Captain America is one hell of a fighter, as the enhanced soldier’s pure strength, determination, and will make him one of the best superheroes in comics. When a plague threatens to end humanity, Steve Rogers keeps fighting until a surprising cure is found - his blood.
The blood of heroes and villains has long been a storytelling device. It’s how Jennifer Walters became She-Hulk. There are also characters who have deadly blood. In Captain America’s case, his super-soldier serum enhanced blood is the solution to saving the world and bringing back people from sickness.
In Captain America The End by Erik Larsen (Savage Dragon), Dono Sanchez-Almara (Morbius) and VC’s Joe Caramagna (Star Wars: Darth Vader), Steve Rogers faces off against an army of Red Skulls. All of humanity has seemingly been turned into versions of the villain after the original version was killed by Captain America. After his plan was nearly foiled by Cap, Red Skull managed to drop a contagious plague on humanity. The results were catastrophic with people turning into Red Skull-like zombies. Meanwhile, humanity has gone to waste as natural disasters and climate change have been met with no human response.
While the Red Skulls feverishly hunt Captain America, he encounters a group of people hiding who haven’t been affected by the plague. After the plague turns a few of those survivors, Rogers travels to an abandoned S.H.I.E.L.D. helicarrier. Inside, a Red Skull version of M.O.D.O.K. is revealed to be pulling the strings of the turned. After defeating him, M.O.D.O.K. explodes and his group gets charged by a massive amount of Red Skulls. Cap pulls a piece of shrapnel from his leg and stabs one of his turned allies in the leg. It turns out the blood on the shrapnel changes the Red Skull back into a human. Cap’s blood was literally the cure.
Cap immediately volunteers his blood, saying “if my blood is the cure – then take it. Take it all!” Civilization slowly turns back into humans thanks to Roger’s blood. Captain America retires from the battlefield so he doesn’t have to risk his life anymore. His blood is now the hope. The book ends with Cap getting a needle in the arm. The hero doesn’t meet his end in the comic, however, but he does end the threat that had almost taken over the world.
Cap’s blood was the surprising cure to a Red Skull outbreak. Rogers is willing to sacrifice his own blood so that many people can live. That’s the true mark of a hero - we wouldn’t expect anything less from Captain America.
Next: Every Marvel Hero Enhanced By Captain America’s Super-Soldier Serum
