Captain America #132: Review

Dec 1970

Stan Lee, Gene Colan

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Story Name:

The Fearful Secret of Bucky Barnes!

Synopsis

Captain America #132 Synopsis by Peter Silvestro

As Baron Strucker is taken away to prison, Captain America and his newly-returned partner Bucky Barnes are surrounded by the press, amazed at the sensational story. When Sam (The Falcon) Wilson learns the news, his hopes of becoming Cap’s new partner are dashed. At SHIELD HQ, Sharon is relieved to hear that Cap is safe and that now he can overcome the guilt of Bucky’s death. However, on a remote island that houses the secret hideout of A.I.M., their deformed leader MODOK rejoices in the success of his plan; he recalls how his agent provocateurs stirred up campus unrest (in issue #130) and Captain America appeared on the scene, rescued the dean and then was approached by Strucker’s agent to appear on television. When Cap defeated Batroc’s gang on live TV, MODOK conceived a plan to turn Strucker’s desire for revenge to his own advantage. MODOK challenged Doctor Doom to create an android duplicate of Bucky Barnes, by playing on the dictator’s vanity. MODOK then influenced Strucker into the scheme to find a double for Bucky and led him to Doom’s android. Back in the present, the android is commanded to attack Cap; the confused Avenger tries to reason with his partner but “Bucky” beats Cap down and is about to crush him with a huge rock when suddenly the memories of the real Bucky’s kind nature and affection for Cap cause the android to self-destruct. Turns out, Doctor Doom made him too much a copy of Bucky Barnes. Cap discovers that his partner was an android all along and feels that somehow, Bucky’s spirit reached out from the past when he needed him most—more of a miracle than Cap has ever known.