Captain Marvel, Vol. 2: Civil War II

Captain Marvel (2016) (Collected editions)

by Ruth Gage, Christos Gage, Kris Anka (Illustrations)

Old friends face off as bitter enemies in an event that will change Captain Marvel's life forever! As a new Civil War erupts, Carol Danvers finds herself at the very forefront of the conflict. But when tragedy hits too close to home, how far will she go to fight for what she believes in? As the rift with Iron Man grows ever deeper, Carol and the Alpha Flight recruit more to their cause: changing the future to protect the present. As wins mount up on Carol's side, she knows her mission is the right one - the only trouble is, not everyone agrees. Carol Danvers truly is one of Earth's Mightiest Heroes, and this is the story that proves it. It's Captain Marvel at her finest, in the fight of her life!

COLLECTING: CAPTAIN MARVEL 6-10

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Marvel, Superheroes, Fiction, Graphic Novels Comics, Comic Book

120 pages, Paperback

First published February 1, 2017

About the author

Ruth Fletcher was born as Ruth Christine Fletcher. She is a writer and producer, known for The Last of the Mohicans (1992), Daredevil (2015) and The Breed (2001). She has been married to Christos N. Gage since December 8, 2001.
(source: IMdB)

Reviews

[Chad · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Good: I thought this was a good companion piece to Civil War II. Unlike the miniseries which just portrays Carol as a stone cold b**ch, you get to see Carol's side of things. She's actually doing more than just blindly trusting Ulysses's visions and is aware of the quagmire she's headed into. If this side of Carol had shown up more in Civil War II, it would have been a much better book where you didn't know which side to fall on. Instead it was slanted towards Iron Man from the beginning.

The Bad: The Master of the World has always been a cheesy villain and that hasn't changed here.

The Ugly: I've never been a fan of Kris Anka's art and that opinion hasn't changed with this volume.

[Paul · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't envy Mr. & Mrs. Gage's job, here. They had to write a Captain Marvel book during a time when Marvel was trying (for reasons I can't fathom) to make her their most hated character via Civil War II. Not a job I'd want, I have to say.

I still enjoyed this volume, though, mainly because it was very Alpha Flight heavy and I can't resist the Flight; they've been one of my favourite teams since their earliest adventures were serialised as the backup strip in the UK reprints of the first Secret Wars. Give 'em their own book again, Marvel! Pretty please?

It would seem this also brings this iteration of Captain Marvel to a close, as the next issue is advertised in the back of this book as 'Captain Marvel #0' (don't get me started on the whole concept of zeroth issues). Oh, well, let's see what the new version brings the faithful Carol Corps... CAROL FOREVER!!!

[Wing Kee · Rating 2 out of 5]

Trying to make poop smell nice.

World: The art is fine, until the the final issue when the wheels fall off and it's scratchy and basic. The world building here, what can I say. This is part of Civil War II and for the most part it is consistent to the event and the characterization makes sense in the context of the event, same with the places.

Story: The pacing is fine, the story not so much. I like that they made an effort to justify Carol be this way for this even but the end of this arc just loses it's wheels and spins out and crashes (not a good metaphor but it's essentially what happened to the book). The villain, the emotions the choices in the end make no sense and it's rushed and unearned. It's just not well written.

Characters: This is not Carol but if they want to justify her I think they did it relatively well. I knew I did not like the Civil War II premise and putting Carol in the role as the world cop did not fit her but this is at least some effort to give us a more detailed picture. That being said this is not Carol. The villain was stupid and terrible and a fake Justin Trudeau lookalike made me laugh not in a good way.

This was not a good arc because it was tied to a not good event. Carol doesn't deserve this.

Onward to the next book!

[Sesana · Rating 3 out of 5]

Considerably better than I'd thought it would be, to be honest. That it's only three stars indicates how little I'd expected. If this had been the first Civil War II related book I'd read, I would probably have a much dimmer view of it. The most important events all happen in the main Civil War book, but I've read enough of the books that tie in to basically know what these major events are. If I didn't? I might feel lost, and I might feel annoyed.

[Baba · Rating 3 out of 5]

This volume should have legs as it features one side of the conflict during the Civil War II, as Captain Marvel and her team stays steadfast on how they should work with Ulysses, and the unimaginable rift with those siding with Iron Man gapes open! Good stuff, with a new writing team (again) - Ruth Fletcher Gage & Christos Gage. 7.5 out of 12.

[Stacey Shapiro · Rating 5 out of 5]

I get Cap's POV now. I still think she's wrong but she's my favorite and I understand it and why she did it.

[Kate · Rating 4 out of 5]

WOW! This was so much better than the first volume.

Before I read this I did a little research into what the second Civil War was about, and a lot of what I heard was that Captain Marvel was portrayed as an asshole on the wrong side of the conflict, with Iron Man being portrayed as the one in the right. So I was expecting a different Carol Danvers than what I got. (Also I always want to call her Kara Danvers...and she also resembles her too, its confusing.)

I was pleasantly surprised with what I got. The Gage's did a really fantastic job bringing about a lot of the nuance that Carol has to deal with. Danvers many times acknowledges a lot of the dangers of preemptive justice program and throughout the entire issue, is constantly questioning to make sure she isn't being presumptuous in any of her decisions. She even agrees with some of the problems that Iron Man stands against, but instead tries to constantly better the organization she is heading. I found Danvers more sympathetic and three dimensional than in the first volume. We see her deal with her grief in relatively healthy way and very well justify why she thinks what she is doing is right. I also liked how Puck pointed out how a man in her position, such as Iron Man would be gloating in his righteousness and how Danvers is doing the right thing by constantly questioning her actions, and I just loved that moment between the two of them.

She's a leader in her own right and after this, I feel like I have a cemented idea of what kind of person and hero Captain Marvel is. I'm so excited to read more comics about her origins as well as furthering this story and looking forward to see how she will be portrayed in MCU.

[Judah Radd · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ehhhh it’s ok.

A lot of wheel spinning on the edges of Civil War 2. None of it seems important.

Ruth Gage does a great job of developing Carol. This is one of her more interesting manifestations... but her growth isn’t very profound. She goes from herself, to a more confident and reassured version of herself.

I disliked the art. It wasn’t my cup of tea. Anyway, this is very ok.

[Brandon · Rating 1 out of 5]

These tie-ins started out so promising! Amidst the growing tensions in the superhero community, Carol is starting to doubt herself. When justifying her use of Ulysses to the board of directors, she has to recognize where Tony Stark is right in his criticisms. She has to weigh the options, see where things go wrong, realize that it's all her responsibility, and at the end of the day she questions whether she can live with what she's done. She's spiralling, she's doubting herself, and there's this feeling that by the end of it she'll realize all the wrong she's done and how she needs to dial it back.

But nope.

The moral of this volume is that Carol Danvers is the greatest and anyone who questions her is wrong. She is always right. Anyone who thinks she needs oversight is wrong. If you disagree with her or don't trust her, you're wrong. Her self-doubt is her weakness, she needs to just accept that she'll always be the best no matter what. She is the only one who can do this, without her everything will go bad, she should be given complete control over the world.

Reading this volume is like watching your favourite superhero turn into a villain. But instead of the book recognizing that she's the villain, it says that they're an even better hero now. Those acts of villainy? Toeing the line with fascism? That what makes her the best. Don't celebrate her for having restraint, restraint is a weakness. Embrace fascism, that's what makes you a real hero.

[Shannon Appelcline · Rating 3 out of 5]

In this second volume of the newest short-lived Captain Marvel comic, we get a new writing team, and the comic definitely loses itself. That's probably the sudden intrusion of the Civil War II crossover as much as anything. Captain Marvel really tries to distinguish itself from the crossover by telling the stories of Ulysses-predicted events that I don't think we hear about elsewhere ... but they're not that interesting and it's obvious that we're not getting the full story.

The one good element of this comic is that it offers a much more nuanced view of Carol than her super-fascist role over in the crossover comic. She comes across as genuinely conflict about her Minority Report rip-off, and thus much more true to her character.

Sadly, there's also a lot of shockingly amateurish art in what was a pretty high-profile book at the time.

[Majera · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very captivating! I love Captain Marvel's character and how smart she is - especially dealing with moral grey areas like predictive justice.

[Alex E · Rating 3 out of 5]

Captain Marvel was, for the most part, presented as the villain in civil war II. This volume gives us her perspective, and a bit more reasoning as to her motives in the war.

Ruth Gage tries to round out Captain Marvel's motives for fighting Tony in Civil War II in this volume with the added dynamic of Alpha flight mixed in to really give Carol a tough time in all aspects of her life. Because of course, there are members of Alpha Flight who don't agree with her. And while this doesn't split the group, it definitely creates tension, especially after the events of the last Civil War issue. I think Gage does a good job with the story, but the Civil War II storyline really paints Carol in a bad light. I mean, obviously her reasoning is flawed but she continually chooses to justify the means by pointing towards the results. But she is unwilling to admit that Ulysses' visions aren't fool proof, which is weird for her character overall. There's also a secondary story about a villain called "world master" or something, but that was pretty dumb.

The art by Kris Anka was good for the most part. His simpler line gives the book a more classic feel that also is able to convey the more dynamic portions of the book well. There are times that the art however feels rushed, and unfortunately for me, it did take away from the book a bit. Because the normal style is so clean, to see anything otherwise was a distraction. But overall, good art on the book.

This volume takes us through Carol's mindset, which was very interesting. However the added team dynamic muddied the focus from Carol to the ensemble cast, which did take away a bit form the story. However, I would still recommend this for fans of Captain Marvel.

[Rebeckah Sypik · Rating 5 out of 5]

Carol was definaly more sypathetic in this volume then Civil war II. Ultimately I think she did the right thing in both.

If you have foresight of a disaster you have to take steps to try and prevent it. To ignore it is selfish in away, like kant moral absolutism. The belief is it only matters if you do good it the movent not the consequences of the action. The classic example of this is the arument to never lie. Say you never lie no matter what. Say your in germany in the 1940s and jews are hiding in your house. Nazi soldiers come to your door and ask where they are. Should you lie and say no, when telling the truth result in thier death? A mortal absolutest would say you cant lie in that case its not your fault this would lead to thier death. In this view you are held to doing the right things always regardless of the consequences. To me at least that seems to be the moral argument charaters against using ulysses's visions are in part making. It it possible his visions are wrong therefore it is never parmisible to use them. Thought it is true his visions should be taken with grain of salt and should not be accepted as the only out come. I do not believe ulysses's vision alone should be evidence in a arrest. But to not use them at all is wrong.

It felt at times during this book and Civil war II the argument being made was thier is not right way to use this kinds of foresight. Along the lines of the saying "absoule power corrupts absolutely". It is true their are many people who would abuse this kind of ability. To be fair abuse can occure with any power. Since its a tool, it ultimately depends on the person using it.

As far was misinterpretions of the visions and bias. That kind of thing can happen in any situation. I think both Carol and T'Challa where aware of the possibility of bias and tried to take steps against it. As far as making a mistake of the outcome of ulysses's visions.

Whenever task their is the possibility of a mistake, its about taking steps to prevent or correct a mistake is important. I think Carol did that for steward Cadwell. He was wrong to lie and say he lost the trophy, but he did not intend to use it again to be a villian. But lying and keeping it incriminated him. So for lying about possessing a deadly weopon he was arrested. He was not guilt free in his arrest, but Carol saw it was not his intent and tried to correst it by testifying at his hearing.

As for Carols fight with alpha flight. Once they Aurora was suspected of being a mole she needed to be debriefed. She does not get to leave until shes cleared. Leaveing when caught is excaly one a mole would want to do. So aurora should have known she could not leave at that point. Carol believed she was not the mole. But she used her to flush the mole out, which is kinda a shitty thing to do. Though I dont belief Carol intened to arrest her. I think that was the result of Aurora trying to make a run for it and Carol not anticipating she'd run for it.

Ultimately I agree with how the books ends. I think it when over alot of the moral pitfalls of this type of situation, better then Civil war II did in my option. The only way to keep from going down a slippery slope is to constantly question yourself. Which I think Carol did to the best of her ability in this case. I thoughtly enjoyed this book from beginning to end and found it surprisingly thought provoking, like alot of marvel books.

[Dimitris Papastergiou · Rating 1 out of 5]

Meh...

I'll tell you what I like about this one:

Carol's costume.

Carol getting punched.

I'll tell you what I don't like:

Everything else.

-

We seriously need some super interesting story for Carol. Though I do get this was a tie-in for the event, but yeah, wasn't interesting at all.

[Jenna · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meh. Why couldn't Captain America and Iron Man just be the ones embroiled in Civil War II again? Or at least mix up the leaders completely. Captain Marvel seems an odd choice, but there's a sort of rationale behind Carol's actions, here. Sort of... Nice drawing style and fun action scenes with lots of cameos.

[Jenn · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5? Again these crossovers aren't my favorites, but I felt like I had to finish the series...

[F · Rating 2 out of 5]

Yeah... I was mostly bored. Or anxious. I am not a big fan of Civil War II, or of Carol being so broody and whiny. It's gotten too dark with no comic relief whatsoever and it's exhausting. You people do this for a living, I can't believe you edited a WHOLE VOLUME without finding a balance. I miss Kelly Sue DeConnick. I did like the first 2016 volume, but something's gone wrong. And honestly in this time and age do you really think I want to devote my free time reading about the same things I am trying to escape from? Do better.

[Luana · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rebecca and Christos Gage finally find a solid character footing for Carol Danvers: a warrior alternately torn and delighted by the exigencies of command... a character hook unfortunately in the middle of a tie-in collection to Civil War II, a sequel to 2006's big event meant to tie into Captain America 3: Civil War (notionally based on the 06 one).

Major characters die off-page, with brief and sometimes non-existent hints at what exactly happened to them. I'm not sure if She-Hulk is dead or not. If I were a teen with more money and time than sense, this would spur me to dig up the books that would inform me of these events.

But dammit it's 2017 and I'm a jet-setting adult with a job who paid good money for a long underwear funnybook and by gum, I want a full story!

Hilarious addendum: The big reveal of the villain who was manipulating events sent me to Wikipedia (never a good sign), where I was anticlimactically informed that he was basically an Alpha Flight villain rip-off of Vandal Savage.

EXCITING

[Cale · Rating 3 out of 5]

I haven't read Civil War II yet, so reading this first may color my perspective when I get there. The authors have made Captain Marvel's case for using Ulysses' power for predicting crime (a la Minority Report), while also making sure she's almost obsessively aware of how many different ways it can go wrong. This volume paints her very much as someone who is in power and aware of the tightrope she's walking, even using it to her advantage in dealing with a mole.
There are a few action sequences, but it's a lot more talking than fighting, especially with several after-action reports (describing things that happened in the main series). It's a testament to the writing that it stands up on its own even with those massive pieces elsewhere. The art is good, capturing Danvers well without ever getting in the way of the story.

[Amélie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I must say, I'm quite bitter over how Marvel has been treating Carol Danvers. I really don't like this sudden decision of casting her in an arguably bad role so close to her getting her own movie, and making this run so short (only 10 issues) also doesn't sit right with me (even though it's followed by a new run).

Nevertheless, one thing I can say is that, so far, this is my favourite Civil War II tie-in. Out of that raw deal Carol was given, the writer managed to make her motivations clearer, more relatable and explainable. Gaps in the storyline are filled pretty elegantly overall, and I liked her arc and development. If only more care had been given to her by the rest of Marvel...

[Dork · Rating 2 out of 5]

Civil War ugh. The new writers try and don't succeed selling in Carol's storyline here. There were a few points where it threw in a line about feminism that felt awkward and tacked-on, like they were going through the motions with poor understanding of what drew people to Carol in the first place.

Anka leaving the team doesn't help either. The new artist has some good panels but a lot of the art is as meh as the storyline.

Really hoping the next team will rejuvenate the series.

[Siobhan J · Rating 1 out of 5]

MAGNETO IS NOT THE GUY TO MAKE NAZI COMPARISONS WITH. JESUS.

[Alex · Rating 3 out of 5]

Needs more Chewie. And DeConnick.

[Eskil · Rating 1 out of 5]

En stor skuffelse etter et ganske ok førstebind. Det er nok veldig mange grunner til det, men det er ikke nødvendigvis en unnskyldning.

For det første har noen ikke veldig gode tegnere jobba på boka. Kris Anka er en teknisk kompetent tegner, men jeg foretrekker ham som omslagstegner. Han skal i alle fall få creds for å alltid tegne Carol med six-pack abs og brede skuldre, som seg hør og bør. De siste par kapitlene er derimot tegna av Thony Silas, som tegner alle karakterene med stygge ansikt som ser ut som inngrodde tånegler. For ikke å snakke om at han tegner alle med én kroppstype, som en mindre morsom Rob Liefeld. I tillegg suger han på å tegne positurer.

Manuset er også kjedelig og uengasjerende. I Kelly Sue DeConnicks Captain Marvel-serie følte jeg at jeg ble kjent med en karakter som ikke helt hadde styr på sakene sine, men som får støtte fra vennene sine og gjør så godt hun kan for å være en helt. I "Civil War II" får jeg inntrykk av at Carol er en dogmatisk tyrann som nekter å i det hele tatt tenke at det kan finnes mer enn én løsning. Det at jeg er uenig med henne og enig med T*ny Stank er bevis på at Brian Michael Bendis (som styrer Civil War II-hendelsen) ikke bare ikke kan skrive, men at alt som må bøye seg etter hans visjon også lider av det. Det er særlig rart i 2018 å lese at Carol bruker metoder som virkelig gir gjenklang av den typen profilering man kan lese om i avisa hver eneste dag i USA, og knapt bryr seg med å lure på om det kanskje ikke er riktig. Det blir enda verre i "Ms Marvel: Civil War II" når Carol ikke bare setter tvilsomme ulovlige leiepolitistyrker som bokstavelig talt kler seg ut som Hitlerjugend-medlemmer til å jobbe med de mørhuda superheltene Kamala Khan og Miles Morales, men også synes det er helt uproblematisk at de kidnapper og anholder mennesker som ikke har begått forbrytelser i et nedlagt varehus midt på lyse dagen. For ikke å snakke om at hun snakker til Kamala på en måte som virkelig gir meg ubehagelige grooming-assosiasjoner.

Jeg har ikke lest hverken "Carol Corps" eller "Mighty Captain Marvel", men nå har jeg heller ikke mye lyst. Gi meg heller en sympatisk superhelt som Kamala, Doreen eller Jennifer. Jeg er villig til å tilgi dem mye mer fordi de faktisk tenker seg om og har mer Selbstbewusstsein enn en dorull.

[Arturo · Rating 2 out of 5]

Agh, this wasn't even worth reviewing the first time around, yet now I can't even remember what happened.
I guess this will be a reminder to keep away.
Issue #6. Involves Carol explaining her actions to the board, a look at her relationship with War Machine, and after a town is infected with something or other, the need to use Ulysses to prevent future catastrophes
Issue 7 is the same but with a battle with Minerva.
Issue 8 we have accident prevention attacks by Carol and her teams, and some 'Hawkeye incident' aftermath (long moral speeches). And an accident prevention mission going wrong.
Issue 9 is a pretty Alpha Flight heavy issue. More explanations by Carol to Gyrich and Beaulieu.
A cool cameo by Magneto. And another accident prevention gone wrong.
Issue 10 is ... What!? Thundersword from Secret Wars II?! Did I read that issue, that I haven't gotten past, just for this reason? By this point they're really pulling stuff of out their..

Time for my Civil War II checklist.
Heavy moral speeches. ✔️
Inner fighting/ civil war within the civil war. ✔️
Iron Man appearance ..... Wtf? But he's on all the covers.

Civil War essential: 4 out of 10 Pucks.
Captain Marvel Series progression: 3 out of 10 coffees.

[Mike · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’ll tell you up front, I assumed a few things about this book: (a) Ruth Fletcher Gage is married to Christos Gage, (b) Fletcher Gage is the workhorse writer but being guided by Gage, (c) Fletcher Gage is new to the industry and influenced by her husband’s writing style, (d) this book would suck by a combination of inexperience and poisoning from Gage’s Fucking Terrible Predilection to Pedantry and Tell-Don’t-Show Monologuism.

And while i can still smell the pedant standing in the shadows, mansplaining his way through expository scenes, this is an admirably solid story.

Being pretty heavy-handed with the “Carol must be wrong” plot, makes me wonder if editorial had a single point of view on this standoff - and just decided to shovel all the bullshit in one direction.

The resolution and aftermath try to make up for it - try to redeem Carol as best they can - and I’m still solidly Team Carol no matter what - but this book is only notable for reinforcing Carol’s determination to make good with what she has, and that she carries the same doubts we all do - except in battle.

[Mauri · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ugh. Um, okay. 2.5 stars?

This follows Captain Marvel's time as the lead of Alpha Flight, which in Civil War II (ugh) finds itself in opposition to Tony Stark over the use of a psychic Inhuman to predict future bad events, in particular after Hawkeye kills Bruce Banner and Rhodey dies/is killed. Basically, Minority Report told from the perspective of the people John Anderton leaves in his dust. I say coherent below, but that's a little misleading: a lot of action is happening over in the main Civil War II series, while Carol is trapped explaining her decisions to Alpha Flight's board. People die, join and leave the team, etc., but a good chunk of that happens off-stage.

I feel bad because this gave me a lot of what I'm always harping about wanting - good art, coherent story-line, consistent characterization, meaningful character interactions - and I didn't like it. Like, good job doing the thing, I hate it? I'm going to go find (or maybe write) some Carol/Rhodey fan fic.

[Elise · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just to get it out of the way: this volume is worth reading for the art alone. Kris Anka is my favorite artist working at Marvel, and he nails Carol both in- and out-of-costume. Five stars for Anka + three stars for writing = a decent but not stunning Captain Marvel outing.

The Gages probably deserve more credit than I'm giving them; they produced a solid, character-consistent story (despite the concurrent mess of Civil War II) that managed to pick up on the threads left hanging by Fazekas & Butters in the previous arc. They also played up Alpha Flight's presence, and while I'm still wondering at the editorial decision to port Aurora et al. to a Captain Marvel book, I finally found myself enjoying the team's antics.

The best issue was definitely the one where War Machine visited the space station. I find it highly questionable that Marvel decided to kill him off to fuel the Civil War II conflict, but at least the Gages and Anka put a spotlight on the sadly underdeveloped relationship between Carol and Rhodey before his death.

[Katie M · Rating 4 out of 5]

Okay so I'm pretty conflicted about this. On the one hand it was nice to have a look at all the reason Carol was for the use of the prediction because although it was said in Civil war II that they had success with it, it was never actually shown. So, I'm understanding more the choice that people had taken to support Carol's side (having personally agreed more with Tony's side).
On the other hand, I feel like it was trying way to hard to justify her obvious mistakes. Like in the end glorifying her as a hero and showing her kind of basking in that glory made her seem quite cold as she has, pretty much directly, caused the deaths of 3 avengers and personally almost killed Tony. I'm feeling like that was quite out of character for her.

All in all, I am glad I read this following Civil war II as it gave more depth to the plot [of Civil war II] as a whole. I would say though that there are a lot of board meetings and committees so it wasn't the most exciting thing to read.

[Kate · Rating 1 out of 5]

The problem isn't with the team, the problem is Marvel. Marvel's incapability to keep a book running for more than ten issues is destruction to anything the book may have going for it. They kill books with crossovers, tie-ins and reboots.

It manages to set up some plot twists which I found surprising. But those plot twists are set up in the context of book that feels like 90% board meetings. Board meetings aren't compelling superheroes, particularly not if they are tie-ins and cross-overs to an event I have no interest in reading.

The short time Kris Anka's art appears in the book is it's only saving grace. Oh, and that surprising plot twist that managed to get me. But it's unrecommendable to anyone outside of that.