Civil War #7 — Nick Peron

Oct 17

Oct 17 Civil War #7

Civil War, Part 7

Civil War continues from Black Panther (vol. 4) #24….

When the government enacted the Super Human Registration Act (SHRA), it split the superhero community in half. One side, led by Captain America (Steve Rogers) were against registration, while the other, led by Iron Man (Tony Stark), supported it.[1] It is now the end game of this conflict and Cap’s Secret Avengers have broken into Prison 42 in the Negative Zone to free all the unregistered heroes incarcerated there. There, they come face-to-face with Iron Man’s pro-registration forces, leading to a massive brawl in the middle of the prison.[2] As the battle rages, SHIELD agents try to shut down the portal out of the Negative Zone but are incapacitated by the Black Panther (T’Challa) and Dagger (Tandy Bowen). After hacking the computers, the Panther redirects the exit point of the portal. When he finishes the job, Dagger sends word to her partner, Cloak (Tyrone Johnson), who teleports everyone through the portal.

This dumps all the combatants just outside of the Baxter Building, where the fight resumes. As the battle rages on, the heroes cause massive amounts of collateral damage as the NYPD tries to herd bystanders to safety. The heroes fight on with little regard to the people they are endangering.

Eventually, Captain America get swarmed by the Thunderbolts — Bullseye, Lady Deathstrike (Yuriko Oyama), Taskmaster, and Venom (Mac Gargan) — but still he fights on. When it seems like Captain America is going to lose the fight, the Sub-Mariner (Namor) arrives with an army of Atlantean soldiers to aid Cap’s side of the fight.[3] However, Iron Man’s side also gets reinforcements in the form of the Thor clone,[4] Captain Marvel,[5] and the newly formed Champions.[6]

This allows Captain America and Iron Man to fight man-to-man once more.[7] However, Steve has planned for this and has the Vision (Jonas) use his phasing powers to compromise Tony’s armor so it is a fair fight. As the two duke it out, the Thor clone tries to come to Stark’s aid, only to be ambushed by Hercules. Not far away, the Invisible Woman (Sue Richards) is surprised to see that the Thing (Ben Grimm) is back and helping protect innocent civilians.[8] The Taskmaster sees this distraction and tries to shoot Sue, however her estranged husband, Mister Fantastic (Reed Richards) leaps in the way taking the blast. Seeing her husband hurt, Sue then flattens Taskmaster with an invisible battering ram.

Meanwhile, Hercules has out fought the Thor clone to a standstill. With the lance ounce of his strength, the Olympian demigod picks up the phony Mjolnir and uses it to split open the clone’s cybernetic skull.[9]

Not far away, Captain America has overpowered Iron Man and the force of his blows snap off Tony’s armor. Steve Rogers is about to make the final blow but pauses when he gets a look of Tony Stark’s battered face. Tony asks Steve what he is waiting for and to end it. However, before Rogers can land the final blow he is swarmed by a team of first responders — police officers, firefighters, and paramedics — who tell him to stop. This causes all of the combatants to stop and look as they are shocked to see ordinary civilians taking up arms. Steve Rogers tries to tell them that he doesn’t want to hurt anybody. When one of the EMTs says that it is a little late for that, it causes Steve to stop and take a good look of his surroundings.

Seeing the damage wrought in the battle, Steve drops his shield in horror as he realizes that they have lost sight of who they are. They weren’t fighting to protect the innocent, they were just mindlessly brawling. Steve also realizes that this is all wrong and much to the shock of his side, he unmasks and surrenders to the police. When the Secret Avengers can’t understand why Steve is surrendering when they were winning, Rogers points out that they were winning everything except the argument. He then tells them that they aren’t arresting Captain America, they’re arresting Steve Rogers and that’s a different thing. Allowing himself to be put in handcuffs, Steve tells everyone on his side to stand down. In the aftermath of the battle, nobody notices the Punisher (Frank Castle) pick up Captain America’s discarded mask. He gives it a long hard look.[10]

In the aftermath of the battle, Reed Richards writes a letter to his wife Susan, telling her of all the developments that have occurred following Captain America’s surrender.[11] He kept his distance from her during the clean-up and rescue effort during the battle, but couldn’t help but long after her. Not long after that, Iron Man publicly announced his new team of Avengers,[12] as well as the 50-State Initiative, with the Rangers being rolled out as the Texas team.[13] The public supported all of this, even Prison 42. However, not everyone is happy with this new order and have fled to Canada in the hopes of fighting crime the old way.[14] Not everyone who is against the SHRA have fled the country, as Luke Cage continues the fight with his New Avengers.[15] Following his surrender, Captain America remains in custody awaiting trail.[16] With the success of their SHRA initiatives, Reed and his colleagues are looking to solving global problems next. He is surprised with the position that the President of the United States has given Tony Stark in that endeavor. Reed then closes off his letter by telling Sue how much he and their family needs her and to come back, promising there he will no longer involve himself in ethically questionable activities. That evening, as Reed is putting Franklin and Valeria to bed, he is shocked when Sue does come home.[17]

Lastly, Mariam Sharpe — the mother of a child who was killed in the Stamford Disaster — is brought to Tony Stark who has just been made the new Director of SHIELD.[18] Stark tells her of all the changes that they have had following the end of the war.[19] He then tells her that Prison 42 got its name from the list of ideas that he and Reed Richards came up with to change the world. They in fact had come up with 100 new ideas and remarks that they have made massive positive change before cresting 50 of them. He then promises Miriam that the best is yet to come.

Civil War continues in Amazing Spider-Man #538….

Recurring Characters

New Avengers (Luke Cage, Spider-Man, Doctor Strange, “Spider-Woman”), Mighty Avengers (Iron Man, Ms. Marvel, Wasp, Black Widow, Wonder Man, Sentry), Secret Avengers (Captain America, Battlestar, Black Crow, Black Panther, Dagger, “Daredevil”, Falcon, Hercules, Human Torch, Solo,Young Avengers (Patriot, Hulkling, Wiccan, Hawkeye, Vision)), Pro-Registration Heroes (Bishop, Doc Samson, Mister Fantastic, Nighthawk, She-Hulk, Stature, Thunderbolts (Bullseye, Lady Deathstrike, Radioactive Man, Taskmaster, Venom), “Yellowjacket”), Sub-Mariner, Thing, “Captain Marvel”, Thor clone, Champions (Artemis, Hermes, Hercules, Bannermen), Punisher, SHIELD (Maria Hill), Rangers (Texas Twister, Shooting Star, Red Wolf, Firebird, Phantom Rider, Armadillo), Omega Flight (USA Agent, Beta Ray Bill, Tailsman), Franklin Richards, Valeria Richards, Miriam Sharpe, Atlanteans

Continuity Notes

The SHRA is in the process of being enacted after the so-called Stamford Disaster that happened Civil War #1. This law will pass later this issue and remain in force until Siege #4.
Some of the heroes involved in this battle are not who they appear to be. They are:
- The woman here who appears to be Jessica Drew is a Skrull spy, named Veranke, as we’ll learn in Secret Invasion #3. Per New Avengers #42, she took the place of the real Jessica Drew circa Giant-Size Spider-Woman #1. This is ahead of a planned invasion of Earth that will take place in Secret Invasion #1-8.
- Additionally, the man dressed as Daredevil in this story is not Matt Murdock. In fact, it’s Danny Rand (aka Iron Fist) disguised as Daredevil, as will be explained in Civil War: Choosing Sides #1. Previously, Matt Murdock was dealing with the fall out of having his true identity revealed in Daredevil (vol. 2) #32. In fact, Murdock was jailed at the time of the Civil War event, as seen in Daredevil (vol. 2) #81-87.
The Invisible Woman convinced Namor to join Cap’s cause last issue.
As seen in Civil War #3-4, the pro-registration side had cloned Thor and when this impostor was deployed he killed Bill Foster. They had cloned Thor because, at the time of this story, the thunder god had died following the events of Thor (vol. 2) #80-85. He will be resurrected in Thor (vol. 3) #1. As of this writing (October, 2024), Bill Foster is still considered among the deceased.
The man who appears to be Captain Marvel is believed to be a time displaced Mar-Vell, pulled forward in time from the past, as seen in Civil War: The Return #1. However, he is another Skrull infiltrator, named Khn’nr, as will be revealed in Captain Marvel (vol. 6) #4-5.
The Champions are named after the Champions of Los Angeles, a short lived superhero team that operated from Champions #1-17 before disbanding in Spectacular Spider-Man #17-18. They are the first team from 50-State Initiative, and were first seen last issue. The 50SI is a bold plan to create government run superhero teams in every American state. See Civil War: The Initiative #1 and Avengers: The Initiative #1. Most of the Champions seen here will rename themselves and their team, calling themselves the Order, as seen in The Order (vol. 2) #1.
Iron Man and Captain America have already fought twice during the Civil War. First in Civil War #3-4 and again in Civil War: Casualties of War - Iron Man/Captain America #1.
After his home neighborhood on Yancy Street was trashed in Amazing Spider-Man #534/Fantastic Four #539, Ben decided that he wanted no more part in the conflict and fled to Europe in Fantastic Four #541.
This is not the end of the Thor clone, as its remains will be stored at Camp Hammond, training ground for the Initiative in Avengers: The Initiative #1. There it will remain in stasis until it is freed in issue #20 of that series.
This leads to the Punisher briefly taking on the Captain America persona. This is not received very well, as you’ll see in Punisher War Journal (vol. 2) #6-11.
While Sue initially supported the SHRA, she eventually defected to Captain America’s side as she could no longer support them. See Civil War #4.
For more on Tony’s “Mighty” Avengers, see Mighty Avengers #1.
For more on Luke Cage’s New Avengers, see New Avengers #27. Here, Spider-Man has switched from his classic red-and-blue costume to his black one. This is in response to Peter’s personality after his Aunt May was shot by an assassin trying to kill him in Amazing Spider-Man #538. He will wear this black costume between Amazing Spider-Man #539 until switching back to his usual costume in issue #544 of that series.
For more on the Initiative see Avengers: The Initiative #1. Here, the Rangers are unveiled by a man who appears to be Yellowjacket. This is yet another N Skrull impostor named Criti Noll. Noll took the place of the real Pym prior to House of M #1, as told in Mighty Avengers #15.
This led to the formation of Omega Flight, a joint America/Canadian task force dedicated to rounding up American superheroes that fled north. They were first formed in Civil War: The Initiative #1. For more on their exploits, see Omega Flight #1-5.
Captain America’s trail will take place in Captain America (vol. 5) #25.
Reed and Sue will reconcile their differences but end up taking a break from the Fantastic Four to work on their marriage. See Fantastic Four #543-550.
Tony Stark was offered the position as the new Director of SHIELD in New Avengers #25. Here he states that Nick Fury is still AWOL. Fury went underground after it was revealed that he staged an illegal coup in Latveria, see Secret War #1-5.
Tony casually mentions how he is surprised that the state of Colorado specifically asked for the Thunderbolts as their state team. However, this is most likely because the Thunderbolts endeared themselves to the people there after they their base of operations there between Thunderbolts #29-58. They will take up shop there again in Thunderbolts #110. He mentions how he wants to give the Thunderbolts as second chance, stating they did that as far back as the original Avengers. He is referring to the team’s first major roster change where they enlisted Hawkeye, Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch, despite their criminal pasts. See Avengers #16.

Topical References

A city bus has an advertisement for the Colbert Report, this was a comedy news program hosted by comedian Steven Colbert that ran from 2005 to 2014. In it, Colbert plays a parody of right wing media personalities of the era. This should be considered a topical reference as this series has since ended its run.
Bullseye jokes about Captain America’s status as the “Living Legend of World War II” by mockingly suggesting he is fighting Bing Crosby (1903-1977). Crosby was the first multimedia star in the early days of the entertainment industry as he was a singer, actor, TV and radio personality. His career ran from 1923-1977. Since this is a reference to a celebrity that was around during World War II and Bing’s name is being used as a derogatory comparison, this wouldn’t be a topical reference.
The President of the United States is depicted as George W. Bush, who held that position when this comic was published in 2007. This should be considered a topical reference as his administration was from 2001-2009.