WARNING: The following contains major spoilers for Captain America #28 by Ta-Nehisi Coates, Leonard Kirk, Matt Milla, VC's Joe Caramagna and Carlos Lao, on sale now.
Captain America has faced off against colorful villains that mastermind convoluted conspiracies for decades, and in that time he has seen almost everything. Of course, there is always a new maniacal threat lurking just around the corner, and now is no different. Cap has just cleared his name after being framed for murder, but the American people are divided more than ever regarding his presence thanks to the Red Skull's campaign of propaganda and terror. Not only that, but Cap's longtime nemesis has just borrowed a play straight out of DC's Future State.
Cap has been chasing down the Red Skull the best he can since an attack on a rally left the country shaken. Red Skull has been radicalizing as many people as he can, as per his usual tactics. The villain has been drawing more and more attention to himself and drawing in the desperate and downtrodden in order to stoke fear in the general populace. So far, the plan has been working, mystifying Cap and his allies. Thankfully, they have friends in strange places, and Agatha Harkness shows up just in time to explain everything to the heroes.
The inner workings of the device are unlike anything that Cap has seen, but Agatha recognizes Red Skull's plot right away. Though she didn't create this exact artifact, it is based on the same principles she has put into practice before, all revolving around stoking and harnessing emotions to act as a beacon. While hers was centered around hope, the Red Skull's harvests fear and hatred in order to disseminate even more of those same emotions until it all spills over as raw energy in devastating fashion. It might be one of the most dramatic plots that the villain has come up with, but it isn't without precedent in the comic sphere.
Throughout the pages of DC's Future State, Doctor Jonathan Crane has been shown to be one of the masterminds behind Gotham City's most recent ordeals, most of them caused by the very organization sworn to keep them safe in the first place. In the future, Crane seems to have foregone his Scarecrow persona for something with a bit more grandeur, as well as a far greater reach. He has been experimenting with applying his usual fear toxins to the general populace through misinformation campaigns and propaganda. Crane has manipulated Gotham to ensure that the Magistrate is embraced by the city's citizens, and so far it has been working like a charm. While Red Skull's plan is unlikely to take hold on a national level the way that Scarecrow's has throughout Gotham City, the impact of it so far has still been devastating. If Cap has any hope of stopping him, he'll need to find his own source of hope to outshine the darkness bearing down on everything around him.
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