10 Worst Fakeout Endings In Comics

10. Captain America, Agent Of Hydra

The final pages of 2016's Captain America: Steve Rogers #1 saw the Sentinel of Liberty shockingly push the heroic Jack Flag out of a helicopter to his death, before Rogers then proclaimed "Hail Hydra!"

As soon as this issue released, the shot of Steve showing his loyalty to the villainous Hydra organisation went viral. Following the ups and downs of a comic book run that dates all the way back to 1941, Cap was revealed to have been working for Hydra as a sleeper spy agent all along.

To compare this to professional wrestling, this was the equivalent of turning 'Stone Cold' Steve Austin heel at WrestleMania X7 by joining forces with the nefarious Vince McMahon. For a movie comparison, it would've been akin to having James Bond secretly working for SPECTRE all along.

Not just was Cap's Hydra affiliation completely out of left-field, it was a move that left comic book readers frustratingly baffled. Sure, heroes have flirted with the dark side over the decades, but not Captain America. And not with Hydra. And not in a way that undermined the storied history of the First Avenger.

By the time all was said and done, it would be revealed that this was actually an alternate Steve Rogers created by the Cosmic Cube's sentient figure of Kobik.

While this was an awful fakeout, the silver lining was Rogers hadn't been an underhand a**hole for the entirety of his career.

Authored by Andrew Pollard

Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main day job, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks/Saints, Jamie Hayter, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg. Where his beloved Wrexham AFC is concerned, Andrew is co-host of the Fearless in Devotion podcast, which won the Club Podcast of the Year gong at the 2024 FSA Awards.

First Posted On: 25th Jan 2022

In this post:

Spider-Man DC Comics Marvel Comics