Captain America's HYDRA Clone is Finally Born

Warning: SPOILERS for Old Man Hawkeye #11

It took the supervillain decades to do it, but at long last, HYDRA has succeeded in making a Captain America of their own - and only Hawkeye can kill him before he takes over the world.

So fans can rest easy, we're not talking about the return of the Hydra-loyal, Nazi-allied Captain America that took over America in Marvel's Secret Empire event. That evil Steve Rogers is still around, but the latest breakthrough for Hydra actually takes place in the future. A future already well known to comic book fans as the birthplace of Old Man Logan. A future where Baron Zemo and Red Skull never stopped trying to recreate the Super-Soldier Serum that created Captain America.

And in the pages of Old Man Hawkeye #11 now on sale, the pair of supervillains have finally achieved their dream of a 'Captain Hydra' super-soldier. At least, they did... before Hawkeye made him lose his head.

• This Page: Hydra's Own Captain America Clone is Finally Born
• Next Page: Hawkeye Makes Hydra's Captain America's Head Explode

Hydra Creates Their Own Super-Soldier in Marvel's Future

For those who haven't been reading Old Man Hawkeye, this latest twist is actually the payoff to a plan decades in the making, which all began with the villains of the Marvel Universe uniting to take down the heroes, once and for all. Their surprise victory cost Clint Barton more than anyone else, with his family of former criminals betraying him, having been secretly recruited by Zemo, Red Skull, Magneto and Marvel's other top baddies.

As Hawkeye watched the Avengers murdered one by one, his own punishment was to be left alive. Now that his sight has started to fade, Clint is finally making his way to Hydra's stronghold - a former Weapon X cloning and test lab. As luck would have it, Clint has arrived just as round after round of failed attempts to recreate Steve Rogers, the first Super-Soldier, have finally produced a success. Now all the test subject needs is a Hydra uniform... and a shield, of course.

Old Man Hawkeye Meets Captain Hydra

In Hawkeye's defense, there really was no way he would know that Baron Zemo and Avalanche would be any greater a threat than the rest of the Thunderbolts he already killed on his revenge mission. And had he sought out these last names on his kill list only a few days earlier, he wouldn't have had to face a copy of Captain America at all. Before this success, Zemo had only deformed monstrosities begging for death to show for his years of work. Such is comic book coincidence.

As Clint makes his way into what turns out to be a gladiator match with the "jacked-up phony with a bootleg shield," he's given the sitrep by a far too pleased with himself hologram of Baron Zemo. Apparently, Clint is merely a plaything for their Hydra Super-Soldier to use in demonstrating his power to the Red Skull. But as Clint knows, the real Cap is more than his muscles or arsenal.

As we mentioned above, the image of Captain America with the infamous Hydra logo emblazoned on his chest and shield don't carry the same level of shock that they probably should, thanks to Secret Empire. But as Old Man Hawkeye's discovery proves, the image and legacy of Steve Rogers was twisted by his enemies on more than one Earth, in more than one future.

Still, Hawkeye didn't come on a mission for revenge against a helpless, seemingly brainwashed carbon copy of his old friend Captain America. But time has cost Clint more than his eyesight, and noble or not, an enemy who hits as hard as Steve Rogers isn't one the archer can stand against in his senior years.

Thankfully, Hawkeye gets some help from an unlikely friend, who knows that 'Captain Hydra' can be the strongest man in the world... but is no threat without his head.

Page 2 of 2: Hawkeye Makes Hydra's Captain America's Head Explode

Captain Hydra Gets a Super-Soldier Overdose

Loathe as we are to admit that Hydra actually did pull off an incredible scientific feat - recreating Dr. Erskine's original, lost formula for turning good-hearted, sickly boys into superheroes - the results speaks for themselves. Even at his advanced age Clint Barton claims to have the upper hand for being trained in combat by Captain America himself. And he's right, since brute strength isn't everything. But after one missed arrow, then another, then a landed punch, and a hand wrapped around his throat, Clint seems to finally be defeated.

Which is the exact moment that the warning about this test subject's dose of the Super-Soldier Serum becomes particularly important. It seems this 'Captain Hydra' success story isn't as much of a home run as either Zemo or Avalanche, the master at the end of the dog's leash, would like to suggest. And when the mad scientist forced to do the work sees the life draining out of the very last superhero left, he decides to act. A moment before he warned that another dose could kill Hydra's prototype soldier... now, he tells Clint to give the injection.

Up to this point, we would have assumed that saying "a super-soldier getting a double-dose could make their head explode" was just an expression.

Hydra's Captain America Dies By Head Explosion

The word "explosion" might be a little too strong, since the Hydra Cap-clone seems to respond to the Super-Soldier Serum overdose by having his head... well, "SKLUNCH" more than outright detonate. Fans can debate among themselves if the second injection spoils an otherwise incredible medical marvel - itself an inversion of Steve Rogers' own superhero origin story. Or, perhaps more likely given the evidence, the doctor knows just how fragile the Hydra success really is.

Either way, the result is the same: Hydra's long awaited success in recreating the Super-Soldier Army that should have been theirs... with its head turned to mush before its evil superiors' eyes. And even if the future in which he is created is already too late to be saved from an apocalyptic wasteland, there's no question it would be worse with Red Skull commanding an army of Captain America-level soldiers to spread across the globe. Even if Steve Rogers and the rest of the Avengers didn't live to see Hawkeye defeat him, the fans know.

When the villains decided to leave Clint Barton behind - since they only needed to kill the "real heroes" - they sealed their fate. The lesson? Never doubt Hawkeye.

Old Man Hawkeye #11 is available now from Marvel Comics.

MORE: Is Old Man Logan The Future of The MCU?

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