Five days ago, Captain America arrived at a federal prison to visit the former Lieutenant Merritt, now serving time for domestic terrorism for his part in a white supremacist agenda and dealing drugs out of his chain of comic shops. Cap then recognizes him as having been in the room when Dr. Reinstein was murdered by a Nazi agent. Cap accuses the felon of having been a traitor during the War; FBI Agent Spinrad produces a file of photos taken at a raided warehouse owned by Merritt. One of the photos is of a tattered uniform resembling Cap’s….
The black Captain America, Isaiah Bradley, awoke to find himself a prisoner of the Nazis, and in the very presence of Adolf Hitler and Josef Goebbels. Hitler tried to persuade Isaiah that Germany was the friend of the Negro, who was oppressed in his own country, and that he should have been supporting the Nazis. Isaiah refused; "My wife would kill me."
Merritt explains to Cap that he volunteered for the Super-Soldier Project all those years ago, hoping to serve his country, and was disgusted that black men were made into heroes by it. Resentful he was attracted to the Nazi philosophy of racial purity and threw his lot in with them. He is diverted from his racist rant by a question about the costume and mentions that it was worn by Isaiah Bradley, the Black Captain America. And Steve Rogers is shocked….
Hitler and Goebbels debated what to do with Isaiah. Their presumption of racial superiority would not allow them to attempt to derive a super-soldier serum of their own from Isaiah, so they planned to amputate the American’s limbs and send him back home with a message….
Agent Spinrad tells Cap that the story of Isaiah Bradley is well known in the black community in America, even though it remains largely a secret kept from white—like Cap. As Cap and Spinrad leave the prison, a sly Merritt asks Cap to autograph a comic book…. Outside the cell, Spinrad has one more detail for Cap….
As the truck carrying Isaiah Bradley headed toward its appointment at Auschwitz, it was intercepted by members of the Resistance, led by Spinrad’s grandfather, and Isaiah was rescued….