Captain America #236: Review

Aug 1979

Michael Fleisher, Don Perlin

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Story Name:

Death Dive!

Review & Comments

Rating:

Captain America #236 Review by Peter Silvestro (January 18, 2014)

Review: The story arc wraps up in a satisfying fashion, especially those thrilling mid-air scenes—if one overlooks a blind man flying an airplane and a Quinjet; he’s a superhero, alright? The only question I had was, why was the Grand Director/1950s Cap in the story? He first appeared as a strong leader in issue #231 but was quickly riddled with doubts and insecurities to the point where he breaks down completely and tries to kill himself in this issue. Faustus should have shot him and tossed him overboard much earlier.

Comments: Part six of six. 1950s Cap showed up as a bad guy in issues #153-156; apparently killed at the end of this issue, he is discovered to be alive in CAPTAIN AMERICA (2004) #37 in 2008. He is seen to have shot Bucky (Jack Monroe) in flashback; it is revealed in issue #281 that the gun was loaded with blanks and that Jack was still alive.

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Synopsis / Summary / Plot

Captain America #236 Synopsis by Peter Silvestro

Captain America, leaping from a biplane piloted by Daredevil in hopes of intercepting the dirigible hijacked by the National Force, finds himself drifting out of range. He adopts a skydiver’s stance and manages to drift closer to the airship—and he misses, plunging past his target. DD swoops down and tosses Cap his billy club. The Avenger grasps it and when he is in range uses the line to hook a flagpole to slow his fall enough to tear through an awning, relatively unharmed. Meanwhile, DD brings the stalled plane down to a crash landing on the docks….

Aboard the dirigible, Dr Faustus explains to the captive Peggy Carter his scheme to blanket New York with his mind-gas, bringing everyone under his control. He has the Grand Director unmask, revealing him to be the crazed 1950s Captain America. Faustus explains how the evil Cap and Bucky were brought to his sanitarium for treatment and the villain used them to test his mind-gas—by having Cap shoot Bucky. The memory of this causes "Cap" to have a complete breakdown, curling up into a fetal position. Meanwhile above, the real Captain America has arrived via Quinjet (piloted by Daredevil—does this guy have a pilot’s license?) and enters the ship to confront his enemies. Faustus yells at the Grand Director to do something…and the madman does—he presses his self-destruct button. He is consumed in flames which spread quickly throughout the ship. Cap battles the National Force goons and stops Faustus from releasing the gas. The burning craft crashes into the river and DD is on hand to rescue the survivors, including Cap, Peggy, and Faustus.