Captain America #1 Reveals How Hydra Took Over America in Secret Empire

WARNING: The following article contains spoilers for Captain America #1 by Ta-Nehisi Coates, Leinil Francis Yu, Gerry Alanguilan and Sunny Gho, on sale Wednesday, July 4.

What does it mean to be American? How can one continue to cherish freedom and chase the American Dream in a country that is being torn apart by strife and intolerance? These are the questions that Steve Rogers asks himself in Ta-Nehisi Coates and Leinil Francis Yu’s Captain America #1. The answers he finds are disturbing, conclusions that would crush the soul of a lesser man, but do nothing to dampen Rogers’ desire to do the right thing. They also answer the central question of Secret Empire, the controversial event that seems all but forgotten in the pages of Marvel's comics: How did Hydra conquer the United States?

  Here, Coates and Yu give us an unflinching look at post-Hydra America, and theirs is not a flattering portrait. Folks aren’t reaching across the aisle and shaking hands. Neighbours who previously fought one another are not pulling together to rebuild. In some ways, things are actually worse; Hydra “nostalgics” continue to cling to the racist ideology of the defeated terrorist organization, going out of their way to antagonize those who would reject their fascistic views. Despite the defeat of the Hydra junta, white supremacist violence remains a problem in the recovering America.

The opening issue of the rebooted title sees clones of Nuke -- the super soldier who first appeared in Frank Miller and David Mazzucchelli’s Daredevil #232 -- open fire on both Hydra loyalists and antifa protesters in Washington D.C. The fracas recalls Secret Empire's climactic confrontation on the National Mall that saw the return of the original Steve Rogers to combat the version of the Hydra Cap version of himself. The Nukes have the Stars and Stripes painted on their faces, echoing Cap’s patriotic colors. Like Rogers, they are standard bearers, but they are also at cross purposes with the hero.

As the clones fire on their fellow citizens in the Capitol, they are in turn gunned down by Bucky, who plays sniper to Steve’s reluctant warrior. “I am a soldier who hates war,” muses Cap as he calls in helicopters equipped with StarkTech EMP rifles that offer a non-lethal alternative to Barnes’ bullets.

The flag-festooned gunmen shout empty slogans like, “Never forget our boys!” They call Rogers a traitor, and the Captain of Nothing. Confrontation is the name of the game, here. Their patriotism is based on brute force; America is only as great as it is strong. They are angry at Steve not because he betrayed the United States, but because Hydra Cap betrayed the military.

In response to their taunts, Rogers muses that he is loyal to nothing but the dream. This is another callout to Miller and Mazzuchelli’s Daredevil run and the introduction of the original Nuke. In issue #233, Captain America confronts an army general about the mysterious super soldier and is told that the information is classified. To placate Rogers, the general adds that the department holds him in its “highest regard” and has always valued his “commitment” and his “loyalty.”

Rogers replies, “I am loyal to nothing, General -- except the dream.” This is Captain America in a nutshell. Steve’s loyalty has never been to the military or the United States government, but to the idea of America itself. But, as we saw in Secret Empire, and continue to see in Coates and Yu’s Captain America, it is an idea that is in peril.

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The new Nukes were introduced in a backup story that was part of this year’s FCBD issue of Avengers. They were created by the Power Elite, a Russian-backed group comprised of General Thadeus Ross, Norman Osborne and the mutant Selene Gallio, among others. It is aiming to restore America's strength through "science, defense, commerce and God."

The members of the cabal have infiltrated the American Government. Ross has a national defense role by presidential appointment, and the vampiric Gallio is the chair of the Task Force on Faith-Based initiatives. Perhaps worst of all, former Hydra head Baron Von Strucker has been elevated to the status of hero by the White House for aiding in the destruction of groups that splintered off from his older organization.

The Capitol is a toxic stew of warmongers, special interests, white supremacists and religious extremists. The Power Elite is fanning the flames of intolerance to advance its aims, and although its goal is to supplant Hydra, this new enemy is as much a threat to freedom as the organization it seeks to supplant.

Of course, the biggest obstacle to this assembly of villains is Rogers himself, and he is very much a pariah due to the actions of Hydra Cap. This creates the perfect opportunity for the members of the Power Elite to recruit Steve’s allies while shutting him out. For example, Bucky and Sharon are both working for Ross, and the latter refuses to fill in her one-time lover on what the government knows about the Nukes. She is an unwitting pawn of the new power brokers.

Rogers promises to uncover the secret of the cloned super soldiers. As he reflects on Sharon’s refusal to share intelligence, he ponders the true problem he is facing: Hydra has broken the nation.

Steve’s rumination leads him to an inexorable conclusion: Americans have “forgotten how hard it is to believe in the American Dream” and how hard it is to “hold on to the Dream in the face of chaos.” He concludes that Hydra did not conquer the people, but that the people conquered themselves, and "this is not the story you see in the papers.

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Coates and Yu’s Captain America picks up where Secret Empire left off, and answers the central question of that controversial event: How did it happen? Whereas Spencer's script explored the corruption of the symbol that is Captain America, Coates' questions the conditions that allowed this debasement to take place.

The central premise of Coates and Yu’s first full issue of Captain America is the notion that Americans have lost sight of what makes America great. This makes them ripe for exploitation and manipulation. As Steve fights off Hydra loyalists attacking a woman of color in New York City, Selene executes a Hydra foot soldier in Moscow. The enemy may have changed, but evil remains a constant.

Once again, the people are going along with those who would ensnare and enslave them. Yes, the people need their champion, but in the aftermath of Secret Empire, they’re not sure who he is. In a way this is an extension and an inversion of Secret Empire. In that previous event, it was Rogers who was working for the enemy, in Captain America #1, it is everybody else.

The story continues in Captain America #2, by Ta-Nehisi Coates and Leinil Francis Yu with a cover by Alex Ross, on sale August 1.