Synopsis
The Red Skull has used the power of the Cosmic Cube to switch bodies with Captain America, fooling even Sharon Carter. The transformed Cap pleads with her to listen but the Red Skull simply escorts her from the room. Outside, the Skull sends Sharon back to SHIELD HQ then uses the Cosmic Cube to teleport Cap to the grounds of a government testing lab. Spotting who they think is the criminal Red Skull, security guards open fire. At that moment, to seal Cap’s doom, the Skull causes the lab to explode. Cap overpowers the guards and flees, escaping in a “borrowed” car. The Red Skull, in the hero’s guise, informs the police that the Red Skull can be found driving along a certain highway. The police set up a roadblock and when Cap comes along, it is only his expert driving skills that allow him to bypass the barricade and continue along the highway, with the police in pursuit. At a toll booth Cap crashes through and heads off on a side road.
Meanwhile, the Avengers are watching on their viewscreen, wondering why Captain America is not pursuing his enemy. A concerned Rick Jones heads to the park following a tip from the Teen Brigade and finds “Cap” who insults him and drives him off. An embittered Rick decides to walk out of Cap’s life forever. At that moment, the real Cap arrives at Avengers headquarters to seek their aid, but his teammates reject the “Red Skull’s” claims to be Captain America and they attack. The Avengers easily defeat their perceived foe, who won’t fight back, and when they receive a summons from SHIELD, they tie him up to deal with later. The Red Skull then conceives an ironic death for his archenemy: he brings Sharon Carter to Avengers HQ and compels her to shoot the captive “Skull.” Cap pleads with her and something within her stays her hand…the emotion of love, which even the Cosmic Cube cannot overcome. The villain switches to an alternate scheme, transporting Cap to the one place that means instant death for the Red Skull: the Island of the Exiles.
CharactersGood (or All)Plus: Goliath (
Clint Barton).