Prisoners of War

Paul Anslem — a soldier from World War II that is now trapped in the present — visits the graves of his friends in a Brooklyn cemetery. He is paying his respects and regrets that he couldn’t save their lives back in 1943. However, he doesn’t know what he could have done to save them since the Invaders were there too and they couldn’t save them either. He wishes he could change history. Little does he know that his friends are buried near the grave of Thomas Raymond, aka Toro of the Invaders![1]

The Invaders — Captain America (Steve Rogers), Bucky (James Barnes), the Human Torch (Jim Hammond), Toro, and the Sub-Mariner (Namor) — have also been transported to this era. They were subsequently captured by the Mighty Avengers — Iron Man (Tony Stark), Ms. Marvel (Carol Danvers), the Wasp (Janet Van Dyne), Wonder Man (Simon Williams), the Black Widow (Natasha Romanov), Ares, and the Sentry (Bob Reynolds) — and imprisoned on the SHIELD helicarrier as they tried to figure out a way to get them back to their own time.

However, with the timeline about to be erased, the outlaw New Avengers — Ronin (Clinton Barton), Luke Cage, Spider-Man (Peter Parker), Wolverine (Logan), and Iron Fist (Danny Rand) — have invaded the helicarrier to rescue them, leading to a brawl between the two Avengers teams.

In the middle of the fight, the new Captain America (this era’s James Barnes) has run into his former self and tires to warn him of events that will happen in 1945 that will gravely alter his life.[2] Bucky has all sorts of questions about who this other Cap is,[3] but all he can say is that there will be a moment where Bucky’s Cap will tell him not to be a hero and to listen to him. Before Cap can provide any more details, both are knocked off their feet by an explosion. When Toro flies by and tells them to stop standing around, Bucky gets up to join the fight.

As the three way battle rages on, Doctor (Stephen) Strange of the New Avengers, telepathically contacts the Sub-Mariner. He tells Namor that he is a friend and wants to help the Invaders return to their proper time and his plan will involve both the Sub-Mariner and Bucky to accomplish the task. Unfortunately, both Captain America (Rogers) and the Sub-Mariner are restrained and incapacitated by electrified coils, allowing the Mighty Avengers to take them prisoner. Facing impossible odds, the New Avengers convince the Torch, Toro, and Bucky to retreat so they can regroup. Once they leap clear of the SHIELD helicarrier, a teleportation spell takes them back to Doctor Strange’s Sanctum Sanctorum in New York.

Although they didn’t rescue all of the Invaders, Strange believes that they can still set things right before the timeline is erased. He had hoped to use Namor and Bucky — who exist in both eras — to figure out when to send them back, but they’ll have to improvise now. He then shows them why: In a mystical chamber he shows them the gulf of time which has been rapidly changing since the Invaders were brought to the present. There they see the timeline that will replace theirs: One where the Nazis have won World War II and dominate the world.[4] Strange has also learned that the Invaders were brought to the present because of the Cosmic Cube and that they will need to seek it out in order to set things right.

Back at the SHIELD helicarrier, Iron Man tries to have another talk with a restrained Captain America. He explains that they need to keep him and the Invaders contained until they can find a way to send them back to their own time, even though Tony would like him to stay — no divulging that in this era, Steve Rogers is dead.[5] Steve has no idea what his captor is talking about but takes issues with his rationale that the evils of the past are necessary for the good of the future. He can also tell that Iron Man is carrying a great deal of guilt on his shoulders and asks who did he kill to get where he is today. Iron Man explains that a good friend of his died not that long ago.

While at the Sanctum, while the New Avengers and Invaders are planning their next moves, Wolverine suspects that Toro might be a mutant. This is because he can smell the standard SHIELD tests that were done on him while he was a captive.[6] Wolverine and Spider-Man explain what mutants are and how they are an endangered species that faces fear and hatred in this time.[7] Hearing what makes someone a mutant — that their powers manifest after puberty — makes a sort of sense to Toro, who recalls how his powers first activated when he met the Human Torch a few years prior.[8] The Torch likens the plight of mutants to the Life Model Decoys (LMDs) he encountered on the SHIELD helicarrier. However, Logan assures him that they aren’t alive, but Jim isn’t convinced.

By this point, Doctor Strange discovers the point in history the Invaders need to return, and also that there is a sixth person trapped in this era. Using a teleportation spell, the group are transported to the cemetery in Brooklyn where they find Paul Anslem.[9] That’s when Spider-Man notices that the Human Torch isn’t with them.

This is because the Torch has decided to return to the SHIELD helicarrier to liberate the Life Model Decoys that he believes are enslaved there. The reason why the Human Torch is so adamant about this is because of an horrific incident he discovered back in his own time. Namely the discovery of one of the Nazi’s concentration camp. Seeing how the Jews interned there were all murdered in an act of genocide horrified the Torch. Recalling his creator’s Jewish heritage, he wonders if stories about Jews being incinerated and the Torch being able to burst into flame may be related. That his ability to flame on wasn’t a design flaw, but a feature.[10]

When he arrives at the helicarrier, he finds the Mighty Avengers cleaning up the LMD remains from the flight deck. Picking up a severed arm off the ground, Jim notices that it has a serial number printed on its wrist, not unlike those in the Nazi camps. This enrages him and he flames on and tells the Avengers that he is there to rescue those who are still alive. This is all witnessed by a LMD on security duty. He anticipated the Torch’s return and signals all the other LMD’s that the time to act has finally come![11]

Recurring Characters

Mighty Avengers (Iron Man, Ms. Marvel, the Wasp, Wonder Man, Black Widow, Ares, the Sentry), New Avengers (Ronin, Luke Cage, Spider-Man, Wolverine, Echo, Iron Fist, Doctor Strange), Captain America (Barnes), Invaders (Captain America (Rogers), Bucky, Human Torch, Toro, Sub-Mariner), Paul Anslem, SHIELD

Continuity Notes

1. At the time of this story, Toro had been dead for years. Early on in the Modern Age, he was brainwashed by the Mad Thinker to pose as the original Human Torch and attack the Sub-Mariner. He sacrificed his life in the end of that battle, as seen in Sub-Mariner #14. He will remain deceased until he is resurrected at the end of this series. Here, Toro’s grave states that he is a “loving husband”, this is in reference to the fact that he was married prior to his death. His wife, as also revealed in Sub-Mariner #14, was Ann Raymond.

2. Before the end of the war, Bucky is seemingly killed trying to destroy a explosive filled drone, as seen in Avengers #4. In reality, Barnes will have survived the explosion and his body gets recovered by the Russians who transform him into the assassin known as the Winter Soldier, as explained in Captain America (vol. 5) #11. James only recently been freed from this state (in issue #14 of that series), and just recently took on the mantle of Captain America as seen in Captain America (vol. 5) #33-34.

3. Future Cap states that he has only been Captain America for a short period of time, and this is a good time to mention that, at the time of this story, everyone believes that Steve Rogers was assassinated in Captain America (vol. 5) #25. What they don’t know is that Steve was shot with a chronal bullet and is currently living his life in a constant loop. He will remain trapped in this purgatory until Captain America: Reborn #1-6.

4. This new timeline will temporarily overwrite Reality-616 until the end of this series. As per Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A-Z Update #1, this timeline has been indexed as Reality-93198.

5. Iron Man blames himself for Cap’s “death”, as we saw in Civil War: The Confession #1.

6. The idea that Toro is a mutant was first posed in Invaders #22. However, in All-New Invaders #8 it is revealed that Toro’s powers are actually inherited from his parents Inhuman DNA. It should be noted that Wolverine can’t scent the mutant gene, he is merely picking up the scent of SHIELD’s standard testing, hence why his assumption is incorrect.

7. Wolverine mentions that there aren’t many mutants left. That’s because the mutant gene was virtually wiped out following the events of House of M #1-8, leaving roughly around 200 mutants left. This will remain the status quo until Avengers vs. X-Men #12.

8. Toro first met the Human Torch back in Human Torch Comics #2.

9. Bucky wonders if the sixth time displaced person is either Spitfire or Union Jack. We know it’s not them because the Falsworth siblings were left behind after Union Jack got shot in Avengers/Invaders #1.

10. Since his creation in Marvel Comics #1, the Human Torch’s ability to burst into flame happened upon contact with the air. This was always presented as a design flaw that was later corrected. This issue is the first time in the fiction where it is stated that Phineas Horton (the Torch’s creator) was Jewish and that the Torch’s powers might have some connection to the Holocaust. This is not impossible since the first German Concentration Camps were built in 1933. However, this grim inspiration for the Torch flaming on has yet to be independently verified by other sources time of this writing in September, 2024. There is also a chronological issue with the flashback we see here, see below for more details.

11. The revelation that the Life Model Decoy might be sentient life is later revealed to be a ploy by Ultron, as revealed in Avengers/Invaders #7. Ultron’s code managed to infiltrate SHIELD’s computers back in Mighty Avengers #6.

Topical References

• The present day is stated as occurring in the year 2008. This date and the number of years between World War II and the present should be considered topical as they are relative to the date of publication. The Modern Age of the Marvel Universe operates on a Sliding Timescale that bumps it forward in time. As a result, the gulf of time between the end of the war and the present will continue to grow over time.

• Iron Man states that Captain America died a year prior. This should be considered a topical reference because it is a rough timeline of events between the publication of Captain America (vol. 5) #25 and this issue. Per the Sliding Timescale, Cap’s death would have actually have occurred only months prior rather than an entire year.

The Human Torch and Auschwitz

When this story does a flashback to the Human Torch seeing a Nazi concentration camp, it is stated as being Auschwitz and the year being 1945. That the Human Torch could remember such an encounter is chronologically impossible given that the Invaders in this story were pulled forward in time from the year 1943 as established in Avengers/Invaders #1.

Since Bucky was shown to be aware of this traumatic incident back in Avengers/Invaders #4, it’s kind of hard to reconcile the Torch knowing something that happened in 1945 when they are all from 1943.

As of this writing (September, 2024), Marvel has not officially commented on this discrepancy. So I reached out to writer Jim Krueger online to ask about it and he confirmed that it was a mistake to put 1945 there. He confirmed that was the case although he wasn’t sure if it was him or editorial that goofed, but figured it was probably him. To give Jim some credit, this is the only mistake I’ve ever found in all of his work that I have read to date. Given the continuity heavy projects he has worked on (Justice for DC and the Earth X trilogy for Marvel) I think the guy is entitled to a mistake or two. That said, even if he admits that this was a mistake, the problem hasn’t been officially tackled and so any possible solution to it is speculative at this point, even if the solution is rather obvious.

That said, the error doesn’t negate the possibility that the Torch visited one of these camps. It just can’t be 1945 and it may not have been Auschwitz. For example, the earliest chronological instance where one of the Invaders encountered a German concentration camp (as of this writing in September, 2024) was a flashback in Fallen Son: The Death of Captain America #5 (the Iron Man issue) which shows Cap leading the charge through the front gate of an unspecified concentration camp. Official Index to the Marvel Universe: Captain America places those events as happening prior to the Avengers/Invaders series, in fact it happens after the flashback from Captain America #262, which was set in 1943. So the Invaders were at least aware of the camps prior to their trip into the future. Also, just because Captain America is the only person depicted in the Fallen Son flashback doesn’t mean the other Invaders weren’t there also, perhaps they were off panel.

The next issue that comes up is, could the Human Torch have attacked Auschwitz at some point in 1943? Well, it’s certainly a possibility, if you look at the history. See, Auschwitz wasn’t just a single camp, it was actually 3. Auschwitz I was a former World War I base that was converted into a concentration camp in 1940. It was mostly used to intern German criminals and Polish prisoners. It imprisoned nearly 11,000 prisoners during its operation. It filled up quickly and so the Nazis commissioned the construction of Auschwitz II, aka Auschwitz-Birkenau was 3 km away from Auschwitz I, was constructed and started housing prisoners in 1942. Then there was Auschwitz III (Monowitz) which also opened to prisoners in 1942. On top of that there were 44 sub-camps that were tied to the three Auschwitz facilities.

It’s entirely possible that the Torch was only able to attack one of the Auschwitz camp sites and that his destruction was localized to that facility and, for whatever reasons, he wasn’t able to destroy everything. The flashback is short on details so we don’t know the circumstances of how and why he was there. Nor do we see the full scope of the damage he caused. Members of the Invaders have been documented in finding themselves deep behind enemy lines in other stories ahead of Allied Forces would have in IRL history. For a team that had multiple encounters with Hitler at various points in the war, I don’t think it is impossible to believe they could have encountered a concentration camp ahead of everyone else either.

The idea of the Torch damaging a facility at Auschwitz isn’t impossible has occasionally did fantastic things that would have never happened IRL, especially with the Human Torch who famously immolated Marvel’s version of Adolf Hitler as told in Young Men #24. The idea of an unsuccessful attack on Auschwitz in the fiction wouldn’t be impossible. Still, if doing something contrary to real world history is a sticking point with you, you could argue that the Torch attacked some other concentration camp. Horrifically, there were no shortage of them during World War II, you could have your pick or even say he attacked a camp that was unique to the fiction.