These three issues—plus a prologue in Fantastic Four #6—comprise the first crossover event of the “Heroes Reborn” era, which ends in Captain America #6. We’ll get to our brief coverage of that story later in this post, but first we discuss the bulk of that issue, which deals with our hero meeting someone from his old life whom he does not remember but who definitely remembers him.
We start our look at Captain America #6 with Cable, visiting from the 616 universe, asking the Living Legend of World War II the obvious question.
They’re a little busy, though, facing the new universe’s versions of MODOK, Baron Zemo, and the agents of AIM. (No relevant dialogue to zoom in on—just establishing context!)
If that horizontal double-page spread weren’t enough, here’s a vertical one, featuring bluster from Cable…
…and puzzled thoughts from Cap, which we do zoom in on, confirming that he has no idea who Cable is, but wonders why Cable seems to know him.
Then Cable, who’s narrating this part of the issue, expresses his admiration for this Cap (with just a touch of jealousy)…
…admiration that extends to his shield as well. (He has a thing for shields, I guess.)
No, I didn’t forget to post the rest; Cable just trailed off. (Old fellas tend to do that.) The next page is below, part of a (another) double-page spread showing Rikki Barnes, who is now apparently working alongside Cap after being rescued by him in the last issue. She is also dressed even more like Bucky than before, clearly enough for Cable to identify her as such.
Cable asks Cap if he needs any help and receives a straightforward response, which Cable follows up with more hero worship, this time calling out Cap’s confidence…
…and reflects on the face that Captains America in any universe always fight for what’s right.
It is only when Cable reads Cap’s mind does he realize the truth…
…that this is not an alternate version of his hero. (And let us not neglect Cap’s passionate and elequent defense of life and liberty against the fascism of Zemo and the neo-Nazi World Party.)
Once he sees those gritted teeth, Cable knows they can only belong to the original 616 Captain America (through which he sends a message for the Red Skull).
As the clean-up begins, Cable touches base with Cap, presumably intending to talk to him about the multiverse (and perhaps offer him a comb) before being thrown off by another familiar term…
…before he is sucked into the timestream, equipped with the knowledge that all of his friends may be alive in this new universe and dedicated to bringing them home. (Just kidding—does Cable even have friends?)
Now we can get to the “Industrial Revolution” crossover, with which Cap has much less to do. The story started with Loki manipulating the Hulk into destroying the Gamma Core that powers Avengers Island, which we saw in Avengers #4-5). In Fantastic Four #6, Doctor Doom (another refugee from the 616 universe) becomes aware of the Hulk’s rampage and deduces that the creature is in fact Bruce Banner, who in this reality’s history was part of a group of college geniuses known as the Atomic Knights of the Round Table, whose number also counted Doom, Reed Richards, Tony Stark, and Henry Pym. Banner’s hope to use his gamma technology to benefit mankind, a goal Doom mocked but which became part of what Pym termed their “industrial revolution.” Now that Banner’s plans have gone awry, Doom plans to take advantage of the carnage.
In Avengers #6, while the Fantastic Four finds Bruce Banner in the showers in the Baxter Building, SHIELD finds Captain America in the rubble on Avengers Island, where he left after the last two issues. Fury needn’t be worried if Cap is OK; he snaps to and immediately asks for a sitrep.
The Fantastic Four (with Banner) soon show up as well…
…and ol’ Shellhead makes his first appearance in the Avengers title, greeting the good folks in the SHIELD helicarrier.
(No reason to share those two pages other than they’re nice shots of heroes we haven’t seen that much on this blog since our Heroes were Reborn.)
Reed is apparently surprised to see Cap but also happy to tell him they brought someone who may be able to fix the problem—inviting an inspirational response from the Sentinel of Liberty (that seems a bit much for the situation, but oh well).
Cap’s forced to hold Hellcat back when she sniffs out the person who caused the problem he hopes to fix, and who just hopes the “cause” doesn’t return…
…but of course does, as we see in Iron Man #6 as Sue tries to reason with him regarding his complicity in the present situation while holding him back with a force field. (To his credit, the Hulk admits breaking the gamma core, but he blames Banner for building it in the first place.)
Sue and Reed discuss what to do, while Captain Eyebrows just wants the bullet points.
Reed’s response is somewhat confusing: I assume he means the odds are very small, but “beyond measure,” which technically correct, is usually understood to mean very large, such as if he said the odds of failure were beyond measure. But that’s Reed, I guess!
He’s only slightly more comprehensible below—but the more important thing is that this is apparently Cap and Tony’s first meeting in this new reality, and it goes completely unremarked upon.
While Thor and the Thing reinforce the shattered core wall and Reed and Tony flex their brains, Cap keeps his finger in the dike, with Hellcat silently admiring his resilience.
Despite their best efforts, Ben and Thor fail; Reed delivers the bad news to Cap, who’s still holding the doors open; and Tony enlists the Hulk in the effort.
Hulk eventually agrees to help, although he takes pains to make it clear it has nothing to do with Tony’s appeals to his old friend Bruce Banner and his concern for humanity, but “only because Hulk changed his mind.” Reed relieves Cap of duty, and they all wait to see what Hulk (or Banner) will do.
After the Hulk successfully seals the chamber from inside it, Tony wants to go in for him, until the rest remind him of the consequences of doing so, and Cap urges them all to get out before the rest of the island crumbles into the sea. (Although he doesn’t say it, I’m sure he also wants to honor Banner’s sacrifice by making sure no one else dies because of Tony’s folly.)
As the Human Torch channels the remaining heat from the gamma core in the upper atmosphere, the rest of the heroes take stock, but when Cap presumes to announce the end of the Avengers, Tony is not so sure.
Indeed, when we next see Cap, Tony, and Thor at the end of Captain America #6 (after the business with Cable we discussed above), they are united in confronting Nick Fury, with Tony announcing that “his employer” will now be funding the team, and they’re no longer working for SHIELD…
…a statement Cap heartily endorses the way only he can.
Ignore the blurb for the next issue: Plans changed as the Captain America title was transferred within Image Comics from Rob Liefeld’s Extreme Studios to Jim Lee’s Wildstorm Studios, and James Robinson would write the title through issue #11. (The same will happen to Avengers as of issue #8, with Walt Simonson taking on writing chores through issue #12.)
ISSUE DETAILS
Captain America (vol. 2) #6, April 1997: Rob Liefeld and Jeph Loeb (writers), Rob Liefeld (pencils), Jon Sibal and Lary Stucker (inks), Andy Troy and Extreme Color and Don Skinner (colors), Richard Starkings and Comicraft (letters). (More details at Marvel Database.)
Collected in: Heroes Reborn: Captain America.
Avengers (vol. 2) #6, April 1997: Rob Liefeld and Jeph Loeb (writers), Ian Churchill (pencils), Jon Sibal and Lary Stucker (inks), Andy Troy and Extreme Color and Andrew Posada (colors), Richard Starkings and Albert Deschesne (letters). (More details at Marvel Database.)
Collected in: Heroes Reborn: The Avengers.
Iron Man (vol. 2) #6, April 1997: Scott Lobdell (writer), Jim Lee, Whilce Portacio, and Ryan Benjamin (pencils), Scott Williams, John Dickenson, Trevor Scott, Saleem Crawford, Richard Friend, and Sal Regia (inks), Joe Chiodo, Martin Jimenez, and Wildstorm FX (colors), Richard Starkings, Dave Lanphear, Albert Deschesne, Liz Agraphiotis, and Comicraft (letters). (More details at Marvel Database.)
Collected in: Heroes Reborn: Iron Man.
PREVIOUS ISSUES: Captain America #2-5 (December 1996-March 1997) and Avengers #2-5 (December 1996-March 1997)
NEXT ISSUES: Captain America #7 (May 1997) and Avengers #7-11 (May-September 1997)
THE VIRTUES OF CAPTAIN AMERICA 
Leave a comment