Reading the Fantastic Four comics from the start. Our favorite foursome is inseparably part of Marvel’s controversial Civil War crossover, so let’s dive into issues #3 and #4, featuring the major tuning point in the entire event.

All the Marvel heroes are fighting each other about superhero registration, where all superhumans must register their secret identities with the government. Iron Man leads the oppressive pro-reg side, while Captain America leads the fugitive anti-reg side. Issue #3 begins in Wakanda, where Reed is there to deliver a message to Black Panther from the U.S. President. Black Panther refuses, saying he doesn’t like the idea of the Fifty States Initiative, with superhumans policing other superhumans who don’t agree with them. He says, “We don’t like it when America interferes Wakandan affairs, and I can only assume the feeling is reciprocated.” Panther leaves Reed with a word of advice, “Call Susan.”

Then there’s some short vignettes catching readers up to what’s happening in the Marvel Universe at large. Captain America’s anti-registration team are still fugitives, but still crimefighting as the Secret Avengers. Iron Man tells reporters he’ll hunt them down. Dr. Strange has retreated to his “arctic lodge,” to meditate until the conflict passes. Iron Man then meets with Emma Frost at the Xavier School. She says the X-Men won’t join his fight, but don’t want to fight the government, either. She promises him they won’t join Captain America’s side.

Then we see Captain America, Daredevil, Hercules, and Goliath (a.k.a. Bill Foster) at a diner, where Cap gives them all fake IDs for their new secret identities. Foster gets a report of a fire at a petrochemical plant nearby, with several civilian lives in danger. Cap calls the Secret Avengers to save the day. We also get a quick scene at the hospital, where the FF’s own Johnny Storm finally wakes from his coma, asking to see his sister.

The Secret Avengers teleport to the chemical plant, and Cable reports that something he’s getting interference on his electric devices. He sees a sign stating that the plant is owned by Stark Industries, and he does the classic, “It’s a trap!” Cloak and Wiccan, the Secret Avengers’ two teleporters, are immediately taken out with dart guns. Iron Man and his team (are we calling these the New Avengers, still?) arrive on the scene, and Iron Man says, “Of course it’s a trap.” Reed and She-Hulk are there, on Iron Man’s side, and so is Ben, despite previously stating he was leaving the country to avoid the fighting. Maria Hill calls in, saying that S.H.I.E.L.D. agents have the site surrounded, and will only step in if anyone on Cap’s side tries to retreat. From here on, there are tons of Marvel heroes in the background. Good luck keeping track of them all.

It’s the moment we’ve been waiting for – the big confrontation between Iron Man and Captain America. Iron Man offers Cap one last chance at amnesty if Cap surrenders. Cap says he’d rather take his chances. He also criticizes Spider-Man, who’s also there, for endangering Mary Jane’s life by revealing his secret identity to the world. Iron Man says he doesn’t want to fight. He only wants a chance for Cap to hear his side of the story. Cap says, “You’ve got five minutes” and extends his hand. Iron Man shakes it, only to find that Cap put a tiny device on his palm. Cap says it’s an “electron scrambler,” and it shorts out Iron Man’s armor.

Goliath grows to giant size, and now we’re into the big brawl! Everybody fights everybody. Goliath tries to clear a path to a nearby river to retreat, but Yellowjacket (secretly a Skrull in disguise, setting up a secret invasion) also grows to giant size to stop him. We get a lot of match-ups: Hercules vs. Wonder Man, Cable vs. Radioactive Man (not the Simpsons one), Stature vs. Atlas, and Luke Cage vs. Ms. Marvel. Ben fights Hulkling of the Young Avengers, with his only dialogue in these two issues as he says, “I don’t wanna fight you guys,” and “Why can’t you just do like you’re told?”

Spider-Man uses his Iron Spider armor’s stealth mode to sneak up on Captain America and give him a beating. Iron Man’s armor reboots, and he rejoins the fight, going straight for Cap. That’s where we get this panel, which is the entirety of Civil War condensed into a single image:

Hercules charges through the crowd, hoping to rescue Cap before Iron Man kills him. Maria Hill gives the signal for “Codename Lightning,” and Herc is blasted through the sky with a massive lightning bolt. It came from Thor, who is flying down from the sky, ready to join the fight. Remember that Thor’s series had been cancelled and he’d been killed off prior to this, so seeing him back was quite a shock. This is the issue #3 cliffhanger.

Issue #4 starts with Falcon and Dagger trying to appeal to Thor’s better nature (How are Dagger and Thor friends?), but Thor is on a rampage, sending Cap’s crew flying with a single throw of his hammer. Nearby, a bloodied Captain America refuses to quit, calling Iron Man a “pampered punk.” Iron Man unleashes a sonic weapon, which brings everyone on Cap’s team to their knees.

It seems like the fight is over, but then there’s an explosion as Hercules reaches Iron Man and shuts the sonic weapon off. More fighting, this time with Goliath front and center. Falcon takes over as leader of the anti-reg side. He picks up Captain America and flies off, ordering Cable to mind-link with Cloak so everyone can teleport out of there.

Goliath, now several stories tall, confronts Thor, towering over him. Thor responds by blasting a lightning bolt through Goliath’s chest, killing him. This is often cited as the moment for Civil War (and for Marvel in general) when everything changed. The “there’s going back from this” moment.

Falcon has everyone regroup and fall back. But now they’re all together, so Thor blasts another lightning blast at them. This one, though, is stopped by an invisible force field. Sue appears, confronting Thor while telling the anti-reg heroes, “Get out of here. Now.” They all teleport away, reluctantly leaving behind their wounded. Before they go, Falcon says “Thank you” to Sue.

Another surprise twist: Reed gives Thor a shutdown code, and Thor bows his head. This is not Thor, but some sort of machine. Yellowjacket snaps at Reed, saying this new Thor was supposed to be programmed with directives to act just like the old Thor. Reed ignores him, instead pleading with Sue for a moment of her time. She says, “Don’t even speak to me. Don’t say a damn word.” Looking over the dead Goliath, Spider-Man says, “I thought we were doing this so no one else got hurt.”

Later, Stark Tower becomes a makeshift hospital as the pro-reg heroes tend to their wounds. Yellowjacket is especially upset about the new Thor’s actions, saying he never intended Thor to kill Goliath, one of his best friends. “I can’t believe we cloned a god,” he says. (This scene takes on a whole other tone when you remember Yellowjacket is a Skrull in disguise. Could he secretly be responsible for the Thor clone’s murderousness?)

At the Secret Avengers underground HQ, a recovering Captain America addresses his troops. He says that their side picked up another twenty members overnight, and those on Iron Man’s side are starting to switch sides in large numbers. The tragedy of Goliath’s death is turning the tide in the anti-reg favor. Nighthawk (a member of the Defenders) asks about all the anti-reg heroes already locked up in Reed and Iron Man’s new prison. Cap answers, “And you’re willing to let them get away with that?”

The pro-reg heroes attend Goliath’s funeral. Ms. Sharpe, the mother of one of the children killed in the Stamford incident that kicked off the Civil War, assures Iron Man that he’s doing the right thing. She says Goliath would still be alive if he’d followed the law and registered. Also at the funeral, Yellowjacket notices Peter Parker acting suspiciously, and a man in a black ski mask watches the whole thing from a distance.

Time to get back to the Fantastic Four. Sue writes Reed a letter, saying that Johnny has fully recovered from his coma. She then tells Reed that she’s leaving him to join Cap and the Secret Avengers. She says she’s leaving Franklin and Valeria with him at the new Baxter Building, where they’ll be safe. Sue leaves the letter for Reed while he’s sleeping. She leaves with her bags packed in the middle of the night, and Johnny goes with her. Ben watches them go from a window inside.

At Stark Tower, Iron Man says more and more of his team are leaving to join Cap. The anti-reg heroes now have the advantage. To even the odds, Iron Man says he’s recruiting a new team of Thunderbolts. He says the new team is temporary, and each one is chipped with nanobots to follow their every move. Turn the page, and we see these “Thunderbolts” are all deadly villains – Venom, Bullseye, Lady Deathstrike, Taskmaster, Songbird, Jester, and Jack O’ Lantern.

To be continued!

Unstable molecule: We don’t see who Reed fights during the big brawl. We also don’t see his reaction to Sue’s letter, except that he’s back at work at Stark Tower the next day.

Fade out: Does Sue break up with Reed in this issue, or in Fantastic Four #540? These events overlap so it could be read either way. No matter which issue you read first, what happens is that Sue tells Reed she’s leaving him, she still hangs out for a little while, and then she really leaves him.

Clobberin’ time: Ben’s presence during the battle also feels out of character. Based on his one line, we can surmise that he was there in hopes of stopping the violence. Behind the scenes, I believe Marvel editorial wanted everyone to pick a side, with as few neutral characters as possible. Therefore, Ben gets put in the pro-reg category.

Flame on: When Sue leaves the Baxter Building, she uses an invisible force field as an umbrella in the rain. Not to be outdone, we see Johnny make a fire umbrella over his head. He and Sue drive off in a red sports car with a “TORCH” license plate.

Fantastic fifth wheel: She-Hulk is at the battle, getting punched out by Hercules. (Didn’t they date for a while?) We don’t see how Luke Cage fares against Ms. Marvel. They seem to be standing off more than outright fighting. Cage then gets thrown around twice by Thor’s lightning blasts. Tigra is at the fight, too. She’s mostly in the background, but made it onto the back of the wraparound cover.  

Four and a half/our gal Val: The kids are seen enjoying a board game with Johnny after he gets home from the hospital. This suggests the horrors of the Civil War haven’t reached them yet.

SUE-per spy: The 2019 Invisible Woman miniseries revealed that Sue had a double life as a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent all along. I thought that Sue didn’t appear at the battle until her big save, but there’s one small panel earlier showing her on Iron Man’s side. This makes no sense, as she’s been vocally against registration from the start. Could this be because of her S.H.I.E.L.D. connections?

Trivia time: The clone of Thor, which we’ll later learn is not a clone but some kind of bio-mechanical monstrosity, was controversial among readers at the time. The fans dubbed the character “Clor,” but the Marvel Wiki just calls him “Thor clone.” He’ll stick around though, later going by the name Ragnarok.

Throughout Civil War, and especially in issue #3, we see the giant Sentinel robots lurking around in the background whenever the X-Men are around. The X-Men are currently dealing with fallout of The 198 event, when 90 percent of mutants lost their powers. In response, the U.S. government assigned the Sentinels to the Xavier School, not to attack it but to protect it. Many mutants were not happy about this, another reason for them not wanting to get involved in the Civil War. They will, though, because Bishop’s secret meeting with Iron Man in #3 sets up the Civil War: X-Men miniseries.  

Although there have been a bunch of versions of the Thunderbolts over the years, the original premise was villains pretending to be heroes, only to start acting a little more heroic. So the reveal at the end of #4 is more or less consistent with Thunderbolts history.

Fantastic or frightful? This was the peak of Civil War, when the world of comics fandom was feverish with each new development, while also grousing about the violence, the character choices, and how this turned Marvel continuity upside down. On this re-read, it’s clear that this is the mid-point, and it’s falling action from here on out. We’ve still got a long way to go before it’s over.

Next: Western civ.

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