Marvel’s Civil War II #1 comic event finally begins tomorrow, but are you prepared? Fear not, because we’re here with the answers to all your questions, as well as everything else you should know about Civil War II.
Why Is It Happening?
Preview Art from Civil War II #1, by David Marquez
Well, on the macro level, it’s because “event comics” do well. But why another Civil War is brewing in Marvel’s comics-verse, well, in the last year the number of Inhumans — superpowered mutants (but not capital-M “Mutants” like the X-Men) who are regular humans transformed by exposure to a mysterious substance called Terrigen Mists, unlocking secret potential within dormant Inhuman genes hidden in their bodies — has been on the rise in Marvel’s comics, as a giant cloud of Terrigen Mists moves its way around the world.
Civil War #0 Art by Olivier Coipel and Justin Ponsor.
One of these young Inhumans, a newly awakened university student named Ulysses, discovers he has the power to predict the future with uncanny accuracy. After being taken in by the Inhumans and taught to hone his abilities, Ulysses predicts the arrival of a cataclysmic cosmic entity that will destroy the Earth… but with information of his arrival relayed to the heroes of the Marvel universe, they band together to stop it.
The real argument then lies with what to do with Ulysses’ abilities. Can he be trusted to be as accurate all the time? Should his visions be used to pre-prosecute villains before they can act? It’s all very Minority Report, as much as Marvel dislikes the comparison; they prefer the zeitgeisty allusions to security and privacy that has dominated conversations in the wake of the Snowden leaks. Either way, two sides will form over the argument of how to solve a problem like Ulysses.
Who’s Fighting Who?
Choosing Sides #1 art by Jim Cheung
Surprisingly, noted arsehole and outright villain of the last Civil War event, Tony Stark, is not on “Team Pre-Crime Is Pretty Good You Guys”. Instead that honour goes to Captain Marvel, who is currently a member of the Ultimates, a cosmic superteam that was formed to counter grave threats to Earth before they become a threat. Tony rises up as her opposition, believing that it is morally wrong to punish people for crimes they may or may not commit on the word of an Inhuman he doesn’t know.
While we don’t know for certain how every hero fits in — there’s going to be a whole miniseries about heroes picking their side, running alongside Civil War II — art released promoting the Choosing Sides miniseries featured characters split like this:
Team Cap(tain Marvel)
- Monica Rambeau
- She-Hulk
- Ant-Man
- The Winter Soldier
- Hawkeye
- Blue Marvel
- Medusa
- Captain America (Steve Rogers)
- The Vision
- War Machine
- Spider-Man
Team Tony
- Black Widow
- Deadpool
- Captain America (Sam Wilson)
- The Totally Awesome Hulk (AKA Amadeus Cho)
- Hercules
- Black Panther
- Luke Cage
- Thor (Jane Foster)
- America Chavez
- Star-Lord
- Daredevil
Marvel has since noted that these sides are neither definitive or immutable — just as the original Civil War did, we’ll be seeing heroes change allegiance as the story evolves. Makes sense, as some of these heroes definitely do not feel like they should belong on their current teams.
Not Everyone Will Make It Out Alive
Civil War #0 Art by Olivier Coipel and Justin Ponsor.
Ah, that old chestnut. It wouldn’t be a comic book event without a good death or two, and no matter how impermanent comic book deaths are, it’s once again because nothing makes for a splashier headline than “Comic Book Character IS DEAD!” But all’s fair in love and (civil) war, so when the greatest superpowered beings in the Marvel universe go toe-to-toe, you can’t really expect it not to feature a bit of bloodshed.
Marvel has been teasing big deaths, including one potential major casualty that will come from the heroes learning, through Ulysses, that one of their own will be responsible for an impending catastrophic attack that can only be solved with said hero’s death. Plus, we already know of a few potential casualties — if you saw Marvel’s Free Comic Book Day offering for Civil War II earlier this month, you know exactly whose days are numbered.
What’s Happening to the Regular Comics?
Civil War II #0 variant cover by Phil Noto
An event series is all well and good if it’s your entry point into a comic, but if you’re a regular reader already, the biggest annoyance can be when said event stampedes all over the series you’re currently reading in an attempt to tie everything together. You can definitely expect that with Civil War II, because there are going to be a ton of comics associated with this event.
This month alone, there are 17(!) comics carrying the Civil War II banner, including the main series, miniseries and tie-in issues from current ongoing series. There’s obvious tie-ins like Captain Marvel and Invincible Iron Man, but everyone from Ms Marvel to New Avengers are getting involved. Odds are if you’re reading Marvel books regularly, at least a couple of them will be interrupted by Civil War II.
However, unlike the original Civil War, Marvel promises that Civil War II will not be as egregious in its all-encompassing stranglehold over the company’s current output. Not every series will be involved — current series we know don’t have plans for tie-ins include Black Panther, Unbeatable Squirrel Girl and Howard the Duck. Likewise, don’t expect Civil War II to touch upon all too many developments ongoing in the regular series. Remember how Captain America is basically a Nazi now? It probably won’t come up in Civil War II.
Is It Really a Sequel to Civil War?
Civil War teaser art by David Marquez
Ever since Civil War II was rumoured, we were worried about it being a direct follow up to the original Civil War, just as we were concerned that the movie could be a faithful adaptation of it (thankfully it did its own thing). Why? The original Civil War was not good.
Thankfully, title aside, Civil War II is its own story. The circumstances are different, its central debate a lot less tangible (it’s an argument about precognition, rather than a legal act that’s come into place) and, so far, it features a vastly different cast and approach. Neither Tony Stark or Carol Danvers have yet to to turn into a moustache-twirling arsehole in any of the pre-released material, so hopefully it holds up on the character front too.
…So Why Is It Called Civil War II Again?
Synergy! The original Civil War, as ridiculous as it was, was an absolutely huge and iconic comic event for Marvel. And let’s not forget that a movie that’s raked in over a billion dollars and vast swathes of critical and public adoration came out a month ago carrying its name. What better way to bring people into buying your new comics by taking that recognisable name and slapping a “II” on it?
Oh, and heroes punch each other, I guess. Sometimes that’s all you need.
Comments
12 responses to “Everything You Need To Know To Get Ready For Marvel’s Civil War II”
Iron Man is always right.
fuck ironmam
Bah, dunno why they feel the need for a sequel to civil war. I get the time is now cos of the movie I suppose, but I hate a retread like this.
What the f**k. Those teams make no sense.
Did critics actually like Civil war (the film) all that much? The first half had action scenes that were unbelievably hard to follow and even harder to care about and the (much better) second half couldn’t decide on whether it wanted to be a comedy or an action film. There were certainly some great set pieces in the second half, but the first half was too much of a mess to leave me completely satisfied.
Oh and also Iron man was completely right, exactly how it can be considered justifiable under any but the most stupidly coincidental of events (which of course transpired) to avoid the control of a body of politicians and delegates, particularly given the string of massive failures during all of their previous missions?
I think critics were pretty into Civil War. It has plenty of faults but overall it works. I don’t think many people walked out unhappy.
As for Iron Man vs Captain America I think it would have made a lot more sense if it had been proven that the proposed oversight would get in the way of what the Avengers do. If Captain America had of reluctantly went along with it, only to have a major incident occur where people died while he was waiting in a hanger to get approval, I think that would have illustrated his concerns a lot more clearly.
I could argue that they did demonstrate that with the previous movies, but I can definitely understand why people felt he was just arrogantly insisting that he was the most qualified to make these decisions. His point was that he can’t sit idle while people need help. To bring it back to his first movie he can’t wait for the order to dive on the grenade he has to just jump. It doesn’t help that the whole Bucky on the run aspect of the storyline blurred his motivations/reasoning even further.
I definitely agree with that as a better demonstration of his decision, even if I thought it was the wrong one all things considered, I just found it hard to believe that CA was “taking responsibility” for his actions by trying to leave the Avengers as an entity unto themselves as opposed to accepting judgement from a larger and wiser group of people with more than just America under their jurisdiction.
there’s also CA:The Winter Soldier when Hydra completely infiltrated S.H.I.E.L.D. Of course Cap would rather trust himself and his team after pretty much the complete corruption and collapse of the organization he works for, plus whatever @dogman said.
Maybe he was justified from his own perspective in believing his judgement to be better than everyone else’s, (and in retrospect with that film in mind it does make more sense) but from the perspective of a casual audience member the film didn’t properly justify CA’s point of view in my experience within the film, it just seemed strange for CA to think existing outside of the law was OK given their demonstrable prior failures.
Don’t like that Miss America Chavez is choosing a side she should be too cool for this rubbish
Tony rises up as her opposition, believing that it is morally wrong to punish people for crimes they may or may not commit on the word of an Inhuman he doesn’t know.
Jesus, if you’re going to name it Civil War II at least give us some consistency in the characters. That’s exactly what he spent the entirety of Civil War I doing.
Not to mention Caps being pro-precog, despite being a crusader for freedom and choice.
I’m pretty sure the only reason they did this is so they could make the old and new Captain Americas fight each other.