There might be Team Tony and Team Carol, and there might even have been distractions like Hawkeye vs Bruce Banner, but we’ve known from the get go that Civil War II would all boil down to one almighty clash: Iron Man vs Captain Marvel. That major scrap might already be over though, if the latest issue is anything to go by.
This week’s Civil War II #7 spools out of Inhuman soothsayer Ulysses’ shocking revelation of a potential future where Miles Morales kills Steve Rogers on the steps of Capitol Hill, a piece of imagery with all the subtlety of several hammers to your face. In an attempt to prove that he could never kill the original Captain America, Miles heads to Washington DC, only to be instantly surrounded by the police and SHIELD forces at Carol’s behest. What neither of them realised is that Steve would show up too, in his own attempt to prove the vision false. Things start going well between the two heroes, who are both kind of embarrassed by the whole situation…
But then Carol steps in. Because Civil War II is nothing if not for making Carol Danvers an objectively obtuse villain whenever possible. Carol’s presence at the tense situation has sparked another huge vision from Ulysses, who visits the future apocalypse of the Old Man Logan timeline to receive a warning: Tony Stark pushed “her” too far, leading to, well, the end of the world. It’s pretty obvious that the “her” is Captain Marvel.
It’s a bit of an awkward attempt at both-sides-ism in a conflict that, so far, has failed miserably to make Captain Marvel’s stance reasonable or Iron Man’s disagreeable. But before the Inhumans can warn Carol about a vision that is basically “hey, stop being a worryingly dystopian jerk, Carol”, things go sideways at Capitol Hill.
Turns out, in an attempt to protect Miles from being arrested by Carol, he’d safeguarded the young hero with a personal shield — one that allows him to leap to Miles’ defence, clad in Hulkbuster armour, while Carol is distracted. The two briefly tussle, only for Carol to unleash an almighty, explosive blow…
One that looks like it has a lot of symmetry with the fatal blow that would lay James Rhodes low way back when Civil War II started. It’s like poetry, it rhymes and so on.
We know, thanks to recent issues of Infamous Iron Man and Invincible Iron Man, that after Civil War II Tony Stark has no corporeal form, his brain patterns “living on” as an advanced AI in the hands of his successor, Riri Williams. For all intents and purposes, he is dead. Considering the savagery of Carol’s attack — one that at least looks like it could completely eradicate someone’s body — this could be the moment that another iconic Marvel hero falls thanks to this event.
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3 responses to “Civil War II’s Biggest Brawl Might Be Over Before It Even Started”
Pretty sure its going to be revealed that the suit was empty and Stark was piloting it remotely. If not, well then Bendis has just ruined yet another Marvel character.
I just wish this “event” would be over and done with already. We’re already getting the comics that take place after Civil War II’s conclusion and yet the event itself hasn’t finished!
I also wish Marvel would stop letting Bendis run rampant through their universe. He just cannot write a good team book or event series without every character “speaking” with the same voice (eg All-New X-Men, Uncanny X-Men) or acting terribly out of character (eg Guardians of the Galaxy, Civil War II).
Thankfully the next big event series (Monsters Unleashed) is by the talented Cullen Bunn so not only do we get a break from the Bendis-isms but we might actually get an event series that’s not a yawnfest and doesn’t have any heroes acting out of character.
Seriously couldn’t agree more.
I feel like Bendis is running a serious Character assassination on Carol. Post M day, Carol had a really strong book run in Ms Marvel, her popularity soared to new heights and she was rapidly Marvels answer to Diana. Strong, powerful, but human and capable of making mistakes.
Move to Marvel NOW! and she had a great run with the new Captain Marvel moniker, was further humanized with her Kree tumour and continued to be my favourite run.
Now in Civil war, her voice is wrong. This isn’t the Carol we know. Even looking at her military background and the choices she made in Civil war 1, this isn’t her voice. She wouldn’t turn on her friends like she has, Christ she let Julia Carpenter escape when enforcing the superhuman registration act.
I really fear for the Captain Marvel movie, it’s so many years away that Carol’s character may be irrevocably damaged and no amount of retconning or brain control could fix, I for one can’t bear to read her anymore.
“Strong, powerful, but human and capable of making mistakes.”
And a murderous, incestuous alcoholic. Don’t forget that.
I’m really hoping that her new Mighty Captain Marvel series which will feature post-CW2 Carol returns her character to its pre-Bendis prime and that its that version of the character that the movie-makers decide to focus on, not Bendis’ version.