Civil War

I few months ago, I mentioned that I was reading a series called Civil War. Actually, hearing that it was coming is what got me back into comics. It just sounded like an interesting concept. Basically it started like this....







A young superhero group called the New Warriors had a reality show where they were filmed catching criminals. However, something went wrong. A villain named Nitro fought back and blew up the whole area, including a school yard full of kids. All but one of the heroes died.








The public decided they had enough of heroes. They cry to the government to make heroes register and be regulated. Quickly, Congress passes the Superhero Registration Act, making all costumed heroes have to register. Many heroes, led by Iron Man and Mister Fantastic of the Fantastic 4 get behind the bill and encourage many other heroes to follow suit. This leads to Spiderman unmasking in front of the world to send a message that he is behind the bill.


Other heroes decide the law is wrong and go into hiding led by Captain America. They will still fight villains, but do it in secret as they are now fugitives. They also free heroes who decide not to register as they get captured.






While every other hero is worried about the bill, Wolvering decides to find the one person who started it all - Nitro, the one who caused the initial explosion. He is able to track him down and capture him. In his adventure, he finds out that Nitro was given extra power to make the explosion so powerful. The one who gave him the power - a company called Damage Control who makes money by cleaning up messes left up by superhero/supervillain battles. They made and are making tons of money by the current state of things. Wolverine is not happy....



The registered heroes trick the anti-heroes into meeting. A battle ensues. The battle is fairly even until Thor appears. Everyone thought he was dead. He starts attacking all the anti-heroes. In the ensuing battle, he kills the anti-registration hero Goliath by driving his hammer through his chest. As he goes to attack the rest of the anti-reg heroes, the Invisible Woman of the Fantastic Four puts a shield around them allowing them to escape even though she is not on their side. This was a great image as the heroes say thank you to her as they escape.





We find out that the Thor character was just a clone made by Iron Man and his brightest men. Thor would never act like that. Some of the registered heroes, especially Spiderman, start to second guess the side they are on now that a former friend of theirs is dead. Invisible Woman, angry with her husband Mister Fantastic and the role he has taken in the war, leaves him a Dear John letter saying she loves him, but is leaving him to go join the anti reg heroes along with her brother, the Human Torch. She is saddened by the direction the war has taken. To make sure they don't run out of numbers, Iron Man gets imprisoned super villains to begin hunting the other heroes. He's clearly gone mad. Spiderman decides he is switching sides, but as soon as he tells his wife and Aunt May, he is attacked by Iron Man...

I am in love with this series. The drama is just unbelievable. Deaths, hero vs hero, wives leaving husbands, big business conspiracies, it is just so unbelievably exciting. Can't wait to see what direction the story takes next...

Here is a video that has images from the first few issues up to the part where Clone Thor arrives. I think it is pretty well done...