Captain America #16: Steve & Victor

Warning: Spoilers for Captain America issues #11-16 included in this review.

Captain America #16 opens immediately after the previous issue, with Mephisto bearing down on Steve and hungry for his soul. The rebellion against Mephisto has come to end with Steve’s bargain and Doom’s last second betrayal.

This act of betrayal, hardly his first, would’ve been very on-brand for Doom. Of course, it also would’ve ruined his character arc during these past five issues and cheapened the plot. Zdarsky’s rug pull, which comes just a handful of pages into the issue, isn’t that surprising; Doom has changed in a few ways throughout this story arc. Even so, he’s still one of Marvel’s premier villains.

So it’s even less of a surpassing when Doom takes Mephisto’s power for himself, undermining Veratok, who’s been a large part of Steve and Doom’s plans up to this point. At the same time, Victor makes it clear that he would never betray Valeria’s trust twice and admitted to his regrets over what he did so many years ago.

This is the culmination of Doom’s arc in this run. He’s not becoming a hero, and he hasn’t changed completely, but he’s less villainous than before. As always, his justifications for his actions come out as self-righteous and questionable, very on brand.

Valerio Schiti’s line art tells one part of the story in Captain America #16. Not only do the panels capture the moment-to-moment action of the issue, but they also provide Steve’s story.

Steve’s reactions to Mephisto, his resilience, and how he acts towards Doom are all emphasized in the art more than the dialogue itself. The line art gives a lot of detail to the characters themselves, especially Steve and Mephisto, but less to the backgrounds, which are often bland or only have basic figures in the distance.

The colors, by Romulo Fajardo Jr., put a lot of clashing tones on the page without the color overwhelming the art. The colors fit the scene and the characters, the lighting is environmental, and the special abilities like Doom’s spells are distinct enough.