Siberia, 1973: cosmonaut Vladimir Volkov has been kept at the Soviet research facility for five years and though he is restrained, the entity that possessed him in space has been driving the base personnel to suicide. The last one remaining, Gridenko, obeys his final orders and seals the facility forever with Volkov inside….
Today: Gridenko, now a colonel, leads the forces to search for the fallen DEUS space station but is reluctant to go any further. The Science Minister, eager to get his hands on American technology, orders Gridenko to go in with his men. Resigned to his fate, he leads his men in. Suddenly, their bodies start morphing and fusing with their equipment and vehicles. Captain America, accompanied by Dr. Lauren Fox, leaps to the rescue, his shield being the only weapon that can hurt the creatures because of its Vibranium composition. After the monsters are defeated, the Russians place Cap and Dr. Fox under arrest. Cap reacts when Volkov’s name comes up and they work out that Volkov must have been possessed by some sort of dark energy being out in space—and activating the DEUS device must have empowered it. Cap and Dr. Fox persuade Col. Gridenko that the space station and Volkov must be destroyed for the good of the world. Cap leads the soldiers inside and they are attacked by the mutated form of the mission commander, Professor Layland. Cap hurls his shield but the monster deflects it. Separated from its protective qualities, Cap’s body begins to morph grotesquely….