It's understandable if you had our mystery villain pegged as the Captain America of the 1950s--the deranged man who assumed Cap's identity during those years--since it would be a rare day when our own Cap would turn to villainous pursuits. For the true answer, we have to look back to early 1978, where former Nazi spy Lyle Dekker--the man through whom we learned that Cap met a different fate after stopping Baron Zemo's plot to deliver an American drone plan to Germany--once more has Cap in his grasp, something that he's waited for for quite awhile.
Yes, the Ameridroid--a 12-foot-tall android replica of the real McCoy. But, technically, wouldn't Dekker be our villain here, not this creation of his? Quite right, yet not entirely accurate:
And so not only does Dekker have a new lease on life, but a new, more robust and more powerful form suited to carrying out his agenda, with attributes taken directly from the living legend himself. And when the two meet in battle, there can be only one victor if we're being realistic about it.
Dekker is clearly a "man" on a mission, committed to making his own vision for world rule a reality. We've heard how Dekker considers his new stature the key toward carrying out his goal--but as we'll discover, he hasn't yet successfully processed the fact that he has forever closed the door for being anyone--anything--but the Ameridroid. And when that realization arrives, he has no choice but to vent his rage on what must be a jarring sight under the circumstances: his corpse.
Gone, it appears, are any ambitions Dekker had, prior to initiating his plan--and at this point, it's a toss-up as to whether grim acknowledgement of his condition or utter madness will take hold of him. If there's a positive side to this situation, now would be the time for him to come to terms with it; and ironically, the man to present it to him is the very person whose presence made this situation possible.
It's difficult to swallow that a few "buck up" words from Cap--the man whom Dekker has despised for decades and was the centerpiece for his plans for the Ameridroid--would produce such a turnaround on the spur of the moment; it's equally difficult to be asked to believe that Dekker by now hadn't long since come to grips with a future existence as the Ameridroid, unless his tunnel vision in regard to his "new world order" plans kept him from giving it serious thought.
It would take four issues for writer Don Glut's plot involving the Ameridroid to play out, shuffled in as it was with another plot that Roy Thomas put in motion following Jack Kirby's departure from the book. At any rate, as Cap mentions, it's a small world--and if Dekker truly believes a 12-foot-tall android outfitted as Captain America can indeed just "disappear," well, only in comics, folks.
When we encounter the Ameridroid once more, over 3½ years later (our time), it doesn't appear that Dekker has had much luck in finding new purpose and direction for his existence in his android form. Instead, someone has done that for him--a mysterious hooded figure who co-opted him for his own purposes.
That "humiliation" mostly takes the form of framing Cap for the murder of "Nomad," an actor hired to intervene in situations where Cap is preventing wrongdoing and be the one to claim the credit for it. Once that plot unravels, Cap finds himself before the Ameridroid, as well as his cloaked "teacher" who continues to keep a tight rein on him; but once again, Cap seems to have a knack for getting through to the Ameridroid with just a few words--even when Dekker has undergone extensive conditioning by his "benefactor," a man who at last stands revealed to be the very individual who conscripted Dekker in a plan of sabotage three decades past.
With the Red Skull in the driver's seat, however, Dekker doesn't get off so easy as a quick death--and in his case, there seems to be enough humiliation to go around.
I can almost guess what some of you are thinking at this point: "Hey, Cap! Try getting through to Dekker again! You've really got a knack for it!" And yes indeed, alert readers, he does. But that hasn't worked out so well for Dekker, has it?
Well, that's twice that the Ameridroid has bitten the dust. But when Cap has his showdown with the Skull, only to have discovered that he'd been battling a robot (the Skull has certainly taken a leaf from Dr. Doom's book, hasn't he), three guesses as to which construct we haven't seen the last of:
As we've seen, the story leaves the door wide open for the Dead Skull (heh, get it?) to be yet another robot. As for the Ameridroid, the character is picked up again thirty years later in 2011 by writer Ed Brubaker during his final Captain America series, as part of a storyline that involved the forces of Hydra--as well as Baron Zemo, who promised Dekker that he could regain his humanity by forcing Cap into a portal that connected to another version of Earth. Naturally, by this time, Dekker has been convinced once again that Cap is his enemy, and reacts accordingly--and jeez, is his timing unfortunate, from the looks of things.
Brubaker's version of the story now has the Ameridroid shooting up to a whopping 18 feet in height, apparently not formidable enough at a mere twelve. It sounds like Cap has also written off Dekker as a lost cause, a surprising shift given his efforts to save him in their last two encounters. In the story, he clearly still harbors regret at Dekker's fate--but in light of what happens when the Ameridroid revives and accomplishes his mission, it indeed looks like Dekker has finally hit the end of the road.
As usual, Brubaker appears to have put together another interesting ongoing plot in this series. You might enjoy picking it up in its entirety (the PPC has previously covered the series' final issue) in order to at least learn what's going on here with the new "queen" of Hydra and Dekker's assassin, Codename: Bravo. The Ameridroid's story, however, finally ends here. (But you never know. ;) )
BTW, an interesting footnote to this story involves a bit of trivia which has the name of Lyle Dekker originating in homage to Howard and Theodore Lydecker--known for their work on miniature special effects for Republic Pictures, whose serials included Doc Savage and (yep) Captain America.
6 comments:
I loved the first arc. I was actually shocked that it ended philosophically instead of physically. It both played to Cap’s true strengths and as a refreshing comparison to all of the countless super villains who gleefully gave up aspects of their humanity without blinking an eye. Heck, I still shudder at people who stare into cameras and tell us “trans humanism” is a future to be welcomed.
*blink*
Some of the comic book lore I learn here gobsmacks me. If this giant "Ameridroid" was a single one-off story, I could "forgive" myself for never having heard of the character. But three appearances? Amazing what slips thru the cracks and lands on my plate by reading "The Power of Comics"!
"Newfoundland"? As in, Canada's province Newfoundland? What is the Cap connection there??
Not really that dramatic a reveal for the Red Skull. Pretty much only one character would walk around in a bathrobe three-sizes too big with a cigarette holder poking out of the hood.
lordjim6, that's a good way of looking at the story--and, in particular, at the villain! Thanks. :)
Murray, Newfoundland is where Dekker set a course for in his U-boat after picking up Cap following his plummet into the English channel--and where Dekker established his laboratory and began his long wait for what he believed would be Cap's eventual return.
Well, like my Pappy told me when I left home, "Son, word of advice. There may be a downside to downloading your consciousness into a giant robot body."
M.P.
It occurred to me about a year ago that Cap had developed such a large and eclectic group of sidekicks/hangerons that some writer really should just embrace the camp value of long running comic continuity and make a Cap Corp! Sort of the officially licensed and heroic answer to the old Batroc Brigade routine. Heck, they can even tie it into the old Cap hotline idea. Ring ring: “What’s that!? Doughboy is absorbing the Dairy fields over in Wisconsin?! Mr. Steve Rogers is currently in the Negative Zone with the Avengers, but we have Nomad, D-Man, and Ameridroid ready and willing to parachute in!” Call me, Marvel. I have no life. I guarantee it will sell better than whatever you are currently green lighting.
That's a cool idea, lordjim6 (and a catchy name, to boot)--though perhaps the concept informally took root in 1988 (see the cover to Captain America #337) when Steve Rogers had abandoned his role as Captain America, and D-Man stepped in to handle calls on Cap's hotline. Later, worried about Cap's disappearance, D-Man joined with Nomad and the Falcon to track him down--and if you add USAgent to the mix (guest-starring a few issues later), you've got yourself the makings of a Corp (a notion which died on the vine when Cap returned to duty in issue #400).
Since then, of course, there have been some relevant developments, with deaths on the books for D-Man (who became the new Scourge and was fatally shot by Sharon Carter) and Nomad (killed by the Winter Soldier), while our friend Codename: Bravo took care of the Ameridroid. Still, you know Marvel and its ability to move heaven and Earth to launch a concept (hell, just look at X-Factor)--why not pitch it anyway and see if the House of Ideas bites? ;)
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