In honor of the upcoming Civil War Movie, I have read 100 of the original Civil War comics and tie-ins to prepare myself to judge the movie as harshly as a fan boy can, but also, I have digested the information and am excited to judge the comic, likewise! This particular post is going to concern itself with outlining the perspectives of the Civil War (CW) as a basis for the rest of the posts leading up. SO!

The comic is worth the read, absolutely. Unfortunately, without a $200 comic budget or Marvel Unlimited account, it’s tough to get all the relevant books. Hey, look, I get it. You and me, we ain’t made of money and time. So, here when I post SPOILERS (which is throughout), think of it as a free insight into a story arc that inspired an upcoming movie (which, after having read all that, seems just a bit premature to bring to the MCU). As of this week, lines are starting to be drawn through out the MCU. AoS on ABC, bits of thought on DD on Netflix. Man, I really hope Luke Cage at least references it in November, considering his role in the comics… Meh, on to the point

A bad guy is forced into a corner by some amateurs causing innocent deaths. Specifically, 612 civilians including 60 school children are killed in an explosion caused by the villain Nitro. The good guys, the New Warriors, were shooting an internet reality show and looked to overthrow some bad guys above their pay grade for ratings. The country blames super powers, not simply super villains. Bare in mind, this is after Hulk had destroyed Vegas and Nick Fury’s Secret Wars had caused damage all over the country, not to mention all the times New York has had to been rebuilt due to super scuffles. The populace has a right to be angry, and politicians run fastest when they have something to run with. Before long, a proposal known generally as the Super Human Registration Act (SHRA) is sitting in front of the legislative branch of the American government and becomes law.

Here’s how it works in a nutshell:

• If you possess super powers, either inherently or artificially, are accustomed to fighting against people with powers, or in anyway can be considered significantly powerful beyond a normal citizen while wearing a costume, then, in order to use your powers for any reason, especially to “fight crime”, your are required to register with the government, providing all identification and all known powers.
• The government will then tell you where, how, with whom, and against whom you are allowed to fight. In return, this becomes a legitimate job complete with salary, benefits, head quarters, and a boss.
• They are trained extensively.
• They are put in situations based on command of those with intelligence, wisdom, and experience. In short, superheroes are government agents now.
• The punishment for using your powers or patrolling without registering is arrest and detainment in 42, aka “Fantasy Island”, the multi-billion dollar prison (see gulag) built in the Negative Zone by Tony Stark and Reed Richards specifically to hold super powered individuals until the prisoner agrees to register.

Those who rebel do so, in general, on the following grounds:

• Especially in cases of mutants, forcing registration on the people simply because of happenstance of birth or accident is frighteningly similar to Nazi Germany (though, at this time, mutants are already being constantly monitored by the government because of their decimation following the events of “House of M” … which is a much longer story).
• Forcing a normal citizen to register their identity with the government is an invasion of privacy. Forcing a superhero to do it (let alone all the superheroes) creates a one-stop shopping list of targets for a supervillian who wants to hurt or control a hero through their family and friends.
• Everyone thrown in to Fantasy Island is done so without trial and without sentence.
• Once the government controls your actions, they use them to their ends, whereas many superheroes started “heroing” because of the governments propensity to overlook injustices in their own backyards. In other words, the government is concerned with the big guys, and many superheroes are heroes because they are concerned with the little guys.
• More than all that, they take issue with the fact that most of them have done no harm to any innocent, in fact, have done good for them, and simply woke up one day, without doing anything different, to find they are criminals.

There is so much fun to discuss in all of this. I mean, it’s easy to take the romantic side of rebels led by Steve Rogers who have only fought for good and are told they cannot any more. It’s Captain America, for cryin’ out loud. Shoot, most of the heroes arguing against the act use the line of logic “You’re fighting Captain America for being a traitor. Say that sentence out loud. Does that make sense to you?!” He isn’t just a leader, he is their ideals personified. There is a dark past throughout the world in which governments forcing registration then use that information for downright evil. Cap saw it first hand. He fought it first hand. With his hands.

The thing is, he’s not entirely in the right here. It isn’t a matter of safety verses freedom when a child does wrong and the parents are punished. Championed by Tony Stark, it is a matter of accountability, which is high on the rankings of themes for the arc. I mean, in Avengers 2, when Iron Man destroys a building to take out Hulk, he buys the building. If Spider Man tosses a car into Rhino, he just has to hope the owner of said vehicle has really good insurance (hey, there’s a fun idea; if you live in Marvel New York, insurance should have an additional “Super Hero Damage” coverage and be so expensive that no one can afford to live there except the extreme rich, lowering the population and thus avoiding even more innocents caught in the crossfire. But I digress…) Young, super powered, self-taught heroes are going to make mistakes, and in a game with stakes so high, that means people who have never asked to be apart of that world are going to get hurt or worse. So goes the argument, anyway.

With that, the lines are drawn, and we are on our way! On this very day, I have posted my first microscopic look into this massive event and see where that leads us. Until next time… um… see you next time? Dang, I really need a cool sign off. Post ideas!