Warning: contains spoilers for Captain America: Sentinel of Liberty #3!
For over 80 years, other future versions of Captain America also carried their own versions of the weapon while they wore the mantle. But Captain America: Sentinel of Liberty #3 reveals the good Captain has actually carried an evil symbol every time he picked up the shield - and it was never his symbol to begin with.
In current comics continuity, both Steve Rogers and Sam Wilson share the name Captain America, and the patriotic superhero is thus the star of two parallel ongoing series: Captain America: Sentinel of Liberty and Captain America: Symbol of Truth. While Sam Wilson's stories are largely concerned with the present issues of the day, Steve Rogers continually finds himself being pulled back into World War II, or at least the fallout from the conflict. Stories about Rogers are especially concerned with the shield as of late: 2021's United States of Captain America involved the villains stealing Captain America's shield for their own purposes - but even they didn't know the evil symbol they carried.
In Captain America: Sentinel of Liberty #3, written by Jackson Lanzing & Collin Kelly with art by Carmen Carnero, Captain America travels to a clean-energy plant in , which turns out to be a front for another purpose altogether (and the plant is far from clean). In the bowels of the installation, Steve Rogers discovers a message from his shield's creator, Doctor Boka Agbote. He reveals the true secret of the shield: "They're called the Outer Circle. They surround everything. They influence everything...their symbol is three rings around a star." He explains that the outer circle of the symbol gives orders to the two inner circles, and the star represents their weapon - in other words, Steve Rogers himself.
This revelation is groundbreaking for multiple reasons. Not only has Steve carried this symbol ever since the shield's creation, but Doctor Agbote reveals the Outer Circle is the true mastermind of World War II, and perhaps all subsequent conflicts. Steve knows the power of symbols - he wears the flag of the United States of America on his costume and even carries an "A" on his helmet - so the fact that he's carried an enemy symbol should shake him to his core.
Very little is known about the Outer Circle apart from their symbol. Captain America is no stranger to destroying secret societies and years-long conspiracies (the original Nazis, the updated Hydra, the Serpent Society, the Flag Smashers and the Secret Empire, to name a few) so to him, this mission will be no different. Even so, Captain America must be crestfallen that the symbol of the shield that has stood for so much for so many was never his to begin with.
