Captain America Returns To Fight Hydra Cap

Captain America is officially back, and he is not pleased with the Hydra Captain America who has been acting in his name.

Marvel Comics has released new pages from Secret Empire #10 that reveal the return of the heroic Captain America. Steve Rogers wastes no time taking down Hydra Cap with Thor’s hammer. Take a look in the gallery below.

The story of Captain America’s transformation into the leader of Hydra began in May 2016, when Steve Rogers said “Hail Hydra” for the first time. The story has proved controversial, but it finally reaches its payoff when Secret Empire #10 releases this Wednesday.

“We understood the story would challenge readers, but we also knew how it ended,” Marvel Editor-in-Chief Axel Alonso told the New York Times. “We also thought the story had something important to say about democracy, freedom and the core American values that Captain America embodies.”

Alonso went on to say that Marvel couldn’t have planned for Secret Empire to come to an end “at a time when our country would also be engaged in – let’s call it heated debate – about fascism.”

The announcement of the true Captain America’s return comes on what would have been the 100th birthday of Cap’s co-creator, Jack “The King” Kirby. Having Captain Americacozy up to fascists was considered by some to be at best in poor taste or at worst anti-Semitic given that Kirby and fellow Captain America creator Joe Simon were both Jewish and created Cap specifically as a symbol against the fascism of Nazi Germany.

Clues to the original Captain America’s return have been a part of Secret Empire throughout the limited series, which has spent time following a man that appears to be an amnesiac Steve Rogers as he travels through a mysterious realm in search of his home. Secret Empire #9 revealed that realm to be the mind of Kobik, the sentient cosmic cube who rewrote Captain America’s history to make him a Hydra sleeper agent, kicking off the Secret Empire build up.

In Secret Empire #9, Kobik finally restored Steve Rogers’ memory, though she also revealed that this Steve Rogers was just her own memory of the original. Still, that memory demanded to be returned so that he could make things right. It seems like he got his wish.

Secret Empire #10, from writer Nick Spencer and artist Steve McNiven, goes on sale this Wednesday.