Synopsis
Steve Rogers and Sharon Carter are enjoying an afternoon shopping trip, with Steve reveling in his new private life. As Steve mulls over the need to tell Peggy that it is Sharon he loves, an arrow suddenly rips apart his shopping bag. Moments later a second arrow sprays mace in the area, then two more arrows pin Steve’s jacket to a wall. Ripping free, Steve spies his enemy, a courtly rogue calling himself the Golden Archer, hinting he knows Steve’s identity as Captain America and leaving with the quatrain: "Thrice shalt thou see me/Thrice shall we vie/And then, on the fourth time/Steve Rogers shall die!" In Harlem, the Falcon drops into Morgan’s office to inform the gangboss that he won’t stop until Morgan is in jail. Later, Steve is working out at the gym with Roscoe when another trick arrow, this one with an ear-piercing siren, crashes though the window. Steve seizes the arrow and heads outside but the Golden Archer gets away—second meeting. In California, biker gang leader "Scar" Turpin reads about Bob Russo’s failed effort as Captain America and decides to assume the mantle himself. After beating another gang member for the right, Turpin dons the red-white-and blue. His first mission fares no better than the baseball star’s: he tries to stop a mugging by a rival biker gang and is quickly outnumbered and beaten up; end of his superhero career. Back home, Steve and Sharon are trying to figure out how the Golden Archer learned his identity; he had revealed it once before (TALES OF SUSPENSE #95) but it had been erased from the world’s memory by the Space Phantom (AVENGERS #107). Steve sees Peggy coming, and, keeping his face in shadow, tells her that their relationship is all over. As she runs off in tears, Steve starts to go after her but is halted by an arrow from the Golden Archer. He pursues his roguish enemy but is blinded by a flash arrow—third meeting. The Falcon has witnessed all this and chosen to remain uninvolved. That night, the Golden Archer spies Steve’s shadow against the window of the welfare office but suspects a trick out of Sherlock Holmes. As he aims anyway, Steve jumps him from behind and beats him down. The Golden Archer unmasks as Hawkeye, explaining that when he learned that his hero Captain America was quitting, he adopted the disguise to force Steve to be a super-guy again. Steve is adamant about not coming back as Captain America, but Hawkeye suggests he create a new superhero identity….