This issue is the first in a two-part conclusion to the story of Protocide, the victim of a botched incomplete Project Rebirth process that left him mentally unhinged, after which he was manipulated by his handlers into believing Captain America stole his legacy (as explained in the 2000 Annual).
The issue opens with Cap reflecting on his “man out of time” status, inspired by the advances women made since the 1940s—particularly his former love interest Sharon Carter, who rose from being Agent 13 when we first met her in Tales of Suspense #75 to the director of SHIELD (as of six issues ago).
Although he acknowledges things have improved regarding the treatment of women, he does not think everything has changed for better (but it is unclear yet what exactly he has in mind).
As Sharon brings up Protocide, Cap indulges in “there but for the grace of God go I” thinking, much as he did when he first met his 1950s döppelganger William Burnside.
He nicely recaps Protocide’s origin for the reader, musing at the end about what might have happened had McIntyre received the same finished treatment Steve Rogers got.
He seems to ignore Protocide’s decidedly non-virtuous character traits, instead dreaming of having had a more mature, stronger partner to take the place of the one he lost.
When Nick Fury shows up, he asks Cap about his girlfriend Connie Ferrari’s brother, whom Nick has been investigating in secret the last several issues…
…and tells Cap he was actually SHIELD but went rogue. Nick promises to find him and bring him in, and recommends that Steve Rogers prepare Connie for the news.
When Steve meets with Connie, she inspires more reflection on the changed role of women in society and what it implies about his own role in it as a very very old man. (Any hype for Glenn Miller is always welcome!)
He asks point blank what (she thinks) happened to her brother, but before she can answer, he receives a summons on his pager, which explains some of his earlier thoughts about the impatient modern world.
Before he leaves, Connie unloads about how much she misses the brother she has long believed to be dead, who was the only connection to her past she had, and Steve knows what she means.
Before he can leave, one of Connie’s clients—the shady one who got them the baseball tickets in issue #35—shows up and throws around a term that Steve is understandably defensive about (absent any actual fascist implications).
When in costume, Cap reflects on his “always-on-call” life, which he apparently has not yet adjusted to—although I think it’s more that he finally has something else, or someone else, in his life to be torn away from.
He heads to one of Hydra’s warehouses where he finds Protocide attacking them…
…after which it becomes personal as Cap berates him for using the treatment for the wrong people and purposes.
Rather than seeing him as a potential partner or brother of sorts, Cap finally realizes Protocide is an ungrateful and bitter man (who is also a murderer) and a wasted opportunity.
When Hydra fires on both of them, Cap beats himself up for making a Clint-sized mistake before seeing a glimpse of what could have been had things turned out as he imagined above.
He even wonders what his “creator” would say if he could see them now.
When Protocide is hit and falls into Hydra’s energy core, Cap tries to save him…
…and turns into a Neal Adams drawing as he implores his erstwhile partner to take his hand. After saving him, he implores him to redeem himself by embracing “the honor you were given,” which is a strange way to reference the concept of honor (implying the external honors one can be granted by others, rather than the internal honor one exhibits in the form of integrity, as explained in chapter 4 of my book).
Protocide declines, still blaming Cap for “stealing” what was his, and then claims the title of Captain America for himself (at least informally).
We’ll see how this concludes in the next issue, as Cap faces a choice from which he cannot easily return.
ISSUE DETAILS
Captain America (vol. 3) #37, January 2001: Dan Jurgens (writer and pencils), Art Thibert (inks), Gregory Wright (colors), Todd Klein (letters). (More details at Marvel Database.)
Collected in: Captain America by Dan Jurgens Omnibus.
PREVIOUS ISSUES: Captain America #36 (December 2000)
ALSO THIS MONTH: Avengers #36 and Maximum Security #3 and Iron Fist/Wolverine: The Return of K’un Lun #3 (January 2001)
NEXT ISSUES: Captain America #38 (February 2001)
THE VIRTUES OF CAPTAIN AMERICA 
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