Episode 111 - Cap is Back (Again) (Avengers #4) -- February 1964

In this episode:

Mike and Ed discuss the return of Captain America - for real this time? Unlike last year when he was selling used cars, this time the Captain is joining the Avengers, so he MIGHT be the same hero who fought in World War II. How can we be sure? And if 1940s technology can create a super soldier who does not age, why is that technology not more common today? What is causing our science to go backwards?

In this issue:

Where to begin? All right, the issue starts with Namor escaping the Avengers and swimming to the North Pole, where he encounters the locals worshipping a petrified figure frozen in ice. Namor garbles the frozen figure and throws it into the ocean. This causes the figure to thaw. Fortunately, the Avengers happen to be driving by in their submarine and see the figure, pull it in, and realize it is actually Captain America. Cap wakes up as if from a dream, panics, and then calmly explains that he is Captain America. The Avengers do not believe him and battle him, in their submarine. Cap handles them pretty well before cooler heads prevail. He then explains how he ended up frozen in ice at the end of WWII. Eventually, they make their way back to NYC, whereupon the Avengers are turned into stone statues by some mysterious power. This happens before Cap disembarks. He thinks it odd that the Avengers have statues by the dock, but he just shrugs it off and wonders into the city. Rick Jones finds Cap at a hotel to ask him questions about the Avengers’ disappearance, and the two join forces to figure out what happened to them. They figure out that there was a strange man at the dock when the Avengers arrived, and they track that fellow down and battle him. He is revealed to be an alien who has been trapped on Earth for eons, and actually inspired the legend of Medusa (as he had a weapon that turned men to stone). He further explains that Namor put him up to taking down the Avengers with the promise of helping him free his ship from the ocean floor so that he can return home. The alien works with Cap to turn the un-stone the Avengers, and the Avengers then figure out a way to free the alien’s ship from the ocean floor. Namor and his fellow Atlanteans show up and brawl with the Avengers. The Avengers, with the help of Captain America, chase Namor and his gang away. The alien also leaves Earth in his spaceship.

Assumed before the next episode:

People are cautiously optimistic that Captain America has returned.

This episode takes place:

After people learn that Captain America has returned, seemingly from the dead.

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