Synopsis / Summary / Plot
In the middle of the night. Captain America and the Human Torch (Johnny Storm) are hurrying on their way to stop a crime in progress. As they hustle, Johnny fills Cap in on an incident early in his career…. Johnny had gone to an auto show because they were advertising Captain America (not heard from since the War) as the special guest. While there, a couple of thieves drove off in an antique racer. As Johnny flamed on and lit out after them, suddenly who should appear but…Captain America. The patriotic hero leaped aboard the car and struggled with the crooks while the Torch melted the road ahead with a flame blast. An angry Cap rejected Johnny’s help and while the two heroes were quarreling the baddies tried to skulk off but ran into the cops. And Captain America swung off to the cheers of the crowd. ("All those people thought it was me…signing autographs at a car show?" "Yep." "Sigh."). Johnny sought solace at his girlfriend Dorrie’s house but her hero-worship of Captain America got Johnny’s temper up so that he boiled his soda pop and it sprayed in Dorrie’s face. As he tried to escape her wrath he accidentally set fire to the new linoleum, and made his getaway while Dorrie was ordering more on the phone. ("Send some new linoleum…?" "Who’s telling this story?"). Later Cap busted the car thieves out of jail and sent them off in a Ferrari to draw the police into a chase, decoying them from Cap’s doings. What he hadn’t planned on was the Human Torch swooping down and snatching them, out of their vehicle. ("Meanwhile in the Arctic…" the real Captain America remained frozen in ice. "Very funny," he says.) Downtown, the Cap impostor has robbed the bank and escaped on a giant sky hook to his floating sky platform to make his getaway. (Cap wonders why and how the villain bought such an elaborate set of equipment to rob twenty grand from a bank. "What am I, his accountant?" asks Johnny.) Cap rocketed his loot away in an escape capsule while he parachuted to the ground to battle the Torch…which he did by hitting the flaming hero in the puss with a soaking wet mop. (A mirth-filled Cap wants to hear about this part twice.) Meanwhile the impostor had driven a huge truck out to where the capsule landed. As the Torch rocketed toward him, Cap threw open the doors to the panel truck and Johnny crashed inside…to discover the walls lined with asbestos. (Cap: "You’re making this up.") Johnny escaped by superheating the air to make the truck burst as he had done with the soda bottle earlier. Johnny then captured and unmasked the phony hero. In the present, real Cap and the Torch have arrived at a bank and Johnny introduces Cap to his impostor—Carl Zante, the Acrobat. With his astounding agility, the Acrobat tries to leap and dodge to his escape but Cap just ricochets his shield off the walls and ceiling to conk the baddie. As they turn the hapless crook over to the cops, Cap can’t believe that anyone mistook that loser for him. "You made it all up." "It’s true!" "Then tell me again about the mop."