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Captain America #433

Nov 1994
Mark Gruenwald, Dave Hoover

Captain America #433 cover

Story Name:

Diamonds Aren’t Forever


Synopsis

Captain America #433 synopsis by Peter Silvestro
Rating: 4 stars

Captain America is stranded above a vat of Adhesive X in Baron Zemo’s castle in Mexico. His muscles have locked up because of the effects of the Super-Soldier Serum and he is at the mercy of a giant artificial man called a Plastoid. Cap reaches into his utility vest and drops a concussion bomb into the vat; the monster takes the brunt of the blast and is destroyed—for now. Cap heads off in search of Diamondback….

Diamond, meanwhile, is upstairs with Free Spirit and they spy Baroness Zemo with Professor Wentworth, revealed as the feminist villain Superia. The two heroines leap at their targets but before they land a trap door opens up and swallows a surprised Baroness and Superia. Diamond wants to find Cap but Free Spirit rushes off in search of her enemy Superia. As it turns out, she locates Captain America, and after some awkward introductions and explanations, Cap enlists her to help him defeat the pursuing Plastoid, which they do by stretching a tripwire across the entrance and slicing its leg off….

Below in the dungeon, Baroness Zemo and Superia awaken to find themselves the prisoners of Zemo. He accuses her of scheming to betray him to ally with Superia; the Baroness protests she was deceiving her visitor in hopes of obtaining the enhancement process. Zemo is convinced that she truly loves him and is faithful and the two go off together. Moments later, Diamondback enters the dungeon and finds the imprisoned Superia. The villainess reveals that she knows Diamond killed Snapdragon who was working for the villainess, and tells her she can make restitution for her crime. Superia says that if Diamondback agrees to take Snapdragon’s place in her organization, the villainess will give her the cure for Cap’s muscular breakdown (which she discovered when she analyzed Cap’s blood in issue #391). Diamond, seeing the chance to save Cap’s life, is tempted….

The Zemos search the castle by monitor and discover Cap and Free Spirit in the clutches of the damaged giant Plastoid. Sensing victory, Zemo replaces his humanlike mask with the traditional Zemo mask and summons the children to witness his triumph. As the Plastoid is carrying Cap and Free Spirit to its master, Cap has her take a bomb from his utility vest and use it to blow off the monster’s arm, freeing her. He dispatches her to find Diamond. She locates Cap’s partner with Wentworth/Superia and tells her about Cap’s situation then turns to face her enemy. Meanwhile in the lab, the villain orders Cap hurled into the vat of Adhesive X in full view of the children. Cap seizes his grapple gun and swings over the vat but causes the monster to fall in. The huge splash splatters Zemo with the Adhesive and he rips off his mask, exposing his scarred visage to the kids. Trying to elude Cap, Zemo topples over the railing and Cap grabs him by the arm…. Upstairs as Free Spirit takes on Superia, Diamondback, balking at saving Cap because of what happened the last time (issue #230), returns and knocks out the heroine. She then agrees to Superia’s offer and the two leave together…. Cap tries to pull Zemo to safety but his muscles are going numb; the Baroness shoots him and he drops Zemo into the vat. Baroness Zemo leaps after her husband, both going to their seeming deaths….


 

Review / Commentaries


Captain America #433 Review by (May 13, 2017)
Comments: “Fighting Chance, Book 9.” The title is a play on the title of the James Bond novel/film DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER, which was itself a play on De Beers slogan “A diamond is forever.”

Review: So Baron Zemo's plan to raise the children in safety, with a proper education, was sincere? Never saw that coming. Huh. And the Baronnes was being totally supportive of his plans and plotting to betray Superia? Double huh. After wading through all of his paranoid thoughts we were starting to wonder what was really going on and why he had turned into such a whiny wuss. And along with this, we've had Diamondback also fussing “Does Cap really like me?” pushing even the question of guilt over Snapdragon's death to the background. Which just leads to an absurd sequence where Diamond lets Superia guilt-trip her into filling out the rest of Snapdragon's contract? Diamond is just swimming in insecurities, isn't she? (It's really the cure for Cap's malady that has her hooked but she was wavering anyway. This turns it into a quirky act of noble sacrifice which makes it okay, I guess.) Anyway, the cover teases “the final fate of Diamondback” which just feels like Gruenwald had gotten tired of her and pushed her out of the story in the most convenient, if not believable, way possible, sort of like the Doctor Who companions in the old series. And doesn't her “final fate” suggest she won't be coming back? Meaning she doesn't get the cure for Cap?

And Free Spirit's story arc ends on an inconclusive note as she is bopped on the head without getting closure from Superia (though the latter will be showing up a few more times over the ensuing years before her return for a NEW AVENGERS story arc in 2011). The next three-issue arc will be a sort of coda to this as she gets to be Cap's more-or-less sidekick but sharing that role with Jack Flag.

And check out today's art lesson: page 4, how to draw a woman so you can see both her breasts and her butt at the same time. You may qualify to be a professional comics artist!


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Main/1st Story Full Credits

Dave Hoover
Danny Bulanadi
George Roussos
Dave Hoover (Cover Penciler)
Dave Hoover (Cover Inker)


Characters

All stories. Listed in alphabetical order.

Captain America
Captain America

(Steven Rogers)
Diamondback
Diamondback

(Rachel Leighton)
Baron Zemo
Baron Zemo

(Helmut Zemo)
Plus: Free Spirit, Baroness Zemo (Heike Zemo), Superia (Deidre Wentworth).

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