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Can Steve Rogers prevail against such overwhelming odds? Of course he can.
And the true mastermind of all of this--Rogers being forced to resign, Walker chosen to replace him--stands revealed. Of course it was The Red Skull's doing.
And FINALLY after 18 months of buildup, we get Steve Rogers vs. John Walker. Walker's younger, stronger, and nigh-unstoppable. Rogers, meanwhile, has just undergone a serious crisis of faith.
Steve Rogers teams up with Battlestar to rescue John Walker, who's completely catatonic at this point.
Next he goes off half-cocked and got his butt kicked by Flag-Smasher, who held him captive and would only exchange him for the real Captain America. He even took Cap's shield from him.
Next up? Revenge on Walker's former partners, Hector and Jerome, who'd exposed his secret identity. Walker wasn't even attempting to live up to his predecessor's reputation here. Did I mention this was the Reagan era?
At story's end, Reagan was back to normal...or, close enough, anyway.
Steve Rogers, the former Captain America, was operating as "The Captain" at this time, and he came to D.C. and took care of business. He narrowly avoided crossing paths with John Walker here, but we got to see that Rogers was still at the top of his game.
The next month, a villain named The Viper turned Ronald and Nancy Reagan into human snakes. Subtle political commentary that was lost on me as an eighties kid, but pretty sharp writing from Gruenwald in retrospect.
Cap and Battlestar's first public appearance goes south quickly, as their former partners crash the press conference and out John Walker as the new Captain America. Things would only get worse for him from there on out.