Captain America: First Vengeance (2011 series) #4

1943: In a top-secret Hydra weapons facility, several prisoners were brought together in a work detail. To prevent them escaping, the sinister commander Lohman ensured that they were of different nationalities, expecting them to quarrel rather than cooperate. The prisoners were Dum Dum Dugan and Jimmy (New York), Gabe Jones (African American), Montgomery Falsworth (Britain), and Jacques Dernier (France). At first the Nazi scheme succeeded as the national rivalries separated the men but when Jimmy, who had pneumonia, was unable to work, Lohman beat him savagely. As a result, the allies joined in a scheme of revenge, rigging a trap on the factory floor which dumped a deadly load of scrap metal on the nasty villain’s head. We then learn that the unfortunate Jimmy is James Buchanan "Bucky" Barnes. Now in the present, the team, calling themselves the Howling Commandos, is aiding Captain America on his mission against the Red Skull….

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Story #2

Chapter Eight

Writer: Fred Van Lente. Penciler/Inker: Richard Elson. Colorist: Soto Color.

Synopsis

As Captain America comes face-to-face with his nemesis the Red Skull, we flash back to 1942, when Professor Erskine was showing the apparatus for Operation: Rebirth to Colonel Phillips and Howard Stark. Erksine stunned Phillips by rejecting all twenty of his candidates for the test. And since Erskine held the only copy of the serum formula in his head, the choice of a subject was entirely up to him….

The Red Skull turns out to be an illusion and Cap and the Howling Commandos discover they are in a room with an ancient Norse artifact, set to explode. The Skull explains that only Cap has the speed to escape the blast. Cap hurls his shield, destroying the runestone and this gives the entire team the opportunity to escape the room. Captain America vows to learn the Red Skull’s master plan and make sure he fails….

At the World Exposition of Tomorrow, Erskine overheard a young 4-F, Steve Rogers, arguing about his determination to join the war effort with his pal Bucky. When the young man was once again rejected, Erskine approached him with a proposal….