What Exactly Is So Civil About War?
Good Evening, True Believers! It’s that time again! I’m Odin Ashcroft, your comic book wolf, and this week I bring you WAR!
Marvel Comic’s Civil War, to be exact. Answering a request by fellow member Vegas, today’s topic falls on the big event of 2006/2007 over at the offices of Marvel, one in a series of connected “BIG” events Marvel’s had since 2003. Building up from the events of Avengers Disassembled (Which, as the name entails, saw the dissolution of the original Avengers team, as well as the deaths of several of its longstanding members), House of M (which briefly saw the alteration of reality where Mutants rule the world but every major hero and villain got their heart’s desire), Decimation (The fallout of House of M with the restoration of the normal universe/status quo, greatly reducing the population of mutants in the world), and Secret War (Think black ops meets the Avengers, and you’ll be pretty much right). Civil War would have the memorable tagline “Whose Side Are You On?”, which would be asked to character and fan alike.
The basic premise falls to this: Even the most rookie of comic readers/fans would be aware of a concept like a “Superhuman Registration Act”. Similar ideas had been carried out in stories like Days of the Future’s Past, Watchmen, and Powers. It would have all super powered beings, hero and villain alike, be registered into a database, which would include their identities as well as undergo proper training. And such, two sides formed : Pro-registration faction which supported the idea as it as responsible obligation to those they protect, while the Anti-Registration faction opposed it as it violates civil liberties and the protection secret identities provide. And believe it or not, this led to splits in both hero and villain communities. Friend versus friend, family against family. All lead to a great conflict. But I’m getting waaaaay head of myself. Let’s start from the beginning, so I can fill in the details for readers who arent aware of this event, or long time comic fans who haven't been in the fandom for sometime…
Also, before I go ANY further, please pay attention to the following message: BEWARE! SPOILER ALERT SPOILER ALERT SPOILER ALERT! BEWARE! YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.IF YOU WISH TO READ THE FULL SERIES, STOP READING THIS NOW.
Now, for the longest time, the Superhuman Registration Act has been prevented from being passed for some decades now, in one shape or another. But, it is once more proposed with revisions after the events of Nick Fury ‘s “Secret War” and the Hulk’s recent destructive rampage in Las Vegas (Unknown to the public though, was the Illuminati had tricked and jettisoned the green goliath into space, which would lead into the separate event known as Planet Hulk). This was also following M-Day ( The day which the universe returned to normal after House of M) where 90% of Earth’s mutant population found themselves depowered, while public anxiety and fear of mutants reached an all time high (their sympathy for the group at its all time low too). The remaining 198 mutants were rounded up and placed upon the Xavier Institute, for “their” protection. By this point, support for and against the registration bill was about even. Tony Stark (aka Iron Man) was one of the many trying to prevent the passage of this act, like he and his friends had done before. It looked like it was going to end much like it had done many times before…had it not been for the Stamford Incident.
In Stamford, Connecticut, a group of teenage heroes called the New Warriors were at the time the focus of a reality TV show, and with the pressure pushed upon them by certain teammates and the network for greater ratings, they fought villains far out of their league. One of which was the villain Nitro (think a genetic suicide bomber that never dies, and you would be right), and when he was attacked head on, he activated his explosive powers, killing most of the New Warriors, and over 600 civilians, 60 children among them. Both non powered and super powered rescue rushed to the aid of the wrecked town, but the damage, physical and metaphorical, had been done.
The backlash of this event was quite negative: Public sentiment of super heroes plummeted, all remaining members of New Warriors were branded as baby killers just by association, The Human Torch was beaten into a coma by an angry mob, and of course, the Registration act was soon pushed well ahead, about to be passed, which would have the agency known as S.H.I.E.L.D. enforce it.
Captain America was offered the chance to help lead a force which would apprehend rogue heroes, which he turned down, and became a rogue himself. He would help form a resistance group known as the “Secret Avengers”, comprised of heroes against the registration and liberated heroes. They would fight crime and apprehend criminals, avoiding pro-registration heroes and S.H.E.I.L.D forces.
Iron Man, on the other hand, formed his own group, feeling that he was responsible that heroes should have proper training and supervision, the previous method of self-policing had before Stamford was clearly insufficient. His group comprising some of the greatest minds the Marvel Universe has ever known, they developed plans for a prison specially made for super powered violators, called “42”. Most of this pro-registration force was already living with public identities, with one notable exception: Spider-Man. That’s right, the public menace (as Daily Bugle would have it) web slinger was soon persuaded by both Iron Man and his loved ones that it was time to receive the recognition he truly deserved for his works. So, on a live newscast, he pulled off his mask and announced to the world...
“My Name is Peter Parker, and I’ve been Spider-Man since I was fifteen years old”.
The X-Men, of all groups, claimed neutrality in the whole conflict, seeing how they’d been already put through so much during the Decimation. Of course, this didn’t stop certain individuals from splitting off and joining in, such as Wolverine being against, and Bishop for it. Seeing how the 198 and the X-Men were already in government databases, and were registered by default when the act was passed.
Meanwhile, the government creates an all new version of the Thunder bolts ( Odin Note: The Thunderbolts was a team created in the 90s, formed by former super villains turning over new leafs and taking on new more heroic identities, such as the Beetle became the hero Mach-1 ). This team would be comprised by a veritable army of captured villains, who were willing to play along, especially after each one of them were kept in check by nanites placed into their bloodstream to monitor and disable them at any time.
But everything came to a head when the Secret Avengers were lured to a false emergency call, ambushed by the pro-registration forces. A clone of Thor (yes, you read this correctly. A CLONE. Of an Asgardian God. Yeah. I’ll get into this much later. From now on, he’ll be referred to as Clor) was sent to help arrest the fugitives, but in the process, outright kills Bill Foster, the anti-registration member known as Black Goliath. The clone was then sent into a rampage, before being stopped by the Invisible Woman. The Anti-Registratiors make a hasty retreat, but this one battle changed the face of the conflict, becoming indeed a civil war.
The death of Black Goliath causing great shifts in both camps, as many switch to either side, such as the Human Torch and Invisible Woman joining alongside Captain America in his mission. Spider-Man soon switches alliegences as well once he found about the Negative Zone prison (“42”) as well as the new costume he’d been given had been in fact laced with spying programs. However, atypical to his brand of luck, fought Iron Man to an inch of his life and escapes into the sewers, where he is drugged and blasted half to death by the villains Jack O’Lantern and the Jester. But before the killing blow, Spider-Man is saved by the unlikeliest of allies, who kills both villains. This marks the return of the Punisher to the normal Marvel universe...
He helps Spider-Man reach Captain America’s hideout, and though hesitant, the Secret Avengers accept Punisher’s support. Spider-Man would later interrupt a newscast and reveal to the public of the horrors of the registration act’s enforcement, pledging to fight it.
Iron Man reveals the plan of the 50 State Initiative , which would be that every state in the United States would have its own legally sanctioned super hero team (Odin Note: At the time of this writing, NO team has be revealed for the state of Maine. ) to a recently captured Daredevil, offering him a chance to repent and become a leader of one of these teams. Daredevil declines, instead giving Stark a silver dollar. When asked by a confused Stark, Daredevil simply answers as he’s led away to his cell “Now you have all thirty-one pieces of silver, Judas”. Meanwhile, as Captain America watches in horror as The Punisher guns down the villains Goldbug and Plunderer, who’d been trying to join t heir ranks, The Punisher calling them killers and thieves, and that no deals would be brokered by their kind. Captain America attacks him and kicks him out of the group, but roars at The Punisher, who just stands there and lets Cap beat him to a bloody pulp. (More on this later too!). The Secret Avengers then launch a mass attasck upon the portal to the 42 complex, and gaining a massive influx of liberated heroes from its cells, the true battle royale begins, as both sides are teleported to the heart of New York City. This leads into some of the bad-assest (is that a word?) moments in the mini-series, especially when the Greek God Hercules battles and utterly destroys the Thor Clone.
Come on everyone, you know you want to say it *does his best Eddie Murphy* "Herc-ulees! Herc-ulees! Herc-ulees!"
Both sides suffer great losses (no deaths, not even Clor. No, we see him later in the future *sigh*). But, in the end, it seems the battle belongs to the Secret Avengers, as Captain America prepares the finishing blow…only to be tackled by normal cops, EMTs,and firefighters, who hold him back. Then, then they all realize what all this fighting has really done, as the city is badly damaged and still burning. All for the fight for the people they wished to protect. Captain America realizes this far too late, and unmasks himself as Steve Rogers and surrenders, as does his team. Most of the Secret Avengers are given amnesty by the government. A crumpled and abandoned Captain America mask lies on the ground…only to be picked up by…
(Yeah...trust me, THAT doesn't last long at all. Clor on the other hand...*sigh -_-*)
Two weeks later, The Fifty State Initiative is launched, and The “Mighty” Avengers assemble. Tony Stark becomes the director of S.H.I.E.L.D. Some heroes move to Canada, others stay underground, as a secret “New Avengers” form. And from this comes many plot points all across the Marvel Earth…Both good,and bad…
And that, is Civil War in a nutshell, for those who needed a crash course. I cut out a lot of details, so, theres still plenty to be discovered, but I hope this helped. Now, to the final analysis opinion.
I…am indifferent to Civil War. Yep, you heard me. There were moments I loved about it, for one being the re-introduction of The Punisher to the Marvel Universe, who’d been separated into the “Max” side of things, (MAX being Marvel’s super violent equivalent to Vertigo/Windstorm at DC), where he fought terrorists and gangsters of a much grittier, real life nature. But since Civil War, Franks been doing what he does best against SUPER villains, not only taking on big names like the Hood and Green Goblin, but using weapons collected from villains and heroes alike, in most unique and quite lethal ways. Another way Civil War struck me in a good way was the comparison between Captain America and The Punisher. Remember the scene where Frank Castle didn’t put any form of a fight against Captain America…well, heres the scene…
And that’s what hit me. Frank Castle, the Punisher, admires Captain America. After all, Cap was the inspiration to several generations of soldiers, but the thing was, they are veterans of two very different types of war. With Captain America, you’ve a soldier who fought a war where you knew who the good and bad guys were, and you went out and kicked the bad guy’s ass. But with the Punisher, as a Vet of Vietnam, he fought in a war where friend or foe wasn’t as clear, and the best way to fight a war like that was to hide and sneak around, gutting your enemies in the middle of night. Castle takes the beating from Cap for two reasons: he will not hit a superior officer, and it promotes company unity. He maybe a killer, but Frank Castle is a soldier through and through.
As for the other reason I liked Civil War was…well, lets face, it did have INCREDIBLE battles, especially the grand finale…I mean, tell me THIS…
Doesn’t scream “AWESOME >!”
Now, for the negative: There were SO many damn tie-ins. That is the problem with Marvel’s big events, there are just so many tie-ins. I cut out so much from my short synopsis, and it still went on for three pages! It not only interrupted ongoing stories in most of their ongoing titles, but one-shots, mini-series, and even full on-goings were made to progress aspects of the story, which fell apart once the main event ended (with the exception of two. I still read Intitiative and Thunderbolts, because what is being done with them is actually quite impressive, and doesn’t make me hit myself as often…like Spider-Man -=-_). That’s ANOTHER thing! Characterization. Characters I’ve known and loved were sometimes portrayed in the most ridiculous manner: Spider-Man being a constant flip-flopper, Tigra being a two timing, traitorous …female dog , and so many other miss-characterizations, it made my head spin. It was only in some cases (Punisher, Hercules, etc) that I was spared this horror.
But in the end, Civil War was an alright series. I don’t hate it, but I don’t love it. As I’ll say time and time again, there were parts I liked, and then there were parts I hated. So, I’m in the middle ground, but let it be known, I’m primarily DC based, especially as Marvel didn’t just stop with Civil War. Oh no, they haven’t taken a break since! Its been one big event after another! Trust me. I wont even GO into that…
Well, I hope this was entertaining and enlightening, and hope this will spark interesting discussion as well as more questions and requests for future editorials! I’m Odin Ashcroft, and I’m your comic book wolf. I read it and rant about it, so you don’t have to!
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Originally Posted by Blackbriar
