains that Captain America has created an impossible standard for them to live up to and the only way they can get out from under his shadow is to kill him.
In the ensuing fight, both the androids of Dugan and Jones are “fatally” shot. Unable to tell what’s real anymore, Captain America is suddenly blinded by a flash of light. The room is then filled with his fellow Avengers and American soldiers who begin saluting Cap just like they did in Adolf Hitler in Nazi Germany. Captain America is horrified by this scene and is shocked when a lone dissenter — a soldier in a wheelchair — is shot dead by a phony Iron Man. Captain America attacks the apparent killer, revealing that it’s not the real Iron Man, just an empty suit of robotic armor.
As the others flee the room, Captain America follows after them into another building. There he finds the Nick Fury android has hung himself and pinned a note to his pants that blames Captain America for his death. Suddenly a trap door opens in the floor and Cap falls into a secret chamber where he is restrained by what appears to be the Red Skull. The “Skull” then reveals that “Sharon Carter” is actually alive and has been his prisoner all these months. This works up Captain America enough that he can break free from his bonds. When he strikes the Red Skull’s mask with his shield it shatters revealing the face of Captain America underneath before dropping dead. Cap then races to free “Sharon” only to watch her immolate herself once again. This apparently breaks Captain America’s mind and he collapses to his knees.
Pleased by his work, the Manipulator looks away from his monitor and discovers that Muldoon has impatiently gone off to kill Captain America while he wasn’t looking. However, Captain America was faking his mental breakdown to draw out whoever was toying with him and catches Muldoon off guard before the disgraced cop can shoot him. That’s when the Manipulator arrives and congratulates Captain America for standing up to his mental torture. As the Manipulator points out that he committed no actual crimes, Muldoon recovers and tries to shoot Captain America again. Cap deflects the bullet with his shield and knocks Muldoon out again. When he turns to face the Manipulator, Cap discovers that the bullet ricocheted off his shield and struck the Manipulator in the face, revealing him to be a robot. The Manipulator cannot believe this as he has vivid memories of being a human and having a past but the realization that he is nothing more than a robot causes the Manipulator to short circuit and collapse to the ground. Captain America briefly contemplates the Manipulator’s true nature before hauling Muldoon off for the police.[4]
Recurring Characters
Captain America, Brian Muldoon, Manipulator
Continuity Notes
Here, Cap states that he hasn’t seen Peggy since he saved her from Doctor Faustus. That happened in Captain America #236.
Sharon seemingly perished when she immolated herself while under the apparent mental control of National Force’s Grand Director, as revealed in Captain America #237. In reality, Sharon faked her death as she was going into a deep cover mission for SHIELD. She will turn up alive again in Captain America #444. Here, Sharon is referred to as Peggy’s sister, a familial relation that has since changed due to the Sliding Timescale. Click here for more on that.
Brain Muldoon was a crooked cop that also operated as a Cowled Commander. His criminal operation was exposed by Captain America and Muldoon was sent to prison. See Captain America #157-159.
It’s later revealed in Captain America #249 that the Manipulator was created by the Machinesmith.
