Apr 1982
Peace on Earth -- Good Will to Man
by J. M. DeMatteis, Mike Zeck, John Beatty
The four Defenders, who were kidnapped by Central Information Bureau agents in Defenders (1972) 104, are still asleep. Guards, dressed like Roman Centurions, retrieve Kyle Richmond. They revive him and bring him to August Masters who now claims that there’s no such thing as the CIB. This introduction serves as a recap or summary of what cane before in Defenders 102-104.
Steve Rogers’ and Bernie Rosenthal‘s are leaving a movie theater when someone spots them. He recognizes Steve but can’t believe his eyes. They don’t take notice of him and he doesn't approach them.
Steve and Bernie are having a good time. They just saw Raiders of the Lost Ark. Steve offers his less than glowing thoughts about the movie and Indiana Jones. Bernie tries to reason with him but he refuses to alter his take on the movie. They split when they get back to the building where they both live.
Steve sits down to try and get some work done. Someone tries contacting him telepathically. He experiences pain but can’t remember much else. He thinks that Ursula Richards, one of the two telepaths he met when he battled Morgan McNeil Hardy [see Captain America (1968) 264]. He goes looking for her. He finds her apartment deserted but looking as if she didn’t leave willingly. An image comes to his mind as if she is trying to contact him again. This time he sees her and Philip LeGuin, another telepath, being loaded in a vehicle.
Masters takes Kyle to see Mindy Williams. She is hooked up to a machine. He is continuing with the work that he began at Carriwhite Acres in Defenders (1972) 102. He needs Kyle to talk Mindy into cooperating. Masters threatens to kill his friends (Valkyrie, Gargoyle, Hellcat) if he refuses.
Captain America goes to SHIELD for some help in figuring out what happened to the two telepaths. SHIELD is able to get an image of a small town in Colorado from Cap's brain. Steve heads there, in disguise, after they pinpoint where it is. He asks around if anyone saw anything suspicious.
An old man offers to help him. He takes him down a deserted road in the mountains. It’s a trap. It is the same spot where the Defenders, Mindy, Ursula, and Philip are being held. Guards dressed as Roman Centurions try to subdue Cap but he is too much for them. He fights his way into the facility where he meets August Masters.
Ursula and Philip sense Captain America’s presence. They use their mental abilities to wake the three sleeping Defenders and fill them in on what’s going on. Cap takes Masters seriously (at first) and listens to his sales pitch. Masters talks about national security but he loses the Living Legend when he tells him about using the telepaths to help launch a preemptive strike on the Soviet Union.
The Defenders fight their way to Cap’s side but then they get separated. Masters threatens to flood the room that the Defenders are in with poison gas if Captain America doesn’t surrender. Cap gives in to Masters demand and surrenders, rather than see the other heroes killed.
The issue ends with everyone prisoners of Masters and his Roman Centurion guards. In the final panel Mindy tries reaching out telepathically to Dr Strange for help.
This was a good read by itself but it makes a hell of a lot more sense if you read Defenders 102 before this issue. I read it when it first came out in 1982. I had subscriptions to Captain America and Uncanny X-Men at the time but not Defenders. It ends on a cliffhanger that is resolved in Defenders 106.
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