Captain America #335 (1987)

I like the way Mark Gruenwald is slowly developing Super Patriot as the new Cap.  He’s now been recruited and started training, so it’s time for his big roll out.  And no sooner is he installed as the new Cap than he takes off the costume and goes undercover.

His first mission is to take on a citizen vigilante group called The Watchdogs—and remember, he himself started as a leader of a citizen vigilante group—who are executing abortionists, black people who dig white women, teachers of Darwinism over the Bible, and owners of stores that sell pornography.  That’s pretty hardcore.  And, as noted in the thought bubble above, kind of close to Walker’s background as Super Patriot.

Walker goes undercover to infiltrate the group (which seems like an odd approach—couldn’t he just take them on head-on?), and eventually beats all of them up.  But, along the way, the Watchdogs actually lynch Lemar Hoskins, Walker’s “black Bucky.”

He’s fine because he has super powers and can’t be hung to death, but man—that is some ultraviolent, dark, triggering work.

Lots of moral ambiguity here, especially with the new Cap’s history as a borderline white supremacist and certainly an utra-right vigilante/terrorist.  This is shaping up to be a very good storyline.

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