Germany, April 1945: a band of American GIs in a barracks are thrilling to a newsreel of Captain America in action, brought by a new man, James Barnes. Though Barnes favors Cap’s sidekick Bucky, the entire squad is impressed with Cap’s heroism—except for one man, Private Steve Rogers, Barnes’ buddy. When Rogers downplays Cap’s heroism, it almost starts a fight until Barnes jumps in to calm tempers. A sergeant comes in with orders from General Simon for Rogers and Barnes to head to London. As they leave, the GIs have a strange thought about the two….
In flight, Steve and Bucky speculate on what they would like to do after the War; Bucky is full of plans, all conflicting, but Steve doesn’t know. After all, what purpose does Captain America serve outside of combat? Will they take the suit and shield and just send him home? Bucky insists that the super-soldier will be a hero even out of uniform but Steve is just tired. Later they are in pursuit by motorcycle of a remote-controlled bomber drone; as the plane leaves the runway they manage to leap aboard. Steve can’t hang on but Bucky discovers the craft is booby trapped. As he falls, Steve sees the craft—and his partner—explode in front of him…
…and he wakes up screaming in a completely different place surrounded by odd-looking strangers. As the strangers try to calm him they discover his red-white-and-blue uniform and are shocked. Captain America begins drafting a report to his commander in his head: these odd people whom he calls the Robot, Tinkerbell, and the Circus Strongman (no name for Thor) seem friendly but are clearly hiding something from him. They mention suspended animation and tell him it’s later than he thinks but ask him to stay in the sub while they go outside. After waiting a few minutes Cap follows and is stunned at a different New York than the one he remembers. Walking past an odd set of sculptures of his new companions he wanders into a street where he is almost hit by a car. Walking the streets and marveling at the sights, he hears a cry for help from an alley and races to the scene. There a trio of toughs are abusing a young woman. Cap fights them off but when he goes to offer the victim assistance, the panicked woman draws a gun and shoots Cap in the stomach and flees. The wounded hero sprawls on the sidewalk and no one seems to care….