CAPTAIN AMERICA #130-132 (1970): 1st Marvel Movie

The above panels speak for themselves. There’s a movie.

It inspires Cap to do a PSA. Then he fights Porcupine.

Porcupine is a flunky of Batroc. So is Whirlwind

But in truth, all three are flunkies of a mysterious man who calls himself The Hood.

The Hood is on the cover of the next issue, which promises the return of Bucky.

(Someone, please, tell me what other cover is like this one.  I’m pretty sure there’s a Batman issue or something that looks an awful lot like this, but I can’t find it.)

UPDATE: THANKS TO COMMENTER OOKERDOOKERS FOR KNOWING THE ANSWER TO MY QUESTION!

That cover, by Win Mortimer, came out in 1952–nearly two decades before this one–so I’m tagging the cover to Captain America #131 as a “tribute” cover.

Thanks! I love that people read my blog!

But the deceptively advertised “Bucky Reborn” story is really about a lookalike found by Cap’s enemy, The Hood, who is trying to bait Captain America into a fatal trap. 

Hood lures young not-Bucky into his car outside the YMCA.

Accepting a ride from a stranger in a trenchcoat? That should have led to another PSA!

And The Hood is, himself, a robot! He’s a robot double for Baron von Strucker! (To be fair, in this story he is actually Baron Strucker–but he’s retconned years later in Captain America #247.

So many imposters!

The Bucky bot was built by Dr. Doom, working on commission. So Struckerbot paid Doom to make Buckybot. And he was teleported across the sea by MODOK (who apparently has teleportation abilities now).

Buckybot blows up in the end.

Gene Colan’s art in these issues is amazing.

Extremely kinetic, surprising…Just wonderful.