The comic book “Secret Empire” #10 is the finale of author Nick Spencer’s nearly two-year run on Captain America. It’s the end of the road for the comic that made headlines for saying “Captain America is a Nazi.” It’s been a long journey since May 2016, when the internet exploded over Captain America saying, “Hail Hydra.” When Captain America hailed allegiance to the fictional terrorist group in the Marvel universe, it was picked up by main stream media, and the outrage people felt was tangible.

At the time, it seemed like Spencer was trying to tell a story about false symbols, and what to do when you can no longer trust the leader you once looked up to.

This culminated in Secret Empire where Captain America reveals his allegiance to the evil organization of Hydra, takes over America, and systematically defeats Marvels greatest heroes. After many hardships, the final team of heroes stand face to face with their former friend and ally.

This finale does some great things with Captain America’s history. By making call-backs to the character’s 70-plus-year history, it’s clear that Nick Spencer has a genuine love and respect of Captain America. He’s not just making him Hydra to be a contrarian, he’s doing it to push that character to his limits. Captain America Is fueled by the power of the Cosmic Cube, a reality changing object in the Marvel Universe, to completely rewrite history to the way he thinks it should be: A future ruled by Hydra. As the bulk of the book takes place, Captain America’s former best friend Bucky uses his sliver of the Cube to bring back the version of Captain America we all love.

In the finale Captain America faces Captain America in a battle, not just of fists, but of fundamental ideals. This is where Spencer really brings into play everything that he’s been setting up for around a year. Artist Steve McNiven does a quality job on art, the action itself is impactful, and you can almost hear each punch as it’s thrown. The scene that takes place in a dream like realm deserves a special shout out for its unique style, while the rest of the issue feels somewhat like standard superhero fare.

By the end of issue, we are left with more questions than I think it’s fair to have. Are there two Captain Americas now? Is everyone just going to forgive the Captain that Bucky brought in?

Every character supposedly gets something they want by going to the vanishing point, but because this happens in separate books we are basically told to go buy each of their issues to find out what happened. Marvel also tells us to find out what happened to Captain America in a separate book as well. This is extremely frustrating as this event has already lasted longer than it was supposed to. It’s almost as if Marvel is reaching out of the pages and grasping at your wallet.

If you’re a new reader, you’re going to be lost with everything that’s happening in this book. This is a story for those who love continuity, and have been reading Nick Spencer’s Captain America since the beginning of his run. It’s like a roller coaster that you need to pay to get off of, a fun ride but it doesn’t quite feel satisfying at the end.