Like the previous Avengers post, this one is a catch-all of sorts, gathering all of Captain America’s appearances with the team these four months—and the number of them is quite impressive, considering his reduced physical capabilities (explained in March’s Captain America #425). We’ll see in the Avengers storyline that he is even less active in missions than he has been recently, and accordingly he appears more sporadically in the title afterwards. (On the other hand, he has extended guest appearances in Iron Man and Daredevil during these months, so he is definitely not going anywhere.)
The main plot in the Avengers issues deals with the return of Proctor and his new Gamble Gatherers, but the relevant bits with Cap involve smaller matters. For instance, in issue #372, he welcomes Quicksilver back…
… and ensures him he always has a place on the team, while blissfully ignorant of the love triangle between Pietro, his wife Crystal, and the Black Knight, for which the Black Widow gently ribs him.
Being Cap, though, he probably didn’t even hear the first part!
In issue #373, the authorities arrive to arrest Sersi for murder (which occurred in issue #363), and when the Black Widow asks if the Avengers can handle it themselves, Lieutenant Marta Dubois refuses… but at least she uses Natasha’s correct last name, which rarely happens in the comics or the movies.
Cap backs the Widow up, lending his reputation to her request, but Sersi takes it as an insult…
…and flies off, leaving destruction in her wake, not to mention an “out-of-breath” Cap.
Cap’s condition becomes more apparent in issue #374, drawing the sincere concern of Hank Pym, for which he receives naught but snark in return. (Hank’s own issues are explored further in the back-up story to issue #375, which doesn’t feature Cap, which is probably for the best, although I’m sure he would have come to his senses by then.)
In issue #375 we get the big throwdown, with Cap right in the thick of it (despite doctor’s orders, as seen in Captain America #425).
When Sersi and the Black Knight leave for another dimension at the end, Cap references his favorite Yngwie Malmsteen song.
(Just kidding—there’s no way he could have just one favorite!)
This issue also contains a portrait of our hero by Tom Palmer, the amazing inker and penciller, who left us just over a year ago.
In Darkhawk #37, Cap doesn’t actually run into the namesake of the book, but he does attempt to defend Avengers Mansion from the villain du jour…
…and although he acknowledges his duty to stop him, he cannot (whether due to his diminished physical state or not).
And… scene.
In Silver Surfer #93, Cap and Natasha watch as Norrin and Johnny Storm have it out.
Zooming in on the panels in the corner, we see Natasha apparently suspecting Cap’s eyesight has gone too…
…before Cap lays down the law with the Thing, who uses “Featherhead” instead of the more common “Winghead.”
In the inaugural issue of War Machine, featuring former Iron Man James Rhodes in the first ongoing series of his own, Cap resents that United Nations rules hold him back from intervening in the emerging international incident in which things are clearly going south.
Finally, three issues of Warlock and the Infinity Watch feature Cap with the Avengers, whom we see below being given extreme orders by Senator Kyle Munson, the U.S. government’s “special agent” to the United Nations—which only gives Cap another reason to resent their oversight.
Either Munson is extraordinarily persuasive, or he is a very special agent indeed, as seen by the blank stares and quick compliance among most of the team.
In the next issue, we see that Cap is still not himself as the Avengers prepare to confront the Infinity Watch…
…with Cap facing off against former Avengers Moondragon, who looks forward to the bout.
She doesn’t get the fight she wanted, though, due to her foe’s condition.
By the third issue, the Avengers have been cured of Munson’s hypnosis (thanks to Vision, who was unaffected by it), after which Cap, Vision, and Adam Warlock go to the U.N., where Munson is telling the delegates that the Avengers are dead to engender rage—nay, outrage!—against Warlock.
But, as the saying goes, news of their deaths was premature…
…and Cap lectures Munson on the rule of law as it applies to property rights.
Next, Warlock reveals that Munson is actually Man-Beast, a product of the High Evolutionary’s genetic experiments, and after a lengthy battle taking up much of the issue, Adam is about to kill his foe when Cap and Vision stop him, promising that Man-Beast will face justice and (presumably) imprisonment instead.
Take it easy there, Cap—let someone else carry him!
ISSUE DETAILS
Avengers (vol. 1) #372, March 1994: Bob Harras (writer), Steve Epting (pencils), Tom Palmer (inks and colors), Bill Oakley (letters). (More details at Marvel Database.)
Avengers (vol. 1) #373, April 1994: Bob Harras (writer), Steve Epting (pencils), Tom Palmer (inks and colors), Bill Oakley (letters). (More details at Marvel Database.)
Avengers (vol. 1) #374, May 1994: Bob Harras (writer), Steve Epting (pencils), Tom Palmer (inks, John Kalisz (colors), Bill Oakley (letters). (More details at Marvel Database.)
Avengers (vol. 1) #375, June 1994, “The Last Gathering”: Bob Harras (writer), Steve Epting (pencils), Tom Palmer (inks, John Kalisz (colors), Bill Oakley (letters). (More details at Marvel Database.)
Collected in: Avengers Epic Collection: The Gathering.
Darkhawk (vol. 1) #37, March 1994: Danny Fingeroth (writer), Tod Smith (pencils), Ian Akin (inks), Bob Sharen (colors), Jim Novak (letters). (More details at Marvel Database.)
Collected in: Venom Epic Collection: The Madness.
Silver Surfer (vol. 3) #93, June 1994: Ron Marz (writer), Bart Sears and Tom Grindberg (pencils), Raymond Kryssing (inks), Tom Vincent (colors), Ken Bruzenak (letters). (More details at Marvel Database.)
Not yet collected.
War Machine (vol. 1) #1, April 1994: Scott Benson and Len Kaminski (writers), Gabriel Gecko (pencils), Pam Eklund (inks), Ariane Lenshoek (colors), John Costanza (letters). (More details at Marvel Database.)
Not yet collected.
Warlock and the Infinity Watch #26, March 1994: Jim Starlin (writer), Tom Grindberg (pencils), Bob Almond (inks), Ian Laughlin (colors), Jack Morelli (letters). (More details at Marvel Database.)
Warlock and the Infinity Watch #27, April 1994: Jim Starlin (writer), Tom Grindberg (pencils), Bob Almond (inks), Ian Laughlin (colors), Jack Morelli (letters). (More details at Marvel Database.)
Warlock and the Infinity Watch #28, May 1994: Jim Starlin (writer), Jeff Moore (pencils), Tim Dzon (inks), Ian Laughlin (colors), Jack Morelli (letters). (More details at Marvel Database.)
Not yet collected.
PREVIOUS ISSUES: Avengers #370-371, Captain Marvel #2, Marvels #2, Thunderstrike #4, and Plasmer #3-4 (January-February 1994)
ALSO THESE MONTHS: Captain America #425 (March 1994), Captain America: The Medusa Effect (March 1994), Iron Man #302-304 (March-May 1994), Daredevil #326-329 (March-June 1994), Captain America #426-427 (April-May 1994), Punisher War Journal #65-66 (April-May 1994), The Incredible Hulk #417-418 (May-June 1994), and Captain America #428 (June 1994)
NEXT ISSUE: Avengers #378, Captain America #431, and The Incredible Hulk #421 (September 1994)
THE VIRTUES OF CAPTAIN AMERICA 
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