Just who is Steve Rogers IV

Just who is Steve Rogers? - Part IV
By Butch Syyap

Coming from a mission and using a submarine to head back to their head quarters in New York, the Avengers (Thor, Iron Man, Giant Man and the Wasp) are deep in the middle of the North Atlantic Ocean, and equally deep in a heated discussion on the future of their fledgling team – the Avengers, when they are surprised to spot a drifting body in the ocean, and decide to reel it into the submarine for further investigation.

Giant Man, perhaps having no access to any traction devices in the submarine that can handle such a possibly delicate task, decides to use the sub’s dual airlocks and an oxygen tank and mask with communicator to help communicate his efforts to the team – he succeeds in snagging the floating body’s leg and pulls it in slowly. He lays the body on a table within the small sub’s makeshift lab area, and he, plus the rest of the team all gaze upon what they have found.

They are, of course, amazed to see the body, possibly water-logged – maybe cold for quite some time, yet surprisingly intact and even more astounded to find a colorful and vaguely familiar uniform plus a circular shield under the tattered remains of what can only be army fatigues. They leave the body strapped on the sub’s lab – under hot lamps for Hank Pym’s further study, as they try to ascertain the identity of this ‘John Doe’.

Both Janet and Tony seem to recognize the costume as that of Captain America – perhaps by way of some historical reference, and they possibly wonder if the government has had a new Captain America around – one they have not heard of, and try to contact certain people in the government to ascertain some knowledge about who this person could be.

They possibly hear their contact telling them that there has been no Captain America – and I wonder if this contact would have told them of a possible Cap around briefly some time in the ‘50s (which I would doubt – owing to the fact that this ‘50s Cap became unstable like the rest of the Super Soldier subjects)… or if he/she were privy to the fact that there had been several Caps at all. Still, the more well known Cap – the one that the army would have no record of, would be Steve Rogers – though that in itself is impossible, since Steve Rogers had been missing for decades, and not days, as this seemingly preserved (i.e. not decomposed) body would suggest.

But if the body is who they (both the Avengers and the contact) think it is, then the team considers how this could have happened and how short of a miracle their discovery is. How is it possible that they have come across a Captain America, if not THE Captain America? Apparently no news about the man can be remembered as far back as the late ‘40s and possibly the early ‘50s – if any news can be discerned about Cap at all (remember, his missions were classified – and the Avengers had yet to win any clearance with the government). Yet here they have a Captain America, found floating in the waters, and obviously wearing – from the looks of it, a military uniform which can be described as World War II issue, which I’m sure Hank possibly tried dating.

It is with shock and surprise, that Janet Van Dyne – the Wasp, upon coming closer to the body, realizes that ‘it’ has started breathing, as the frozen state that Steve was in, slowly thaws out. This all happens while the Avengers are determining what to do with their discovery. Though the time difference was not mentioned, this thawing process and recovery might not have been as fast as people perceived things to appear. I would not be surprised if this thawing out period happened more than 24 hours. As the Wasp’s curiosity gets the better of her and she approaches the man’s face, she is surprised to see his eyes sleepily open, and then turn wide awake as he suddenly screams a name out while easily breaking the restraining straps of the sub’s lab table.

After finally restraining the seemingly mad man, the Avengers go through the effort of determining just who their visitor is using the more direct approach of asking him, who he was… where he came from… and how he got to where they found him – unfortunately, aside from the obvious answers (like who he is), Steve is suffering from some amnesia.

He does get to prove his identity with respect to his being Captain America – remember, if the Avengers are a bit reluctant or suspicious, it is because there have been Captain Americas around – but aside from his say so, Steve has one thing that the other Caps never had… his Vibranium-Steel alloy shield. This, and the fact that despite his just recovering from deep freeze – and seemingly faster than normal at that (thanks possibly to the super soldier serum in his veins), all lead to the Avengers accepting Steve’s word (at face value) as to who he is and they are equally glad that their discovery is not just an artifact to be turned over to whoever, but is now a living, breathing person.

Steve is invited to stay in the mansion while he recovers from his incident and until he can settle down and catch up. Things seem a bit too much for Steve as he wrestles with the two important facts of life – first is the guilt that he survived while Bucky, apparently did not – and second, he is alive in a world… two (or more?) decades later.

Remember that Steve had some experiences with Super teams, though he possibly does not remember much of his past at this point in time – he therefore does not react too indifferent from seeing a giant, a three inch tall woman, a man in a metal casing and a vaguely familiar large man wearing a winged helm. At this point in time, Steve’s memory is mostly blank – considering the possibility that his brain, having been in a dormant state for a very long time, was slowly waking up.

But one thing Steve did remember were his last few waking moments prior to his long sleep – he knows that there was an explosion, and that he had a young partner with him then. It was in fact the name of Bucky that Cap had called out to and tried to rescue (by trying to get out of the sub) through his hazy memory. It was only when he was more aware of his surroundings and of the Avengers, that he calmed down – all the while, suffering some remorse for not having helped Bucky.

Steve needed, among other things, to get his mind off his one possible failure, and think less of Bucky – lucky for Steve, his life with the Avengers promises to be far from normal and this is what the doctor ordered – rather than skulk about and feel remorse, he needed the call to action, and upon reaching the shores of New York for a press conference, the Avengers get ambushed and turned to statues. It now becomes Steve’s task to find out what had happened and how to help these Avengers.

Maybe it is because Steve has experienced so much above normal events during his War time efforts, that he does not flip out when he realizes that whoever was responsible for the Avengers’ current problems happen to be a handful of aliens. Ready for battle, he none the less tries talking and eventually gets the Avengers freed. If they had any doubts about the man prior to the New York dock incident, this ability for Steve to solve the dilemma they (the Avengers) were in somehow cements the Avengers resolve to invite Cap to join them. To Steve it was great to realize that his skills – be they fighting or communicating, were not entirely outdated yet.

One other aspect was obvious for Steve’s staying in the mansion, it would also allow the Avenger’s resident scientist to do further studies on him and see if there were any untoward effects that his suspended animation gave him – and for the next few days, Hank Pym would be doing just that. Tony Stark would then read through the arrangements / mission orders that Steve had as Cap, and discover a clause allowing any individual or group he was affiliated with, to seemingly share in the security clearance that Captain America enjoyed. A status that Cap obviously once shared with Bucky and later, with the Invaders, and now… one that Tony would use to parlay to the benefit of the Avengers.

Steve, when not busy with Hank’s examinations, would slowly discover just how different the world he is in would be – he would first get a glimpse of the television – and relate to it as a portable cinema box, possibly as an item he might have just imagined or read about in his fiction / fantasy books… he would be surprised of 1) the variety of programs he could watch, 2) the color it had, and 3) its up to date features fro understanding the world – set against his ‘radio-listening days’ if he could recall that part of his life.

His world was so different from this new one – the people dressed differently, the cars would look different as well. If there was any consolation for Steve, it would be his actually seeing the long term fruits of his generation’s struggle fro freedom against the Nazi, and how a nation with freedom was able to prosper.

As for what he remembered about his past adventures, everything was a seeming blank to him – and it would be this situation that would also make the U.S. government not really stress for the release of Cap to their custody. To them, as far as reports go – this was one damaged good, so they were willing to let the Avengers have their luck with him... guess they forgot about the unique shield.

Reintegration into society would not be easy. For one, Steve had recurring nightmares of Bucky, and would continue to do so, until his conscious mind would finally get what his subconscious was trying make him remember – who he was, how he got here, and how Bucky died. Secondly, there were obvious differenced between the life he led and the life he was now thrust into. Not just the obvious ones, but the subtler things like a person’s outlook in life, culture, belief system- all these changed.

Not to mention the fact that the government he used to work with was not the same government he had known. If he shared some leeway with F.D.R. back then, he certainly had no connections with the current government and army. Luckily, Steve would have some help by way of a rather supportive, though unlikely duo – Edwin Jarvis and Richard ‘Rick’ Jones.
Jarvis would show Cap some select readings on history, show him to some WWII memorials – both geared to jogging his memory and catching up with some holes in Steve’s life regarding World War II – unfortunately, as pointed out earlier, still a lot of Cap’s past adventures were classified, so he did not make any obvious connections to his adventures then – nor of his allies, the Invaders.

In fact, when Steve and Namor met and fought their first post WWII battle, they did so without even recognizing each other... or at least, this was true in Steve’s case, still suffering from amnesia. As for Namor – well, he most probably assumed that this was another copy cat to the old ally he used to have… and he may not have even been in the mood to reflect on who this Cap was, and if he did – probably thought that this new attempt was not worthy to fit his comrades’ shoes.

Going back to Jarvis; he would tend to the mansion’s sole occupant, and bore silent witness to the inner struggle that this time-displaced hero would be experiencing. Edwin would try and make Cap’s stay as comfortable as he could see that Steve was suffering from a lack of focus – something was missing and Edwin considered what that missing piece was – thus would Edwin be instrumental in making Steve rethink his involvement and place in the modern world.

Edwin led Steve to one of the mansion’s common areas and let Steve read one very important document… the Avengers charter – the team’s ‘raison de etre’, its reason for being… a mission that Edwin clearly knew, was once similar to that of Steve’s during the war, and one he could appreciate, empathize with and believe in again. As Steve read the words – he indeed connected to the timeless ideals placed in the charter. Whether he realized it then and there, Steve had found his link to this time, and more. No matter what challenges this time had for him, he would be able to face it once again with his inner resolve.

\As for Rick Jones, Steve saw a semblance of Bucky – at first this made Steve act a bit awkward with Rick, even having delusions of Rick being Bucky. Later, Steve resolved to help train Rick and his friends to help the Avengers, and even if he did not – he probably though (rightly so) that Rick and his gang would be around anyway – being somewhat protective, not wanting to repeat having a death in his conscience, Steve just taught them self-defense. Later on, Steve would start training Rick to be his sidekick, and Rick would be almost as good – if not as good as Cap’s WWII partner.

Steve could also not also deny the fact that his talks with Rick were what he needed as well. If Edwin was a link to the past, the Avengers a link to his life’s work – Rick was turning out to be a link to the present (and future), and Rick surely helped an awkward Steve bridge the gap with what ‘was’ with ‘is’, giving Steve an updated perspective of how people nowadays would be or act – and why.

Steve also needed to keep himself busy as he was trying to recover, if not physically – mentally and emotionally… and Rick, with his teen brigade, was a help in this department. Steve’s training helped them stay out of trouble, fro the most part – though it may also have given them some courage and resolve to at least con Kang (in one instance) into letting them join his cause to help free the then captive Avengers in his ship.

The fact that Rick’s teen brigade likewise served as a network of communication – thus letting him (and the Avengers) know about pending trouble, was a definitely added benefit in letting the Avengers learn a few things (aside from possibly having a line on any Hulk sightings). This communication model would be a similar set-up that Steve would somehow integrate with volunteers later in his life when he would try to move around the country and be available to help as many as he could through his solo adventures.

Meanwhile, Stark, through the Avengers, was milking the discovery, revival and reintegration of Cap into modern Society for all its worth – the Avengers needed as much positive press as they could muster to counter their past association with the Hulk, and get everyone – more so, the U.S. government, to buy into the idea that the Avengers’ newest member was none other than the living legend and hero of WWII – Captain America – and with their new member came a clause authorizing Cap and his team members to have security clearance. Tony’s lawyers (if not Tony himself) used this, as well as Cap’s popularity, to strong arm the government into finally granting said security clearance to the Avengers.

The papers covered the story of Cap’s miraculous return and one of said printed broadsheet would reach a hidden base of a Nazi War veteran – Baron Heinrich Zemo. Seeing the news, Zemo would plan for revenge on Steve... a revenge he thought he finally had, when he witnessed the far off explosion of the drone plane he had rigged with an explosion – one that both Captain America and Bucky seemingly perished with – while trying to stop the bomb from reaching its destination. A revenge for causing his cowl to forever be stuck to his face.

Getting help from a few other powerful personalities, Zemo would lead his Masters of Evil against the Avengers – while he would target Captain America. Without realizing it, Heinrich Zemo would actually help Steve Rogers break through the amnesia he was suffering from. One look and a brief taunt from Zemo was all it took and Steve suddenly remembered everything about his near death – and presumably, the death of Bucky. If Zemo wanted revenge for what Captain America did to his face, Steve too, wanted revenge for the death of Bucky.

Unlike Zemo, though, Steve would soon outgrow the need to exact vengance, and he would be well on the road to recovery and normalization. Cap would not be as obsessed to killing Zemo as more for capturing him and letting him answer for all his crimes, from the war to the present. It would be about time too – for unknown to Cap, he would once again be thrust into a leadership role… for the Avengers.

Next: Kooky Quartet, Agent 13 and the Red Skull?

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