Story #2He Who Holds the Cosmic Cube
Writer: Stan Lee. Penciler: Jack Kirby. Inker: Don Heck. Colorist: ?.
Synopsis / Summary / Plot
Captain America witnesses the explosion of a high-altitude plane in the sky above the city. He watches as an escape capsule ejects from the doomed craft and plummets into the river. Cap dives in, locates the capsule marked
A.I.M. and pulls the injured pilot to shore. The injured A.I.M. scientist tells Cap about the all-powerful
Cosmic Cube created by the sinister science organization and how the Cube’s
Keeper has gone over to the
Red Skull, taking the Cube with him. It was in the effort to intercept the Keeper’s plane that this one was destroyed. In his hideout the Red Skull watches as the Keeper eludes the other pursuing A.I.M. craft and is now on his way to deliver the goods to the Red Skull. The Skull explains to his henchman
Wolfgang how he managed to drug the Keeper with a
neuro brain-tap concealed in his hand into serving the Red Skull—the same brain-tap he uses to order Wolfgang to shoot himself for his lack of deference to his master. Meanwhile, Captain America has borrowed a
SHIELD missile and uses it to drop onto the Keeper’s jet. Entering, he battles the A.I.M. defector but a gun fired close to his eyes blinds him temporarily. Cap manages to trigger the ejector seat and both he and his enemy are hurled into the air to parachute down onto the Red Skull’s island. His sight clearing, Cap engages his arch-enemy in combat, driving the villain to rage and carelessness by mocking his Nazi goals. The Red Skull responds by telling Cap that
Bucky was killed by
Zemo in service to the Skull, stunning Cap long enough for the Red Skull to spray stun gas in our hero’s face. The Red Skull takes the Cosmic Cube from his minion and tests it by dispatching the A.I.M. defector to another dimension, then by levitating boulders. Cap witnesses this and realizes his foe is now effectively invincible....