Marvel Universe was a short-lived anthology series, the brainchild of writer Roger Stern and editor Tom Brevoort, that aspired to fill in the rich and varied history of our beloved canon (with numerous references to past events, only some of which are described below). The series began with a Invaders trilogy in which our three heroes (later joined by a fourth) fight Baron von Strucker and the nascent Hydra—and fix a continuity issue with another notorious villain in the process.
The first issue opens near the end of World War II with a newsreel that gives us the first glimpse of the Marvel Universe’s first superhero team…
…completed by the end with sidekicks Bucky and Toro, as well as later members Spitfire and Union Jack (all familiar from the 1970s Invaders series).
(The commentary at the end is from von Strucker, who watched the newsreel about the capture of a German battleship with his fellow Nazis, boo hoo hoo.)
Most of the rest of the issue has each of the Invaders Prime attacking Nazis while the US government investigates their background (and recaps their origin stories). This includes our hero below, who makes a dramatic entrance…
…before using a very odd kick to salvage some the papers the Nazi were burning.
An unfortunate ricochet takes the life of one of the Nazis, which Cap clearly regrets although he does not dwell on it, possibly reflecting a wartime mentality toward the accidental taking of life—or simply the urgency of the moment. (For his part, Agent McCloskey is already drafting his exonerating report.)
General Phillips recounts Cap’s origin to the government investigators: Nothing new here, but the focus on young Steve’s courage in the face of possible death stands out.
And Erskine’s reference to worthiness in the final words is interesting, given Cap’s future with a certain hammer.
While not seen very often, this retelling does acknowledge that the new and improved Steve Rogers still needed quite a bit of physical training and education before going into the field in the stars and stripes. (And he executes the side kick a lot better below!)
The agents apologize that they even asked about Captain America’s loyalty, but the general doesn’t mind, and wonders how history might have been different had vetting of government personnel been more thorough years ago.
After our heroes are summoned to Washington, Cap takes his military status a little too seriously before the two agents arrive, and one of them is revealed to be an old friend—at least in his costumed identity as the Whizzer.
Frank and Fitzpatrick brief the Invaders on von Strucker’s plans to recreate the Manhattan Project, the US’s secret nuclear weapons program (as seen in this small independent film) which, until then, our heroes did not know about. The also reveals two of von Strucker’s own secret projects: Hydra, which von Strucker has been embezzling Nazi funds to build, and “The Dragon,” a huge submarine with a dragon head built by the Japanese navy, which Cap and Bucky dealt with in Captain America Comics #5 and von Strucker has since reclaimed for himself.
In issue #2, after thwarting an attempted robbery of a munitions site—that was actually a ploy by von Strucker to see how much the U.S. government knew about his plans—our heroes touch base on Namor’s airship, where the pilot tried to explain the folly of man wielding the destructive power the Allied and Axis powers are racing to develop, but Cap is worried only with one side having it (presumably trusting that his side would never use it).
The rest of this issue is less interesting for Cap and His Amazing Friends and more for von Strucker and especially our storytellers, who are able to revisit a beloved Invaders story and correct a continuity gaffe. After a Hydra lackey discovers von Strucker reading books published after the end of the war, he explains how he got them, starting with the time Hitler summoned the God of Thunder himself in Invaders #32.
According to von Strucker, he entered this tale near the end, just in time to see the bandaged stranger revealed in Invaders #33 to be Victor von Doom escape through his time platform…
…through which von Strucker follows, arriving in the early 1960s to find not only a spinner rack full of Tales of Suspense and Strange Tales comics, but also the books he intends to bring back to the 1940s with him. But when he returns to time platform, its owner is waiting in all his verdant glory, and explains why he traveled back in time to confront Hitler.
As explained in the post on Invaders #32-33, it was “not clear” how Doom could have been an adult in the 1940s, so the addition of time travel here was a nice fix that also tied in von Strucker’s having advance knowledge of the end of the war.
In issue #3, the Torch continues to try to convince Cap that anybody possessing an atomic bomb would be bad, but Cap remains focused on the Hydra/Nazi/Axis threat before Namor returns and Cap is determined to find their “courier” (the Whizzer, in disguise, infiltrating the Dragon sub).
When they find him (and it), they make a typically dramatic entrance…
…and Namor will be Namor.
When Cap finds a group of Hydra agents, he make clear his legendary perseverance.
Cap thinks he has found von Strucker, but it is actually the aide he killed after recounting his time travel story (and revealing the fate of the Third Reich), and von Strucker merely (and remotely) hints at his advanced knowledge to Cap before he leaves him to the raging waters…
…which would have surely claimed him if not for the Friendly Neighborhood Sub-Mariner.
At the end, von Strucker is missing, but Cap knows better than to assume he’s gone, and he urges everyone—while he looks straight at us—to watch out for threats to liberty from wanna-be dictators like von Strucker.
ISSUE DETAILS
Marvel Universe #1, June 1998: Roger Stern (writer), Steve Epting (pencils), Al Williamson (inks), Gloria Vasquez (colors), Jim Novak (letters). (More details at Marvel Database.)
Marvel Universe #2, July 1998: Roger Stern (writer), Steve Epting (pencils), Al Williamson (inks), Gloria Vasquez (colors), Jim Novak (letters). (More details at Marvel Database.)
Marvel Universe #3, August 1998: Roger Stern (writer), Steve Epting (pencils), Al Williamson (inks), Gloria Vasquez (colors), Jim Novak (letters). (More details at Marvel Database.)
Collected in: Invaders: Eve of Destruction.
ALSO THESE MONTHS: Captain America #6 (June 1998), Marvel Team-Up #10 (June 1998), Avengers #5-6 (June-July 1998), Captain America #7 (July 1998), Thor #1-2 (July-August 1998), and Captain America #8 and Avengers #7 (August 1998)
THE VIRTUES OF CAPTAIN AMERICA 
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