Item Biography
"The Adventures of Captain America"
Captain America recalls the first meeting he had with Lyle Dekker, war-time Nazi spy. In the 1940's they met on a movie set for Democracy Pictures, where Dekker worked as a special-effects man.
Cap and Bucky were sent there on orders from the military hierarchy to investigate incidents of sabotage during the filming of a weekly Captain America TV serial.
Whilst observing a scene, the stuntman playing Cap gets wounded by live ammunition from a prop machine gun supposedly filled with blanks.
Cap makes the selfless act of replacing the stuntman, now playing himself, even though the costume isn't exactly to his liking. No shield. No wings at the mask's temple. No red stripes on his chest. Different gloves and boots. Plus a superfluous gun.
Filming recommences apace, with no further attempts of sabotage. Until the final episode, that is. Lyle Dekker is a Nazi sleeper agent posing as a mere effects boffin, but in reality, one of the Red Skull's minions.
Dekker has developed a laser cannon, which he intends to kill Captain America with, ruining the TV serial, thus robbing the U.S. of a valuable propaganda tool.
Bucky's quick thinking, and the return of Cap's shield put paid to the laser gun plot. Dekker is desperate to escape, after his cover is blown. He takes Bucky as a hostage, only to be pursued by a determined Cap on motorcycle.
The chase culminates in Dekker's vehicle careering off the road into coastal waters. Cap saves Bucky, but presumes Dekker drowned.
That presumption is shattered years later, as the two men face each other across a subterranean laboratory floor. Further intrigue concerns the origin of the twelve-foot android replica of Cap himself, that Dekker preens before.