Captain America and the First Thirteen

[Leoparis]

p 1-2
France 1943: Peggy Carter enters a Resistance celland discards her disguise
p 3 Captain America dresses and leaves on a motorbike
p 4 Peggy Carter dresses in new clothes
p 5-7 Captain America has a meeting with a Resistance member, Marc, but they're attacked by German soldiers. Marc is hurt.
p 8-16 panel 1 A doctor sees Mark and gives a report of his health to Peggy. She chats then argues with Cap. Anna interrupts and shows what she's capable of.
p 16 panels 2-6 page 21They leave by truck and steal an airplane from Germans.
Page 22 Resistance members watch the plane
p 23 Captain America and Peggy kiss. She asks if he remembers when they first met
flashbacks:
p 24 panel 1 Rogers and Peggy in a café
panel 2 Peggy under rain
panel 3 Cap looks on an armed Peggy and dead German soldiers
panel 4 Peggy watching across from a balcony a man looking like Rogers kissing somebody else in the facing building
panel 5 Peggy held by a man whose face is not seen (but may be Rogers)
panel 6 follows from page 23, Peggy and Cap promise to see each other
p 25 France 1945: Rogers and Peggy in disguise cross each other in the street but don't recognize each other. Peggy states she never saw Cap after the 1943 meeting.

Tales of Suspense #77
pp 3-5 In that story, Cap meets Peggy in occupied France shortly before the troops reach Paris (so between June and August 1944).They are separated when Cap is sent on several missions.
pp 6-7 Peggy is captured and about to be executed when she catches an explosion.
pp 8-10 Nazis are evacuating Paris (ca 25 Aug 44) Capinquires about Peggy but is told she was captured by the Gestapo. But he can't find her. Meanwhile an amnesiac Peggy errs in Paris.

[Paul Bourcier]

Thanks, Leoparis!

[Leoparis]

Peggy Carter is Agent Thirteen in this comic and Tales of Suspense 64 has a female Agent Thirteen. That must be the same character. However the backstory of ToS 64, 75 and 77 are inconsistent and the latest special didn't totally solve it except for stating they met at various times and disagreed on what their first meeting was.

[Col_Fury]

I haven't read the First Thirteen yet, but...

Tales of Suspense 64/2 is a retelling of Captain America Comics 1/2. In CapC 1/2, the female agent is Betty Ross of the FBI. In ToS 64/2, that character is replaced with "Agent 13 of the Women's Army Corps." If this Agent 13 is anyone, it's Betty Ross. And of course, Agent 13 in the current day is Sharon Carter.

So you're saying that this comic is calling Peggy Carter Agent 13 as well? I guess that would explain the title of the comic... But still, what are the odds that both Peggy and Sharon AND Betty Ross are all Agents 13?

[Leoparis]

I know that Tales of Suspense 64 is a retelling of a Golden Age story where Betty Ross appeared. Betty Ross was a love interest for Cap. Captain America: Patriot established Betty Ross eventually married the Patriot.

On the other hand, Lee and Kirby rewrote Captain America's early stories. Tales of Suspense carried this Agent Thirteen subplot: TOS 64, then 75 then 77 where it carries over into the present day. Later stories established that the WWII love interest was called Peggy Carter and that the present day love interest was called Sharon Carter.

So it doesn't mean that Agent Thirteen in ToS 64 is Betty Ross. In view of the later issues of ToS and this special where Peggy Carter IS Agent Thirteen, I think we can conclude that she was the agent Thirteen in ToS 64, especially because the odds that both Betty Ross and Peggy Carter were Agent Thirteen are zero. In addition Betty Ross was never Agent 13 in WWII.

[Col_Fury]

Ah, but wasn't there more than one Betty Ross? That Captain America: Patriot miniseries you mentioned also establishes that the Ross that eventually marries Jeff Mace is a *second* Ross, and Hoover only assigned her to Mace because her name was the same as the wartime Betty Ross (in issue #2, on page 9).

So there's the wartime Betty Ross of the Women's Army Corps, and later there's a different Betty Ross of the FBI.

As for multiple Agent 13s, chalk it up to coincidence I guess.

[Leoparis]

Nowhere is Betty Ross described as WAC. The Golden age Betty Ross was a US government investigator.

About panel 2 page 9 of Patriot #2: All it says is "Yes, it's my real name. Also probably why I was assigned to be your liaison. Director Hoover has a peculiar sense of humour." She's referring to the creator of the US flag http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betsy_Ross not to another wartime Betsy Ross.

My understanding is this: There was a wartime Betsy Ross, she helped Captain America (see Captain America, the 1940s comic strip), she was then assigned as liaison to the post-war Cap, and she became Golden Girl.

Although the Omar and Sando case was at first depicted with Betsy Ross, it actually happened with a WAC agent 13 as depicted in Tales of Suspense. Agent 13 was later revealed as Peggy Carter.

It avoids inventing multiple Agent 13s and multiple Betsy Rosses.

[Col_Fury]

Betty Ross was a Lieutenant in the Women's Army Corps in 1943's Captain America Comics #33, 3rd story.

[Leoparis]

OK, but that still leaves a reasonable doubt about Agent 13 being Betsy Ross in ToS in view of later ToS stories and the First Thirteen one-shot. If Peggy Carter was the first Thirteen then it follows that Betsy Ross wasn't.

And we have no reason to assume there were two wartime Betsy Ross.

Occam's razor recommends that we make the fewest new assumptions. So there was one wartime agent thirteen (Peggy Carter) and there was one Betsy Ross.

[Col_Fury]

I've had the chance to re-read Cap: Patriot #2, and I think you're right. There's only the one Betty Ross.

Thanks Leoparis!