What do you think?
Rate this book
Civil War (2006) #1-7
Civil War
Whose side are you on?
The Marvel Universe is changing. In the wake of a tragedy, Capitol Hill proposes the Superhero Registration Act, requiring all costumed heroes to unmask themselves before the government. Divided, the nation's greatest champions must each decide how to react - a decision that will alter the course of their lives forever!
Collecting Civil War #1-7, Marvel Spotlight: Civil War and Civil War Script Book.
The Marvel Universe is changing. In the wake of a tragedy, Capitol Hill proposes the Superhero Registration Act, requiring all costumed heroes to unmask themselves before the government. Divided, the nation's greatest champions must each decide how to react - a decision that will alter the course of their lives forever!
Collecting Civil War #1-7, Marvel Spotlight: Civil War and Civil War Script Book.
512 pages, Hardcover
Published January 1, 2008
12 people are currently reading
226 people want to read
About the author
Mark Millar
1,515 books2,561 followersMark Millar is the New York Times best-selling writer of Wanted, the Kick-Ass series, The Secret Service, Jupiter’s Legacy, Jupiter’s Circle, Nemesis, Superior, Super Crooks, American Jesus, MPH, Starlight, and Chrononauts. Wanted, Kick-Ass, Kick-Ass 2, and The Secret Service (as Kingsman: The Secret Service) have been adapted into feature films, and Nemesis, Superior, Starlight, War Heroes, Jupiter’s Legacy and Chrononauts are in development at major studios.
His DC Comics work includes the seminal Superman: Red Son, and at Marvel Comics he created The Ultimates – selected by Time magazine as the comic book of the decade, Wolverine: Old Man Logan, and Civil War – the industry’s biggest-selling superhero series in almost two decades.
Mark has been an Executive Producer on all his movie adaptations and is currently creative consultant to Fox Studios on their Marvel slate of movies.
His DC Comics work includes the seminal Superman: Red Son, and at Marvel Comics he created The Ultimates – selected by Time magazine as the comic book of the decade, Wolverine: Old Man Logan, and Civil War – the industry’s biggest-selling superhero series in almost two decades.
Mark has been an Executive Producer on all his movie adaptations and is currently creative consultant to Fox Studios on their Marvel slate of movies.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 63 reviews
June 16, 2016
Interesting. A reality type show with super heroes puts the real super heroes in a bad place in the public eye.
Leading to politics getting involved.
Boo hiss! I'm tired of political shit right now.
You have one side led by Tony Stark and Reid Richards wanting to support the public's opinion that superheroes should go on the payroll, with no secret identities. Then Captain America steps up for the other side. Hmm.. I kinda always thought he was kinda bland until now.
Not a bad read at all. I'm #TeamCap
Carmen's review brought this book to my attention. Thank you Carmen!
Leading to politics getting involved.
Boo hiss! I'm tired of political shit right now.
You have one side led by Tony Stark and Reid Richards wanting to support the public's opinion that superheroes should go on the payroll, with no secret identities. Then Captain America steps up for the other side. Hmm.. I kinda always thought he was kinda bland until now.
Not a bad read at all. I'm #TeamCap
Carmen's review brought this book to my attention. Thank you Carmen!
June 2, 2016
So beautiful, and so sad.
This deluxe tricked-out edition offers you so much. Not only the collected comics, but interviews with the creators, a bunch of "newspapers" that would have run in the Marvel Universe as Civil War was going down, sketches, scripts, ideal casting choices (before Marvel was a movie hound, obviously - for instance, they suggest Brad Pitt as Cap and Johnny Depp as Tony Stark).
Tons of good stuff in here.
This is inherently depressing, I mean, of course we want to see our heroes have snuggling instead of killing each other, but it's very good nonetheless. Very different from the film.
Tl;dr - Gorgeous book, definitely worth reading. You could read this dozens of times and still discover new stuff.
This deluxe tricked-out edition offers you so much. Not only the collected comics, but interviews with the creators, a bunch of "newspapers" that would have run in the Marvel Universe as Civil War was going down, sketches, scripts, ideal casting choices (before Marvel was a movie hound, obviously - for instance, they suggest Brad Pitt as Cap and Johnny Depp as Tony Stark).
Tons of good stuff in here.
This is inherently depressing, I mean, of course we want to see our heroes have snuggling instead of killing each other, but it's very good nonetheless. Very different from the film.
Tl;dr - Gorgeous book, definitely worth reading. You could read this dozens of times and still discover new stuff.
February 19, 2021
3.25 stars. This was another book I read years before I was on Goodreads. I think it was like 6 years ago. Anyway, back then I probably had like only 3-4 trades under my belt and so years later when I jumped on here I gave it 4 stars. Now that I have read a ton of comics, I’ve come back to this book and re-read it in order as I’m reading New Avengers from Bendis and don’t like it as much as I thought I did. My main issues are at the start of the book. Things escalate really damn quick out of nowhere. When Maria Hill is talking to Cap, it’s still like a month before the registration act becomes law and she’s already trying to arrest him. It wasn’t even like she caught him out there being a super hero, which would have still been legal since the law hadn’t been passed yet. No, all he said was he wasn’t going to help her round up heroes that might still doing what they do when the law does get passed. Boom, guns drawn and they try to take him down. I was like damn, really?? Then the whole thing with Johnny Storm getting jumped because some amateur kids that he doesn’t even know did some BS and the crowd wanted to blame him. I just couldn’t buy into all that.
However, once we got passed that and the story gets rolling it gets better. Well written and you could feel the tension. Plus McNiven’s art is, as always, amazing !! So after the re-read my score drops but this was still decent. It just escalated way too quickly. I do think Marvel Studios did a better job with the pacing and building the story up in the movie.
However, once we got passed that and the story gets rolling it gets better. Well written and you could feel the tension. Plus McNiven’s art is, as always, amazing !! So after the re-read my score drops but this was still decent. It just escalated way too quickly. I do think Marvel Studios did a better job with the pacing and building the story up in the movie.
August 10, 2014
I feel like I was supposed to love this series. It's been out for 8 years at this point, and I've heard almost nothing but good things about it. I don't know why it took me so long to finally get to it in the first place. But, all told, I found it to be pretty lacking, both in logic and character.
First, the logic. I feel like Millar was SO CLOSE to writing a fantastic, divisive, actual political commentary in the guise of a superhero book. The Superhero Registration Act serves as a solid stand-in for the Patriot Act (at least at first), and poses some hard questions about who's right and wrong in terms of sacrificing some freedoms for greater national security. However, the pro-Registration group seem like, um, psychopaths? After about two issues, Tony Stark, Reed Richards, Peter Parker and every other hero on that side seem to lose their damn minds. They become incredibly unethical, violent, and throw all of their prior friendships and associations in the garbage in favor of a political movement. If you're like me and you've been reading related comics that lead up to Civil War, this seems particularly crazy, as everyone gets along so well.
This leads me to my second-largest problem with the series: we spend zero time with any single character outside of a fight or the planning of a fight. This series reads like a Wikipedia entry of the events, rather than a humanized story about them. It's just "A fight happened. Then another one. And then this press conference. And then it ended!" The utter sea change happening in this book should be leading its characters to the breaking point, but instead of showing any of this, people just keep punching each other.
Also, the escalation is just too fast. While the book is highly readable and full of action, there's too much of it. We go from thing to thing to thing so fast we can't even stop to catch our breath or live in the moments. This is especially prevalent in the finale, when a massive, all-encompassing Marvel Universe fight plays out in just a few pages, then just grinds to a halt and is over on a single page. It's also clear in Tony Stark and Captain America's relationship, which falls apart so fast that it seems like they never even were friends to begin with. It's an unfortunate oversight.
The repercussions of Civil War, and the debate at its core, are very interesting. The art brings these fights to big, violent life, and overall this feels like you're watching a very rapidly-edited movie. But, I just felt let down. I wanted this to feel more important somehow. Maybe the supplemental material will, but this is the central series. It should've rocked the Marvel Universe to its foundations, but instead just felt like a minor bump in the road.
First, the logic. I feel like Millar was SO CLOSE to writing a fantastic, divisive, actual political commentary in the guise of a superhero book. The Superhero Registration Act serves as a solid stand-in for the Patriot Act (at least at first), and poses some hard questions about who's right and wrong in terms of sacrificing some freedoms for greater national security. However, the pro-Registration group seem like, um, psychopaths? After about two issues, Tony Stark, Reed Richards, Peter Parker and every other hero on that side seem to lose their damn minds. They become incredibly unethical, violent, and throw all of their prior friendships and associations in the garbage in favor of a political movement. If you're like me and you've been reading related comics that lead up to Civil War, this seems particularly crazy, as everyone gets along so well.
This leads me to my second-largest problem with the series: we spend zero time with any single character outside of a fight or the planning of a fight. This series reads like a Wikipedia entry of the events, rather than a humanized story about them. It's just "A fight happened. Then another one. And then this press conference. And then it ended!" The utter sea change happening in this book should be leading its characters to the breaking point, but instead of showing any of this, people just keep punching each other.
Also, the escalation is just too fast. While the book is highly readable and full of action, there's too much of it. We go from thing to thing to thing so fast we can't even stop to catch our breath or live in the moments. This is especially prevalent in the finale, when a massive, all-encompassing Marvel Universe fight plays out in just a few pages, then just grinds to a halt and is over on a single page. It's also clear in Tony Stark and Captain America's relationship, which falls apart so fast that it seems like they never even were friends to begin with. It's an unfortunate oversight.
The repercussions of Civil War, and the debate at its core, are very interesting. The art brings these fights to big, violent life, and overall this feels like you're watching a very rapidly-edited movie. But, I just felt let down. I wanted this to feel more important somehow. Maybe the supplemental material will, but this is the central series. It should've rocked the Marvel Universe to its foundations, but instead just felt like a minor bump in the road.
June 6, 2016
This really was amazing. Yes, there is a lot to critique, but let me set that aside because I think near 100% of the critiques are more critiques of this medium/genre (Super hero comic books published in a monthly manner). For a story set in the Marvel universe with a plot that by definition effects all super-hero's in the Marvel universe to be told from "start" to "finish" in just seven (SEVEN!) issues, one graphic novel, it was amazing. The plot was great, the story was great, and the art was incredibly stunning.
Put aside the story for a moment and just look at the art. Every panel of every page is incredible. As someone who dabbled in being a professional "artist" I have to say just about every page of this is better than 99% of the art I saw hang on studio and gallery walls. Having over the last 6 months read many of the Marvel essentials that cover the first decade of the Marvel universe and comparing the art to this: it's stunning. The leaps comic art has made since the 60's are so amazing. Not just the quality of pictures, but all the other things that make up the art of comics. The page layout, the use of full page spreads, the placement of word bubbles. Hell, the ability to convey the action simply with the pictures and not have a need for 3-4 sentences of narration in each panel alone is incredible. McNiven takes so much to that next level. He manages on at least every three pages to convey a facial expression so clear and stunning not even three paragraphs of dialog or narration could equal it.
The story was good too, and it dealt well with some heavy things. Although the idea of legally organizing "masks" isn't new (Watchmen did it the best), this dealt with it in an amazing manner within the reference of the Marvel universe. I thought the story did a good job of showing the moral ambiguity of the situation, and how whether one side was right or really really did, as Stephen Strange put it, "come down to a matter of perspective".
I've seen and heard a lot of people complain about the end. That it was to abrupt and felt like a cop-out. At first I felt that way to, but I've realized two things. 1)It's a comic so most stories never have a clear end, only a set up for more story. This very much played out that way in the following years since it's release. It's just part of the genre/medium and I accept it as par for the course in Super hero comics, especially one's that are pretty reliant on keeping the story going indefinitely (could watchmen have had such a clear ending if it had been part of a larger universe published in a manner that required it and it's characters to continue month after month indefinitely they way most marvel comics are set up?). 2)Captain America quite for they right reasons, and his reasoning for giving up in the end make perfect sense and were not a cop out. They WERE no longer fighting about ideas, but about ideology. When you fight over ideology in a lot of ways it stops even being about the ideas of the ideology, your just fighting because those guys over there are "other". Xenophobia is one of the most common human instincts, the fear of anything that is "other" is one of our species largest down falls. For a moment there Cap saw that and accepted the compromises it takes to live in the large, diverse, interconnected community we call "our" world (or at least his fictional reflection of it)
Put aside the story for a moment and just look at the art. Every panel of every page is incredible. As someone who dabbled in being a professional "artist" I have to say just about every page of this is better than 99% of the art I saw hang on studio and gallery walls. Having over the last 6 months read many of the Marvel essentials that cover the first decade of the Marvel universe and comparing the art to this: it's stunning. The leaps comic art has made since the 60's are so amazing. Not just the quality of pictures, but all the other things that make up the art of comics. The page layout, the use of full page spreads, the placement of word bubbles. Hell, the ability to convey the action simply with the pictures and not have a need for 3-4 sentences of narration in each panel alone is incredible. McNiven takes so much to that next level. He manages on at least every three pages to convey a facial expression so clear and stunning not even three paragraphs of dialog or narration could equal it.
The story was good too, and it dealt well with some heavy things. Although the idea of legally organizing "masks" isn't new (Watchmen did it the best), this dealt with it in an amazing manner within the reference of the Marvel universe. I thought the story did a good job of showing the moral ambiguity of the situation, and how whether one side was right or really really did, as Stephen Strange put it, "come down to a matter of perspective".
I've seen and heard a lot of people complain about the end. That it was to abrupt and felt like a cop-out. At first I felt that way to, but I've realized two things. 1)It's a comic so most stories never have a clear end, only a set up for more story. This very much played out that way in the following years since it's release. It's just part of the genre/medium and I accept it as par for the course in Super hero comics, especially one's that are pretty reliant on keeping the story going indefinitely (could watchmen have had such a clear ending if it had been part of a larger universe published in a manner that required it and it's characters to continue month after month indefinitely they way most marvel comics are set up?). 2)Captain America quite for they right reasons, and his reasoning for giving up in the end make perfect sense and were not a cop out. They WERE no longer fighting about ideas, but about ideology. When you fight over ideology in a lot of ways it stops even being about the ideas of the ideology, your just fighting because those guys over there are "other". Xenophobia is one of the most common human instincts, the fear of anything that is "other" is one of our species largest down falls. For a moment there Cap saw that and accepted the compromises it takes to live in the large, diverse, interconnected community we call "our" world (or at least his fictional reflection of it)
March 30, 2025
Great marvel event and there’s so many spin off stories that I’ll have to get to.
February 9, 2017
I can imagine this being the most skirt-blowing-up/pants-tenting event in the history of comic books if you were a major comic book fan, but for this little black duck, who has read The Walking Dead and Y: The Last Man, gave up on Morning Glories and has read a bunch of Aliens and Predator comics, it was pretty much just okay.
But when you only recognise about a third of the cast by appearance and were relying on other people to say the rest of the characters's names to know who they were, you know you're not the target audience, and you go back to watching the films instead.
One thing I will say before I depart: the artwork in this was excellent.
3 Nasty Thors for Civil War.
But when you only recognise about a third of the cast by appearance and were relying on other people to say the rest of the characters's names to know who they were, you know you're not the target audience, and you go back to watching the films instead.
One thing I will say before I depart: the artwork in this was excellent.
3 Nasty Thors for Civil War.
May 9, 2016
In preparation for the new movie, I gave this a re-read over the last week or so. CIVIL WAR is one of the few "events" comics which stands both the test of time and the "can I read just this title and not feel utterly confused" test. Writer Mark Millar tells a complete story here, while still hinting at a larger subtext that you can explore outside of the main book. This edition also gets big points from me for the exhaustive bonus content, which really gets into how a title like this is planned across so many creative and corporate voices (and gives Joss Whedon his due).
June 2, 2016
Reading this made me sad. I understood Tony and Cap's views, but I didn't agree with the registration. With super heroes being registered, then any of their enemies can find them and their families. I didn't think it was right of Tony to team up with the bad guys, like Venom. I understand having super heroes being held accountable but at what cost?
December 23, 2020
Maravilloso es volver a leer esta historia una y otra vez.
April 1, 2022
Ever since seeing the adaptation of this comic, have I wanted to read it. While the premise is the same, the way in which the events occur and who is involved is largely different to what you see in the adaptation - as with every film/TV adaptation there is.
The morals of Civil War remain the same: should superheroes be government controlled or not? In my personal opinion, I always thought it a bad idea to have the government control who and what the superheroes protect or not. It brings to mind superheroes being used for a purpose of advancing socio-economic and geographic status of a nation. Given that the superheroes of Marvel occur largely in the USA, it would make the USA the most powerful country in the world. Superheroes aren't there or operating for political gain; their sole purpose is to protect lives.
When the government sanction SHIELD to use supervillains to help bring down the underground superheroes, it puts a stark reality on how the law would be utilised. Seeing Patriot and Spiderman, along with many younger avengers, tranquilized and imprisoned makes you empathise with Rogers. It makes you despise Tony Stark and question Richard Reid's morals.
There are many arguments for and against the Law to train and name superheroes. But the biggest question is this: what would happen if governments were allowed to control superheroes? Would their loved ones be protected? Would governments use superheroes for their intended purpose? Should the government even be allowed to "use" superheroes?
All in all, I still think Civil War has a big place in the comic community for its many themes and explorations of so many questions about vigilantes.
The morals of Civil War remain the same: should superheroes be government controlled or not? In my personal opinion, I always thought it a bad idea to have the government control who and what the superheroes protect or not. It brings to mind superheroes being used for a purpose of advancing socio-economic and geographic status of a nation. Given that the superheroes of Marvel occur largely in the USA, it would make the USA the most powerful country in the world. Superheroes aren't there or operating for political gain; their sole purpose is to protect lives.
When the government sanction SHIELD to use supervillains to help bring down the underground superheroes, it puts a stark reality on how the law would be utilised. Seeing Patriot and Spiderman, along with many younger avengers, tranquilized and imprisoned makes you empathise with Rogers. It makes you despise Tony Stark and question Richard Reid's morals.
There are many arguments for and against the Law to train and name superheroes. But the biggest question is this: what would happen if governments were allowed to control superheroes? Would their loved ones be protected? Would governments use superheroes for their intended purpose? Should the government even be allowed to "use" superheroes?
All in all, I still think Civil War has a big place in the comic community for its many themes and explorations of so many questions about vigilantes.
December 10, 2019
Tohle je úplně ukázkový příklad přeceňovaného komiksu. 7 sešitů (!!!) se absolutně nic nestane i přestože se Millar snaží hrozně šokovat a hrozně ty postavy rozdělit. Nefunguje to, postavy se chovají jako pubertální trotlové stejně jako ti kteří celý příběh odstartují. Neberte mě špatně protože celá ta myšlenka je hrozně zajímavá, ale bohužel se řeší úplně jiný věci takže se to za pouhých 7 sešitů nemá šanci nijak vyvinout. Kresba je fantasticky odpudivá, nevím co všichni na McNivenově stylu "všechny postavy vypadají takřka stejně" vidí. Bohužel nejde o přelomové dílo, ale pouze o rubačku kde se vás každý snaží přesvědčit, že je to něco víc.
December 27, 2019
I read this every year with my students in Comic Books as Lit. It’s meh, but they wanted some Marvel, so this they got. It is about time to cycle it out though. It is an obvious crossover cash grab, and we spend most of the time looking at it as an example of that.
It was the first book that made me think Captain America was cool though, so there’s that.
It was the first book that made me think Captain America was cool though, so there’s that.
February 8, 2021
A strong, easy to follow collection for the Marvel Universe's Civil War event.
May 12, 2022
Elite comic book, the blurred lines between sides and motivation behind each character is so interesting. Diving into a load of tie ins now
December 27, 2022
I genuinely loved thissss!!! THIS GIVES ME SO MUCH MORE REASON TO BE TEAM IRON MAN. Also Miriam Sharpe’s statement at the end about tony being a good man?!!! I wished everyone could hear that because she’s literally right
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 4, 2020
Probably holds up?
July 27, 2014
One of my favorite Marvel events, possibly because it was the first Marvel story I read. For me it will always represent a point near (if not quite the exact point) where Marvel comics entered the modern era. (I think the true start would lie with Avengers Disassembled, or possibly as early as Ultimate Spider-Man). Anyways, after Civil War everything changed in the Marvel Universe, and nothing that comes after (at least until The Heroic Age) makes sense without first reading this.
I recently returned by paperback copy and ordered the hardcover instead, and I was thrilled to discover that the hardcover not only includes the complete series, it also includes the Civil War script book, which contains the final scripts of all 7 issues with commentary by the author, artist, and editorial team. I'm really excited to read through all that extra content!
I recently returned by paperback copy and ordered the hardcover instead, and I was thrilled to discover that the hardcover not only includes the complete series, it also includes the Civil War script book, which contains the final scripts of all 7 issues with commentary by the author, artist, and editorial team. I'm really excited to read through all that extra content!
January 3, 2016
Leer este cómic fue mi primer acercamiento al mundo de Marvel (Sin contar las películas) y me ha encantado, tenia idea de muchos personajes y conocía sobre ellos, así que no fue difícil seguir el hilo de la historia,.
Las gráficas son increíblemente geniales y la historia es demasiado entretenida. Quiero saber mas de cada personaje y la historia detrás de ellos.
Lo recomiendo siempre y cuando tengas algún conocimiento sobre los personajes, por que de lo contrario puede ser un poco confuso (dado el caso en que quieras adentrarte por primera vez a este mundo por medio de este cómic)
PD: Siempre estuve del lado del Capitan America :P
Las gráficas son increíblemente geniales y la historia es demasiado entretenida. Quiero saber mas de cada personaje y la historia detrás de ellos.
Lo recomiendo siempre y cuando tengas algún conocimiento sobre los personajes, por que de lo contrario puede ser un poco confuso (dado el caso en que quieras adentrarte por primera vez a este mundo por medio de este cómic)
PD: Siempre estuve del lado del Capitan America :P
July 7, 2010
Start -
This is a massive hard cover book (just like I like). The story is strong and the action starts right away. So far it's much better than Final Crisis (DC Universe) which was too hard for me to follow.
Finish -
The story was shorter than I expected and the book ended with a whimper...a little bit of a disappointment. There is a lot of filler in the end of the book that a dyed in the wool comic fan may treasure. I'd gladly trade the artwork and interviews for more story.
It does not measure up to "The Ultimates" (my current benchmark for hardcover comics).
This is a massive hard cover book (just like I like). The story is strong and the action starts right away. So far it's much better than Final Crisis (DC Universe) which was too hard for me to follow.
Finish -
The story was shorter than I expected and the book ended with a whimper...a little bit of a disappointment. There is a lot of filler in the end of the book that a dyed in the wool comic fan may treasure. I'd gladly trade the artwork and interviews for more story.
It does not measure up to "The Ultimates" (my current benchmark for hardcover comics).
January 4, 2016
I really loved this story. It pulled me to pieces watching superheroes fight superheroes and superheroes employing villains. Watching a community of good guys fall apart and split over differing views is easily applicable to American politics (in my opinion).
Seeing their arguments and stances shift over time and events, the reasoning behind their views, and how it all ended up was really a rollercoaster. I thoroughly loved it, and it makes me want to follow up on this arc when I had just intended to do a one shot at the TPB.
Seeing their arguments and stances shift over time and events, the reasoning behind their views, and how it all ended up was really a rollercoaster. I thoroughly loved it, and it makes me want to follow up on this arc when I had just intended to do a one shot at the TPB.
June 23, 2020
Este es sin duda uno de los mejores cómics que e leído, con razón es un gran favorito de los lectores de cómics y tuvo su adaptación en el UCM "Universo cinematográfico de Marvel" claro la película es buena pero el comic es mucho mejor. Incluso me gustó más que el comic de la guerra del infinito, aparecen los X-men, los 4 fantásticos, los vengadores y más personajes, el trama es parecido al de la película, hay muchas partes de acción y un buen desarrolla de la historia que se quiere mostrar, una ilustración sorprendente y genial. Capitán América y iron man pelean en más de una ocasión.
December 29, 2014
Amending my review on 12.29.2014:
This graphic novel has been on my mind since I finished it so I think it deserves a better rating than my initial rating. While I do not like the ending, I really like the artwork and story arc.
This graphic novel has been on my mind since I finished it so I think it deserves a better rating than my initial rating. While I do not like the ending, I really like the artwork and story arc.
September 19, 2015
I enjoyed reading this compilation. I also liked the 'Easter Eggs' to be found in it [i.e. - the extra materials to expand upon the storyline, including interviews with the author and the artist]. I felt it moved at a pretty good clip. I was not a big fan of the artwork, but I do think the artist has improved [overall] each time I see new work he has done.
The basic plot is that the American public has grown tired of being victimized by costumed vigilantes battling criminals with impunity and not being held accountable for their actions when people are injured or killed.
The premise on how it all starts is somewhat funny, yet probably pathetic in that it 'could happen' based on today's society and the search for one's 'fifteen minutes of fame.' A batch of C-list heroes go after some super villains to arrest them for a TV reality show. It backfires, and over six hundred people die, mostly children at a nearby public school. The deaths of so many young victims is the catalyst for cries of change to occur in how the super hero community conducts itself.
Iron Man turns out to be 'pro registration', and Captain America is 'anti registration.' I always felt like they had the two heroes on the wrong sides of this turf fight. Captain America is usually portrayed as standing up for the common man, so it would make more sense that he would want the common man to be protected from out-of-control heroes. However, that is not the case in this series. Tony Stark was always more 'don't touch my stuff' and went to war with various agencies [including the American government] over what he perceived as unlicensed use of his armor and his designs. So it would have made more sense for Tony to be anti-registration and Cap to be pro-registration.
As much as I enjoyed the series, on the one hand, I was also very disappointed with it. I felt like it could have addressed some weighty issues amongst the superhero set; instead, it devolved into heroes and former teammates bludgeoning each other and forgetting why they donned the cape and mask in the first place. There were some great lines throughout the course of the series, like when Mariah Hill and Cap were disagreeing over what constitutes a criminal [so interesting/pathetic how Cap's definition changed to fit this 'big event' series].
I think it was funny how this series made Captain America, Luke Cage, the Falcon, and some other heroes look like jerks whereas in the majority of the other comic titles tying into this series, Tony was made to look like a complete and total jerk. A lot of people hated Tony [as a character] because of this series and how he was portrayed in the other titles. Both sides had some great points in terms of their beliefs and their stances, but I think the pro-registration group had more validity and legitimacy than those opposing the law.
Even though I am not a big fan of McNiven's artwork, I think he did do an adequate job at times of expressing the madness in Cap's eyes as he opposed the law and his former friends. I felt like the 'scene' where he glares at Spider-Man after Spidey compares the Punisher to Cap was tremendous in its effect. I really had a hard time 'liking' Captain America after this series, and he had been one of my favorite comic book characters for a long, long, long time prior to this series.
I think the idea was a great idea and worth exploring; it was poorly executed. Americans will demand laws be passed in which they are willing to give up some freedom[s] for more security even today. I can firmly believe that if there were super-powered beings running around amok, the government would not hesitate to step in to attempt to protect the citizens by requiring meta-humans to register with the government and to be trained to use their powers responsibly. Instead of truly exploring the ramifications of this law, the book turned into a bizarre super-hero slugfest where heroes fought heroes at the expense of the common man. Steve Rogers finally has his epiphany [of a sort] and realizes he is in the wrong when he is attacked by some 'common people' trying to protect Tony Stark from further pummeling by Captain America.
I did feel like the ending was a bit of a cop-out. To have the anti-registration 'forces' winning until Captain America chooses to surrender seemed pretty weak to me. It seemed 'weak' to me because the pro-registration forces had the Sentry on their team, and technically there is no force on Earth that would be able to match him in battle. He could have cleaned up the anti-registration forces by himself without raising a sweat. Ah, well.
I really 'hated' the character changes that went into this series. I will say this - some of those changes seemed to adversely affect the characters for some time afterwards. So this was one 'event' that had a lasting impact [of sorts] upon the Marvel U for quite some time after it was over. At the same time, it seemed like the hard feelings that occurred between some characters in this series were all-too easily forgotten in subsequent storylines.
It also introduced some definitely questionable tactics used by both parties; however, some these murky tactics were quickly forgotten after the series was over. One of these questionable tactics involved a clone of Thor being created. It went haywire and killed a superhero on the anti-registration side. Cap agrees to a truce with Tony and then, after violating that truce, accuses Tony of being untrustworthy. Yet it was Cap who initially betrayed the trust.
I cannot stress enough how much I hated how this series turned Captain America into a bitter, angry old man who was so blinded by his own fanaticism that he failed to see the damage he was causing by his actions until it was almost too late. I know I am in a minority opinion in this, but I really felt like Cap's portrayal in this series was antithetical to his character prior to this point. It was quite disappointing. The authors seemed to delight in making Cap look like a complete and total jack@$$ throughout the course of the story.
For instance, in the beginning of the series, Cap and Co. free the Young Avengers from police custody. In the process, they cause at least three police cruisers to be involved in a catastrophic crash with other vehicles on the Interstate. So we have two heroes injuring law enforcement during a jail break freeing other heroes from police custody. No mention is ever made of the officers or civilians injured [or killed] during this crash, and Cap never shows any remorse for the damage or injuries his actions incurred. Yet Cap and his crew are held up as the moral equivalent/opposite of the pro-registration group. It boggles my brain.
Sadly, the 'results' of this storyline were essentially wiped out after the 'Siege' storyline occurred [and Captain America went from being dead to being 'Top Cop' in America] [the Registration Act was repealed, for some bizarre reason, of which none were given].
Despite my disgust with how aspects of this storyline were handled, I still greatly enjoy reading this compilation. The 'extras' in the hardbound edition made it more than worthwhile.
-------------------------------------------------
I just finished reading the 'Captain America' omnibus by Ed Brubaker [collecting vol. 5#'s 1-25 in it], so I am going to include some of my thoughts about that series in this review, as the two tie in together.
After having reread 'Civil War' and then rereading this, I cannot help but wonder how much ahead of time Brubaker knew about what was going to happen with the 'Civil War' series and began laying that foundation in this series. For instance, Philadelphia is partially destroyed by a bomb, and the public knows that metahumans were involved in this act of terrorism. Yet I do not remember any mention of this act of terror being mentioned in any of the other Marvel series out at the time. Then we have a blurb about how Congress is considering legislation to force metahumans to register with the government. Finally, metahumans are involved in a melee that destroys a large swath of London and places in danger a number of government officials. So in addition to Stamford we have the foundation put in place of the SHRA to be enacted by Congress. Of course people are going to demand the government take action to protect the general population in light of such activity!
There is a scene in the Captain America omnibus where Bucky and Nick Fury are talking about the SHRA. I think Fury's comparing the SHRA with either Nazi Germany or the Communists in Russia to be a bit extreme. Nick claimed 'that's not the America I fought for,' which I also think it is a bit hypocritical, as America interned [imprisoned] Japanese-Americans during WWII for 'protection' as this segment of society was viewed as being even less trustworthy than German-Americans and Italian-Americans. The SHRA required metahumans to register with the government; if they wanted to 'serve' [i.e. - stop crimes, enforce the laws] they would be expected to undergo training so that they could safely control their powers and to be held accountable for their mistakes if negligence was involved. Otherwise, they could not use their powers to enforce the law [as in, get involved in super-powered melees]. Realistically and legally, these costumed characters are technically breaking the law by battling metahuman criminals; we also know that characters like Daredevil and Batman are not above using force and terror to make people talk. In addition, despite their claims of being 'morally right,' they are still attempting to force their interpretation of the law and how it should be enforced upon the criminals they battle. This is not really any different than what they complained the government wanted to do with the SHRA.
I thought it funny how the three issues directly tying into the Civil War series did not seem to focus exclusively on Captain America. It was like his character was hijacked for the miniseries, and he had to 'take a bye' in his series to star in the miniseries. There was a lot going on in the C.A. comics by this point, so I am impressed that Brubaker was able to tie it in so well with the Civil War series [which makes me think he knew about it well before his run reached the point where it was going to have to tie into the Civil War 'event'. Cap definitely seemed more level-headed in his own series when he showed up than how he was portrayed in the Civil War series itself.
Anyway. A great idea that was poorly executed.
The basic plot is that the American public has grown tired of being victimized by costumed vigilantes battling criminals with impunity and not being held accountable for their actions when people are injured or killed.
The premise on how it all starts is somewhat funny, yet probably pathetic in that it 'could happen' based on today's society and the search for one's 'fifteen minutes of fame.' A batch of C-list heroes go after some super villains to arrest them for a TV reality show. It backfires, and over six hundred people die, mostly children at a nearby public school. The deaths of so many young victims is the catalyst for cries of change to occur in how the super hero community conducts itself.
Iron Man turns out to be 'pro registration', and Captain America is 'anti registration.' I always felt like they had the two heroes on the wrong sides of this turf fight. Captain America is usually portrayed as standing up for the common man, so it would make more sense that he would want the common man to be protected from out-of-control heroes. However, that is not the case in this series. Tony Stark was always more 'don't touch my stuff' and went to war with various agencies [including the American government] over what he perceived as unlicensed use of his armor and his designs. So it would have made more sense for Tony to be anti-registration and Cap to be pro-registration.
As much as I enjoyed the series, on the one hand, I was also very disappointed with it. I felt like it could have addressed some weighty issues amongst the superhero set; instead, it devolved into heroes and former teammates bludgeoning each other and forgetting why they donned the cape and mask in the first place. There were some great lines throughout the course of the series, like when Mariah Hill and Cap were disagreeing over what constitutes a criminal [so interesting/pathetic how Cap's definition changed to fit this 'big event' series].
I think it was funny how this series made Captain America, Luke Cage, the Falcon, and some other heroes look like jerks whereas in the majority of the other comic titles tying into this series, Tony was made to look like a complete and total jerk. A lot of people hated Tony [as a character] because of this series and how he was portrayed in the other titles. Both sides had some great points in terms of their beliefs and their stances, but I think the pro-registration group had more validity and legitimacy than those opposing the law.
Even though I am not a big fan of McNiven's artwork, I think he did do an adequate job at times of expressing the madness in Cap's eyes as he opposed the law and his former friends. I felt like the 'scene' where he glares at Spider-Man after Spidey compares the Punisher to Cap was tremendous in its effect. I really had a hard time 'liking' Captain America after this series, and he had been one of my favorite comic book characters for a long, long, long time prior to this series.
I think the idea was a great idea and worth exploring; it was poorly executed. Americans will demand laws be passed in which they are willing to give up some freedom[s] for more security even today. I can firmly believe that if there were super-powered beings running around amok, the government would not hesitate to step in to attempt to protect the citizens by requiring meta-humans to register with the government and to be trained to use their powers responsibly. Instead of truly exploring the ramifications of this law, the book turned into a bizarre super-hero slugfest where heroes fought heroes at the expense of the common man. Steve Rogers finally has his epiphany [of a sort] and realizes he is in the wrong when he is attacked by some 'common people' trying to protect Tony Stark from further pummeling by Captain America.
I did feel like the ending was a bit of a cop-out. To have the anti-registration 'forces' winning until Captain America chooses to surrender seemed pretty weak to me. It seemed 'weak' to me because the pro-registration forces had the Sentry on their team, and technically there is no force on Earth that would be able to match him in battle. He could have cleaned up the anti-registration forces by himself without raising a sweat. Ah, well.
I really 'hated' the character changes that went into this series. I will say this - some of those changes seemed to adversely affect the characters for some time afterwards. So this was one 'event' that had a lasting impact [of sorts] upon the Marvel U for quite some time after it was over. At the same time, it seemed like the hard feelings that occurred between some characters in this series were all-too easily forgotten in subsequent storylines.
It also introduced some definitely questionable tactics used by both parties; however, some these murky tactics were quickly forgotten after the series was over. One of these questionable tactics involved a clone of Thor being created. It went haywire and killed a superhero on the anti-registration side. Cap agrees to a truce with Tony and then, after violating that truce, accuses Tony of being untrustworthy. Yet it was Cap who initially betrayed the trust.
I cannot stress enough how much I hated how this series turned Captain America into a bitter, angry old man who was so blinded by his own fanaticism that he failed to see the damage he was causing by his actions until it was almost too late. I know I am in a minority opinion in this, but I really felt like Cap's portrayal in this series was antithetical to his character prior to this point. It was quite disappointing. The authors seemed to delight in making Cap look like a complete and total jack@$$ throughout the course of the story.
For instance, in the beginning of the series, Cap and Co. free the Young Avengers from police custody. In the process, they cause at least three police cruisers to be involved in a catastrophic crash with other vehicles on the Interstate. So we have two heroes injuring law enforcement during a jail break freeing other heroes from police custody. No mention is ever made of the officers or civilians injured [or killed] during this crash, and Cap never shows any remorse for the damage or injuries his actions incurred. Yet Cap and his crew are held up as the moral equivalent/opposite of the pro-registration group. It boggles my brain.
Sadly, the 'results' of this storyline were essentially wiped out after the 'Siege' storyline occurred [and Captain America went from being dead to being 'Top Cop' in America] [the Registration Act was repealed, for some bizarre reason, of which none were given].
Despite my disgust with how aspects of this storyline were handled, I still greatly enjoy reading this compilation. The 'extras' in the hardbound edition made it more than worthwhile.
-------------------------------------------------
I just finished reading the 'Captain America' omnibus by Ed Brubaker [collecting vol. 5#'s 1-25 in it], so I am going to include some of my thoughts about that series in this review, as the two tie in together.
After having reread 'Civil War' and then rereading this, I cannot help but wonder how much ahead of time Brubaker knew about what was going to happen with the 'Civil War' series and began laying that foundation in this series. For instance, Philadelphia is partially destroyed by a bomb, and the public knows that metahumans were involved in this act of terrorism. Yet I do not remember any mention of this act of terror being mentioned in any of the other Marvel series out at the time. Then we have a blurb about how Congress is considering legislation to force metahumans to register with the government. Finally, metahumans are involved in a melee that destroys a large swath of London and places in danger a number of government officials. So in addition to Stamford we have the foundation put in place of the SHRA to be enacted by Congress. Of course people are going to demand the government take action to protect the general population in light of such activity!
There is a scene in the Captain America omnibus where Bucky and Nick Fury are talking about the SHRA. I think Fury's comparing the SHRA with either Nazi Germany or the Communists in Russia to be a bit extreme. Nick claimed 'that's not the America I fought for,' which I also think it is a bit hypocritical, as America interned [imprisoned] Japanese-Americans during WWII for 'protection' as this segment of society was viewed as being even less trustworthy than German-Americans and Italian-Americans. The SHRA required metahumans to register with the government; if they wanted to 'serve' [i.e. - stop crimes, enforce the laws] they would be expected to undergo training so that they could safely control their powers and to be held accountable for their mistakes if negligence was involved. Otherwise, they could not use their powers to enforce the law [as in, get involved in super-powered melees]. Realistically and legally, these costumed characters are technically breaking the law by battling metahuman criminals; we also know that characters like Daredevil and Batman are not above using force and terror to make people talk. In addition, despite their claims of being 'morally right,' they are still attempting to force their interpretation of the law and how it should be enforced upon the criminals they battle. This is not really any different than what they complained the government wanted to do with the SHRA.
I thought it funny how the three issues directly tying into the Civil War series did not seem to focus exclusively on Captain America. It was like his character was hijacked for the miniseries, and he had to 'take a bye' in his series to star in the miniseries. There was a lot going on in the C.A. comics by this point, so I am impressed that Brubaker was able to tie it in so well with the Civil War series [which makes me think he knew about it well before his run reached the point where it was going to have to tie into the Civil War 'event'. Cap definitely seemed more level-headed in his own series when he showed up than how he was portrayed in the Civil War series itself.
Anyway. A great idea that was poorly executed.
May 17, 2025
The thing that is more interesting, at least to me, that comes from this copy is the scripts and annotations given by Millar, Breevort, McNiven and co. Throughout the main story, although the art is really nice to look at, it’s a lot of preparing for a big fight that lasts a few pages, and ends with things being rather bleak. Most of these event comics do that — to shape up the stakes for the next time we see these characters, and shape the status quo. It doesn’t mean the story is bad, and the way that the narrative is set up is pretty cool and “realistic,” but it leads to these characters acting more like their 1610 counterparts. Reed Richard’s especially suffers from this, turning into a one-note scientifically driven guy who brings up random statistics and mentions that things took 47 and a half seconds to do; as a whole it’s ridiculous and absurd reduction of this character.
Other people suffer from this mischaracterization seen throughout the book. It’s interesting — and somewhat humorous, then, that the commentary pages mention over and over again that some of these characters are someone’s favorite. Yeah, they are, and yet they’re doing things they probably wouldn’t do.
“Civil War” is a book that we still feel a lot of the effects of even in 2025. Characters grapple with various things here and then are seen in their own titles today grappling with it. It’s a change in status quo, but the new status quo is a lot of the same stuff (Devils Reign, the Kamala Act, even Krakoa all kind of have roots set in the superhero registration act). One must wonder, as approach 20 years from “Civil War,” if there’ll be an even newer status quo, and what that will be?
I guess it’s things like the “Absolute” and “Ultimate” line. We know the status quo, we can have the status quo, but there are now universes to shake up everything we know. I’m not sure if it’ll stick, but I really really like what we have.
As a whole, great art, awesome commentary, okay story.
Other people suffer from this mischaracterization seen throughout the book. It’s interesting — and somewhat humorous, then, that the commentary pages mention over and over again that some of these characters are someone’s favorite. Yeah, they are, and yet they’re doing things they probably wouldn’t do.
“Civil War” is a book that we still feel a lot of the effects of even in 2025. Characters grapple with various things here and then are seen in their own titles today grappling with it. It’s a change in status quo, but the new status quo is a lot of the same stuff (Devils Reign, the Kamala Act, even Krakoa all kind of have roots set in the superhero registration act). One must wonder, as approach 20 years from “Civil War,” if there’ll be an even newer status quo, and what that will be?
I guess it’s things like the “Absolute” and “Ultimate” line. We know the status quo, we can have the status quo, but there are now universes to shake up everything we know. I’m not sure if it’ll stick, but I really really like what we have.
As a whole, great art, awesome commentary, okay story.
July 22, 2017
Also ich nehm jetzt einfach mal das erste Issue stellvertretend für die ganze Storyline, schlicht weil es mir zu doof ist, zu jedem einzelnen Teil ne Review zu schreiben.
Im Grossen und Ganzen muss ich somit sagen wars irgendwie ein bisschen... zu viel? Now hold on a second. Mir ist durchaus bewusst, dass Civil War genau darauf ausgelegt ist, dass viele Superhelden gegeneinander kämpfen. In gewisser Hinsicht habe ich genau deswegen den Comic dem Film vorgezogen, weil dieser Aspekt hier um einiges mehr vertreten ist. Aber was anfangs irgendwie interessant klingt, wird ziemlich schnell verdammt overwhelming.
Marvel hat über die Jahre unfassbar viele Charaktere grossgezogen und hier versuchen sie alle irgendwie reinzuquetschen. Darunter sind dann natürlich auch diverse Deus ex Machina-Auftritte und Helden, bzw. Schurken, von denen ein Casual-Marvelfanboy wie ich noch nie gehört hat.
Was ja nicht unbedingt schlimm wäre, würde es der Geschichte nicht unfassbar viel Luft zum Atmen wegnehmen.
Gerade weil so viele Charaktere vorhanden sind und ungefähr alle letztlich irgendwo eine Rolle spielen müssen, kommt es nicht zu Charakterentwicklungen jeglicher Art [ausser halt bei Spiderman, wobei ich hier sagen muss, dass ich diesen direkten Wechsel von Pro-Tony zu Pro-Cap nicht als reguläre Charakterentwicklung annehme.].
Alles an der Geschichte ist kompakt. Kein Raum, um sich mal mit der Frage ausseinanderzusetzen, wer denn nun richtig liegt. [Bis natürlich auf die einzig richtige Meinung, dass Tony recht hat. [Kann vielleicht auch dran liegen, dass ich Captain America für einen unfassbar langweiligen Charakter halte.]] Und während das bei anderen Geschichten vielleicht viel wieder gut machen könnte, ist es hier wahrscheinlich die grösste Schwäche.
Zu viele Helden auf zu wenig Raum.
Im Grossen und Ganzen muss ich somit sagen wars irgendwie ein bisschen... zu viel? Now hold on a second. Mir ist durchaus bewusst, dass Civil War genau darauf ausgelegt ist, dass viele Superhelden gegeneinander kämpfen. In gewisser Hinsicht habe ich genau deswegen den Comic dem Film vorgezogen, weil dieser Aspekt hier um einiges mehr vertreten ist. Aber was anfangs irgendwie interessant klingt, wird ziemlich schnell verdammt overwhelming.
Marvel hat über die Jahre unfassbar viele Charaktere grossgezogen und hier versuchen sie alle irgendwie reinzuquetschen. Darunter sind dann natürlich auch diverse Deus ex Machina-Auftritte und Helden, bzw. Schurken, von denen ein Casual-Marvelfanboy wie ich noch nie gehört hat.
Was ja nicht unbedingt schlimm wäre, würde es der Geschichte nicht unfassbar viel Luft zum Atmen wegnehmen.
Gerade weil so viele Charaktere vorhanden sind und ungefähr alle letztlich irgendwo eine Rolle spielen müssen, kommt es nicht zu Charakterentwicklungen jeglicher Art [ausser halt bei Spiderman, wobei ich hier sagen muss, dass ich diesen direkten Wechsel von Pro-Tony zu Pro-Cap nicht als reguläre Charakterentwicklung annehme.].
Alles an der Geschichte ist kompakt. Kein Raum, um sich mal mit der Frage ausseinanderzusetzen, wer denn nun richtig liegt. [Bis natürlich auf die einzig richtige Meinung, dass Tony recht hat. [Kann vielleicht auch dran liegen, dass ich Captain America für einen unfassbar langweiligen Charakter halte.]] Und während das bei anderen Geschichten vielleicht viel wieder gut machen könnte, ist es hier wahrscheinlich die grösste Schwäche.
Zu viele Helden auf zu wenig Raum.
June 9, 2022
Este cómic lo conocí gracias a la película de Capitán América civil war, y como guerra como tal pues dejó mucho que desear más parecía una pelea de niños de kinder, recurrí al cómic y me pareció infinitamente mejor, si bien en algunas partes me perdí ya que no conozco a muchos superhéroes que aparecen en esta historia.
Pero bien aquí es difícil determinar cuál es el bando que tiene razón, el tema que trata es la libertad, el bando del capitán América que busca una libertad irrestricta, que nadie les diga quién es el enemigo. Que los políticos y los países se hagan a un lado, ya que si los controlan, pronto los usarán para sus intereses, restringiendo su libertad.
El bando de Iron Man, que busca que un ente controle a los superhéroes, ya que en sus conflictos combatiendo el crimen hay daños colaterales contra civiles, con alguien que elija a los superhéroes, para que no cualquiera se ponga una máscara, para que no cualquier irresponsable se mande atribuciones que nadie le pidió. Básicamente volverlos legales.
Este conflicto que con la premisa te hace difícil escoger un bando, dónde incluso se verán traiciones y cambios de bando.
Este cómic es muy bueno y te hace pensar en el precio de la libertad.
Pero bien aquí es difícil determinar cuál es el bando que tiene razón, el tema que trata es la libertad, el bando del capitán América que busca una libertad irrestricta, que nadie les diga quién es el enemigo. Que los políticos y los países se hagan a un lado, ya que si los controlan, pronto los usarán para sus intereses, restringiendo su libertad.
El bando de Iron Man, que busca que un ente controle a los superhéroes, ya que en sus conflictos combatiendo el crimen hay daños colaterales contra civiles, con alguien que elija a los superhéroes, para que no cualquiera se ponga una máscara, para que no cualquier irresponsable se mande atribuciones que nadie le pidió. Básicamente volverlos legales.
Este conflicto que con la premisa te hace difícil escoger un bando, dónde incluso se verán traiciones y cambios de bando.
Este cómic es muy bueno y te hace pensar en el precio de la libertad.
October 19, 2018
I recommend reading this if you’re doing a comprehensive read of Bendis’ New Avengers run. This takes place after NA #20.
This run reminds me of today’s political landscape where two main figures are so planted in their beliefs that they both become unlikeable. Apparently, “Civil War” literally divides fans upon release because of how Millar made Tony and Cap look.
I read issues 1-7 to get an idea of what’s going on since this is yet another event that affects the New Avengers run like Disassembled and House of M. There are still many gaps to fill with several characters but you will get a sense of the entire event.
Spider-Man seems to have the most interesting arc out of the main characters and as always represents the reader in the universe. He flips sides and changes his beliefs based on certain instances during the event.
I would recommend reading this in conjunction with NA #s 21-25 and look up the reading order to make it read more smoothly.
I really wanna pick up the slipcase for this and read all the tie-ins.
This run reminds me of today’s political landscape where two main figures are so planted in their beliefs that they both become unlikeable. Apparently, “Civil War” literally divides fans upon release because of how Millar made Tony and Cap look.
I read issues 1-7 to get an idea of what’s going on since this is yet another event that affects the New Avengers run like Disassembled and House of M. There are still many gaps to fill with several characters but you will get a sense of the entire event.
Spider-Man seems to have the most interesting arc out of the main characters and as always represents the reader in the universe. He flips sides and changes his beliefs based on certain instances during the event.
I would recommend reading this in conjunction with NA #s 21-25 and look up the reading order to make it read more smoothly.
I really wanna pick up the slipcase for this and read all the tie-ins.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 16, 2019
I kind of can't believe it took me so long to read this, but I finally did it, and I was pretty impressed overall. It's hard not to compare it to the MCU version and I think there are things that both did better and worse. As much as I adore Spider-Man being very firmly Team Iron Man in the films, the flip that he does in this comic fits his character a lot more and brings a lot of poignancy to the story. His Iron Spider suit in this is WAY cooler, though. The movie using the Winter Solider backstory definitely makes you feel a lot more sympathy for Tony but I think even in the comic I'm still pretty firmly on his side (yeah, I know). I don't agree with everything he says/does, but Cap is just so naive and stubborn and it's a little infuriating. I loved the Fantastic Four storyline, especially with the introduction of my favourite angry ocean man, Namor. Along those lines it was also cool to see how other Marvel characters that aren't in the MCU fit into this story, like Daredevil and the Punisher and the X-Men.
March 27, 2017
Not quite as impactful as a novel can be, when you can use written description to dig into emotion. But I gave this the same rating as the novel version, so regardless of the format, the fact remains that the idea is really neat. I wish the MCU could have stayed a bit closer to this and involved more characters. I did like how the novel pulled in more from the other one-off comics, though. This is the main storyline and there's so many characters you just can't fit it all in in a comic, meaning you have to read several books to get the whole picture instead of just the one novel.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 63 reviews