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Captain America (1968 series) #116

Aug 1969 on-sale: May 6, 1969

Stan Lee
writer
 |  Gene Colan
penciler

Captain America (1968 series) #116 cover

Story Name:

Far Worse Than Death!


Synopsis

Captain America (1968 series) #116 synopsis by reviewer Peter Silvestro
Rating: 4 stars

Image from Captain America (1968 series) #116

The Red Skull has used the power of the Cosmic Cube to switch bodies with Captain America, fooling even Sharon Carter. The transformed Cap pleads with her to listen but the Red Skull simply escorts her from the room. Outside, the Skull sends Sharon back to SHIELD HQ then uses the Cosmic Cube to teleport Cap to the grounds of a government testing lab. Spotting who they think is the criminal Red Skull, security guards open fire. At that moment, to seal Cap’s doom, the Skull causes the lab to explode, making Cap look like a saboteur. Cap overpowers the guards and flees, escaping in a “borrowed” car. The Red Skull, in the hero’s guise, informs the police that the Red Skull can be found driving along a certain highway. The police set up a roadblock and when Cap comes along, it is only his expert driving skills that allow him to bypass the barricade and continue along the highway, with the police in pursuit. At a toll booth Cap crashes through and heads off on a side road….

Meanwhile, the Avengers are watching on their viewscreen, wondering why Captain America is not pursuing his enemy. A concerned Rick heads to the park following a tip from the Teen Brigade and finds “Cap” who insults him and drives him off. An embittered Rick decides to walk out of Cap’s life forever. At that moment, the real Cap arrives at Avengers headquarters to seek their aid, but his teammates reject the “Red Skull’s” claims to be Captain America and they attack. The Avengers easily defeat their perceived foe, who won’t fight back, and when they receive a summons from SHIELD, they tie him up to deal with later. The Red Skull then conceives an ironic death for his archenemy: he brings Sharon Carter to Avengers HQ and compels her to shoot the captive “Skull.” Cap pleads with her and something within her stays her hand…the emotion of love, which even the Cosmic Cube cannot overcome. The villain switches to an alternate scheme, transporting Cap to the one place that means instant death for the Red Skull: the Island of the Exiles.

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Characters: Avengers, Cap, Goliath (CB), Rick Jones, Sharon Carter, Vision, Wasp, Yellowjacket,



 


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Characters
Good (or All)
CAP  
Captain America
(Steve Rogers)
RICKJONES  
Rick Jones
(Richard Milhouse Jones)
WASP  
Wasp
(Janet Van Dyne)
YELLOWJACKET  
Yellowjacket
(Hank Pym)
Plus: Goliath (Clint Barton).

Enemies
REDSKULL  
Red Skull
(Johann Shmidt)
Plus: Exiles.

> Captain America (1968 series) comic book info and issue index



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Previews

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Main/1st Story Full Credits

Gene Colan
Joe Sinnott
Unknown
Gene Colan (Cover Penciler)
Joe Sinnott (Cover Inker)
Marie Severin (Cover Colorist)
Additional Credits
Letterer: Sam Rosen.
Editor: Stan Lee.



Review / Commentaries


reviewer
Captain America (1968 series) #116 Review by (January 13, 2026)

Review: The scenario is a nightmare for Cap: there is nowhere he can go, no one he can seek for help. “Cap Skull—Fugitive” is an appropriate title for this issue which consists almost entirely of Cap, trapped in the Red Skull’s body, on the run from the cops (in a stolen car, no less) and the Avengers in an odd sequence where he takes them all on when they don’t listen to him. All of the Avengers—even Vision—come off like a bunch of hotheads, ruled by their emotions masquerading as their logic. Meanwhile, the villain in Cap’s body puts his wicked scheme on hold so he can watch Cap’s struggles—not the last time someone would be obsessed with staring into a handheld device to see someone else’s troubles in real time. The bit with the biggest impact is the split between Rick and Cap, which is covered rather briefly because it plays into Rick’s deepest fear—that he’s not good enough, which would more-or-less follow him through his comics career until he rejoins Hulk in the later years.

Comments: Part three of a six-part story. Since at this point in his career the Red Skull was only wearing a mask, why doesn’t Cap just take it off and avoid a lot of trouble? He finally catches on next issue. Wasp wants to watch JULIA (1968-1971), a trailblazing 1960s sitcom which featured the first Black female lead character who wasn’t a maid: Julia (Diahann Carroll) was a nurse and a single mom. [The first Black female lead was BEULAH (1950-1953), starring Ethel Waters/Louise Beavers/Hattie McDaniel as a maid. Yes, there was a lot of turnover in the starring role.]

The letters page includes one by Bruce Coville who may be the popular young adult author by that name.






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