These two issues are half of the “Live Kree or Die!” crossover that begins in Iron Man #7 and also includes Quicksilver #10 (although Captain America appears in neither). The Kree are presumably jealous of the recent attention the Skrulls have received in recent issue of Captain America, so a faction called—I am not kidding—the Lunatic Legion has resurrected their leader, the Supreme Intelligence, to exact “the vengeance of the Kree against the cowardly dogs of Earth.” (This comes as a bit of a surprise to the Supreme Intelligence, though, as we’ll see.)
More important to us is Carol Danvers’ continued decline and Cap’s reaction to it as as a fellow Avengers and team leader. While the Kree launch their vengeance in Iron Man #7, Tony Stark visits Carol at her mom’s house outside Boston, both to check up on her after her outburst in the last issue of Avengers and also to speak to her from experience about her alcoholism. Not only does she lash out in denial, she shows up drunk at his work later, just in time for the first attack by the Kree.
Captain America #8 opens with a shocking depiction of a concentration camp similar to those used by the Nazis in World War II, but this one is run by the Kree in the current day to imprison humans (the purpose of which we will learn later). Next we turn to the abandoned campaign headquarters of Andrew Bolt, the congressional candidate he declined to endorse in issue #4 (but who was endorsed by his Skrull impersonator in issue #6), and a couple two-bit crooks have looted the joint before torching it. This gives Cap the chance to make a dramatic appearance…
…making quick (and sarcastic) work out of the hoodlums before help arrives in the form of the New York Fire Department.
When Cap sees Bolt, he asks why he dropped out of the race—and when Bolt tells him, he expresses his regret and hints toward further action before receiving an urgent message from Carol, who’s busy fighting the Lunatic Legion and says she’s calling all of her fellow Avengers to help (although she called Cap individually for some reason).
Cap leaves Bolt with an inappropriate but not unexpected admission of responsibility and a promise to make it up to him before wondering what’s up with Carol.
The Lunatic Legion manage to capture Carol and prepare her for experiments on her unique human/Kree physiology in the hopes of Kree-ating (ha!) a new hybrid race from their captive humans. When Cap arrives, he frees the prisoners before turning his attention to Carol…
…which we see better in the enlarged panels below. After commanding the prisoners to stop fleeing their captivity (which must be confusing for them), he gets a sitrep from Carol.
Then he finds out she wasn’t exactly honest earlier, so it’s just the two of them against the Kree horde.
Luckily, Carol has confidence in Cap!
Cap continues his performance review while they fight, and even though Carol’s well-timed warning saves Cap from a massive Kree blow (“THRUNCH”?), we also see that his new shield’s pointy shape is not its only shortcoming.
As the hulking Kree continues to beat Cap, he hints at other victims…
…which Cap sees for himself, expertly illustrated by Andy Kubert, Jesse Delperdang, and Jason Wright, with the sight no doubt bringing back devastating memories from World War II.
This horrific sight only drives Cap harder, condemning the Kree for their evil acts and affirming whose side he’s on (always).
Cap has to explain the same thing to Carol when she wants to stop the Kree from escaping in their rocket: he insists on saving the prisoners from the rocket’s exhaust flames while pointing out they can’t do both because they’re the only two on the scene. He goes on to reveal his suspicions about her motivations…
…and then finishes the performance evaluation he began earlier, along with recommendations for improvement. (It’s interesting that he seems to regard the Avengers—”my Avengers”—almost as a support team to his new proactive mission.)
Does Carol get the message? Sadly, no…
…and she ends up being captured by Kree and taken into space on their rocket, leaving Cap no option but to get the rest of the prisoners out of the way of the blast-off.
After the rocket leaves, he tends to the prisoners, and when one of them asks about Carol, Cap reveals the responsibility he feels for her of Avengers leader (at the same time that he holds her responsible for her decisions).
In Quicksilver #10, the eponymous hero travels to the Blue Area of the moon with his sister Wanda and their pal Hawkeye—the Kooky Quartet minus Cap—to rescue Carol, who manages to get drunk and nearly kill them all (while injuring the Inhumans’ dog Lockjaw). This all comes to a head in Avengers #7 with this striking image, the negative space on Carol’s side emphasizing her isolation from the team (which threatens to become official).
We’ll zoom in on the relevant dialogue, starting with the upper-left-hand corner (with some judicious editing to clean up the image), in which Cap solemnly establishes for the record what they’re doing: a good old-fashioned court-martial, like we saw with Hank Pym way back when.
Tony thinks Cap’s laying it on a little thick, but Cap reminds him how serious this is and how their earlier attempts to deal with her problems were rebuffed. Then he recuses himself, due to his role as a witness, and hands the mighty (and figurative) Gävel over to Thor.
Tony speaks first, recounting his experience with Carol at the bar in issue #4, at which Carol becomes suspicious and accusatory, before Thor returns the floor to Tony, who tries to redeem himself. Then it’s Cap’s turn, and true to his character, he blames himself for not being on top of things before highlighting the imperative for honest and open communication between teammates, as well as his need as leader to know what his people can (and can’t) do.
Next, the title heroes of the first three parts of the current crossover detail their respective experiences with Carol, in which Cap emphasizes her dishonesty about calling in the rest of the team, which put both of them in danger, and her refusal to follow commands, which got her captured.
Poor Lockjaw. (That’s the part I cannot forgive!)
Carol shocks the group by reacting angrily, minimizing or excusing her actions and defending her record as an Avenger, which forces Thor to call a vote. We see the various members’ opinions below, starting with Cap, who makes a reasonable and compassionate decision (as we would expect). The rest agree, with Tony and Clint showing impatience with Carol’s refusal to admit her problems and Vision and Wanda offering more supportive words.
Wanda is interrupted by the Vision’s emergency alert about the Lethal Legion on the moon, at which point Cap launches into leader mode, requesting that Firestar and Justice join them and then assigning roles to everybody…
…except one, who takes it upon herself to quit instead. Cap defends his action to Clint based on the same reasoning he used to criticize Carol above, namely the danger she poses to the team and innocents.
As always, Cap must do what he believes is right, regardless of how much anyone dislikes it—including himself.
As the fight on the moon begins, Cap cheers his teammates on—although I wonder what Namor and Jim Hammond would think of his comment below!
Our heroes—joined by Wonder Man, summoned once again by Wanda—focus on the Omni-Wave Projector, a massive weapon designed to change the population of Earth into mindless human-Kree hybrids. Together, the Avengers Prime arrive at a solution…
…but it needs the help of one of their newest recruits. Firestar is unsure she can do it, and Cap is careful not to push, “but”… it turns out she doesn’t need it anyway.
Together with a telekinetic push from Justice, Firestar and Thor shove the Kree weapon through the portal, saving the day but leaving open the issue of what to do about the Supreme Intelligence. But first, Cap has a question for it.
“I’m sure I don’t know,” says the Supreme Intelligence, who just wants a peaceful retirement without his bothersome acolytes stirring up trouble all the time. (Earlier in the issue it was revealed that he manipulated the Skrull that caused all the recent problems in Cap’s own title in an attempt to thwart the Lunatic Legion’s plans.)
(Cap is alluding above to the events of the “Galactic Storm” event, particularly Avengers #347, when the Supreme Intelligence admitted to wiping out almost all of the Kree so they could start the race anew.)
ISSUE DETAILS
Captain America (vol. 3) #8, August 1998: Mark Waid (writer), Andy Kubert (pencils), Jesse Delperdang (inks), Jason Wright and Digital Chameleon (colors), Todd Klein (letters). (More details at Marvel Database.)
Collected in: Captain America: Heroes Return–The Complete Collection Vol. 1.
Avengers (vol. 3) #7, August 1998: Kurt Busiek (writer), George Pérez (pencils), Al Vey (inks), Tom Smith (colors), Richards Starkings, Dan Lanphear, and Comicraft (letters). (More details at Marvel Database.)
Collected in: Avengers Assemble Volume 1.
The complete storyline, including Iron Man (vol. 3) #7 and Quicksilver #10, is collected in Avengers: Live Kree or Die! and Iron Man: Heroes Return — The Complete Collection Vol. 1 (with the latter also collected in Avengers: Quicksilver).
PREVIOUS ISSUES: Captain America #7 (July 1998) and Avengers #5-6 (June-July 1998)
ALSO THIS MONTH: Marvel Universe #3 and Thor #2 (August 1998)
NEXT ISSUES: Captain America #9 (September 1998) and Avengers #8-9 (September-October 1998)
THE VIRTUES OF CAPTAIN AMERICA 
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