Warning! Spoilers to Avengers: Curse of Man-Thing #1 below!
When Steve Rogers became Captain America, he learned over time that his example has inspired both the best and worst in many people. Although people like Sam Wilson or Bucky Barnes proved to be worthy of the mantle, there were men whose inability to live up to Steve’s example led them to evil. While the world is watching the rise and downfall of Steve’s replacement John Walker in MCU’s Falcon and the Winter Soldier, Marvel Comics’ Steve Rogers finds himself facing some of his darkest fears, his failed replacements.
Seeking to fill the void left in Steve Rogers’ absence, the government sought to create an adequate replacement but without Doctor Erskine’s notes, many of these experiments failed and became something worse. William Burnside was a fan who became the Captain America of the 1950s, but his attempts to literally become his hero was ruined by a flawed super-soldier serum that left him paranoid, delusional, and susceptible to other’s manipulation. Frank Simpson, aka Nuke, became the Captain America of Vietnam but the genetic modifications and conditioning turned him into a bloodthirsty and violent mercenary. Anti-Captain America was a boy who volunteered to be the Navy’s Captain America, owing his superpowers to an addictive drug that allowed him to participate in covert missions until his path ended with death. The most dangerous was Frank McIntyre, a disgraced soldier who was offered the super-soldier serum before Rogers. The incomplete serum killed him. His body was preserved until he was rejuvenated by AIM in the modern-day as Protocide. He seriously injured U.S. Agent and almost killed Steve Rogers as well, struggling with false memories and the desire to be the real Captain America.
In Avengers: Curse of the Man-Thing #1 by Steve Orlando and Francesco Mobili, unfamiliar plants have grown overnight in cities worldwide as a result of Man-Thing’s defeat by the Harrower. When the plants begin producing creatures that attack citizens, the Avengers are called in to assess and contain the problem. While fighting alongside She-Hulk, Captain America comes into contact with seeds which immediately encase him in a statue made of vines. Steve finds himself in a murky swamp-like setting where voices taunt him from the shadows, skeletons who’ve come to remind Steve of the pain and suffering inflicted on others in his memory. Steve suddenly finds himself in a battle with Protocide, Nuke, Burnside, and Anti-Cap who accuse him of trying to forget them.
Although many have considered Steve Rogers’ abilities which include an extended lifespan a dream, it’s often been a nightmare for the WWII veteran especially when he learned of the lives ruined trying to live up to his idyllic example. Many scientists sought the dream of creating the next Super-Soldier and were often left with supervillains and the occasional superhero as a result, even Man-Thing himself was created with an experimental super-soldier serum. Steve doesn’t forget because in some way he not only feels guilty but also responsible, if not for his absence, their lives might have been different and the same for their victims and their families.
When collective star-spangled evil threatens to overcome him, Steve shows why he’s always been nearly impossible to replace. With the help of a mysterious stranger, later revealed to be Man-Thing’s other half Dr. Ted Sallis, Steve defeats the others and challenges Protocide to a rematch. Like his famous MCU quote, he could do this all day because Captain America doesn’t give up or give in, he keeps moving forward.
