Sometimes simple survival can seem the sweetest sort of victory.
That was true in the classic Daredevil 7, when the Man Without Fear saved the city despite being outmatched by the Sub-Mariner. And it was true in Tales of Suspense 84, when Captain America faced an inhuman being that had all the powers of the Avengers, including his own.
A humanoid created by the super-scientific criminal conspiracy Advanced Idea Mechanics, the Adaptoid was introduced two issues earlier when — after disguising himself as the Avengers’ butler Jarvis — he drugged Cap and copied his abilities.
But then a costumed acrobat called the Tumbler attacked and outfought the Adaptoid, who looked identical to Cap but lacked his experience. The gloating Tumbler was surprised a little later when the real Cap handily defeated him.
After the seemingly inert humanoid is stored in the Avengers Mansion, it’s able to add the powers of Goliath, the Wasp and Hawkeye to its abilities, declaring itself to be a “Super-Adaptoid” now.
“A few rules of superhero comics: Within his first year, a superhero fights an evil duplicate of himself,” Burns Duncan wrote. “Within the first year or two, every group of superheroes encounters someone who has the combined powers of the group’s members. The reader is not to think too hard about this. Usually, having the powers of a group’s most powerful member negates the need to have any of the others.”
So Cap is forced to fight alone against a being whose powers mirror the Avengers. Logically, he shouldn’t be able to stop the Super-Adaptoid — and he can’t!
Seizing the battered superhero, the Super-Adaptoid flings him 300 feet above the city. Artist Jack Kirby wrings every bit of melodrama out of his stupendous fall. By maneuvering like a sky diver, Cap is able to plunge into the dockside water.
The Super-Adaptoid presumes his foe to be dead, and soars away on his wings.
“Then, as the Super-Adaptoid fades into the gathering dusk, a gloved hand slowly rises from the murky waters below,” Stan Lee writes. “Weakly … falteringly … but with iron resolve, it clutches at the air, as though rising from a tomb… Captain America, who … in the depths of darkest defeat … has found ultimate victory!”
Cap is one superhero who manages to be inspirational even when he’s beaten.
“Cap’s determination is well known among his friends and enemies in the Marvel Universe,” wrote Mark D. White in his book The Virtues of Captain America. “Perseverance is what philosophers call an executive virtue because it helps people follow through on their judgment made in light of their virtues and principles. Determination is no good in and of itself, but it enhances a person’s ability to exercise his or her general virtues like honesty and courage, helping him or her to do virtuous things better.”
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