This issue continues the story begun in the last issue, which ended with Captain America and Sharon Carter trapped under the collapsed ruins of a construction site after rushing in to save one last worker. We also learn more about the madness affecting prominent heroic American citizens—especially when it affects the title character himself. As a bonus, we have a single panel from Excalibur #125 commemorating a superhero wedding Cap could not attend, perhaps because he was trapped under a mountain of rubble at the time.
We open on the cover to Secret Wars #4, showing our hero testing out his sparkly new shield while Sharon thinks of a snarky comment (and the construction worker wonders what kind of leg workout Cap does).
The narration hails Cap’s legendary resolve, but also hints toward the mysterious rage that threatens to infect him.
The worker helps Sharon choose a spot to blast, which lets them fall and gain a little breathing room… followed by the rest of the building, unfortunately. Cap reveals this was their plan all along before asking for next steps (and making sure the worker, whom we’ll call “Eep,” is OK).
Even less fortunately, they’re not alone. Of course, Cap’s first concern is getting Eep out of danger…
…but Sharon makes a good point too.
Although busy with Rhino, Cap realizes his best bet is to wear him out, especially given the lack of air—which they all need to survive, of course, but they need to survive the Rhino first.
Cap takes the final shot at the Spidey foe with a Spidey-like quip. (The thin air must be getting to him.)
Sharon is about to open her heart when the cavalry arrives, but Cap knows how she really feels.
When they return to Brooklyn, Cap and Sharon go over the recent developments, with Sharon focusing on the spreading madness and Cap regretting that he failed to help the Ramirezes, a family he found living in his empty apartment in the last issue—about whom Sharon does not share his concern.
She asks why he cares, but she should know better—to be fair, though, she didn’t hear the father explain how he lost his job and was later bankrupted by medical bills, which is why Cap tried to get him a job at the construction site. (“Again, as seen last issue.”–Mark)
While Mr. Ramirez tries to stop his wife from embarrassing Steve and Sharon—who she thought were in the other room all this time, wink wink—Steve gives him a task to prevent him from embarrassment at accepting help. As Immanuel Kant wrote about helping the poor, “since the favor we do implies that his well-being depends on our generosity, and this humbles him, it is our duty to behave as if our help is either merely what is due him or but a slight service of love, and to spare him humiliation and maintain his respect for himself” (The Metaphysics of Morals, pp. 448-49).
What was that look for? Hmm…
After Steve says he plans to reach out to Andrew Bolt (even though Cap owes him a favor, not the other way around), he suddenly flips out…
…but quickly recovers and says he has an idea what’s behind it. After reviewing more recent cases with Sharon at Avengers Mansion, he narrows down on what the victims (including himself) have in common, which gives him a chance to elaborate on what the American dream means to him—opportunity, essentially, as he mentioned with reference to the Ramirezes—as opposed to Sharon’s simplistic understanding of it.
Sharon asks “how come America’s other superpatriots like you haven’t gone wack?” just before Jarvis bursts in with news about John Walker, the USAgent, who he says has lost his mind… but honestly, how do you tell?
(All joking aside, this reminds me of the problem with Marvel’s AXIS event, which “flipped” the moral orientation of a number of prominent heroes and villains, which was difficult when many of them were morally ambiguous to begin with.)
Cap orders USAgent to stop, but to no effect, so he finds himself in a very familiar situation.
Even random Army personnel know Cap better than Sharon does (or else she’s just very persistent in trying to change his mind).
Cap attempts to change the course of the plane by hand, displaying amazing strength and resolve…
…and eventually succeeds in steering it into the water.
We have to assume Cap rescued Walker, because the next thing we see is him captive at SHIELD headquarters with the rest of the affected people, with Dugan telling Cap and Sharon it seems they were sleepwalking and living a common nightmare. Cap only sees one way forward, and it involves putting himself in the thick of it.
Skeptical Sharon chimes in on cue, but Cap calmly explains that he has to do this and now.
After he enters the surrealistic nightmare world, Cap sees a dying man clutching to a pile on money and jewels and small children playing soldier with real guns, both of which puzzle him as he tries to argue with them… until the true culprit appears.
For those who don’t know, Nightmare is a frequent foe of Doctor Strange, debuting with him in Strange Tales #110 in July 1963.
And while Cap’s mind is in Nightmare’s realm, his body “wakes up” and starts creating a nightmare for the real world.
This is continued in the next issue, of course, but I’m happy to say the mood is distinctly lighter in Excalibur #125, the final issue of the series, in which Captain Britain and Meggan tie the knot, and the Captain of the Colonies sends a typically corny message and salute.
ISSUE DETAILS
Captain America (vol. 3) #10, October 1998: Mark Waid (writer), Andy Kubert (pencils), Jesse Delperdang (inks), Chris Sotomayer (colors), Todd Klein (letters). (More details at Marvel Database.)
Collected in: Captain America: Heroes Return–The Complete Collection Vol. 1.
Excalibur (vol. 1) #125, October 1998: Ben Raab (writer), Dale Eaglesham (pencils), Scott Hanna (inks), Kevin Tinsley (colors), Richard Starkings and Comicraft (letters). (More details at Marvel Database.)
Collected in: Excalibur Epic Collection: You Are Cordially Invited.
PREVIOUS ISSUE: Captain America #9 (September 1998)
ALSO THIS MONTH: Captain America: Sentinel of Liberty #2 and Avengers #9 (October 1998)
NEXT ISSUES: Captain America #11-12 (November-December 1998)
THE VIRTUES OF CAPTAIN AMERICA 
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