Marvel Reveals Which Hero Secretly Killed Hitler (and It’s Not Who You Think)

Captain America isn’t the only Marvel hero that likes taking down Nazis. Steve Rogers is known for fighting back against hate groups like Hitler’s Nazis and Hydra, but for the most part, he’s never gone into these battles alone. For example, during World War II he had the Howling Commandos and Invaders, and in the present day, there are the Avengers and Ultimates, depending on what universe you’re referring to. For our purposes, we’ll focus on the Ultimate Universe, where Captain America is a member of The Ultimates. The latest issue of Ultimates features the startling discovery of which Marvel hero rid the world of Hitler, and it isn’t Captain America. WARNING: Spoilers for The Ultimates #10 below.

Ultimates #10 is from the creative team of Deniz Camp, Juan Frigeri, Federico Blee, and VC’s Travis Lanham. The issue wastes no time by starting with the killing of Hitler, who is engulfed in a huge flame. We watch as his face burns off and his skull crumbles to ashes. The moment is revealed to be a memory of Jim Hammond, the android Human Torch. He’s retelling the story to the other members of the Ultimates, and explains that the rumor of Hitler killing himself was just a cover story. “Back then, we had this thing called politics,” he says.

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When Wasps asks Human Torch what it felt like to kill Hitler, Human Torch turns introspective. He has a computer for a brain, and since he’s been around since World War II, Human Torch has had to manually erase memories so his brain wouldn’t seize up under the weight of all that history. Human Torch has given up memories of his Medal of Honor, friends he’s made along the way, and of his father Doctor Horton. However, the memory of killing Hitler, that’s something he’s kept in full color and high definition so he can look back at it again and again. “It keeps me warm,” Human Torch says with a wide smile on his face.

The rest of Ultimates #10 focuses on the team raiding Castletown, a stronghold for the Red Skulls. It seems that the Red Skull has inspired a following, but instead of calling themself Hydra, they’ve adopted the Red Skull’s name along with the Punisher’s skull emblem. The Ultimates are looking to rescue Namor the Sub-Mariner, Captain America and Human Torch’s teammate on the Invaders, alongside Bucky Barnes. However, once they make it inside the compound they find Namor is already dead and being hung up on the wall like a big-game trophy.

The leaders of the Red Skulls is the Grand Skull, who wears an electronic Red Skull helmet to disguise their identity. Grand Skull’s helmet gets cracked near the end of his fight with Captain America, and just before he teleports away, Grand Skull goads Cap with the line, “It was good to see you, Steve.” After the Ultimates bury Namor at sea, Human Torch accesses his memory of Grand Skull escaping and uses a voice match to discover that Grand Skull is really Captain America’s former sidekick, Bucky Barnes.

Ultimates #10 is on sale now. What do you think about Human Torch killing Hitler, and of Ultimates #10 overall? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!