Warning! Spoilers for S.W.O.R.D. #7 ahead!
The Captain America by letting an intergalactic war carry on until it is politically advantageous for them to step in and help. Whereas the Star-Spangled Avenger could never sit idly by and let others die in war, the mutants decide to do exactly that. It shows how little regard for non-mutants they really have and how they are always putting their own self-interest first over the lives of innocents.
In Captain America's classic origin story, scrawny Steve Rogers is determined to enter World War II despite being deemed physically unfit for combat. Rogers is not going to let that stop him from enlisting, however, because he knows that the fight against Hitler and the Axis Powers is too big and too important to sit on the sidelines and let others do the fighting for him. This is best Captain America: The First Avenger when Steve tells Bucky, "There are men laying down their lives. I got no right to do any less than them. That's what you don't understand. This isn't about me." Sitting on the sidelines is exactly what the mutants do in the latest issue of S.W.O.R.D., until it serves their own goals.
In S.W.O.R.D. #7 by Al Ewing, Stefano Caselli, Protobunker’s Fer Sifuentes-Sujo, VC’s Ariana Maher and Tom Muller, the Kree/Skrull Alliance is under attack by Mindless Ones. With chaos and battle raging across multiple worlds, the Alliance and the Galactic Council are stretched thin, desperate for any assistance in the struggle. That assistance comes in the form of the mutants’ space division, S.W.O.R.D., who arrive just in time to heal Emperor Hulkling’s injuries and get him back on the battlefield. Hulkling is grateful for their assistance, and says that the Alliance had tried reaching out to the Avengers, Alpha Flight and the Scarlet Witch, but received no response. He thinks that the distress calls were blocked by Dormammu. S.W.O.R.D. Director Abigail Brand agrees that’s probably the case, but a page from Brand’s personal log reveals a more sinister truth: she blocked the distress calls. And then she waited until the perfect moment to step in and save the emperor, all in the pursuit of scoring political points with the Alliance.
Brand’s decision to wait until the opportune moment to provide assistance in the war stands in direct opposition to everything Steve Rogers believes. Captain America is dedicated to always doing what he thinks is right, even if it means going against the orders of his own government. This latest act just highlights the increasingly immoral lengths the mutants are willing to go to. They have indulged in espionage, mind control and murder in order to protect mutant interests on Earth, and off-planet they have taken even more extreme steps. They committed political assassinations to bring the Zn’rx Civil War to an end and install a leader who would be friendly to them. Now they have prevented heroes from helping the Kree/Skrull Alliance repel an attack, just so they can swoop in, be the heroes and get on the royal family’s good side.
Brand indicates that she thinks the good will she garners will help the mutants once Hulkling discovers his mother-in-law, the Scarlet Witch, was killed at the end of the X-Men’s Hellfire Gala. But it is impossible to imagine Captain America would let people die while he waited to act. If Brand had not stopped the distress call from reaching the Avengers, it is certain that Captain America would have been one of the first ones to answer the call, while the X-Men are content to wait and see how taking action can benefit them.
