THE CAPTAIN versus COLD WAR
Cold War (Marvel)
Where: Marvel Comics Presents #2 When: September 1988 Why: Al Milgrom How: Al Milgrom
The Story So Far...
Having turned in the stars & stripes of Captain America: Steve Rogers now patrols the streets as a crime-busting freedom fighter clad in red, white, and black!
When an accident at the New York Center for Cryogenics draws his attention, The Captain unwittingly becomes the target of an otherworldly creature known as The Fear Eater!
Seeking to stoke The Captain's inner most fears, the creature uses its awesome powers to transform a hapless worker into an icy agent of terror. Cold War commands the ice and he intends to put The Captain in another deep freeze!
Tale of the Tape...
Strength: Captain America 3 (Athlete)
Intelligence: Captain America 4 (Tactician)
Speed: Captain America 4 (Olympian)
Stamina: Captain America 5 (Marathoner)
Agility: Captain America 4 (Gymnast)
Fighting: Captain America 6 (Warrior)
Energy: Cold War 4 (Arsenal)
Total: Captain America 28 (Metahuman)
The Captain in name, but Captain America by reputation: Steve Rogers handed in his famous uniform & shield when the government attempted to recall him to service after discovering he was never officially discharged from the US Army.
A previous plot to cover-up government corruption had withered his faith in modern political officials, but far from done serving his country, Rogers used a small fortune in awarded back pay to establish a new crime-fighting identity.
To compensate for the loss of his shield he received an adamantium replacement from Tony Stark. Otherwise, this is the same indomitable super-soldier who fought in World War II, and was thawed from icy slumber in the modern age!
The threat of freezing is a major factor in today's battle when he faces a brand new villain called Cold War!
Cold War derives his powers, and apparently his malice, from the influence of an invisible demonic alien known as the Fear Eater.
The mysterious entity travelled to Earth after an encounter with Silver Surfer, and has used its powers to transform an accidentally frozen cryogenics facility worker into a super-villain intent on returning The Captain to an icy coma!
For all intents and purposes Cold War appears to be a villainous counterpart to Iceman. His body is iced over, and he can project freezing cold, also using it to create icicle projectiles, or an extending ice slide he can ride upon.
His powers alone pose a serious threat to Cap, but combined with the Fear Eater's ability to exploit and exacerbate The Captain's internal fear -- it could be a deadly combination!
Cap's no stranger to facing overwhelming odds. When the Avengers met Ghost Rider in Avengers #214, he helped defend his teammates from the demon's fearsome hellfire. In Infinite Gauntlet #4 he didn't even flinch while staring down certain death in the final stand against Thanos!
That capacity for selflessness and bravery will serve him well, but this is the first time we've looked at an opponent who can repeat his greatest moment of weakness: being frozen alive.
His shield offers some immediate defense against cold blasts, but to avoid the inevitability of the cold Cap's best strategy is to use his super-soldier fuelled speed and agility to stay clear of direct hits and attack quickly!
The Tape: Captain America Ranking: Captain America (#8)
What Went Down...
Where: Marvel Comics Presents #2 When: September 1988 Why: Al Milgrom How: Al Milgrom
The Story So Far...
Having turned in the stars & stripes of Captain America: Steve Rogers now patrols the streets as a crime-busting freedom fighter clad in red, white, and black!
When an accident at the New York Center for Cryogenics draws his attention, The Captain unwittingly becomes the target of an otherworldly creature known as The Fear Eater!
Seeking to stoke The Captain's inner most fears, the creature uses its awesome powers to transform a hapless worker into an icy agent of terror. Cold War commands the ice and he intends to put The Captain in another deep freeze!
Tale of the Tape...
Strength: Captain America 3 (Athlete)Intelligence: Captain America 4 (Tactician)
Speed: Captain America 4 (Olympian)
Stamina: Captain America 5 (Marathoner)
Agility: Captain America 4 (Gymnast)
Fighting: Captain America 6 (Warrior)
Energy: Cold War 4 (Arsenal)
Total: Captain America 28 (Metahuman)
The Captain in name, but Captain America by reputation: Steve Rogers handed in his famous uniform & shield when the government attempted to recall him to service after discovering he was never officially discharged from the US Army.
A previous plot to cover-up government corruption had withered his faith in modern political officials, but far from done serving his country, Rogers used a small fortune in awarded back pay to establish a new crime-fighting identity.
To compensate for the loss of his shield he received an adamantium replacement from Tony Stark. Otherwise, this is the same indomitable super-soldier who fought in World War II, and was thawed from icy slumber in the modern age!
The threat of freezing is a major factor in today's battle when he faces a brand new villain called Cold War!
Cold War derives his powers, and apparently his malice, from the influence of an invisible demonic alien known as the Fear Eater.
The mysterious entity travelled to Earth after an encounter with Silver Surfer, and has used its powers to transform an accidentally frozen cryogenics facility worker into a super-villain intent on returning The Captain to an icy coma!
For all intents and purposes Cold War appears to be a villainous counterpart to Iceman. His body is iced over, and he can project freezing cold, also using it to create icicle projectiles, or an extending ice slide he can ride upon.
His powers alone pose a serious threat to Cap, but combined with the Fear Eater's ability to exploit and exacerbate The Captain's internal fear -- it could be a deadly combination!
Cap's no stranger to facing overwhelming odds. When the Avengers met Ghost Rider in Avengers #214, he helped defend his teammates from the demon's fearsome hellfire. In Infinite Gauntlet #4 he didn't even flinch while staring down certain death in the final stand against Thanos!
That capacity for selflessness and bravery will serve him well, but this is the first time we've looked at an opponent who can repeat his greatest moment of weakness: being frozen alive.
His shield offers some immediate defense against cold blasts, but to avoid the inevitability of the cold Cap's best strategy is to use his super-soldier fuelled speed and agility to stay clear of direct hits and attack quickly!
The Tape: Captain America Ranking: Captain America (#8)
What Went Down...
A standoff is already under way as The Captain vaults across a police car to confront the danger head-on!
He's soon greeted by a flying onslaught of icicles and frozen shards that force him to retreat to the safety of the vehicular barrier!
He's soon greeted by a flying onslaught of icicles and frozen shards that force him to retreat to the safety of the vehicular barrier!
The cops figure out who the dynamic man in black really is and quickly fill him in on what little they know: An accident has happened at the New York Center for Cryogenics. They can't be sure if the icy projectiles are merely a consequence of malfunctioning technology -- or a malicious party inside the building!
Cap's concern for the employees inside draws the interest of another unseen entity. The extra-terrestrial Fear Eater goes completely unnoticed as he observes all on the street and settles on inhabiting The Captain to exploit his inner fears!
The Captain feels an otherworldly chill of dread, but shrugs it off, completely unaware that the Fear Eater is sifting through the memories of past experiences in search of triggers for unconscious fear it can exacerbate and feed upon.
Cap jumps over the police line and does his best to storm the building -- dodging, weaving, and defending against the shower of icicles with his adamantium shield!
Inside he discovers a shocking sight -- facility employees frozen in ice!
They stand frozen in mid-motion, pointed to the exit with their faces contorted agape in terror. The eerie vision brings up long buried feelings of anxiety in Cap.
His mind remembers World War II and the sensation of falling from Baron Zemo's drone bomber. He remembers plunging into icy arctic waters and the sting of pain before he drifted into a decades long slumber after being frozen alive!
Dread and apprehension seize The Captain's limbs. He bites his lip, all at once realizing his own fear of the terrible cold spewed forth by malfunctioning machines.
Inside he discovers a shocking sight -- facility employees frozen in ice!
They stand frozen in mid-motion, pointed to the exit with their faces contorted agape in terror. The eerie vision brings up long buried feelings of anxiety in Cap.
His mind remembers World War II and the sensation of falling from Baron Zemo's drone bomber. He remembers plunging into icy arctic waters and the sting of pain before he drifted into a decades long slumber after being frozen alive!
Dread and apprehension seize The Captain's limbs. He bites his lip, all at once realizing his own fear of the terrible cold spewed forth by malfunctioning machines.
Inside The Captain's body: the Fear Eater is nourished by his anxiety, but still wants more. Using its strange alien powers, it reanimates one of the hapless facility employees to become the living embodiment of Cap's fear!
In an instant a new super-villain is born! Cold War rides the crest of a stretching bridge of ice, identified by The Captain as "a cross between Iron Man's old foe, Jack Frost, and The Iceman!"
Cold War reaches out with his hand to project a cold blast he promises is far deadlier than any others!
Cap narrowly avoids the cold snap hitting the floor at his feet, but his shield bears the brunt of the follow-up. Cold War assures: he's delaying the inevitable. Soon enough the growing cold will overwhelm him at the centre of a new icy kingdom.
The villain's prophetic threats prove true as solid ice begins to form around The Captain's feet, rising up to his knees and thighs!
Cold War gloats, but as The Captain is overwhelmed by the possibility of his life being stolen from him again he's inspired by the new friends he's made in the modern age. He fights his fear and uses the edge of his shield to break the ice!
He leaps into the air to dodge another blast from a dumbfounded Cold War. Then glides across the slippery surface to deliver an all mighty kayo with his shield!
With The Captain's fears now mastered, the Fear Eater takes invisible leave of his body to search for another host. Cap carries the unconscious Cold War to the street outside, never knowing of his vanquished alien foe!
The Hammer...
A nice little sideways romp through one of Captain America's off-brand years.
The story is one of four chapters that ran last in the beginning issues of Marvel Comics Presents. Each episode sees the Fear Eater alien inhabit a different hero, starting with Silver Surfer in space, working his way through Thing and Thor.
Fear Eater is kind of a lame stock sci-fi villain. The design is pretty unremarkable, and his motivation of gaining sustenance from fear is perfunctory at best. A meat & potatoes story that didn't leave much of a mark on the Marvel Universe, save for the spieces' brief return a couple of years later in Doctor Strange.
The real appeal of this chapter is the Fear Eater's creation of another antagonist and the way it plays with the history of the hero character.
We all know the story of Captain America's modern day origin. He was thrown from an exploding rocket in the dying days of World War II, and frozen alive in the icy waters of the arctic. The super-soldier serum allowed him to survive the ordeal and be thawed out by the Avengers decades after the war had ended.
The Captain is a paragon of strength and bravery, but you've got to figure an experience as traumatic as that might leave an impression. Which makes an ice wielding villain an interesting foil, especially with the Fear Eater stirring things up.
Alas; Cold War made even less impression -- never appearing again. We don't even know who he really was. Just one of the hapless workers who happened to be in the New York Center for Cryogenics when The Captain came along.
There are other ice villains, but with such a clean slate, it strikes me that it could be interesting to see Cold War expanded upon in any number of ways.
He seems to develop animosity towards The Captain as spontaneously as the ice powers granted by Fear Eater. It might be interesting to learn there's more to Cold War than meets the eye. Perhaps he was a saboteur who deliberately started the violent malfunction of cryogenics equipment. Perhaps he's a hostile foreign agent of some sort. The kind of Russian adversary Marvel heroes thrive on. The super-villain moniker certainly lends itself to that sort of thinking.
The possibilities are endless, and sometimes that's the fun of digging back into these overlooked or forgotten short stories. Marvel Comics Presents is a mixed bag, but I hope we'll be able to get back soon to find more curios and gems!
If you want to discover more stories like this one you could follow the links throughout this post, or dive into the Secret Archive. That's where you'll find an index of every featured fight in order of publisher, series, and issue number!
Secret Wars on Infinite Earths has documented & discussed more than 650 battles and ranked more than 950 characters! If you enjoy this and other features you can help make more possible by joining the fight on Patreon. As a thank you patrons unlock additional updates, polls, and customizable article options.
You can also follow on Twitter and Facebook to get free daily links to superhero smackdown inspired by the topics of the day! Don't forget to like and share!
Winner: The Captain
#7 (+1) The Captain (Steve Rogers)
#935 (new) Fear Eater
#936 (new) Cold War
The story is one of four chapters that ran last in the beginning issues of Marvel Comics Presents. Each episode sees the Fear Eater alien inhabit a different hero, starting with Silver Surfer in space, working his way through Thing and Thor.
Fear Eater is kind of a lame stock sci-fi villain. The design is pretty unremarkable, and his motivation of gaining sustenance from fear is perfunctory at best. A meat & potatoes story that didn't leave much of a mark on the Marvel Universe, save for the spieces' brief return a couple of years later in Doctor Strange.
The real appeal of this chapter is the Fear Eater's creation of another antagonist and the way it plays with the history of the hero character.
We all know the story of Captain America's modern day origin. He was thrown from an exploding rocket in the dying days of World War II, and frozen alive in the icy waters of the arctic. The super-soldier serum allowed him to survive the ordeal and be thawed out by the Avengers decades after the war had ended.
The Captain is a paragon of strength and bravery, but you've got to figure an experience as traumatic as that might leave an impression. Which makes an ice wielding villain an interesting foil, especially with the Fear Eater stirring things up.
Alas; Cold War made even less impression -- never appearing again. We don't even know who he really was. Just one of the hapless workers who happened to be in the New York Center for Cryogenics when The Captain came along.
There are other ice villains, but with such a clean slate, it strikes me that it could be interesting to see Cold War expanded upon in any number of ways.
He seems to develop animosity towards The Captain as spontaneously as the ice powers granted by Fear Eater. It might be interesting to learn there's more to Cold War than meets the eye. Perhaps he was a saboteur who deliberately started the violent malfunction of cryogenics equipment. Perhaps he's a hostile foreign agent of some sort. The kind of Russian adversary Marvel heroes thrive on. The super-villain moniker certainly lends itself to that sort of thinking.
The possibilities are endless, and sometimes that's the fun of digging back into these overlooked or forgotten short stories. Marvel Comics Presents is a mixed bag, but I hope we'll be able to get back soon to find more curios and gems!
If you want to discover more stories like this one you could follow the links throughout this post, or dive into the Secret Archive. That's where you'll find an index of every featured fight in order of publisher, series, and issue number!
Secret Wars on Infinite Earths has documented & discussed more than 650 battles and ranked more than 950 characters! If you enjoy this and other features you can help make more possible by joining the fight on Patreon. As a thank you patrons unlock additional updates, polls, and customizable article options.
You can also follow on Twitter and Facebook to get free daily links to superhero smackdown inspired by the topics of the day! Don't forget to like and share!
Winner: The Captain
#7 (+1) The Captain (Steve Rogers)
#935 (new) Fear Eater
#936 (new) Cold War
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