Ever since having his reality re-written as a Hydra sleeper agent, Captain America Steve Rogers has slowly been laying out a plan to restore Hydra to what he sees as its former glory, and that means getting rid of the Red Skull. With the release of Uncanny Avengers #22 (by Gerry Duggan and Pepe Larraz) and Captain America: Steve Rogers #15 (by Nick Spencer, Javier Pina and Andrew Guinaldo), we finally see Steve execute his plan.
Warning: this article contains full spoilers!
Ever since he stole the brain of a deceased Professor Xavier, the Red Skull has been more dangerous than ever because he wields the power of the world’s most gifted telepath. That's right, he's so twisted he installed pieces of Xavier's brain into his own in order to use his powers. (Gross.) Steve was restricted greatly by Red Skull’s ability to read minds, so he kept his distance and only communicated through holograms, Vader/Palpatine style, all the while playing a long shadow game against his master.
This all came to a head as Steve manipulated the Uncanny Avengers -- an Avengers, X-Men, Inhuman “unity squad” -- into going after the Red Skull. Things were obviously personal for Rogue because Xavier was her mentor, and so she led the charge wearing Magneto’s helmet for protection against his telepathy. The mission was a success and the defeated Red Skull was whisked away to Beast so he could immediately operate to remove Xavier’s telepathic brain parts from the Red Skull’s head.
Hearing of Red Skull’s takedown, Steve shows up at the hospital demanding the remains of Xavier’s brain -- still considered a weapon of mass destruction -- but Rogue defied him, preferring to finally put Xavier to rest with a little help from Johnny Storm.
Steve wasn’t happy, obviously, but he got what he ultimately wanted: a de-powered and vulnerable Red Skull. With that taken care of, Steve helped secure Red Skull’s escape from custody and and run back to his secret headquarters. There, Steve surprised him and finally exposed himself as a mutineer, claiming that Red Skull had corrupted Hydra’s true, ancient purpose, and beat him to a pulp before tossing Red Skull to his death.
Yeah, yeah -- we know dead never means dead for long in comic books, but given that the contents of Red Skull’s head are now on the outside, he’s clearly off the board for the foreseeable future. Red Skull first stole Xavier’s brain way back in 2012’s Uncanny Avengers #1, so this has been a long-running plot line that has finally come to a conclusion.
This is all very ironic given that it was the Red Skull who convinced the sentient Cosmic Cube known as Kobik to make Steve a loyal member of Hydra in the first place. Turns out he made him too loyal. It's also ironic in that Steve finally took down his greatest nemesis, but he did it with blood on his hands, something the real Steve Rogers would never do.
With Red Skull gone, his followers Sin and Crossbones pledged their allegiance to Steve and they were joined by the Hydra high council.
This, of course, is all leading to Marvel’s big summer event called Secret Empire where Steve finally exposes himself as Hydra and makes a play to take over the world.
What do you think of the Red Skull’s undoing after all these years? Let us know in the comments.
Joshua is IGN’s Comics Editor. If Pokemon, Green Lantern, or Game of Thrones are frequently used words in your vocabulary, you’ll want to follow him on Twitter @JoshuaYehl and IGN.
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