These issues of Captain America and Avengers complete the “Taking AIM” crossover, in which all of Captain America’s friends, Avengers and otherwise, plus the Red Skull, are assembled on AIM Island to investigate Cosmic Cube-related energy blasts. Also present are Diamondback and Superia, the latter of whom gave Cap a small dose of her cure for his condition, which temporarily restored his natural mobility.
Captain America #441 picks up where the last post left off, with a new version of MODOK facing down Cap and Bucky, who reappeared in the last issue much to Cap’s bewilderment.
As we saw before, Cap realizes this cannot be the real Bucky, but if he still holds out any hope, it is lost after what happens below. (“Hmh” indeed.)
As MODOK continues his attack, Cap pays silent tribute to the heroism of this Bucky, whoever or whatever he is.
Sam shows up in the nick of time, saving his former partner and then having his mind blown in several ways.
Later, as the two heroes breach the AIM facility, Cap’s muscles give out again, but when he asks Sam to go find his armor, his old friend refuses to leave him alone, evoking a military principle Cap should appreciate.
After they leave the compound, they’re attacked by flying Adaptoids, and Sam is forced to drop Cap. There’s good news and bad news: Free Spirit is there to tend to him, but Superia and Diamondback (disguised as Snapdragon) show up as well. While Rachel fights Cathy, Superia makes Cap an offer she thinks he can’t refuse.
Random energy bursts come out of the ground before he has a chance to answer, but they do not prevent him from recognizing his ex-girlfriend’s features under Snapdragon’s goofy mask.
After Cap takes a direct hit from an energy burst, the world goes blank, and he makes a wish…
…which is apparently granted by virtue of the Cosmic Cube energy that hit him. Believing that the energy won’t short out the armor as it did in the last issue, he dives into another one and finds MODOK inside it.
One the first page of Avengers #388, we learn from the small dog and boy we met in the last post that the containment field around the Cosmic Cube fragment failed, releasing all of its energies. The two images below are from the top of the subsequent double-page spread, with MODOK elaborating on the current situation…
…and the surprisingly knowledgeable boy urging Cap to escape while he can. Cap, of course, only sees a child in danger, which only worsens when the BOOOOOOM happens and the Cosmic Cube energies start to endanger the entire island.
After flying off, MODOK explains to no one in particular that the Cosmic Cube energies are opening an interdimensional portal to its origin: the home of the Beyonders, from whom all Cosmic Cubes get their power (as established in Fantastic Four #319).
When Cap regains consciousness, his indomitable will and the knowledge that a child needs his help make the impossible possible, allowing him to overcome his paralysis and get back to work…
…only to discover the little boy is no longer little or a boy, but an Adaptoid like the rest of the AIM agents on the island.
As Cap’s temporary burst of mobility deserts him, the Adaptoid explains that he abandoned his mission to corral the humans on the island to use as shields against attack, only to come to admire and envy their vitality and spirit.
The Adaptoid concludes on a sour note, but Superia comes to the rescue, renewing her previous offer while emphasizing the cost. (Not a common sales technique, but who’s gonna tell her?)
She teases him with a drop while stating her demand, which Cap refuses, unwilling to make that kind of vague, open-ended commitment even to save his life. But when Cap swats the syringe out of her hand…
…someone nearby to catch it.
You’ll recall that the Red Skull’s current body is cloned from Cap’s, so he uses the cure to forestall the effects of the super-soldier serum that have paralyzed his foe, and then kills Superia before disappearing in victory. (Note the parallel with the Nazi agent killing Dr. Erksine after he administered the serum and Vita-Rays to a young Steve Rogers in Project Rebirth, eliminating the possibility of replicating it.)
Cap’s resolve is unaffected by the expired super-soldier serum, so he pushes on, determined to seal the interdimensional breach and demonstrate the power of hope to the Adaptoid (who offers to help).
The Adaptoid sees Cap refuse to give up, despite his obvious agony, as long as he is needed, and realizes what he must do…
…performing his final adaptation in hopes of approaching the divinity he found in human life, with a solemn goodbye from the friend he barely got to know.
With the breach sealed and the danger passed, Cap falls, possibly for the last time…
…but is caught by an old friend, who is then caught by an even older friend, who gives Cap the chance to tell yet another friend about the one who saved them all.
And whither Rachel? She next shows up in Siren #1 (September 1996), written by K.H. Kanalz with art by Kevin West, Bob Almond, Ashley Posella and Malibu Color, unsure if Cap is alive or dead, free of her deal with Superia, but obviously still obsessed with Snapdragon. (For our purposes, though, she is absent from Cap’s life for several years and appears in his stories only occasionally after that.)
ISSUE DETAILS
Captain America (vol. 1) #441, July 1995: Mark Gruenwald (writer), Dave Hoover (pencils), Danny Bulanadi, Don Hudson, Dave Hoover, Rick Hoover, and Keith Williams (inks), Ashley Posella (colors), Joe Rosen (letters). (More details at Marvel Database.)
Collected in: Captain America Epic Collection: Twilight’s Last Gleaming.
Avengers (vol. 1) #388, July 1995: Bob Harras and Terry Kavanagh (writers), Mike Deodato, Jr. (pencils), Tom Palmer (inks), Mike Thomas (colors), Bill Oakley (letters). (More details at Marvel Database.)
Both collected in: Captain America Epic Collection: Twilight’s Last Gleaming and Avengers Epic Collection: Taking A.I.M.
PREVIOUS ISSUES: Captain America #440 and Avengers #387 (June 1995)
NEXT ISSUES: Captain America #442 and Thunderstrike #23-24 (August-September 1995) and Avengers #395, Avengers: Timeslide #1, Iron Man #325, and Age of Innocence: The Rebirth of Iron Man #1 (February 1996)
THE VIRTUES OF CAPTAIN AMERICA 
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