Captain America #349
Ice Cap
This story continues from Avengers Annual #18…
Following his battle with the High Evolutionary, the Captain is forced to swim back to Avengers Island after allowing the reserve Avengers use the Quinjet to fly themselves home. He can hardly believe that the Avengers have disbanded and vows to get the team back up and running again.[1] Once he gets on dry land, Steve is ambushed by a massive figure lurking in the shadows. It turns out to be his partner, D-Man, who is happy to see that Steve is free as well.[2]
With some crisis involving mutants happening in New York City, Steve needs to activate a new team of Avengers and asks Dennis if he wants to join up.[3] Dunphy is shocked and honored by this offer and accepts right away. That’s when Battlestar arrives on the island looking for the Captain. Remembering Battlestar as the man who attacked him in Washington, D-Man ambushes him until Steve breaks up the fight. Battlestar explains that he has been sent to get Steve’s help in rescuing his successor, who is now a hostage of the Flag-Smasher at an Arctic ice station. When weighing his priorities, Steve decides to help Battlestar first.[4]
Meanwhile, the Flag-Smasher has John Walker suspended in the freezing arctic waters. He is impressed that Walker has survived 24 hours of this torture but still isn’t convinced that this new Captain America is a worthy foe. He is waiting for the real Captain to show up so he can get him to stop the man who had been secretly backing his terrorist organization, ULTIMATUM. Unsure why he is telling John all of this, Flag-Smasher goes back into the ice station to await the Captain’s arrival.
When the Captain, D-Man, and Battlestar arrive in a Quinjet some time later, they discover the ice station under attack by Flag-Smasher’s own organization, ULTIMATUM. Cap and Battlestar leap out to stop the attack while D-Man is sent to land the Quinjet someplace safe. While Battlestar goes looking for his friend, the Captain goes into the ice station in search of Flag-Smasher. He finds the terrorist leader penned inside by his own men, using Captain America’s shield to defend himself from enemy fire. As Battlestar finds and frees John Walker, Cap learns from Flag-Smasher that his organization has been secretly funded by Johanne Schmidt, aka the Red Skull and they have been building a doomsday machine to take over the world. Cap cannot believe this because the Red Skull is dead, but agrees to help Flag-Smasher stop ULTIMATUM before it’s too late.[5]
With no time to lose, the Captain and Flag-Smasher are picked up by D-Man in the Quinjet and they race to ULTIMATUM’s base. There, Cap and Smasher get through the defenses by using Captain America’s original shield and Steve’s new Vibranium shield to protect themselves from the base’s artillery. While they are inside disabling an electromagnetic pulse device that would put Earth into another dark age, D-Man is forced to try and fight off ULTIMATUM troops who land on the Quinjet to plant explosives. When Cap and Flag-Smasher emerge from the base its just as the explosives go off, sending flaming rubble into the nearby ocean. Cap is horrified as this scene is very similar to how his partner Bucky died decades earlier. Diving into the water, Steve finds no trace of his friend and cannot believe that he has suffered the same tragedy again.[6]
Recurring Characters
The Captain, Captain America, Battlestar, Demolition Man, ULTIMATUM (Flag-Smasher)
Continuity Notes
Earth’s Mightiest Heroes had disbanded during Cap’s absence from the team after the group was betrayed by Doctor Druid. See Avengers #291-297. Steve will reform the team in Avengers #300.
The Captain and D-Man were arrested by the authorities after they saved Washington, DC from the Viper (long story) see Captain America #341-345. Steve was just released last issue.
This would be the Inferno event that was mostly taking place in Uncanny X-Men #239-243, X-Factor #36-39, and New Mutants #71-73. Other comics in this crossover include X-Terminators #1-4, Amazing Spider-Man #311-313, Damage Control #4, Daredevil #262-263 and 265, Fantastic Four #322-324, Power Pack #42-44, Spectacular Spider-Man #146-148, and Web of Spider-Man #47-48. Captain America himself will get involved with Inferno in Avengers #298-300.
Steve asks if Lamar has been living up to the memory of the original Bucky. When Lamar first became the new Captain America’s sidekick he took on the Bucky identity starting in Captain America #334. He later changed his identity to Battlestar in Captain America #341. At the time of this story, everyone believes that original Bucky died back in 1945, per Avengers #4. In reality, he survived and has been operating as a Russian assassin called the Winter Soldier. Steve won’t learn the truth until Captain America (vol. 5) #14.
The Red Skull seemingly died of old age back in Captain America #300. In reality, his mind was transferred into a new body created with Steve Rogers’ DNA, as we’ll learn next issue.
This is not the end of D-Man. As you’d expect from a character who has no original ideas of his own, he will later take another page from Avengers #4 and turn up frozen in a block of ice in Captain America #384. However, he won’t be thawed out until issue #400.
