The most recent issue of ‘Captain America‘ kicked off the “Out Of Time” event as the last panel in #697 finished the “Home of the Brave” story arc and immediately jumped us into the next arc. We’ve got a major spoiler for anyone who hasn’t read Mark Waid and Chris Samnee’s issue from last week so we do have to warn you that we’re going to be talking about that very last panel.
As anyone who has read it knows, Kraven the Hunter wasn’t meant to kill Steve Rogers for sport, but instead the entire purpose was to capture the Star Spangled Avenger. Right as it appears that Rogers stops Kraven, it looks like he has to face the one thing he fears – being frozen in ice once again!
The “Out Of Time” premise is that we’re going to see Cap flung, once again, far into the future though thankfully this time he won’t be fully alone. We know that he’ll be forming a new band of “Howling Commandos” to try to establish the Freedom but can even Rogers once again adapt to being so far into the future?
Well, it appears that he’ll have some semblance of both The Thing and The Hulk helping him out by the time issue #700 rolls around and to “restore order and rebuild civilization,” he’ll have to become “King Captain America.”
SVP and Executive Editor Tom Brevoort bills the event as “No dream, no hoax, no lie, this IS Cap and this IS happening! Guest-starring the Thing and the Hulk (or as much as is left of them), it’s a celebration of 700 issues of star-spangled adventure! Plus, Mark Waid delivers an untold tale from Captain America’s past, featuring the classic artwork of Jack Kirby!”
I’m quite enjoying this run by Waid so far and am eager to see how this plays out. That being said, we’ve already seen a time-traveling Cap recently due to that outing with the Time Gem with another version of Cap being “gone” for years while being stuck in Arnim Zola’s world and a Hydra Cap striving to become the leader of the world.
Some of how this is being described will feel a little bit like ground we’ve already covered. We’ll still need to see how this ends up either as a dream or Cap returning to present time. I don’t think they’re going to be keeping him in a far-flung potentially alternate future for more than 4-5 issues though it is unclear if the story will be resolved by the close of #700.
I for one, am hoping that it is. At the very least it looks like we get a new story being told that has artwork by Jack Kirby which that alone sounds like it would be worth it for long-term fans to pick up this issue!
What do you think of ‘Captain America’ being “Out Of Time”? Do you think the idea is original enough to merit a full read with Waid’s talented writing or does this seem a little too much as to what has already been touched upon in recent years? Are you excited about a new story with artwork by Jack Kirby? Share your thoughts below True Believers!
‘Captain America’ #700 will wield his mighty shield into your local comic shop on April 4th, 2018!
