Captain America: The Medusa Effect #1 (March 1994)

This oversized one-shot (64 pages!), written by Invaders scribe Roy Thomas, is a fairly routine wartime adventure that takes place in January 1943 and fleshes out the backstory of both Barons Zemo—and the complex woman behind them.

Our story begins with Captain America and Bucky sneaking into an apartment and fighting Nazis they find there, including Master Man, who flees with a mysterious package, leaving Cap to try to sop the fire they started and tend to the occupant…

…who is, indeed, that Tesla. (These events are loosely based on Tesla’s death and the projects he was working on at the time.)

Cap gives Bucky a recent history lesson—which is very useful, considering that Tesla’s contributions were much less known to readers in 1994 than he is now.

After conferring with the FBI, Cap and Bucky come to believe that Baron Zemo is hoping to use Tesla’s ideas (contained in the box Master Man stole) to improve his own “death ray,” so they head to Spain to find the Janice Dare who sent the letter Cap found in Tesla’s room. When they find her at a bullfight, Cap uses his best alias (first used in Captain America #120), which Bucky almost fouls up anyway.

In her surprise, Ms. Dare falls into the ring, and Cap wastes no time abandoning his disguise and jumping in to save her. (Bucky can only gasp.)

(No, not that Toro.)

Cap struggles with what we can assume is his first attempt to stop a raging bull, but his partner knows just what he needs.

Cap manages to use the shield to counter and eventually knock out the beast, after which he is called on to deliver the final blow…

…which he refuses to do. (He doesn’t miss the chance to make it dramatic, though.)

Once alone, Cap outs Ms. Dare as the Baroness Hilda Zemo, who loves her husband but hates all he stands for, and who had recently faked her death in an attempt to warn Dr. Tesla of the danger he faced. Naturally, she also offers to help our heroes, which Cap accepts despite Bucky’s skepticism.

After Hilda leads them to her husband’s secret lab beneath the Berlin Zoological Gardens, she reminds Cap of his promise, which he helpfully clarifies for her.

It doesn’t take long for her beloved husband to reveal himself, threatening to kill his wife for her betrayal, but she does not back down (even after Cap tries to cover for her).

Their son, of course, is Helmut Zemo, who will assume his father’s villainous identity decades later, and learns his mother is alive from Bucky, whom he then starts giving orders (just like a Zemo).

After fighting Master Man and getting shot in the shoulder by one of Zemo’s guards, Cap is captured and imprisoned with Hilda. They take some solace in each other…

…before Hilda pulls back, and Cap realizes it can be easier to deal with a reinforced steel door than romantic feelings.

It doesn’t look good at first…

…but Cap’s legendary perseverance shines through.

Unfortunately, he doesn’t have the strength afterwards to shield Hilda from the guards’ bullets…

…although he does recover quickly enough to take out his rage on the guards (and who knows what he would have done in his rage and exhaustion had Hilda not called out).

His first impulse is to save her, but she implores him to stop Zemo from using his death-ray, the Medusa Cannon, to help win the war for the Axis powers—and hopefully save her son as well.

Cap sings a future boy-band staple to himself as he staggers into the breach…

…attacking Master Man and Baron Zemo as they prepare to fire the cannon (with Bucky tied to the barrel). In response, Zemo reveals that his wife is not the only family member he regards as expendable.

Nonetheless, Helmut remains loyal to his father, firing the cannon (just as Bucky manages to free himself), and bringing down the laboratory on their heads. Bucky shows his own heroism by risking his life to save the younger Zemo (even though he had just tried to kill him).

Cap highlights the difference between Zemo and them as they try to escape the wreckage…

…until he remembers Hilda.

She uses her last words to ask about… both of her Zemo men.

Bucky is surprised, but Cap is not, knowing all too well from recent experience that love can be complicated.

After they get Helmut to safety, Cap and Bucky engage in some postgame analysis, with Cap regretting their failures and the tragic irony of Hilda’s death against the Zemo boys’ survival, leaving it to Bucky to emphasize their successes (and anticipating a classic Bill Withers tune).

The story closes with a glimpse at the future, with the two Barons Zemo looming ominously over our heroes and the war-ravaged landscape.

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ISSUE DETAILS

Captain America: The Medusa Effect #1, March 1994: Roy Thomas (writer), Rich Buckler and M.C. Wyman (pencils), Jim Sanders III and Andrew Pepoy (inks), George Roussos (colors), Clem Robins (letters). (More details at Marvel Database.)

Collected in: Captain America Epic Collection: Fighting Chance.

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ALSO THIS MONTH: Captain America #425, Iron Man #302, Daredevil #326, and Avengers #372, Darkhawk #37, and Warlock and the Infinity Watch #26 (March 1994)