This issue finishes the “Heroes Reunited” storyline across the twelfth issues of the four “Heroes Reborn” titles (begun here), as well as the main part of the “Heroes Reborn” period itself, with only the “World War III” crossover with the Wildstorm universe and the Heroes Reborn: The Return miniseries left to get our heroes back into the main 616 universe (both covered in the next post).
In each of the first three issues of the story, Galactus comes to Earth and the heroes either fail to repel him or sacrifice themselves and the people of Earth to kill him and save countless other worlds—and each time, Doctor Doom escapes into the timestream at the last second, going back 24 hours to try again.
This time, he appears in front of Rikki Barnes, who has come home to see her grandparents—guess who they are, wink wink—but may just have to wait.
This is quite a record scratch moment for the young woman who has only just started working with Captain America.
To add insult to injury, Doom calls her a “chronal anomaly,” but she wisely counsels skepticism based on his source. Lucky for her, a shield comes flying (vertically, sigh) through a window…
…and rings his bell but good.
Cap completes his order with a single word…
…but Doom refuses to obey, making clear that it is his choice to back off, for the good of the world!
Don’t laugh, those chronal anomalies can surprise you!
Doom explains the first issues of the story to Cap before telling him that the Fantastic Four are currently fighting the four heralds of Galactus, a battle Cap and Doom join alongside the rest of the Avengers, and together they are able to repel the heralds (for now). When Reed asks what Doom’s plan is, though, Doom starts to lose it, and Cap has to calm him down with an appeal to his sense of honor.
While the big brains discuss how to defeat Galactus, the rest of the heroes just hang out while Rikki can’t stop thinking about what Doom said.
Rikki walks outside and meets another strange visitor…
…who tries to warn her to save as many inhabitants of Earth as possible before Galactus comes. But the former ballet student stands en pointe and tells him that the united heroes will prevail, and if he cares as much as he says, he can join them or scram, see?
The Surfer dismisses her and leaves, but not without a hanger-on. Lucky again for her, Cap sees and follows…
…and history repeats itself for Captain America and Bucky.
She suspects this is her destiny and a way to validate her existence, but Galactus sees her as merely a bug that he zaps…
…and she plummets into the water below, followed by her partner.
When he carries her inside Avengers Mansion, even Doom is saddened (I think), but of course no one is affected as deeply as Cap…
…except perhaps the Silver Surfer, whose remorse over his actions prompts him to side with humanity and help the heroes.
By drawing their collected power through him and combining it with his own (while carrying the mighty shield), the Surfer succeeds in overwhelming Galactus, but at the cost of his own life, which Cap commemorates below.
Afterwards, Cap visits the grave of the man who “brought him back to life” a year ago, and is visited himself by two vaguely familiar faces who update him on the progress of their granddaughter.
And Nick, of course, doubles down on the “vague” with a revelation about Cap’s history with President Truman at the end of World War II (as told in issue #7).
How much of it actually was true in this reality? We will probably never know, as the main part of “Heroes Reborn” comes to an end with a word from our sponsor.
Such a nice ending, right? A touching tribute to Mark Gruenwald, even.
Ready to leave “Heroes Reborn” and see our “Heroes Return” to the 616? Not so fast, friends: We’ve got an entire crossover with the Wildstorm universe to sit through enjoy, and then the Heroes Reborn: The Return miniseries that completely ignores it and simply picks up where “Heroes Reunited” left off. All coming up next!
ISSUE DETAILS
Captain America (vol. 2) #12, October 1997: Jeph Loeb (writer), Joe Bennett (pencils), Ed Benes and Homage Studios (inks), Nathan Lumm and Wildstorm FX (colors), Richard Starkings and Comicraft (letters). (More details at Marvel Database.)
Collected in: Heroes Reborn: Captain America.
PREVIOUS ISSUES: Captain America #10-11 (August-September 1997)
ALSO THIS MONTH: Avengers #12, Fantastic Four #12, and Iron Man #12 (October 1997)
NEXT ISSUES: Captain America #13, Iron Man #13, and Heroes Reborn: The Return #3-4 (November-December 1997)
THE VIRTUES OF CAPTAIN AMERICA 
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