Captain America Annual #13

Issue Details

Synopsis

Story #1: "Heritage of Hatred" Captain America crashes into the home of a Russian emigre where the Red Skull is trying to steal a book with an iron lock—the diary of the Commie Red Skull. Cap vanquishes the Skull's armored henchmen and pursues the villain, grabbing on the the runners under the villain's helicopter. The Skull pushes the pilot out and gets away as Cap has to let go in order to rescue the pilot.... In the waning days of World War 2, Adolf Hitler entrusted the Red Skull with a box that held his greatest achievements. At that time, Captain America, Spirit of '76, and the Patriot parachute into Berlin to recover that very strongbox; they are unexpectedly joined by the Red Guardian, hero of the Soviet Union on the same mission for his country. They fight their way into the bunker, with each one being sidelined by difficult battles until it is only Cap versus the Red Skull. Allied bombers rain death on the city and the building collapses and Cap sees the Skull and the box buried, seemingly forever.... While the Red Skull was in suspended animation for several decades, the Russians sought the strongbox, dispatching their own version of the Red Skull to retrieve it. A spy reports that it is in the United Nations building in New York, so the new Red Skull seized the building (as seen in YOUNG MEN #24 in 1953) and was defeated by the 1950s Captain America and Bucky. As a follow-up, the Skull went to the morgue and revived Cap's enemy Electro (seen in CAP #78 in 1954), now with a fanatical desire for vengeance against the heroes. While Cap and Bucky are occupied with the mad electrical monster, the Skull finds the strongbox but discovers it is a fake—but with directions to a German castle where the authentic box resides. And now the real Red Skull has the diary and discovers the whereabouts of Hitler's secrets.... In the here and now, the Red Skull heads to the castle and summons Captain America, intending this to be their final confrontation. Cap arrives in a Quinjet and braves all the tricks and traps of the castle to confront his archenemy. In the ensuing battle, the building collapses and the Skull grabs the strongbox and hijacks the Quinjet, with Cap hitching on the back. The triumphant Skull opens the box—only to find that it contains not the plans for a Nazi superweapon but Hitler's personal effects, including the manuscript of Mein Kampf. Cap and the Skull struggle and the villain plunges (again) to an apparent death but Cap knows better.... Story #2: “Symbols” Steve Rogers attends the late night funeral of an old friend; in the cemetery he is confronted by some bigots who object to a black man being buried in a white cemetery. Steve tells them the story of Clarence Duckett, nicknamed “Biz.” He was a baseball player in the Negro Leagues when the War broke out. He enlisted in the army and found himself doing laundry for the white soldiers in the segregated military. He accidentally discovered that Steve Rogers was Captain America and he kept that secret even when enemy agents tried to bribe, then torture, him. Cap came to his rescue and never forgot Biz's loyalty and bravery, calling him a symbol of America rather than Cap. Steve now concludes his story and flexes his muscles to scare the bigots off.