The cover to issue 34 of Captain America has just been posted to the web… with many and varied responses.
Designed by Alex Ross and writer Ed Brubaker, the new costume looks far more armored, has a more pronounced utility belt (first introduced roughly five years ago by artist Chris Bachalo), is half-black for ’stealth’ (no one will notice a gleaming American flag at night, I guess) and for the first time since WWII, weaponry.
The storyline building to the death of Captain America (begun in the first issue of his newest series) started with the death of Cap’s deadliest enemy, The Red Skull.
While he was shot, the Skull was holding an imperfect Cosmic Cube, which allows the bearer to manipulate reality at his/her whim.
After the Skull died, two things happened:
1) the Red Skull’s assassin, Aleksander Lukin, started seeing the Red Skull’s face in mirrors telling him how to build his grand giant robot, the Sleeper. Currently, Lukin wears a mask and acts as if he really is the Red Skull… which, given the powers of the Cube, he might be.
2) Captain America’s former partner Bucky, thought to be dead at the hands of Baron Zemo during WWII before Cap took a deep sleep until he was revived in the modern world… was alive. Not only that, but Bucky was operating as a KGB agent known as the Winter Soldier.
This duo conflict of Cap trying to track down Bucky and The Red Skull operating from the shadows to create an ingenious trap involving Captain America’s deadliest enemies and closest friends, resulted in the star spangled Avenger getting shot in the gut on his way to a court where was going to stand trial for leading a rebellion against the US Government in the mini series Civil War. The killer was Cap’s great love, Sharon Carter.
Since his death, the monthly series has gone to great lengths to verify that Cap really is dead and that the Red Skull is only beginning in his plot for world domination. With SHIELD under the leadership of Tony Stark (aka Iron Man) and the world’s heroes split down the middle between underground vigilantes and government-sponsored super heroes, there is only an enraged Winter Soldier left to uncover the plot while Black Widow, The Falcon and Sharon Carter struggle to catch up.
Searching for a replacement, Stark asked the recently back from the dead hero Hawkeye to take up the mantle, but the bowman passed on the offer.
In a recent issue, it was revealed that Carter was pregnant, presumably with Captain America’s baby… which raises fanboy eyebrows across the nation.
This new Captain America will finally appear in the monthly series, almost a full year after the original Cap was killed.
I highly doubt that he is Steve Rogers.
The fact that he is holding a gun and knife, the weapons of the Winter Soldier, leads me to believe that it is in fact Bucky taking over from his mentor. This would not be a cop-out and would take the comic into a new and exciting direction.
Winter Soldier holds Cap’s values very highly, yet often acts with more force and violence than his hero would use. He has a lot to learn. Perhaps taking up the shield would be the best way to learn these lessons?
The Red Skull is currently using the Cosmic Cube to get baked goods.
Recommended Reading:
Captain America Vol. 1: Winter Soldier, Book One
Captain America Vol. 2: Winter Soldier, Book Two
Captain America Volume 1: The New Deal HC (Marvel Knights)
