WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Captain America #19 by Ta-Nehisi Coates, Jason Masters, Bob Quinn, Lucas Werneck, Matt Milla and VC's Cory Petit, on sale now.
Over the last several months in Captain America, Steve Rogers has struggled to become the symbol he wants to be for the country. He gave up the shield and costume, since he thinks America has to fix itself from the ground up. However, the Power Elite, led by the immortal mutant vampire Selene, is sinking its fangs deep into society.
This has led to the uprising with the villain Scourge dying after inciting anarchy while U.S. Agent, John Walker, has urged Steve to get ready for dark times ahead. Throughout this time, some of Steve's staunchest supports have been the Daughters of Liberty, and Captain America #20 just revealed that its secret history runs deeper than anyone thought.
As Steve is investigating Sharon Carter, he finds Agatha Harkness, who uses her mystical powers to take Steve through time and reveals the Daughters of Light were started half a millennia ago to right the wrongs of men. To combat a patriarchy that was all about power and control, these women wanted to course-correct these selfish acts. They were sorcerers, social justice warriors, scientists and freedom fighters, led by the Dryad -- a position that is currently held by a shockingly alive Peggy Carter.
The Daughters included some of history's most famous figures too. From Joan of Arc to Marie Curie and Harriet Tubman, these women watched over the Marvel Universe long before teams like the Avengers. However, the Daughters organization was corrupted thanks to Alexa Volkoff, the Night Witch. This Soviet soldier ended up marrying Aleksander Lukin and working with Selene, and she's stolen a piece of Sharon's soul to resurrect her husband, and by extension, the Red Skull.
However, Alexa's leadership position within the Daughters could have allowed her to use it for all sorts of nefarious purposes. Alexa trained Peggy and indoctrinated her into the society before she left to become a full-fledged Soviet villain, who even worked on the Winter Soldier program. Since it's unclear when precisely she broke bad, there's no telling what else she did as the Dryad.
Peggy was trained to watch over Steve when he became Captain America, so Alexa may have had planted secret plans back then. Nonetheless, Peggy, Sharon, Misty Knight and the other Daughters are looking to atone for the Daughters' past with a little help from Bucky and Falcon working alongside them.
Steve has already taken Captain America's shield back, and he's ready to make sure the Power Elite's oppression comes to an end. The Daughters are needed more than ever too, because Alexa knows the secrets that built America. And once Lukin and the Red Skull begin rolling out their big plans, she very well could start exposing cracks that no one realized even existed.
1 Links