Issue(s): Captain America #242
Cover Date: Feb 80
Title: "Facades!"
Credits:
Steven Grant - Writer
Don Perlin - Penciler
Joe Sinnott - Inker
Jim Salicrup - Assistant Editor
Roger Stern - Editor

Review/plot:
For this fill-in, Steven Grant brings back the strange Manipulator from an earlier Steve Gerber Avengers story. The Manipulator, is seemingly working for Sgt. Muldoon, the corrupt cop that eventually became the Cowled Commander.

Muldoon wants vengeance on Captain America. The Manipulator subjects Cap to a bunch of robot duplicates of his friends and teammates.

Muldoon eventually gets tired of the Manipulator's indirect methods, and goes out to try to shoot Cap himself, but fails.

Then the Manipulator reveals that he's really doing all of this to experiment with Muldoon's psychology, not to kill Cap.

The Manipulator makes the argument that he hasn't done anything illegal to Cap - if anything, he helped flush out Muldoon - so he should be allowed to leave without any charges. Before Cap can agree to that dubious notion, Muldoon recovers and takes a shot at Cap that misses and hits the Manipulator, revealing him to be a robot.

Captain America is lured to the Manipulator's lair by a call to Steve Roger's apartment from the fake Peggy Carter. That suggests that someone, likely the Manipulator, knows Captain America's secret identity.

This is a more straightforward use of the Manipulator than Gerber's version, but both stories leave some open questions about the character. The Manipulator will next turn up on a workbench in Machinesmith's lab.

Here is the origin story told by the Manipulator, in case it turns out to be relevant (per Michael's comment).

Quality Rating: C

Historical Significance Rating: 1

Chronological Placement Considerations: The MCP places this between Avengers #188-189 and before Marvel Premiere #49 and Avengers annual #9.

References:

• Cap hasn't heard from Peggy Carter since Captain America #236.
  
• Sgt. Muldoon was the Cowled Commander in Captain America #159.
  
• Cap notes that the Red Skull tried to use a similar method to break him in Captain America #226-227, but the Manipulator says that's fine because he's really trying to examine Muldoon, not Cap.

Crossover: N/A

Continuity Insert? N

My Reprint: N/A

The Manipulator's fake origin involves having a mother that drove his father to suicide. Interestingly, Machinesmith is eventually revealed to have killed his mother, although he claims it was because she thought his obsession with robots unhealthy. Some fans have wondered if the Manipulator's fake origin relates to Machinesmith's past.