This issue finishes the story begun in the last issue, in which both parts of Captain America’s life began to converge. As the Sentinel of Liberty, he is working with Sharon Carter and SHIELD to bring down AIM before they can create another Protocide, while as Steve Rogers he is growing more uncomfortable with his girlfriend Connie Ferrari representing shady clients—one of whom, Chet Madden, was revealed at the very end of the last issue to be the head of AIM. (As an added bonus, we get a few panels from this month’s Iron Man and X-Men, curiously also involved with legal and political delicacies.)
Captain America #40 opens similarly to the last issue, with our hero reflecting on his dual lives and his role in each.
I’m fascinated at his statement that he strives to make the world safer as Captain America and better as Steve Rogers. To me this sounds more like something you’d hear about a certain caped crusader, who keeps Gotham safe as Batman while supporting charitable causes as Bruce Wayne (both contributing to an overall utilitarian mission, albeit in different ways). But given that Cap doesn’t spend much time as Steve Rogers—other than dating Connie—I don’t know what he has in mind when he says that in that part of his life he aims to make the world “a better place to live.” (Unless he just means showing off his handsome mug.)
Anyway, he puts his finger on the common factor in both of his “lives”…
…whom he (as her boyfriend) later greets on her way into court before they get into it about her representing Madden.
Despite what he says below, Steve does want Connie to lose, because as Cap he witnessed Madden commit crimes in the last issue, although he can’t reveal he knows that. Regardless, he misses the point of defense counsel and the Constitutional right to it: defense lawyers don’t exist to “get bad guys off,” they exist to discipline the prosecution by challenging their arguments, mounting a vigorous defense to push the prosecution to make the best case they can, which increases the chances that the jury’s verdict will be accurate and justice will be served.
Connie previews her defense to Steve when she denies Madden was involved in AIM’s “past” criminal activity, but Madden himself does his best to weaken that logic.
Before she can even preview her defense to a jury, though, she moves for dismissal based on insufficient evidence. and the judge seems sympathetic.
Naturally, Steve is shocked, but Sharon the Watcher is not, realizing that AIM is smarter than Steve gives them credit for.
As Steve commits to finding the evidence the prosecution needs to put Madden away, Sharon seems to try to turn him against Connie, but he honorably refuses to take the bait.
After Cap meets with SHIELD Agent Cameron Klein, who explains that AIM deleted all evidence of Madden’s wrongdoing—even clearing their Cache, ha—we turn to SHIELD’s holding facility, where two AIM agents break rogue SHIELD agent Billups out and take him to another AIM facility, where they insist on going to the tracking center even though one of them is hurt.
It turns out he was never that hurt at all, although he is very ominously backlit.
Cap’s depiction above only forecasts his mood below, as he ignores (but does not deny) Billups’ assertion of his civil rights and particularly resents his boast about his reliable attorneys.
As Cap and Sharon fight through AIM personnel to get to the facility’s data center, Dum Dum Dugan explains to Klein that Cap’s resolve and dedication to purpose are what makes him formidable.
After Cap prevents the AIM data engineer from hitting a big bright PURGE button on his control panel, the scene returns to the New York City courtroom, where the judge is just about to dismiss the case against Madden…
…when Cap walks in with what looks like a 3.5″ floppy disk, which was outmoded even in 2001.
Madden invokes a supposed “exclusionary rule” involving masked vigilantes—which, even if it was valid then, was overturned by the Supreme Court in 2017’s Daredevil (vol. 5) #25—but Cap asserts authority as a government-sanctioned hero (although he will strongly reject that status in a few years’ time) before confirming one purpose of a criminal trial is to be “a search for truth.”
Come back for the next issue to see how this case is resolved, but for now, let’s check in with Iron Man #39, where both Tony Stark and Iron Man (his secret identity having been infamously restored several years ago) are under scrutiny from television personality Barbara Walters Beatrice Walders, who invites Cap to 20/20 20 Vision to ask him more about his longtime friend and colleague. Cap fights back straight out of the gate, standing up for the character of “both” men and citing the numerous examples of heroism and charity that Walders mysteriously left out of her scandal-filled introduction (omitted here).
Cap sounds like Connie below as he asserts Tony’s innocence until proven guilty (or even charged with crimes), and he admirably keeps his cool as Walders accuses him of dishonor in covering for Tony’s crimes out of financial motives or a superhero version of omertà.
After he (very honorably) disputes her accusations while affirming her right to make them, Cap bemoans his performance to Carol Danvers, who assures him he did well but shares his pessimism about how things look for Tony (on which you can read the issue to learn more).
Finally, in X-Men #111, our newly appointed “Avengers spokesman” gives a very diplomatic statement on Magneto’s latest escapades as leader of the mutant island of Genosha and the team’s decision to abide with the United Nations’ directions to stay out of it (without needing any Sokovia Accords), while promising to keep an eye on developments to make sure they don’t go south.
ISSUE DETAILS
Captain America (vol. 3) #40, April 2001: Dan Jurgens (writer and pencils), Bob Layton (inks), Digital Chameleon (colors), Todd Klein (letters). (More details at Marvel Database.)
Collected in: Captain America by Dan Jurgens Omnibus.
Iron Man (vol. 3) #39, April 2001: Frank Tieri (writer), Alitha Martinez and Paul Ryan (pencils), Mark Pennington and Rodney Ramos (inks), Steve Oliff (colors), Richard Starkings and Albert Deschesne (letters). (More details at Marvel Database.)
Collected in: Iron Man: The Man in the Iron Mask Omnibus.
X-Men (vol. 2) #111, April 2001: Scott Lobdell (writer), Leinil Francis Yu (pencils), Mark Morales (inks), Liquid! (colors), Comicraft (letters). (More details at Marvel Database.)
Collected in: X-Men: Eve of Destruction.
PREVIOUS ISSUE: Captain America #39 (March 2001)
ALSO THIS MONTH: Avengers #39 (April 2001)
NEXT ISSUES: Captain America #41-43 (May-July 2001)
THE VIRTUES OF CAPTAIN AMERICA 
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