The Return Of... Everyman!

 

You remember this guy, don't you?
(You can be sure those covering the scene aren't likely to forget him.)

A creation of writer J.M. DeMatteis and artist Mike Zeck, we first met Everyman in his PPC profile that saw him going up against Captain America in 1982--on a mission to avenge those like his deceased father whom he felt had suffered for the false promises of the American dream. Consequently, Everyman's enemy became the man who best epitomized that dream.

We can see that Everyman bears little similarity to writer Tony Isabella's "everyman," Stuart Clarke, aka Rampage, a character who limited his own wrath to government policies which led to the 1973-75 recession. What the two men do share is a hatred for their circumstances that caused their respective losses--but while Rampage feels he's justified in stealing from F.D.I.C. banks to revive his bankrupt company, Everyman lashes out at the man who in his mind deserves every bit of his rage.

When Everyman reneges on his promise to free his hostage, Cap settles his hash, and Everyman is subsequently sent to a mental institution to treat his unhinged mind. A year and a half later, DeMatteis revisits the character in a two-issue story in Marvel Team-Up, where our former Everyman, Larry Ekler, looks up a "relative" whom you may recognize, a man who quickly realizes that Larry may have fabricated the reason for his newfound freedom.

What Were YOU Reading in 1983?

 

Forty years ago in August of 1983, we had these items of trivia occupying our minds and media:

• 12-year-old Samantha Druce becomes the youngest female to swim the English Channel (21 miles), at 15 hours, 27 minutes (and locks it in for good--the minimum age for solo attempts to swim the Channel is now 16 years)
• John Sain of South Bend, IN builds a 3.91-meter house of cards (hopefully avoiding drafts)
• San Diego Comic-Con International opens at Hotel San Diego
• La Cage aux Folles opens at the Palace Theater, NYC and runs for 1761 performances, winning 6 Tony Awards
• Revival of the Jerry Herman musical Mame starring Angela Lansbury closes in NYC after 41 performances
• Albums released: Billy Joel, "An Innocent Man"; Elvis Costello, "Punch The Clock"; Jackson Browne, "Lawyers In Love"; Heart, "Passionworks"; Cheap Trick, "Next Position Please"; Bette Midler, "No Frills"; Rick James, "Cold Blooded"
• Rock singer David Crosby is concurrently sentenced to 5 years in Texas state prison for possession of cocaine and 3 years for illegal possession of a loaded handgun (i.e., the 5-year sentence controls) (I believe he ended up serving nine months--there are conflicting accounts as to when he was released)
• Nuclear tests are carried out by the U.S. (Aug. 3 and Aug. 27), France (Aug. 4) and the USSR (Aug. 18)
• Marriages: Paul Simon (41) and Carrie Fisher (26) (divorced the next year); Film director Philippe de Broca (50) weds actress Margot Kidder (34)
• Birthdays: Chris Hemsworth (39); Andrew Garfield (39); Mila Kunis (you guessed it, 39)
• Top Five Songs in the U.S.: (1) "Every Breath You Take" (The Police); (2) "Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This)" (Eurythmics); (3) "She Works Hard For The Money" (Donna Summer); (4) "Maniac" (Michael Sembello) (no relation to this guy); (5) "Is There Something I Should Know" (Duran Duran)
• Deaths: lyracist Ira Gershwin (86); actress Carolyn Jones (53); actor Simon Oakland (61)
• Cost of Living: Avg rent, $335/mo.; Gallon of gas $.96; Ford Mustang $6,572; Avg. income/year, $21,070; Price of a comic book: $.60

And speaking of your hard-earned 60¢...
The Marvel checklist of books published during August of 1983. What were you reading around this time?

Beware, The Pit Of Doom!

 

OR: "How To Bag A Spider-Man"

Comics superhero stories played strictly for laughs have for the most part proven to be hit-and-miss with me. On the one hand, I prefer to sit down with a comic that provides a level of tension and drama for the hero(es) of the book and draws me into an involved story that's successfully piqued my interest; and on the other, a story that's produced all in good fun comes as a complete surprise to me and can read like page after page of slapstick, and panel after panel of witticisms and one-liners.  Following a thirty- or sixty-day wait for a new story, something done in farce can be a letdown.

One character who has arguably become the poster child for such a story is the White Rabbit, the "Alice In Wonderland"-inspired criminal with delusions of grandeur who indulges in a life of crime as a lark in heists ranging from petty theft to grand extortion, and whose wealth (that's putting it mildly) affords her whatever resources she needs to avail herself of, whether it's weaponry, manpower, or equipment. Her first two outings drew the involvement of the Fabulous Frog-Man (descriptive nomenclature his own), offspring of the original Leap-Frog, who joined with Spider-Man to put an end to her plans; but when she captures and holds for ransom the Grizzly and the Gibbon, two costumed former criminals gone straight, she still finds it a struggle to be taken seriously, either by the Mayor of New York, or by this book's title character...

...who appears to be fighting incognito in this issue. What's the story on that?

The Sorcerer, the Spider, and the Sacrifice!

 

Despite his limited exposure to date, one evil character who seemed to be headed for a bright, or, in his case, dark future as a comics villain was the deformed Necrodamus, who schemed to be free of his detested form by becoming a willing servant of the Undying Ones and acting in their name to open a way for them to our world, reaping the benefits of a powerful new form for himself when the stars were in proper alignment. Since his introduction in 1972 within the pages of the newly-launched Defenders series, however, his potential victims have managed to prevail, resulting in his return to the diminutive, misshapen form that he abhors; in fact, when he faced both Agatha Harkness and the Scarlet Witch, it seemed we'd surely seen the last of him when he was swept up in the maelstrom of escaping souls he'd held captive.

Nearly nine years later, however, the tenacious Necrodamus returned to take his vengeance against Wanda, breaking from the Undying Ones and striking to seize a new body for himself directly, rather than depend on a ritual that benefits his former masters. And guess which synthezoid he's set his sights on?

If successful, Necrodamus would take on a powerful form that would last indefinitely and allow him to unleash his hatred and destruction at will--a rampage that the Scarlet Witch and Spider-Man may find themselves helpless to prevent!

Countdown to Operation: Purge!

Having followed the trail through time of the cyborg known as Deathlok the Demolisher, who unwillingly vanished from the year 1990 to appear in our own time only to be rendered mindless and subsequently battle to his own destruction, what more is there to say about the character, after having met such a pointless end that for all intents and purposes swept what amounted to a loose end under the rug? Well, putting aside for a moment the efforts of artist Rich Buckler and writer Doug Moench in taking such care and effort to build this character from the ground up, there is still his apocalyptic world of the future to consider--just over a decade away from the point where he met his end at Project: Pegasus, a date on the calendar that can't be as easily dismissed. And so we turn now to the year 1983, as writer J.M. DeMatteis and penciller Mike Zeck craft a story from the bits and pieces they've pieced together from Deathlok's prior appearances and seek to resolve his fate, and the fate of his future, once and for all.

But as surprising as it is to come across another Deathlok story when Marvel had put the character out of his misery over four years prior, we must first add another piece to the puzzle, in the form of Luther Manning--Deathlok's human identity before being turned into a cyborg assassin. In this case, however, the Luther Manning crucial to DeMatteis's story is actually the man's clone, created by the C.I.A. and housing the cerebral imprints of the brain of the real Manning as part of an effort to return his humanity to him. Yet Manning soon discovered that he felt no more human than his inhuman counterpart; and so, compelled to find Deathlok no matter where in time the mysterious Godwulf sent him, Manning is transported to 1983, outside of the Brand Corporation, where he is spotted by Steve Rogers--the one and only Captain America.

The Brand edifice has been abandoned since being shut down; but once introductions are made, and Manning relates his story culminating in his tracking Deathlok to the Brand complex, Cap joins forces with him to explore further, and finds the facility not so abandoned after all. Worse yet, it appears to have one hell of a security enforcer.

Revelation(s)!

Oh, Peter Parker. These little deceptions used to be so easy for you to pull off, didn't they.

Well, kiss those days goodbye, sport, because that was 1965--and these days, May Parker is going to want some answers from you, young man!

While it's true that Peter has had a number of narrow escapes from situations where his secret identity was at risk, he finally had to face the music in the 1990s (and even into the 2000s) when no less than three writers in five separate spider-titles decided to play a part in at last opening the eyes of Peter's Aunt May, the one person he strove to keep in the dark above all others about his double identity.

But, wait--three writers? Five different Spider-Man books? And this wasn't a crossover story? To that, we'd have to answer both yes and no--"yes," in that one of the stories was explained in more detail in another spider-title that crossed over to yet another, but "no" in regard to Aunt May discovering Peter's secret. Which means that, as odd as it sounds, May learned the truth about Peter, from Peter, on three separate occasions. That either adds up to a lot of confessing on Peter's part, or there's more to the situation than is evident.

To clear it all up, let's take each of these stories in sequence and try to bring some context to all of it. (A tall order when dealing with the chaotic nature of Marvel comics published in the decades bookending the turn of the century.)

There's Something About Brother Joshua...

You generally know what you're going to get when it comes to the Miracle Man, a villain through and through whose powers can make any of his wishes or desires into reality. He and Graviton are much alike, in that both men feel a sense of entitlement as to what the world owes them and the deference that should be given them--and both have demonstrated that their mania can lead to overreach, and subsequent defeat. But while Graviton restricts his focus to real-world concerns in his quest to rule, the Miracle Man often strays into fantasy scenarios that lend themselves to the stuff that dreams are made of. When he returned to battle the Fantastic Four, he created a dazzling city in the middle of the Oklahoma desert, complete with a population and, of course, a bride (another inclination he shares with Graviton); and later, when the Ghost Rider and the Thing encountered him at the Konohoti Indian reservation, he'd recreated the tale of the Three Wise Men, fashioning himself as no less than "the Creator" and overseeing the birth of the Messiah in order to be validated as having achieved godhood.

Yet when the Miracle Man returns in a mid-1983 Defenders story, we discover that he's taken a more subtle path to godhood, though, as we'll discover, no less ambitious. Also, at the Massachusetts monastery where this tale begins, we encounter a more conspicuous character who surely represents the opposite end of that spectrum, who's come seeking the peace and forgiveness that this edifice offers--Daimon Hellstrom, the Son of Satan, who has sought the counsel of an old friend from his seminary, Father Gosset, in the hope of bringing some sense of balance and order to his dual (and, he fears, damned) nature. But there is another he'll meet who could either turn out to be a kindred spirit--or someone equally at a loss to suppress who he really is.

Your Death Before Mine!

We've come to the concluding issue of a three-part story where Adrian Toomes, the super-villain known as the Vulture--in an unusual move for such a man--has sought forgiveness from May Parker for the death of her fiancé, Nathan Lubensky, which Toomes admits responsibility for. When his request was bluntly refused, the Vulture shifted his attention to destroying Spider-Man, a foe that has dogged him for nearly his entire career and whose life he felt compelled to end before he succumbed to the cancer caused by the fields generated by the power pack which provided him with strength and the capability of winged flight.

Having earned his place in Spider-Man's rogues' gallery, the Vulture's prior battles with his web-headed foe have generally been fierce and no holds barred. This time, however, the Vulture has an edge, having pushed his flight technology past its limits and thereby making himself a more deadly opponent to overcome. As for Spider-Man, he's more motivated than ever to end the Vulture's threat once and for all, having become furious at finding Toomes invading May's home more than once as part of an effort to settle his accounts before he dies from his disease.

Yet with J.M. DeMatteis scripting this story, we can expect that there might be more to be found in this battle than flailing fists--as well as more to be found in its aftermath. So be sure to get a good grip on your seat:

...because in this battle to the end, the sky's the limit!

When The Vulture Comes Calling...!

While it's not the first time we've seen the notorious Vulture at death's door, we're given additional insight into this villain's character in a three-part story from 1992 which once again has him facing the Grim Reaper (no, not that Grim Reaper)--not from the machinations of a fellow prison inmate, but from the ravages of cancer due to his own oversight. From what we've seen of the Vulture over the years, there isn't much to redeem Adrian Toomes, as vengeance and wealth have been the driving forces of his life ever since he turned to crime, and he's made no apologies for the lengths he's willing to go to achieve them--and in typical fashion, he prepares to meet death as gruesomely as he furthered his criminal career. So even the story's ending will have you wondering whether to dignify his impending death with a modicum of sympathy, or, at the very least, to take pity on him. But there is one who puts aside their personal animosity for this man and does so, to an extent--and thus their character, as well, is treated a little differently than you'd expect.

Naturally, the amazing Spider-Man figures prominently into this story, as he remains what the Vulture considers to be his greatest nemesis. As for whether we can expect the Vulture to exhibit any feelings of contrition as he approaches the end of his life...

...well, it doesn't appear that will be the case.

The Wrath of... Dorma!?

Based on the last time we saw a Defenders cover sporting a Hulk/Sub-Mariner clash, expectations for a rematch were high when, over forty issues later, these two powerhouses again meet in battle, as all hell breaks loose around them.

But you know what they say about appearances and deception, a combination often indulged in by comic book covers. In this 1981 story, there isn't even grappling between the pair, much less a punch thrown. But the Sub-Mariner is nevertheless waging war--against the surface world, and against the Defenders. It's an invasion story unlike any other we've seen featuring the forces of Atlantis and their raging prince--and its catalyst is both unexpected and... alive.

The Good With The Bad

Following the events of their 100th issue, the Defenders return home a demoralized lot, having lost their friend and comrade, Daimon Hellstrom, to the pits of Hades. And in spite of the fact that they saved Earth from the ravages of Satan, perhaps worse than having to leave Hellstrom behind is the knowledge that it was their actions, in part, which brought about his fate.

But try telling all that to the Hulk, whose words hang in the air as if to underscore their collective guilt.

Yet while all of the other Defenders feel a sense of loss, perhaps the one who feels it most profoundly is Patsy Walker, a/k/a the Hellcat--and so the Hulk's words impact on her harshly, causing her to snap and lose her temper while confusing the behemoth even further with her pain-filled response. And while she relents and apologizes, the Hulk rejects it and leaves in a huff.

Nor is he alone--though the Sub-Mariner's parting words are more reserved, if blunt.

Also departing is Nighthawk, who is now without the use of his legs during the day and has renounced his place in the Defenders. And Eric Simon Payne, the Devil-Slayer? Having faced the ultimate array of devils, where does he go from here? He stands in contrast to Dr. Strange, whose sense of failure is in its own way just as gnawing as Patsy's.

The rousing words of Isaac Christians, the Gargoyle, become the catalyst for the Defenders picking themselves up from this traumatic event and taking the first steps on the road to recovery--steps which writer J.M. DeMatteis dedicates this entire issue to pursuing, which will hopefully bring about what its cover proclaims.

Defenders No More!

During the first run of The Defenders, the original lineup of Dr. Strange, the Sub-Mariner, and the Hulk, as well as the Silver Surfer (who some still tenaciously claim was one of the original members) would depart the book twice. The reasons for their doing so were twofold, and turned out to be the same in each case. In the first instance, occurring at the end of the Avengers-Defenders war at the end of 1973, Strange would stay on while the Hulk, the Surfer, and Namor followed Hawkeye out the door--Hawkeye, to continue pursuing a solo career, while the others resumed their own affairs. I didn't know the Hulk had affairs to resume--maybe he just liked his alone time in the wide open spaces more than cooling his heels in Strange's sanctum. But being the book's only reliable moneymaker, the character would return immediately in the next issue, though Strange would finally making his own departure in 1977.

But there were shifting lineups behind the scenes, as well, with Len Wein taking the writing reins from Steve Englehart. And in 1983, there were more assignments changing hands when the book was taken in an entirely new direction, with only one early-'70s Defender remaining to provide the team with a semblance of familiarity to readers.

The transition took the form of a hard sell that sought to introduce the "New Defenders" even before the new lineup had been formed. As Strange and the others were involved in their final adventure in these pages, their penultimate issue was practically sweeping them out the door while taking the opportunity to usher in the new Defenders-to-be in a flagrant promotional appearance in the story's final panel.

And for good measure, the issue's letters page featured only two letters (and a house ad) which competed for space with a flurry of F.Y.I. information blurbs that announced... well, what didn't they announce?

That leaves us with the reasons why the Defenders themselves wish to shake up their lineup in '83, ten years after they first did so. It's been touched on previously that the Beast wanted to formalize the Defenders as a team and eject the "non-team" designation, which explains why he's brought the Angel and the Iceman into the fold--while Moondragon's appearance follows up on her power play from a previous Avengers story. But why have Strange and the others decided to turn in their non-membership cards?

From what we've seen so far, it appears that the answer has something to do with the infamous "Elf with a gun," an inexplicable assassin created by writer Steve Gerber who was injected into Defenders stories in the mid-'70s and began targeting and taking out random innocents in carefully planned kills with a revolver--the character's purpose, until Gerber decided to give us more. With Gerber's departure from the book, we never did find out who or what was behind the Elf's random shootings, if anyone. But when the mysterious Tribunal begins its activities in the book, we're finally presented with an explanation--one which will include the death of the human race, the end of the world, and a fateful decision by the Defenders.

As Honor Demands!

The cover to the 1982 Avengers Annual might give you the impression that the Avengers/Defenders war is kicking up all over again, nine years after the fact:

But this time, it's the star-spawned Nebulon and a mystery companion, rather than the dread Dormammu and Loki, who might be the ones manipulating the two teams for their own ends. But let's not get ahead of ourselves--because while there (again) might be some truth to that, there are other factors involved that make the situation more complex than two teams of heroes acting as pawns for those who have deceived them. In fact, as well as writer J.M. DeMatteis structures this story, it may take awhile for you to be certain of any villainous intent on the part of Nebulon and the female who will be introduced as Supernalia. DeMatteis has a habit of playing such a card close to his vest, and often giving the reader much more to think about than simply good vs. evil.

The story is also nicely rendered by penciler Al Milgrom, who often needs a strong inker to refine his work that showcases his otherwise good instincts at how a story plays out and the abilities of the various characters involved. Here, it's Jack Abel who does the lion's share of the inking, though the credit reads "Jack Abel and Crew." It would have been nice, as well as an extra perq for the Annual, if the issue had been supplemented with a listing of the additional inkers involved in the work; I found myself doing a lot of guessing as to who could have been supplying the finishes in some of the panels where Abel's touch was either missing or it appeared he was getting some assistance, and it might have been fun to go down a list of credits and see how well (or how wrong!) my guesswork panned out.

Since the cover renders moot any possibility of Nebulon being the surprise villain here, the story can safely open the curtain with him first thing, as he's being dressed down by a superior following a trial that laid bare his past transgressions on the planet Earth.

As we can see (and which has already been revealed in the prior instances depicted here), Nebulon's guise as the so-called "Celestial Man" hides his true nature as a member of the race of creatures such as the one present with him here. Stripped of half his power, Nebulon is given a choice of either being exiled to Earth in his humanoid body, or being executed--the latter option considered by his superiors to be by far the more honorable choice, yet a choice Nebulon strongly refuses. And so Nebulon's final judgment is decided.

At first, Nebulon reacts with rage, his first instinct being to take revenge against the Defenders for his fate; but almost immediately after embarking on that course of action, Nebulon realizes that he has only himself to blame, and teleports to the Himalayas to contemplate his situation in isolation. It's an important scene in the course of this story, though the reader won't yet realize it as such.

And speaking of the Himalayas, look who else has come to do a little thinking there.

(It's one of Milgrom's most majestic renderings of Thor, and easily one of my favorites.)

With Thor and Nebulon ending up in the same place and time by coincidence, it's easy to get the impression that the Himalayas absurdly cover only a small distance, instead of being a vast expanse of mountains extending roughly 1,500 miles (which Madame Medusa probably knows from experience). Regardless, Thor's curiosity gets the better of him, and he strikes up a conversation with this stranger--and by the time the tale is concluded, we learn how the Avengers are to be folded into this story. The Avengers--and one other.

Supernalia--whoever she is--doesn't look at all pleased, does she?

Care to take a guess as to which group she'll be headed to?

"Cogito Ergo Sum" Cries... Primus!

With so many of artist Jack Kirby's character creations from his brief return to Marvel during 1976-78 having gone on to find new life in stories following his departure, it's a delight to see them turn up where you least expect them, as other writers continue to dip into that pool and recycle his concepts into new stories. For instance, we've recently seen the reappearance of Primus, the "mutate" created by the mad bio-geneticist known as Arnim Zola who forsakes his former master and allies himself with Baron Zemo to destroy Captain America in a story by J.M. DeMatteis. With Zemo taking center stage in that plot, Primus is a secondary character in DeMatteis's story, but an important one since he uses his malleable abilities to impersonate Steve Rogers--and it's interesting to see how DeMatteis adapts several of Kirby's ideas for the character to build on Primus's development.

Seeing Primus operate in DeMatteis's story arc, it's understandable to find yourself curious about how the character was first handled, since a scene from the Zemo tale brings back another of Kirby's unusual characters--one that Primus, like it or not, continues to find himself part and parcel of:

Doughboy is a creature that Zola took great pride in, a servile creation that was able to take any shape or form and gave Zola both mobility and an incredible tool/weapon that facilitated his operations. If you're wondering about specifics, Zola is only too happy to demonstrate.

Primus enters the picture when Captain America attacks Zola and comes close to disabling him. But Zola's control module is still at hand, and Zola uses it to create another weapon from the form of Doughboy that is more suitable to hand-to-hand combat--an almost invincible form that seemingly cannot be harmed.

With an odd mixture of arrogance and independence that almost disavows any ties to either Doughboy or Zola, Primus is unlike the larger form he springs from, with Kirby seemingly using the character's shape and appearance of a man to distinguish him from his misshapen host in both mind as well as body--though there's really no question of his loyalty to Zola or that he'll do what's required of him, at least for the time being. But as he follows his orders to subdue Captain America, he also focuses his attention on Donna Maria, the woman who fell in with Cap following his encounter with the dictator known as the Swine--and when Zola decides to regain control of the situation, he decides that it's Doughboy he must use to restore order. From that point on, Primus's questions and comments begin to border on, of all things, insubordination.

Zola, of course, has only tolerated this behavior from Primus, not condoned it; after all, Primus to Zola is a mutate that can be dispatched with the press of a button and recalled at will. Yet it becomes clear that Primus will only become more bold with his questions and, soon, with his demands--and when that moment indeed arrives, Zola returns Primus against... his will? ...to the form and substance of the creature he sprang from. And so pleased is Zola with the behavior and compliance of his other creation that he doesn't give the matter a second thought.

Later, when Zola's plans come crashing down around him along with his bio-engineered castle, Primus imposes his will on Doughboy's and takes control of the creature to escape the carnage, soon crossing paths with Zemo and finding acceptance instead of Zola's disdain. DeMatteis likely drafted Primus for his story because of his ability to convincingly take the form of Steve Rogers and fulfill that part of Zemo's plan, yet he makes use of the building blocks that Kirby has provided for developing the character further. Primus remains a determined foe against Cap, but his exposure to Cap's girlfriend, Bernadette, has taught him to be less forceful in his behavior toward a woman (though there's still room for improvement).  In addition, he joins with Zemo to further Zola's work with mutates, this time joining them with human hosts as hybrids in a misguided plan to use them as a stepping stone to unite humanity--unfortunately willing to use any means toward that end, even if it led to murder. Primus, it seems, remains a character who prefers to take shortcuts on his path to self-awareness.

BONUS!

Kirby's introduction of Doughboy, part of an impressive double-page spread.

(No wonder Primus had an identity crisis!)

Of Monsters And Men!

Bernadette Rosenthal, girlfriend to Steve Rogers, poses an intriguing question here:

Just who is the guy in the Cap uniform handing Steve Rogers his head?

Well, we're reasonably sure it's not the Captain America of the 1950s--and since they appear to be indoors, it probably isn't the giant Ameridroid. One of them could be the master of disguise, the Chameleon--probably as Rogers, since the Chameleon isn't much of a brawler and isn't likely to be throttling the guy who's Captain America.

This story occurs during the distinguished DeMatteis/Zeck/Beatty run on Captain America, ending a five-issue arc where the son of the notorious Baron Zemo has taken on his father's identity and legacy and concocted a plan to destroy Cap by uprooting the foundations of his personal life as Steve Rogers and hurting the people important to him. Zemo would try a similar tactic when he gathers the Masters of Evil and invades Avengers Mansion, but that's still three years off (our time); in this story, his cohorts are the creature known as Vermin, as well as a creation of Arnim Zola known as Primus, who feels a strong sense of loyalty toward Zemo in light of Zemo's far kinder treatment of him than the controlling Zola.

Cap has already met Zemo on his home ground and put an end to his plan, though at the cost of an innocent life--while Zemo himself met his fate at the claws of the vengeful Vermin (though we know better). That leaves the mutate known as Primus to deal with, who has taken the form of Steve Rogers and has been growing closer to Bernadette as part of Zemo's plan. And with a S.H.I.E.L.D. task force mopping up things at Zemo's lair, a fighting-mad Cap arrives at a Brooklyn diner to find that Primus, like Zemo, has pushed him to his limit.