The more things change… again, these two issues carry on the “Kang Dynasty” storyline that began in issue #41, which has involved Cap very little. Here, we see him leading his specific Avengers team in a few panels from issue #48 and then more in issue #50 as their mission coincides with the Triune Understanding, whose secrets are revealed at last.
As I said, in issue #48 we see Cap leading his super space squad…
…and encouraging the Scarlet Witch to keep it up (in part by suggesting what might happen if she doesn’t).
Here, he takes the more direct approach to showing that he believes in her.
At the end of the issue, Kang destroys their ship, and the team wakes up in issue #50 to find… well, that they woke up at all. Cap immediately wants to confront Kang, but Quasar says there’s an even greater priority…
…which leads Cap to carefully trace through the possibilities.
His deliberation is interrupted, however, when Jonathan Tremont, leader of the Triune Understanding, arrives in a massive spacecraft. Cap correctly surmises that he’s related to the threat Quasar mentioned, after which Tremont points to a giant pyramid floating in space (which takes up the entire right-hand page, not shown here—you know what a pyramid looks like).
In the comic, all of this is interspersed with the backstory of the Triune Understanding, Tremont, and the pyramid, the last of which is a mass of concentrated evil that the Triunes were created to combat. (The story’s much more involved than that, so feel free to read the issue if you’re interested.)
As Cap is updated on other events that occurred in issue #48—specifically, that Justice and Firestar infiltrated the Triunes in disguise, as well as that the Triunes’ ship is powered by the psychic energy of their followers—he is disappointed that his fellow Avengers that they decided the ends justified the means, and plans an ethics class when they get home.
Tremont tries to emphasize the stakes, but Cap explains that he has to balance this with the Kang situation on Earth.
After they make contact with the pyramid, they are drawn into it and mesmerized with their greatest fantasies, and only one has the power of will to resist.
Cap breaks free with the battle cry of every morning commuter struck in traffic and confronts their captors…
…who quickly drop their benevolent facade once they realize that Cap is not one of these guys.
Cap reverts to his familiar role directing troops in battle as he advises his comrades on how to deal with particularly adaptive foes.
Eventually, Tremont shows his true colors when he tries to take the pyramid’s power for himself, both to save the world and rule it, and it falls to Triathlon—who also incorporates the essence of the Atlas-era hero 3-D Man, whose identity he will later adopt—to save the day.
Wow, “God, mother and country”—we haven’t heard him say that in a dog’s age!
After Cap thanks Triathlon and ponders next steps, Vision finally manages to connect to the pyramid’s wifi and learns what happened in issue #49…
…which Cap will confront in issue #52, coming soon.
ISSUE DETAILS
Avengers (vol. 3) #48, January 2002: Kurt Busiek (writer), Kieron Dwyer (pencils), Rick Remender (inks), Tom Smith (colors), Richard Starkings and Albert Deschesne (letters). (More details at Marvel Database.)
Avengers (vol. 3) #50, March 2002: Kurt Busiek (writer), Kieron Dwyer (pencils), Rick Remender (inks), Tom Smith (colors), Richard Starkings and Albert Deschesne (letters). (More details at Marvel Database.)
Collected in Avengers Assemble Volume 5.
PREVIOUS ISSUES: Avengers #45-46 (October-November 2001)
ALSO THESE MONTHS: Captain America #49 (January 2002), Captain America #50 (February 2002), Captain America: Dead Man Running #1 (March 2002), and Alias #5 (March 2002)
NEXT ISSUES: Avengers #52-54 (May-July 2002)
THE VIRTUES OF CAPTAIN AMERICA 
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