Civil War

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Civil War is a 2006-2007 Marvel Comics crossover event built around a seven-issue limited series of the same name written by Mark Millar, and penciled by Steve McNiven. The storyline builds upon the events that developed in the previous Marvel crossovers, particularly Avengers Disassembled, House of M, Decimation, and Secret War.

The tagline for the series is Whose Side Are You On?

Contents

Overview

The premise of the Civil War storyline involves the introduction of a Superhuman Registration Act in the United States. Similar acts have been used as literary devices in Watchmen, Uncanny X-Men, DC: The New Frontier, Powers, Astro City, and The Incredibles, though never on a scale such as permanently altering an entire pantheon of established pop culture icons. Mark Millar, writer for the story, has said: I opted instead for making the superhero dilemma something a little different. People thought they were dangerous, but they did not want a ban. What they wanted was superheroes paid by the federal government like cops and open to the same kind of scrutiny. It was the perfect solution and nobody, as far as I'm aware, has done this before.

The act requires any person in the United States with superhuman abilities to register with the federal government, reveal his/her true identity to the authorities, and undergo proper training. Those who sign also have the option of working for S.H.I.E.L.D., earning a salary and benefits such as those earned by other American civil servants. Characters within the superhuman community in the Marvel Universe split into two groups: one advocating the registration as a responsible obligation, and the other opposing the law on the grounds that it violates civil liberties and the protection that secret identities provide. Luke Cage (Power Man), an African-American, compared registration to slavery, and did so to Iron Man's face. Others compare the act to the norms under which the police and soldiers operate.

The genesis for this idea sprang from conversations between Mark Millar, Brian Michael Bendis, and Bryan Hitch.Within the story the adoption of sides by characters builds into the titular "civil war". Although the series can be read as allegorical commentary in the wake of 9/11 and The Patriot Act, writer Mark Millar has noted: "The political allegory is only for those that are politically aware. Kids are going to read it and just see a big superhero fight.

Plot synopsis

The New Warriors (Night Thrasher, Namorita, Speedball, and Microbe) battle a group of villains (Cobalt Man, Speedfreek, Coldheart, and Nitro) in Stamford, Connecticut while filming a reality television show. Nitro explodes, killing more than 600 people (including school children and all of the New Warriors except Speedball). The rest of the superheroes appear in Stamford to search for survivors.

Public opinion turns against superhumans. Even the inactive members of the New Warriors are branded as "baby killers". Hindsight (desperate to distance himself from the team) releases their secret identities online, and several are attacked. She-Hulk forces Hindsight to shut down the site, and Hindsight is arrested by John Jameson. Angry civilians attack the Human Torch outside a club.

Guided by Iron Man, Congress quickly passes the Superhuman Registration Act Civil War #1 (SHRA), 6 U.S.C. § 558, requiring the registration of all persons with superhuman abilities with the U.S. government, and the enlistment and training of those wishing to operate as superheroes. The law applies to those with naturally-occurring superhuman abilities, those humans using exotic technology, (such as Iron Man), or anyone who wants to challenge the superhumans.Black Panther Enactment of the federal law led to revisions of state criminal codes (such as Chapter 40, Article 120, Section 120 of the New York Penal Code, and Section 245(d) of the California Penal Code).Flamini, Anthony & Byrd, Ronald; Civil War Battle Damage Report; March 2007; Page 1

Captain America refuses to join a S.H.I.E.L.D. strike force hunting superhumans in violation of the act, and is attacked by S.H.I.E.L.D.'s "Cape-Killers", even though the Act has not been passed yet. Afterwards, he becomes a fugitive and forms an underground resistance movement calling itself the "Secret Avengers". This team includes Hercules, Falcon, Danny Rand (who is acting as Daredevil in Matt Murdock's place),Civil War #2 Luke Cage, and the Young Avengers.New Avengers #22 Iron Man, Reed Richards, Henry Pym, and She-Hulk come down in favor of the Act. Spider-Man unmasks at a press conference as a show of support for the Act. Doctor Strange wants no part of the Act and tells Iron Man and Mister Fantastic that they are never to call on him again (the government declares Doctor Strange exempt from the Act).

The government-backed heroes track down unregistered superhumans and subsequently detain or register them. Captain America's Secret Avengers and Iron Man's Avengers end up fighting in Yancey Street. The Thing, who was only visiting the old neighborhood, gets roped into crowd control. However, when a young member of the Yancy Street Gang is killed in the violence that ensues, Grimm, disgusted with both sides, leaves the country for France.

The Secret Avengers, responding to a false emergency, are lured into an ambush by the pro-registration forces. As the battle turns against them, a new weapon is brought into play: Project Lightning, a cyborg clone of Thor (created from a few strands of the Asgardian's hair and empowered by a technological copy of Mjolnir). Confronted by Bill Foster, "Thor" sends a bolt of lightning through the hero's chest, killing him. With both sides in shock, Cap orders a retreat. Sue Storm shelters the re-grouping Secret Avengers under an energy shield, allowing their escape.

Bill Foster's death shakes up both sides: Stature and Nighthawk surrender and register, while the Human Torch and Invisible Woman oppose the act. In turn, Pym drafts a sub-group of the Thunderbolts to their cause.Civil War #4

Spider-Man demands to see the concentration camp-styled prison facilities "42" in the Negative Zone Amazing Spider-Man #535. He concludes that he has made a mistake by siding with Stark and attempts to defect from Iron Man's side but is confronted by Iron Man and, after a brief battle, escapes. Against Iron Man's will, he is hunted down and badly beaten by the Jester III and Jack O'Lantern of the new Thunderbolts. The Punisher saves Spider-Man by killing the two villains, and carries him to a Secret Avengers safe-house. After recovering from his injuries, Spider-Man joins Cap's forces,Civil War #5 and makes a public statement in which he pledges to fight the Registration Act.

The Punisher seeks to join Captain America's forces, pointing out that Iron Man's decision to employ infamous mass murderers as enforcers of the Act is what has motivated the vigilante to come out of hiding, although crime is at an all time low as a result of the registered heroes. Captain America reluctantly accepts Punisher's offer of help.

As the Punisher makes his way through the Baxter Building to retrieve plans for the Negative Zone prison, Sue Richards travels to Atlantis to persuade Namor to join the Secret Avengers, although he refuses. The supervillains Goldbug and Plunderer arrive at the Secret Avengers' base to join Captain America's team, but the Punisher immediately kills them, leading Captain America to attack him and kick him out of the group.

While meditating, Doctor Strange speaks with Uatu the Watcher, who asks Strange why he doesn't use his immense power to end the conflict. Doctor Strange informs Uatu that the Sorcerer Supreme has no business in mankind's internal struggles, but promises to pray for an outcome that will benefit mankind and spill the least amount of blood.

As the final battle begins Cloak teleports the combatants to New York City. Namor and an army of Atlanteans arrive to fight alongside the Secret Avengers, while the Champions, Thor clone, and Captain Marvel reinforce Stark's team. Mister Fantastic saves Invisible Woman from a bullet launched by Taskmaster, and Hercules destroys the Thor clone. The Thing returns to protect the citizens from harm. As Captain America is about to deliver a final blow to Iron Man, policemen, EMTs, and firefighters try to restrain him. Realizing how much damage the fight has already inflicted upon the very people he wishes to protect, Captain America surrenders and orders his team to stand down.

Aftermath

Here is what happened in the aftermath of the Superhero Civil War:

  • The President of the United States grants general amnesty to all opponents of the Superhuman Registration Act who turn themselves in or register. However, Captain America, the main opponent to the Act, is arrested (and subsequently assassinated).
  • Tony Stark is appointed director of S.H.I.E.L.D. while Maria Hill is demoted to deputy director.
  • The 50-State Initiative is set up to eventually place a superhero team in every state.
  • The Mighty Avengers assemble as a new team.
  • Some heroes choose to leave the country rather than submit. In Canada the third Omega Flight is gathered; Firestar retires; and several heroes remain underground, including the New AvengersCivil War #7: Luke Cage, Spider-Man, Spider-Woman, Iron Fist, Doctor Strange, Ronin (actually a resurrected Clint Barton), Echo, and Wolverine.
  • Spider-Man's identity of Peter Parker is public knowledge, causing J Jonah Jameson to sue Parker for fraud.
  • Goliath, Bantam, Typeface, and Stilt-Man have been killed during the conflict. Tom Foster continues his uncle's legacy, becoming the new Goliath.
  • Mister Fantastic and Invisible Woman take a break from the Fantastic Four to work on their marriage and are replaced by Black Panther and Storm.
  • Captain Marvel enters the present day.
  • Speedball's powers (and sanity) are drastically altered, and he becomes the new Penance, a member of the Thunderbolts.
  • A reconstituted version of the New Warriors emerges, (bearing little resemblance to the original); most of the former Warriors are a part of The Initiative Program.
  • Nova returns to Earth (after destroying Annihilus and thwarting its annihilation wave with the Nova Corps Worldmind in him). He finds out that his former teammates on the New Warriors are dead and has to decide whether or not to be on The Initative as he battles the Thunderbolts. He chooses to leave Earth, heading for the Kree space.
  • An assassin hired by Kingpin misses Spider-Man, but strikes the "secondary target" of Aunt May. The attack on Aunt May ultimately leads to Spider-Man striking a deal with Mephisto to save her life while "rewriting history" and removing Peter Parker's marriage to Mary Jane Watson from the memory of everybody in the Marvel Universe. As a result, Spider-Man's identity is known only by himself, his powers are back to what they originally were and Harry Osborn is resurrected from the dead.
  • Captain America is assasinated while being taken to his trial.

Delays

Marvel announced in August 2006 that the main Civil War book would be pushed back several months to accommodate artist Steve McNiven. The schedule had issue #4 being released one month late, in September, while issue #5 was released two months later in November. Furthermore, various tie-in books including the Civil War: Front Line miniseries and tie-in issues of other comics were delayed several months so as not to reveal any plot developments.

In late November, Marvel announced another delay: Civil War #6, originally scheduled for release in December 20, was pushed back two weeks and released in January 4. Unlike the previous instance, only The Punisher War Journal #2 was delayed.

In a final act of re-scheduling, Civil War #7 was pushed back two weeks (from January 17 to January 31)

Behind the scenes

After the publication of Civil War #7, Mark Millar was interviewed by Newsarama and described the event as "a story where a guy wrapped in the American flag is in chains as the people swap freedom for security", agreeing that a "certain amount of political allegory" was present but that the real focus of the book was on superheroes fighting each other. Contrasting it with The Ultimates, Millar stated that Civil War was "accidentally political because I just cannot help myself".

Millar was also questioned about the perception that, despite Marvel's initial marketing, the two sides were not being presented equally to readers with the pro-registration side shown in a more negative light than the anti-registration side. He responded by explaining that "it's pretty much Tony's side that gets the better rep all the way through" in the main Civil War book, but that "the tie-in books demonized them a little".

Tom Brevoort blogged extensively about the production of Civil War and, some time after the series was over, posted Millar's initial pitch document.

Reaction

Tom Spurgeon took note of the difficulty in using costumed characters to send messages about real world issues: "When I was a kid I liked it when Captain America saw a high government official commit suicide. I thought that was way deep, man. But I never go there when thinking about Watergate. While Millar's Captain America and I may both worry about civil rights... the moment this leads Cap to take out a battalion of Secret Agents to buttress his point he's kind of lost to me as a potential partner-in-ideology.

According to a scholarly analysis presented at the 2007 Comic-Con International, this story's conflict is a natural outgrowth of what psychologist Erich Fromm called the basic human dilemma, the conflicting desires for both security and freedom, and "character motivations on both sides arise from positive human qualities because Fromm’s image of human nature is ultimately optimistic, holding that people on either side are struggling to find what is best for all."Freedom versus Security: The Basic Human Dilemma from 9/11 to Marvel’s Civil War. Retrieved on September 29, 2007.

Alternate versions

What If?

In "What If Civil War Ended Differently?," a stranger appears in front of Iron Man who is visiting Captain America’s symbolic grave at Arlington. Tony Stark is told of two diverse ways Civil War could have concluded:

  • The first is "What If Captain America led ALL the heroes against the Registration Act?" In this reality, Tony Stark dies of the Extremis virus before the Stamford disaster. Without him, the government response is more extreme, launching Sentinels that kill Spider-Man & the Invisible Woman within mere minutes of the first battle's start. Cap dons a suit of armor to lead the heroes against the new human-piloted Sentinels but pulls back when he realizes the damage. Henry Gyrich creates a new platoon of troops based on the cloned samples of Thor who overwhelm the heroes, forcing them underground. They continue to strike from the shadows to defeat villains and save lives but eventually Gyrich and Maria Hill launch an ambush that kills Cap and several others, ends the rebellion and Gyrich is eventually elected President of the United States on a metahuman control platform.
  • The second is "What if Iron Man lost the Civil War?" In this reality, Cap listens to Iron Man's offer of help in chapter three instead of attacking him. When the Thor clone is sent out by accident, Reed Richards is quickly knocked out when he tries to initiate the shutdown & Iron Man intercepts its blast, saving Bill Foster but temporarily frying his armor's circuitry, including his suit's microphone. With Reed & Tony, the only men who know the shutdown for the clone, being unable to stop him, Captain America steps in to save Iron Man from being killed, and all the heroes unite to bring the clone down. Afterwards, whilst discussing the reasons for & against registration, Tony points out that Cap is the perfect person to oversee the registered identities and make sure it runs smoothly outside of government interference, as he's the only person the superhero community would trust their identities to if they had to. With this new system in place, the Avengers train new heroes and maintain a much better world.

Squirrel Girl

In the summer of 2007, Squirrel Girl, who has had a crush on Speedball, tried to convince Robbie Baldwin to become Speedball again, instead of Penance. After failing to do so, she borrowed a time machine from Doctor Doom in an attempt to prevent the explosion in Stamford. She was instead transported to the future, in Marvel's 2099 universe. If she had succeeded in going to the past and preventing the Stamford explosion, she would have prevented the Civil War and rewritten the entire previous two years of the Marvel Universe.Deadpool/GLI Summer Fun Spectacular

Collections

See Civil War Book Store

Involved but not listed

  • The 2006 Eternals relaunch has the Civil War play a fairly present background in the setting with Sprite appearing in pro-registration PSAs. In issue #3, Iron Man reminds Sersi to register. In issue #6, Iron Man and Hank Pym try to get the Eternals to register again, but they refuse. In the end, Zuras explains that the Eternals have no desire to meddle with humanity, and will stay out of their affairs, which Iron Man concedes as a fair compromise.
  • Daredevil #87 leads into Civil War: Choosing Sides (one-shot)
  • New X-Men #28, and She-Hulk #9, are indirectly but strongly involved.
  • Black Panther #19-20 "World Tour" Black Panther meets with Doctor Doom then the Inhumans to discuss the Civil War (these are not listed as official tie-ins due to a marketing error).
  • The cover of Nextwave: Agents of H.A.T.E. #11 features a Civil War parody cover including a plaid background, the words "Not part of a Marvel Comics event", and Aaron Stack holding up a card reading "Mark Millar licks goats".
  • Spider-Man and Power Pack #3 (March 2007), includes a parody entitled "Civil Wards," written by Marc Sumerak and illustrated by Chris Giarrusso.
  • The final issue of Robert Kirkman's Marvel Team-Up opens with Peter Parker getting ready to travel to Washington with Iron Man.
  • The third issue of the 2006 Union Jack mini-series also mentions Tony Stark and Peter Parker's trip to Washington.
  • Incredible Hulk #100 includes a 12-page backup story dealing with Mr. Fantastic's involvement with the Thor clone, and the repercussions of the Illuminati having exiled the Hulk into space.
  • In Annihilation #4, the former Earth hero Nova is aware of the Civil War and is disappointed with the actions the heroes have taken, as they are not united against the threat of Annihilus.

See also

External links

Newsarama Coverage

Newsarama's Civil War Room

During the run of Civil War, the comics website Newsarama ran monthly "Civil War Room" discussions, talking to Civil War editor Tom Brevoort and writer Mark Millar about each issue, the day after it hit the stands.

Comic Book Resources Coverage

Retrieved from "http://superherouniverse.articlenews.us/wiki/Civil_War"
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