Civil War #2: Review

Heroes include Iron Man, Captain America, She-Hulk, Ms. Marvel, Tigra, Thing, Invisible Woman, Mr. Fantastic, Spider-Man, Patriot, Wiccan, Hulkling, Daredevil, Falcon, Cable, Dagger, Wolverine. Captain America and the Falcon do not appear in costume in this issue. Happy Hogan plays a significant role for a change. Spidey’s unmasking would be reversed in the controversial story “One More Day.”

The day Young Avengers are caught and Spidey unmasks:- The rest of ASM#532 has Spidey still unsure which side he should be on. But he finally decides to go ahead with Tony Stark's plan, and we get the unmasking from his POV.

In WOLVERINE v3 #43-45 Wolvie (who hasn't registered) has located Nitro, but Iron Man has a team already poised to get him. Logan joins them but Nitro explodes and gets them all. Wolverine heals and finds him again. Nitro boasts that his power was boosted by Mutant Growth Hormone (which explains why the Stamford explosion was so big). Logan beats him up. But then 3 disguised Atlanteans arrive, after Nitro for killing Namorita. And Sub-Mariner joins them. Namor KO's Logan, and the Atlanteans take Nitro to Atlantis. Iron Man gives Wolvie an undersea armour, and Logan goes to bring Nitro back but Sub-Mariner won't give him up. Nitro kills an Atlantean and Logan cuts his hand off (which means if he blows up again he won't be able to reassemble himself). Wolverine agrees to leave him there. Later Namor tells Logan that Nitro has revealed that he got MGH from Walter Declun, new CEO of Damage Control.

The night of the deadline and the 1st day:- In NEW AVENGERS #22 Iron Man and Ms Marvel try to persuade Luke Cage and Jessica Jones to register. Jessica takes baby Danielle to Canada. Cage resists when SHIELD come for him at midnight. Captain America, 'Daredevil' and Falcon rescue him. CW: FRONT LINE #2/1 - In 1 part reporters Ben Urich and Sally Field watch Iron Man arrest drunkenly defiant Prodigy of the Slingers (remember them?). (The rest of CWFL#2/1 will be covered under CW#3.) CW: FRONT LINE #2/4 has Ben Urich writing up the Iron Man/Prodigy incident and predicting a civil war. In X-FACTOR v3 #8 and part of #9 Rictor and M register, but Madrox helps Aegis (a member of the 2nd version of New Warriors, before the bunch with the TV show that blew up Stamford) evade SHIELD. Siryn meets Spider-Man while he still has a secret identity. A flashback in MS MARVEL v2 #6 has Captain America trying to recruit her for the resistance. She turns him down but doesn't try to arrest him.

In the week leading up to the deadline:- In CIVIL WAR: FRONT LINE #2/2 Speedball is offered immunity from prosecution for Stamford if he registers and joins SHIELD to hunt down resisters. Robbie Baldwin refuses, and he's beaten and left to the mercy of other prisoners. CW: CHOOSING SIDES #1/5 shows Howard the Duck trying to register but no-one will believe he's for real. Sentry fights Absorbing Man in CW: THE RETURN #1/2, and the effects of their battle convince him to register. In the 1st part of AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #532 Aunt May and Mary-Jane want Peter to register even though it means revealing his identity.

Tie-ins:- I was greatly helped in organising the tie-ins here and in subsequent comments by the Marvel Chronology Project's (partial) Calendar compiled by Paul Bourcier. The issue breaks into 3 time periods:- Events in the week leading up to the Act becoming law, during which everyone is supposed to register. The day it becomes law. And the day after that when the Young Avengers are arrested and Spider-Man unmasks. The tie-ins fit into these periods too.

There are also 2 medical staff both of whom will also appear in #4 and #5. That last issue will confirm that 1 of them is Dr Jane Foster of Thor fame, and that the other is named Linda. The Marvel Continuity Project indicates that this is Linda Carter who debuted in a Pre-Marvel title Linda Carter, Student Nurse and was reused as 1 of 3 main characters in the Marvel title Night Nurse. Later she resurfaced (Daredevil (1998) #58) using the codename Night Nurse to treat injured superheroes with secret identities. 'Daredevil' is really Iron Fist (since DD v2#82) but we don't yet know his identity. Matt Murdock is in jail and Danny Rand is impersonating him to confuse the case against him. Spider-Man's unmasking is viewed by a bunch of X-Men, by Sue Richards visiting brother Johnny in hospital, by supportive Aunt May and Mary-Jane, and by Thing and Wasp with some of the other SRA-supporters.

Iron Man, Mr Fantastic and Yellowjacket, the leaders of the pro-SRA campaign, are joined by Doc Samson, Ms Marvel, She-Hulk and Tigra in taking down a Doombot in New York in front of a cheering crowd. There's no explanation of what it's doing there. We get our 1st view of Reed Richards' sanctuary with its white walls covered in equations. The the prison project mentioned here, but not yet completed, is #42 of the 100 ideas Reed thought of with Hank Pym and Tony Stark to improve the world. These 100 ideas will play a large part in future Fantastic Four stories. Tony Stark airs his thoughts to Happy Hogan, most recently seen in the Iron Man: Inevitable series. The original Young Avengers appear here after the end of their series. Hawkeye (Kate Bishop), Hulkling, Patriot, Stature, Vision (Jonas) and Wiccan are all here, but Speed isn't shown. Captain America and Falcon have been joined by Cable, Cloak, Dagger, 'Daredevil', Goliath (Bill Foster), Hercules, Luke Cage.