These issues tell several stories in parallel. One is an old Invaders tale of a mission in Shanghai, 1942, where Steve Rogers Captain America, Bucky (who is now Captain America) and the Human Torch (who is not the same one from the Fantastic Four). Bucky’s sleeping with Black Widow now, a character who, like Bucky, used to be a soviet agent and committed terrible actions under the influence of cruel brainwashing.
The team is sent to capture a scientist named Zhang Chin, and they fail.
Then, in 1968, Winter Soldier is sent by Russia to assassinate the scientist. He fails when Chin’s bodyguard, The Man With No Face, intervenes. TMWNF is China’s version of a super soldier, only he has a phasing ability.
During the altercation, Chin recognizes Winter Solder as Bucky from the ’40s. Barnes, having been mind wiped by the Soviets, doesn’t know what he’s talking about.
In the present, Bucky Cap and Black Widow are sleeping together and take on Batroc the Leaper. But not at the same time.
Batroc is working The Man With No Face and Professor Chin. Widow and Bucky are unable to stop Batroc and TMWNF from succeeding in their mission: Stealing the robot body of Jim Hammond, the original Human Torch.
This is the “official” end of this arc, but it continues directly in the next set of issues. It’s all important: We’re heading towards the big finale of this years-long story.
Note: Because the flashbacks in these issues reveal important new information, I’ve included the characters below as appearing in these issues. Generally, this site doesn’t tag flashbacks that simply re-hash to remind readers about stuff that’s already happened.
English (US) · 