Marvel minds behind 'Secret Empire' tease returns of Hydra-Cap, Black Widow

— -- Spoliers ahead for Marvel's "Secret Empire: Omega!"

Marvel's "Secret Empire" comic event ended with the Captain America fans know and love returning to smash his evil, cosmic-cube re-written counterpart with Thor's hammer, showing that Hydra-Cap's "worthiness" was all a facade. But the scars of Stevil's reign remain, and even Kobik could not or would not re-write reality to give this story a truly happy ending.

"The bad guys aren't going away in this," FiveThirtyEight's Walt Hickey said to the writer of "Secret Empire," Nick Spencer, and Marvel editors Tom Brevoort and Alanna Smith on ABC News' digital show, "Inside Marvel." "This really doesn't feel like a happy ending, to be honest."

"These problems are still very much in front of them," said Spencer. "Hydra Steve is still there, and Hydra is, in some ways, stronger than ever." Not only is Stevil still there, he's locked in a prison guarded by at least one Hydra loyalist.

"If we ended an issue with Steve Rogers trapped in a prison," said Brevoort, "Your expectation would be, 'Oh next issue he's going to find a way to quickly get himself out of the prison,' and this guy is no different."

Even with Hydra-Cap locked up, if only temporarily, the real Steve Rogers will continue to battle his most vicious nemesis: himself.

"Thematically, the biggest enemy and the scariest thing that Cap faces, kind of time and time again, is his own identity," said comics historian Meg Downey. "This is kind of the ultimate realization of that theme that's been running for close to 70 years now."

Smith also noted that Steve "has some soul-searching to do" in the coming books, which is evident in the confrontation between Cap and Stevil in the "Omega" issue. Rogers infiltrates the prison and talks with his alt-self, trying to come to terms with what he's done -- and what others did in his name.

"All Kobik did was change Steve," said Spencer. "Everything that everyone else did, they did of their own free will."

In addition to teasing Hydra-Cap's eventual breakout, Brevoort and Smith gave a sneak peek into the coming "Tales of Suspense" books featuring Hawkeye and Bucky Barnes as they grapple with what they believe to be the death of Natasha Romanoff, a.k.a. Black Widow.

"She certainly seems to be dead, but we get a little hint in the 'Omega' that maybe something more is going on," said Brevoort, referring to an enigmatic assassin Bucky tracks going after Romanoff's old enemies.

"It's this sort of weird, almost anti-buddy book, as the two of them come into contact and clash and bounce off of one another as they're both kind of in pursuit of the same thing," he said.

The "Omega" issue marks the end of "Secret Empire," but it is only the beginning of the aftermath that will shape the Marvel comics universe for years to come.