Chapter Summaries

Steve traveled to Philadelphia to enlist and rode a military truck toward camp, where he met Nick Fury after the latter knocked out Hodges for insulting him. Steve and Nick Fury introduced themselves and sat together as the truck continued on its way.

• Steve arrived at Philadelphia Station and boarded a military truck bound for camp.
• The journey made Steve violently carsick, and Hodges mocked him for being weak.
• Nick Fury challenged Hodges after he made racist insults, then knocked him unconscious with a knee strike.
• Nick Fury checked on Steve and joked about shooting Hodges in the back on the battlefield.
• Steve thanked Nick Fury, introduced himself, and learned the man was named Nick Fury.

Steve and Fury arrived at Caspian Camp, where Fury took responsibility for Hodges being unconscious and was led away by the Indian sergeant. The next morning Agent Carter took charge of the recruits, knocked Hodges unconscious again, and Colonel Phillips arrived.

• Steve and Fury reached Caspian Camp with the other recruits, where the Indian sergeant found Hodges unconscious in the truck and struck him with a baton.
• Fury claimed he had knocked Hodges out, and the Indian sergeant took him away while the other recruits were assigned beds and lockers.
• Steve searched for Fury that evening, but Fury did not return before the next morning's assembly.
• Agent Carter introduced herself as the squad's officer and knocked Hodges unconscious after he insulted her.
• Colonel Phillips arrived, greeted Agent Carter, and ordered a medic to take Hodges away.

Colonel Phillips delivered a speech to the recruits and began their training, while Su Ming met him to offer supplies to the Strategic Scientific Reserve. Su Ming planned to use the supply relationship to place contacts in S.H.I.E.L.D.'s logistics division and learn about its large-scale movements.

• Colonel Phillips struggled to continue his welcome speech after noticing Steve's short stature among the recruits.
• Phillips told the recruits that the Strategic Scientific Reserve would choose a candidate to become the first Super Soldier, then sent them with Peggy to begin training.
• Su Ming met Phillips in a parked car and offered support after claiming he had heard about Howard Stark's funding complaints.
• Su Ming promised the Strategic Scientific Reserve food, drinks, weapons, and other supplies, and Phillips accepted the donation.
• Su Ming planned to use future supply dealings to place contacts in S.H.I.E.L.D.'s logistics division and learn when it moved supplies on a large scale.

Steve endured recruit training and proved his courage and ingenuity, convincing Dr. Erskine and Agent Carter that he was the right candidate for the experiment. The night before his transformation, Dr. Erskine explained how Nazi Germany and Hydra had sought to exploit his research, leaving Steve to confront the danger behind the program.

• Steve used his wits to topple a flagpole and retrieve its flag, earning a ride back to camp with Agent Carter.
• Phillips tested the recruits with a dummy grenade, and Steve shielded it while Hodges fled, confirming Erskine's choice of Steve.
• The experiment was scheduled for two days later, and Steve remained alone in the barracks after the other recruits were dismissed.
• Dr. Erskine visited Steve and explained how Nazi Germany had recruited John Schmidt and Hydra to pursue his research.

Dr. Erskine explained how the Super Soldier Serum magnified a person’s nature and asked Steve to remain a good man after gaining strength. On the way to New York for the enhancement experiment, Steve and Peggy Carter grew closer as they talked about their pasts and dancing.

• Dr. Erskine told Steve that the serum amplified both the body and the mind, and asked him to hold on to his goodness after the experiment.
• Dr. Erskine took Steve’s glass before he could drink, then drank the liquor himself as they talked about their lives and the Legion.
• Nick Fury quietly left after watching over Dr. Erskine from outside the window.
• Steve rode to New York with Peggy Carter for the enhancement experiment and pointed out places in Brooklyn where he had been beaten up.
• Steve and Peggy discussed being overlooked and facing obstacles, and Peggy found herself drawn to his sincere character.
• Steve told Peggy that he had been waiting for the right dance partner, and Peggy smiled at his answer.

Steve arrived at a hidden laboratory in Brooklyn to undergo Erskine’s transformation experiment, while Carter and the scientists prepared the equipment and Colonel Phillips sought support from visiting officials. The chapter ended with Steve strapped to the experiment table, ready to begin.

• Carter brought Steve through a concealed entrance in the Brooklyn Antique Shop to the secret laboratory.
• Steve met Erskine and Howard Stark, then agreed to enter the transformation machine.
• Peggy worried about the experiment’s risks but led Steve down to the laboratory floor.
• Colonel Phillips asked Senator Brandt for funding and power-grid access as Fred Clemson offered possible Federal Government support.
• Erskine strapped Steve to the experiment table, and Steve joked with him about the oversized bed and liquor.

Steve underwent the first stage of the super-soldier experiment while Howard Stark activated the Vita-Ray exposure. At the same time, Deathstroke attacked the Strategic Scientific Reserve’s Brooklyn cover location and confronted its elderly guard.

• Dr. Erskine prepared Steve for the experiment as Peggy watched anxiously from the observation room.
• Erskine explained the serum and Vita-Ray procedure to the gathered officials, while Senator Brandt learned that Wilson was vacationing in Hawaii.
• Nurses injected Steve with the blue serum, causing him intense pain as his body began to change.
• Howard Stark activated the Vita-Ray machine, enclosing Steve in the Experiment Chamber as the basement filled with bright light.
• Deathstroke entered the Strategic Scientific Reserve’s antique-shop cover, shrugged off the elderly guard’s gunfire, and asked whether the organization provided medical insurance.

Su Ming, disguised as Deathstroke, surveyed the antique shop where Steve and Peggy had gone and uncovered several groups of spies watching the area. He defeated agents from the Ten Rings and Zodiac, then confronted ninjas from The Hand, who attacked him.

• Su Ming watched SSR and Hydra agents gather around the antique shop and spotted several other suspicious groups posing as ordinary people.
• Su Ming ambushed eight men in black, learned they served the Ten Rings, and warned Mandarin to stay away from New York.
• Su Ming subdued the fake band at the street corner and identified its members as Zodiac agents by their Scorpio tattoos.
• Su Ming lured the women with baby carriages into an alley, recognized them as The Hand, and faced their attack after they changed into red ninja outfits.

Su Ming, posing as Deathstroke, fought his way through Hydra and other infiltrators outside an antique shop, then broke into its underground laboratory. He left Colonel Phillips's secretary, Sergeant Lorraine, alive after defeating the guards, ready to face whoever waited inside.

• Su Ming killed the Hand assassins, knocked out the Leviathan agents, and subdued the other attackers on the street, including Hydra operatives.
• Su Ming covered the unconscious SSR agents with newspapers and entered the antique shop after cleaning the blood from his armor.
• Su Ming stunned the elderly shopkeeper and cut through the hidden laboratory's steel entrance with the Nightfall Greatsword.
• Su Ming introduced himself to the guards as Deathstroke, then fought through the corridor with his Titanium Alloy Staff.
• Su Ming found Sergeant Lorraine cornered outside the laboratory and told her the guards were not dead.

Su Ming broke into the SSR facility, killed German agent Fred Clemson, and took control of the observation room during Steve’s super-soldier experiment. Colonel Phillips and Agent Carter surrendered, while a senator realized his association with Clemson could ruin his political career.

• Lorraine tried to seduce Su Ming, but he mistook her for Agent Carter and pushed past her toward the laboratory.
• Su Ming overpowered the Military Police outside the observation room and confronted the officials watching Steve’s experiment.
• Su Ming identified Fred Clemson as a German agent and shot him before he could detonate his bomb.
• Su Ming threatened Colonel Phillips and Agent Carter with a grenade, then forced the officials to stand against the wall.
• Su Ming introduced himself as Deathstroke and told Phillips and Carter that he had killed a German infiltrator.
• Agent Carter offered Su Ming double payment to leave without taking the serum, and the senator feared the revelation about Clemson would damage his political career.

Su Ming exposed a Hydra infiltrator, refused Colonel Phillips’s offer of payment, and took the Super Soldier Serum for his employer. He left with Dr. Erskine unconscious as Steve’s experiment finished, while Carter and Phillips remained behind.

• Su Ming fired into the ceiling, and Carter found a bomb, a Luger Pistol, and a cyanide capsule on the dead infiltrator, convincing Colonel Phillips that the senator had brought a spy into the SSR.
• Su Ming refused Colonel Phillips’s offer of payment and said his contract required him to take the Super Soldier Serum.
• Su Ming let the politicians leave, then handed them Deathstroke business cards to attract future clients and gather intelligence.
• Su Ming went downstairs, took the last vial of serum, and knocked Dr. Erskine unconscious while Carter rushed after him.
• Howard opened Steve’s chamber after the experiment ended, as the equipment sparked and Carter remained unable to stop Su Ming.

Su Ming took the serum and Dr. Erskine, then held Howard at gunpoint while Steve's transformation succeeded. After revealing himself and giving Howard his business card, Su Ming tried to leave with Erskine, but Steve woke and attacked him.

• Howard waited anxiously for the Experiment Chamber to open, while Su Ming stood behind him with Dr. Erskine and the last serum vial.
• The chamber revealed Steve, now muscular and gleaming with oil, and Howard explained the effects of the serum without noticing Su Ming's gun.
• Howard turned around, discovered Su Ming was holding him at gunpoint, and accepted his business card after Su Ming introduced himself as Deathstroke, Mercenary.
• Su Ming carried Dr. Erskine toward the stairs, but Steve woke, jumped from the chamber, and charged at him barefoot.

Su Ming rescued Dr. Erskine from the SSR and took him to Kaho Island, keeping him from both Hydra and the American military. He left the doctor under guard while returning to New York, uncertain who was obstructing his efforts to develop advanced military technology.

• Su Ming used a flashbang to escape with Dr. Erskine after throwing Steve into Peggy and Colonel Phillips.
• Su Ming caught the bullets fired at Dr. Erskine by a hidden agent, knocked him unconscious, and identified him as Nicholas Joseph Fury.
• Su Ming fled through the sewers to the Peace Hotel, then flew with Dr. Erskine to Kaho Island.
• Su Ming ordered Old Zhang to guard Dr. Erskine and prevent him from escaping or contacting the outside world.
• Su Ming left Dr. Erskine on Kaho Island and flew back toward New York.

Su Ming reflected on how research into Mutants had shaped the emergence of super-soldiers, Heroes, and later enhancement programs. He saw that advancing technology and the pursuit of the X-Gene would bring more superpowered people—and more uncertainty—to the world.

• Su Ming returned to Wilson Tower and considered New York's coming age of masked lunatics and Heroes.
• Hydra scientists studied the Mutant John Steele, whose X-Gene gave him extraordinary abilities, and Dr. Erskine defected to the United States with his serum research after Red Skull stole his work.
• Erik Schmidt created the Destroyer Formula in a concentration camp, enhancing Brian Falsworth into the Superhero Destroyer before Schmidt was killed.
• Professor Hans Brud developed X Compound from his continued experiments, giving recipients varied abilities and, if successful, longer lifespans.
• Mutant research later informed programs and substances including Weapon X, the Infinity Formula, and the Leech agent, while Su Ming anticipated that future technology would make Mutants easier to capture and study.

Dr. Thomas Holloway listened as the dying Matthew Hawk described the future, then discovered that the old man was the legendary Two-Gun Kid. After Hawk left him his revolvers and a message for the next hero, Holloway stood at the window considering his own future.

• Matthew Hawk told Dr. Holloway about the future and its heroes while he lay in the nursing home.
• A nurse told Holloway that Hawk had died and gave him a wooden box Hawk had left behind.
• Holloway opened the box and found revolvers, a Zorro-style mask, and a note addressed to him.
• Holloway recognized Matthew Hawk as the Two-Gun Kid, the Western hero whose stories had inspired him.
• Holloway read Hawk’s message, “For the next hero,” and looked out over the city, considering the path ahead.

The chapter revealed how the United States created the synthezoid called Torchbearer, buried him after his uncontrolled flames sparked public panic, and used the story to mislead Germany. Su Ming waited in Wilson Tower as a massive explosion and fires began in New York.

• Professor Phineas Horton created a synthezoid from an alien crystal, but the creation burst into uncontrollable flames when exposed to air.
• After public protests, Old Luo ordered the synthezoid sealed in an airtight container and buried under concrete in Brooklyn.
• Old Luo publicized the synthezoid as a dangerous failed experiment, prompting The Mustache to pursue experiments using captured Atlanteans.
• Su Ming considered the growing threat from groups such as Naito Soma's Hand and waited for the Torchbearer to appear.
• Around midnight, a tremendous explosion sounded over New York, followed by fire and chaos.

Torchbearer escaped his underground prison in a devastating explosion, while Dr. Holloway risked his life to rescue people and decided to become a hero. Steve was sidelined after the Super Soldier program was shelved, and Wilson Enterprises pressured Senator Brandt into arranging a promotional campaign with Captain America.

• Torchbearer unleashed his hidden radiation power, destroyed the surrounding block, and fled into the sky after seeing the destruction and fear he had caused.
• Dr. Holloway arrived at the disaster site, rescued survivors, fought looters, and earned the name Hero from those he saved.
• After the National Guard took over, Dr. Holloway returned home and chose the mask left by Two-Gun Kid.
• Steve learned that Dr. Erskine and the serum were gone, the SSS Project had been shelved, and Colonel Phillips had rejected his request to go to war.
• Senator Brandt sought Captain America's help to restore his reputation by promoting war bonds.
• A Wilson Enterprises legal team confronted Brandt and proposed a joint promotional campaign between Captain America and Wilson products.

Captain America's public debut sparked a boom in masked heroes and villains, while newspapers turned their exploits into sensational fiction. Su Ming watched the craze grow as Steve toured the country promoting Wilson Enterprises, though a young man deep in the ocean viewed events differently.

• After Captain America's appearance, masked people began roaming New York, and Dr. Holloway took the codename Avenging Angel to fight crime.
• Newspapers exaggerated a prank by Purple Hood into an epic battle, boosting the Daily Bugle's popularity and encouraging more people to become masked figures.
• Su Ming followed the masked-person craze and laughed at the bizarre codenames and stories in the papers.
• Steve toured the United States, performing as Captain America and promoting Wilson Enterprises products alongside his war-bond appearances.
• A young man with a receding hairline deep in the ocean disapproved of the situation.

Namor avenged the Atlanteans killed by a German destroyer, but Hydra’s experimental weapons overwhelmed and captured him. The Hydra officer ordered the ship back to Germany, where Namor would become a valuable specimen.

• Namor’s Atlantean and human heritage shaped his powers, his hatred of humans, and his unstable nature.
• A German destroyer bombarded Atlantean waters and hauled the dead Atlanteans aboard for storage and study.
• Namor rode a giant wave onto the destroyer, found his dead kin, and attacked the crew.
• Hydra’s blue energy weapons injured Namor, and its agents subdued him and ordered him taken to the cryogenic chamber.
• The blond Hydra officer decided the capture was enough to complete the mission and sent an encrypted report to Germany.

Jim Hammond escaped his creators, became a police officer and masked hero, while Su Ming learned that Namor had not appeared and U-Man was helping Germany threaten Allied shipping. Su Ming faced an increasingly dangerous war and concluded that he needed to investigate the changed world himself.

• Torchbearer rescued an accountant from gangsters, and the accountant fed him, taught him about human life, and helped him take the name Jim Hammond.
• Jim passed the police examination, became a New York City patrol officer, and fought crime as a masked hero while working relentlessly.
• Jim spent his time off at Coney Island, where Su Ming’s watchers reported his amusement-park antics instead of the expected clash with Namor.
• Su Ming learned that U-Man had joined forces with The Mustache and was helping German forces attack Allied shipping.
• Su Ming worried that the United Kingdom might fall and decided he could no longer rely on past knowledge of the changed world.