Captain America #264
The American Dreamers!
The Waldheim Hotel in Upstate New York is mostly deserted. Inside its large banquet hall a quartet of individuals are hooked into a machine for some secret purpose. They are Ursula Richards an adult African-American woman, a young boy named Phillip le Guin, German immigrant Eva Krauss, and Harold Becker, an adult male.
Meanwhile, Captain America returns to the United States after a diplomatic mission to South America. Greeted by adoring fans and the press, Cap tells the gathered reporters that his mission was a success. Getting into a limo and driven into Manhattan, Cap’s security detail marvels at how Steve Rogers served 20 years in the military as America’s super-soldier and then became director of SHIELD. As they pass by a poster of John F. Kennedy supporting plans for lunar colonization, the security officer also remarks on how changes that allowed JFK to run for six consecutive terms have greatly benefitted the country.
They make a stop at Avengers Mansion so Cap can check in on his old partner, Bucky, who now leads the team. He is taken to the trophy room where the Avengers have stored the inert bodies of their latest foes, the robot Ultron and his android minion, the Vision.[1] Seeing the Vision confuses Steve because he has conflicting memories about the Vision being a member of the Avengers and that they spoke together relatively recently. Going up to his room to clear his head, Steve turns on a television. The broadcast is briefly interrupted by Ursula Richards, who tries to warn Captain America that the reality around him is not what it seems. However, he connection is cut off and Rogers dismisses it as his mind playing tricks on him due to fatigue.
Later, Steve goes out on the town with his friend Sam Wilson, who has retired as the Falcon and become a Congressman. Hearing someone calling for help, the pair race into a nearby store and see that the owner is being held at knife point by a young man trying to rob him for drugs. Sam easily saves the store owner and the police quickly come to make an arrest.
It’s then that Harold Becker takes control of the fantasy that Steve Rogers is trapped in. This causes a sudden shift in reality and suddenly Sam is a shoe-shiner who speaks like a racist caricature. When another walking past them begins harassing Sam for being Black, Steve comes to his defense and is shocked when Sam tells him not to bother because he deserves the abuse. Seeing this scene unfold also shocks Ursula who tries to take back control of the simulation to send another warning to Captain America. This appears in the form of sky writing but before Steve can make sense of it Phillip le Guin takes control and the fantasy changes again.
Now, Steve and his friends are all children out at an amusement park without a single care in the world. Riding on a merry-go-round with Sam, Steve is dared to grab a passing ring. When he succeeds, Ursula projects her image in the ring’s loop and tries once again to give him another warning.
Unfortunately, Eva Krauss takes control of the fantasy and the scene shifts again. Young Steve and Sam Wilson are transformed into grown-up Captain America and the Falcon. They find themselves in a world where the Nazis won World War II. They are disgusted to see the Nazi government parading enslaved Blacks, Jews, and mutants as part of a twisted parade. Seeking to stop this abomination, Cap and Falcon free the original X-Men and remove their power inhibiting shackles. The team of young mutants then join them in fighting off the Nazi soldiers that surround them. In the ensuing clash the Falcon is shot in the back and killed. Captain America narrowly avoids a spray of enemy bullets and is surprised when the bullet holes form another message from Ursula.
By this time, the man responsible for gathering these telepaths and creating this fantasy world becomes aware that Ursula is fighting against the simulation. This man is named Morgan MacNeil Hardy, he has lived a long life and seeks to restore America to its former glory of the early 1900s. He recalls how he survived the San Francisco fire of 1906 and amassed a great deal of wealth to recreate the world he once new.[2] He recalls how he recruited Turner D. Century to help him achieve his goals but Century was a sadistic murderer who hampered his goals, which were ultimately stopped by Spider-Woman.[3] Surviving the destruction of his secret underground city, Hardy began funding a new project. To this end, he recruited a quartet of telepaths and built a machine to tap into their mental powers and use them to recreate a reality that he finds suitable. Unfortunately, the telepath’s subconscious desires have begun to affect his simulations. He refuses to allow Captain America to stop his attempts.
Meanwhile, Captain America has defeated the Nazis and is setting a course to the Waldhiem Hotel. On the way, he suddenly remembers that he was on his way back from Los Angeles when he was caught in this reality shift. When he arrives outside the hotel, Ursula tries to warn Captain America of danger. He is soon attacked by a group of Klan members but he defeats them even as they change into Nazis and Cap experiences another age regression. Entering the ball room, he discovers that Hardy has hooked himself into the machine as well. Deciding that Captain America is a threat to his vision, he begins using the power of his telepaths to try and erase Captain America from existence.
However, this backfires as the machine goes out of control and begins erasing everything. Fading from existence, Captain America lunges at Hardy, causing the machine to overload and explode. This causes reality to snap back to normal but the process kills Hardy, Krauss and Becker in the process. In the aftermath of the battle, Captain America tells Ursula and Phillip to remember this the next time someone tries to sell them on the idea of turning America into a “Utopia”.
Recurring Characters
Captain America, Morgan MacNeil Hardy
Continuity Notes
This is a nod to the fact that Ultron created the Vision to attack the Avengers. In the “real world” Viz turned against his master. See Avengers #57-58.
How Hardy could have lived in 1906 and still be alive in the Modern Age is explained in Avengers #218, which reveals that Hardy is the so-called Forever Man who has been resurrected after every death and lived a new life. Morgan does not remember his past lives but the truth will be revealed to him in that very issue of the Avengers.
Spider-Woman stopped Turner D. Century in Spider-Woman #33.
Topical References
One of the false realities that Captain America experiences is a world where JFK was not assassinated. In this fantasy, he and Bucky never went into suspended animation and an adult Bucky is a member of the Avengers, suggesting that this world takes place in “real time” and set in the year 1981 when this comic was first published. Usually something like this would be considered topical, but since this is a fantasy created by the mind of others, the usual topical reference rules would not apply here. Instead, modern readers could assume that the era this fantasy takes place in is part of its narrative and not reflective of the era in which the Modern Age takes place in.
