This annual is a standalone story that does not occur at any particular time relative to the current run of the title (although it was released the week before issue #47). But it can be placed squarely in real time, given the identification of the U.S. president, George W. Bush, and reference to his just having started his term in office, which began in January 2001. Although comics creators often invent fictional world leaders for their fictional universes, occasionally they do portray actual leaders from our universe (although sometimes obscured). This plays havoc with the “sliding timeline,” by which everything that’s happened since Fantastic Four #1 is supposed to have occurred in the last fifteen years. This storytelling device leaves Captain America’s history with President Franklin Delano Roosevelt in the 1940s intact, but obviously means he could not have met either President Bush if he was only defrosted after 2010 (unless we have another one in the future, of course).
Anyway, the issue opens with Cap being led to the Oval Office and having his antique status subtly invoked.
His guide makes the occasion seem precarious before taking his leave, after which the current President Bush invokes the previous one…
…who was a Navy combat pilot during World War II (as will be referenced later).
The president humbly references all he still has to learn about America, with which Cap agrees (leaving vague the issue of exactly what about, Cap certainly familiar with the wide range of identities and opinions among the American people).
The commander in chief tosses Cap a folder of Operation Rebirth documents with an ominous label, which triggers his memories—and not in a good way.
His flashback begins with the magnificent spread below, which launches a fun Invaders story taking place in 1944 (which ties in only loosely to the issue of the file in the current day).
After our heroes disable the Japanese destroyer and defeat its crew, Cap cautions Bucky not to celebrate too soon, suspecting something more sinister…
…which is verified when Namor is dragged underwater by an electrically charged cable. Cap does not to hesitate to jump in after him, and both Bucky and the man behind the entire thing, the Red Skull, are confident he can prevail. (Plus, doesn’t the Skull realize that submerging Namor in water will only make him stronger?)
Running out of time, Cap uses his shield to cut Namor free…
…but is snared by another cable, after which he sets Namor loose to float to the surface, both (we can assume) to save his life and to enable his eventual return to help Cap if needed.
Cap is mockingly defiant to Warrior Woman and her fellow Nazis, while the Skull is focused on his own mission and the rest of the Invaders ponder Cap’s fate.
Back in 2001, the president assures Cap he didn’t read the Project Rebirth file, and Cap is impressed while also dismayed by what it contains.
When the scene returns to 1944, Cap remains defiant, even against Warrior Woman’s lashes…
…and it is now the Nazi’s turn to be impressed with the Sentinel of Liberty.
The Skull orders Cap returned to his cell, next to a Russian woman whose husband was just killed in front of her. Even at this early stage in his career, Cap has seen enough duplicity and subterfuge to be suspicious, but she argues she has just as much reason to be skeptical.
At the same time, in Washington, DC, the president and US military leaders debate what to do in case Captain America does not return, which they fear would give their enemies renewed hope. A plan is presented to Roosevelt that they simply deny Captain America’s death and set up another man in his place.
The president balks at the thought, but this is exactly what his successor, Harry Truman, did in What If? #4 when Cap did “die,” replacing him first with William Naslund (the Spirit of ’76) and then with Jeff Mace (the Patriot).
Roosevelt didn’t go through with the plan, but Cap is hurt that anyone even proposed it—although it is not clear why, since it would ensure the mission would continue, and I wouldn’t expect Cap to be concerned that his contribution to it be memorialized.
Back in 1944, Cap and his cellmate Karinna forge an uneasy alliance, and Cap expresses faith that his country will never forget those who served (a position he is obviously questioning in 2001).
He reaffirms his opposition to fascism as well as America’s dedication to its own before shielding Karinna with his body…
…but after she tries in vain to get Cap’s actual shield to him, Karinna is snatched by Warrior Woman and the Red Skull uses her to try to get the location of Atlantis from Cap.
Cap stands up for the people of Atlantis, refusing to give in to the Skull’s demands even as he threatens Karinna’s life, something he would not have done were it his own life on the line rather than the entirety of Atlantis. Or perhaps he was simply stalling for time, as his fellow Invaders show up seconds later and scare the Nazis away.
Cap thanks Karinna for her courage and once again proudly proclaims his country’s allegiance to its fighting men and women…
…before the scene returns to the Oval Office in 2001 and Cap realizes that only a few men in 1944 wanted to forget him, and not the man who led America at the time.
Cap offers the file full of his secrets to the president—who I assume would know the basics already—but he refuses before explaining why. (This website claims it was actually September 2, not August 2, but this is a different universe, after all.)
The president explicitly expresses his gratitude to Captain America and promises his and the country’s loyalty going forward…
…which Cap relies on to ensure another who served the cause is not forgotten.
ISSUE DETAILS
Captain America (vol. 3) Annual 2001: Dan Jurgens (writer), Lee Moder, Darryl Banks, and Ignacio Calero (pencils), Sandu Florea, Joe Weems, and Marco Galli (inks), Chris Sotomayor (colors), Chris Eliopoulos (letters). (More details at Marvel Database.)
Collected in: Captain America by Dan Jurgens Omnibus.
THE VIRTUES OF CAPTAIN AMERICA 
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