Synopsis
Adventures of Captain America (1991 series) #4 synopsis by
Peter Silvestro
Rating:
Atop the Eiffel Tower, the Red Skull raises his pistol and fires—killing his failed henchman Zahnmorder. His men then take Captain America prisoner. On the ground the Skull reveals to Cap that Cindy Glass is the traitor Agent X, leaving him devastated. He puts up no resistance as he and Bucky are taken to a concentration camp and locked in cells. Bucky despairs as Cap seems to be in a catatonic state, not even reacting when the prisoner has a very important visitor—Adolf Hitler himself. Der Fuehrer is there to see Captain America crushed before an audience of Germans and is disappointed that the symbol of America seems defeated already. After Hitler leaves, Bucky tries to give Steve a pep talk about how his country needs him but it seems to do no good. Steve is dressed in his Cap outfit and led to a stadium filled with both German soldiers and Jewish prisoners. Back in the cells, Bucky picks the lock and escapes running into Cindy nearby; after slugging her, she gives Bucky the keys to the complex and appeals to him to help Steve. He uses the keys to free prisoners and arm them. In the stadium, Steve watches the Red Skull brought in to the cheers of the assembled Nazis and supplied with armor and weapons for a battle to the death to prove which country’s symbol is the greater. After a long and brutal confrontation, Cap knocks the Skull to the ground in front of Hitler’s dais—but refuses to kill him because America is about freedom. As he stands defiantly before the Nazi leader, Bucky drives a tank through the stadium wall and the freed prisoners open fire. Hitler orders Cap killed on the spot; the American hero takes down the guard with the Red Skull’s shield. As the Skull aims his own weapon, Cindy tosses Cap his own shield—and the Red Skull shoots her down as a traitor to the Reich. Bucky then drives the tank between the antagonists, picking up Cap and hauling him off. As the Red Skull pursues in a staff car, Bucky turns the massive gun around and destroys the Nazi vehicle. Cap and Bucky make it to a waiting plane and take off. The defeated Red Skull contemplates suicide for a moment but decides instead to dedicate himself to revenge. The freed prisoners are elated but Cap is in mourning for his lost love, Cindy. In the United States, Captain America is lauded as a hero and with his new sidekick Bucky devotes himself to battling tyranny and injustice wherever they may rear their ugly heads!