Disappointing End to Civil War

By: Merin
Date: Tuesday, February 27, 2007

Leading up to Civil War's start, I was beyond skeptical. I had hated Disassembled, thought the New Avengers was a gimmick, found House of M revolting and couldn't believe the retconning of Deadly Genesis. Needless to say, I wasn't buying it.
Then someone showed me issue 3. And I read about Spider-Man revealing his identity. I heard Captain America was going against the government. My interest was piqued. I picked up issue 4, got hooked, and read everything I could find.
Even hooked, I was skeptical. The story had me, as I was hating everything that was happening, but hating it in the way I hate what's happening in the real world yet pay closer and closer attention the worse things get. In short, it was working on me the way it was probably intended to.

For full disclosure, I'll bring forth my views on a few things so you can judge how much they influence my review.
1 - I believe no amount of security is worth given up essential liberties, regardless of the situation. Some things ARE worth dying for. Ben Franklin said it best - "Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."
2 - I believe that privacy is ultimately important, especially from any government or ruling body.
3 - I believe that actions, not potentials, determine consequences. In short, because you have a gun or the ability to shoot fire from your eyes doesn't mean you should automatically be treated as if you WILL be dangerous.
4 - I think power corrupts, but the most corrupting power is that which allows one to manipulate the lives of others. In effect, the most corrupting power is given to those who are put in charge of soldiers, police, or the law.

Onto Civil War 7. Spoiler alert. Long-windedness alert.

The issue picks up at the start of the fight at the Prison 42 in the Negative Zone. Captain America and his rag-tag Avengers (heroes like Luke Cage and Hercules plus converts from Stark's side (Spider-Man and half the FF (Sue and Johnny))) are reinforced by the freed prisoners who were imprisoned solely for not registering. Iron Man and Mr. Fantastic have a team of heroes (such as The Sentry, Bishop and Ms. Marvel) to stop them from escaping and are aided by their government approved army of super-beings, including such upstanding citizens as Lady Deathstrike, Venom, Taskmaster and Bullseye. Their escape route is about to be disabled (the two gates in and out of the Negative Zone prison) so Cap's forces use a risky gambit and have Cloak port them all away.
Pause. Now here I'll ask why Dagger and Black Panther have Cloak grab everyone. From what I can tell in the issue Cloak is to grab everyone and go through the gate, because Cloak apparently has to do it before the gate is closed. Maybe he can't selectively pick and choose people, whatever, but perhaps even more confusing is that Cloak has to do it before the gate closes. The people he teleports appear over the Baxter Building as if coming out of his cloak. Huh? Did they need the gate or not? Did it have to be open for him to make the jump? It is confusing.
Unpause. They are falling. Apparently, despite Cap's call for fliers to grab non-fliers, some hit the ground hard enough to make cabs go flying through the air. In Iron Man's defense here (one of the FEW times you'll see me do this) he orders his men (team and non-powered authorities, I'm assuming) to clear the area and contain the fight to a small section of the city to avoid civilian casualties. Points for him, as Cap doesn't seem to think of this until the end. After being shown that there is property damage (as if this should shock us - Damage Control exists in the Marvel U for this sort of thing - and this fight doesn't seem to me to be any bigger or badder than your typical super-powered slugfest in NYC in a Marvel book, but oh well) we come to COOL MOMENT #1.
Spider-Man weaving his way through Bishop, Doc Samson, Radioactive Man and Blizzard to lay the kibosh on Mr. Fantastic. Not a big Spidey fan, personally, but this really did get me pumped, and not only because I think Reed deserves this kind of treatment for, oh, say, maybe a couple months at this point (reduced sentence due to saving the world and universe a few times.)
Now we see Cap getting his butt handed to him by a quartet of villains. Er, heroes. Iron Man's agents? Thunderbolts? Registered super-beings? I don't care what you call them, this is what the whole Civil War boils down to as far as I am concerned, this series of panels. More on that later - Cap is saved by Atlantis, though, as in the form of Namor and an Atlantean strike force. Not a Namor fan, and this doesn't qualify as a COOL MOMENT for me. It did make me think that Cap's side might actually pull this off with Atlantis behind him. Despite this, we get a lame retread of the scene in issue 6 (the "we outnumber you", "no, we've evened the odds!") as cloned Thor (also ties into "what Civil War is all about", coming later) comes in with Captain Marvel and the genero-heroes who've been mass-produced by Stark and co.
Cap and Iron Man face off. Oooh, Cap fights dirty and has Vision "backstab" Tony. Good on Cap, Stark deserves several years of this kind of treatment (no time off being a dry-drunk nor for bashing the Mandarin a few times nor for being a major weapons supplier for the US Govt.) Cap lays into Iron Man. Hercules lays into Thor. Ben makes Susie blink and the two start taking out both sides (cause, somehow, that'll keep people safer than choosing a side - being a third side - whatever) and Taskmaster tries to take down Sue but instead hits Reed. Reed was trying to protect his wife (I get this), and then Sue gets all protective of Reed (this I'm not sure I buy, but whatever) and takes down Taskmaster.
Then we get COOL MOMENT #2. Hercules, using the fake Mjolnir, destroys the fake Thor. This scene, alone, was worth me buying all those Civil War issues. The fake Thor is another physical example of what the Civil War was all about and his destruction gives me HIGH hopes.
Cap has physically beaten Iron Man. The battle is all but over. Then the fire-fighters, paramedics, and cops decide to jump Captain America. Er . . . right, this makes as much sense to me as, well, nothing makes this little sense. Apparently we are supposed to believe that ALL those guys think all of this is the fault of Captain America. Well, I guess there is about 30% of the country who still think Saddam Hussein was an imminent threat to the USA and anyone trying to end the War in Iraq wants Al-Qaeda to win. We then get several pages of a crying Captain America who suddenly believes he was wrong and orders his side to surrender. Because he was jumped by some scared, desperate civil servants and there was damage to the city - damage caused by BOTH sides, yes, but by BOTH SIDES and no less damage, again, than that caused when the Avengers fought Kang or the FF fought Terrax or whatever. But whatever. Cap throws off his mask, saying that he's being arrested as Steve Rogers and that it makes a difference - but then, as Steve Rogers, orders his side to surrender. Anyone else see the contradiction? He gives up his authority and role as the icon, gets arrested as a man all but admitting he's a legitimate criminal, but then expects those who followed him to listen to him and give any legitimacy to him retaining any authority over them? I just cannot wrap my mind around what's going on in his head.
Quick ending summary - Punisher grabs Cap's mask (oh dear) as we are given a letter written by Reed Richards (the POOREST writing I've ever seen done about Reed Richards EVER, but that's just my opinion - case in point, commenting about his handwriting and his mind going faster than he can write, showing an odd idiosyncratic tic by commenting on how long he cried, and THEN using the slang "old school" - not just the use of the term, but somehow invalidating everything he and the FF had ever done up to the point he and Tony played statistics with the lives of all super-beings) and get to see all the "heroes" basking in the limelight and the public cheering Gitmo, er, Prison 42 (this is a third example of what Civil War is all about.) We see that some heroes fled to Canada, that Doc Strange has joined the rebellious Avengers (go Spidey, man and woman), and that Sue has had a major brain-fart and returned to Reed. And we get a few pages of Stark the "hero", now in charge of SHIELD, with Miriam Sharpe the "mom behind it all" who must be Marvel's answer to Cindy Sheehan or some such. The end.

Anti-climatic? You bet. Cap surrender potentially the biggest let down ever in a comic-book? Maybe not the biggest, but its up there. Stark basically getting everything the way he wanted it, including boatloads of cash and being put in charge of both SHIELD and the super-human community? Can we say power-hungry? Sure we can. Is the Marvel U truly changed as a result of this? You bet.
What was it all about? Underneath it all, it's about the world after 9/11. It's about how a major tragedy can violently change the views of the masses and cause traumatic changes in laws and attitudes. It's about the struggle between security and freedom.

Remember there were three things I said were examples of what this Civil War was all about? Here's what I meant.
The first was Captain America being beaten left, right and center by four villains, the worst of the worst psychopaths you'll find in the Marvel U (they have stiff competition, probably some equals, but they are about as bad as it gets) and I see this as craziness beating down the best ideals of the USA. The government and Tony Stark were so adamant that this law be followed, enforced, that it was "right", that they enlisted the kind of human scum that would get most death sentence opponents to make rare exceptions in their stance. Enemy of my enemy doesn't work if you side with Stalin to defeat Nixon. Stark and Richards and Pym are INSANE for even going here, and I can't even see Tony doing this - but he did. Valerie Cooper, Henry Gyrich, Alberto Gonzales, sure. This is where you know they are wrong. Would Cap have made the same mistake? The Punisher took that decision from him, and as a result Cap kicked out the Punisher.
The second was the clone of Thor. This is wrong on so many levels. It is attempting to recycle an old heroic god-like icon via mad science. This IS the definition of mad science. What the hell happened to Reed Richards? Doctor Doom pulls this kind of crap. The Thor clone killing Bill Foster and Stark and Richards reusing it afterwards is just further signs of their new "ends justify the means" view of things. I am dying to see Iron Man or Mr. Fantastic try to meet the eyes of Odin or Sif or, especially, Thor when he really returns. In any case, this is just another in a long line of "WTF" decisions by the "smartest men" in the world.
Third, and last, is the Negative Zone prison. Even after it no longer (right) is being used for heroes who refuse to register, we aren't told that the prisoners there are being given any more rights than the heroes who were held there were going to be. Endless detention without trial? And the public loves it. Our current state of America as depicted in fiction, and just as tragically sad. Fear is a great tool to get people to give up their liberties for a false sense of security.  Civil War, utlimately, was the reaction the public had to 600 deaths due to the villain Nitro exploding after heroes tried to apprehend him, heroes who must have had some kind of OK to do so since they were doing so as part of a tv show and thus the government would know about it.  Overreaction to a tragedy and a bunch of doomsayers blowing it out of proportion to scare people into giving more power to those who say they are going to protect the people.

In the end, I hate what this has done to the Marvel Universe. I do believe it will be long lasting, and for the first time ever (and I mean even considering Disassembled and House of M) I find myself wishing things back to the status quo.

The ultimate question about this issue, and the series as a whole, isn't whether it's what we would have done or what we wanted to see, however, but was it well executed and done in a way that we can accept even if we hate? I have to say no. Every issue of Civil War felt like it had no concept of pacing. Some issues raced, most dragged, and several felt like NOTHING HAPPENED. Most of it felt like they were all set-ups for "gotcha" twists or COOL MOMENTS. For the most part I can see the characters doing what they did based on their pasts, save maybe Reed Richards and, oh, the X-Men just sitting the whole thing out. But overall it left a horrible taste in my mouth. A lot of people were disappointed with the end of Infinite Crisis, but I wasn't one of them. It was a little rushed (as opposed to drug out like CW) but the premise of IC, about heroes being heroes and the darkness that seemed to have seeped into the DCU, was settled at the end of IC and very nicely IMO. The end of CW here, with Cap's nonsensical surrender after a pointless, if exciting, fight left me empty. The falling action after the climax (I shudder at calling it that) gave me a SMALL taste of what it must have been to be a French citizen watching the Vichy regime take over in WW2. Utter powerlessness and disgust as your country is distorted into something so very, very wrong.

Civil War brought some major changes to the Marvel Universe, and delivered some awe-inspiring moments. But while it has changed things and breaks ground in new directions, I find myself repulsed by what these comics will be presenting in the future as the "status quo", "acceptable" or even "good and right." Unless there are some major developments in the near future that change things further, and by that I mean AWAY from the direction things are driving towards, the only Marvel books I see myself enjoying are fringe books that largely ignore current Marvel continuity as I have been reading eagerly for awhile (Astonishing X-Men and Runaways come to mind.) But then it seems Marvel has taken to heart a statement that Bendis has repeatedly given at conventions, and I'm paraphrasing here, that "if they aren't pissing off at least half their readers then they aren't doing a good job."

Click here to read the staff review by Mania.