Reading the Fantastic Four comics from the start. Marvel’s epic Civil War crossover comes to an end… except that it doesn’t.

The issue of superhero registration has divided the entire Marvel Universe. After a lot of fighting and casualties, Captain America’s anti-reg side and Iron Man’s pro-reg side confront each other at Ryker’s Island. Let’s do this!

There’s several pages of everybody fighting everybody, while S.H.I.E.L.D. agents attempt to shut down the Negative Zone portal at Ryker’s. They’re stopped by Black Panther and Dagger. When S.H.I.E.L.D. threatens to shut down the portal inside the new Baxter Building, it could trap everyone inside the Negative Zone permanently. (They’re not fighting on Ryker’s Island, but inside the Negative Zone? I don’t think the comics make this clear.)

Dagger contacts Cloak and tells him he must pull off the biggest teleport he’s ever done. Cloak absorbs everyone into his cloak and teleports them all to the sky over Manhattan. Those who can fly save some of their teammates, but others are shown crashing to the ground in a huge explosion (let’s assume these are the super strong and/or invulnerable characters). There’s a quick glimpse of Iron Man ordering the NYPD to evacuate civilians from the area.

The Fantastic Four get some moments during the fight. Johnny flies straight toward Iron Man, only for Iron Man to punch him in the face. Reed watches Spider-Man fight his way past the new Thunderbolts to comment, “Amazing.” Spidey then kicks Reed in the neck (!) and responds, “Spectacular.” Spidey can also be seen punching Reed during the Cloak teleport.

The villainous Thunderbolts gang up on Captain America, almost defeating him. But then Namor flies down from the sky with a bunch of Atlantean warriors to save Cap. With Namor on the anti-reg side, it appears that Cap now has the advantage. But then Iron Man calls in the Thor clone, the newly alive Kree Captain Marvel, and those new heroes seen in Arizona last issue. So now the sides are even again.

At this point, put a bookmark in Civil War #7 and switch over to the middle of Black Panther #25, where a lot of the fighting occurs on the roof of the Wakandan embassy as it’s being evacuated. The Thor clone attacks, in hopes of stopping a plane from leaving the embassy. Storm stands in his way, and there’s several pages of them duking it out. Our own Sue Richards of the FF helps Storm with some force fields at one point. Storm, figuring that the clone is more a machine than a thunder god, uses her lightning to set off an electromagnetic pulse inside the clone’s brain (!). This stops him, but only for a moment, after which Hercules walks up and says, “Allow me to cut in.”

Now go back to Civil War #7. Cap and Iron Man go face-to-face once again. The Vision weakens Iron Man’s armor, allowing Cap to pummel him. The Thor clone tries to help Iron Man, but Hercules holds him back. Nearby, a city bus gets thrown into the fight, making a wall of sorts between the combatants and the civilians. It’s the FF’s own Ben Grimm, having just returned from France. He says he’s there to make sure someone’s watching out for the people.

Then Taskmaster, who’s with the new Thunderbolts, aims a gun at Sue. Reed jumps in at the last second and takes the shot, saving Sue’s life. Sue exclaims, “What have you done to my husband?” and she crushes Taskmaster under a force field.

Nearby, Hercules lifts Thor’s hammer. (He can do that? Wait, is this the actual hammer or isn’t it?). Herc says, “Thor was a friend of mine,” followed by “Thou art no Thor!” Then he uses the hammer to smash in the clone’s head in a moment of truly eye-popping violence.

Time to wrap it all up. Captain America beats the crap out of Iron Man, smashing open his iron face plate. Just before Cap goes for the killing blow, a bunch of NYC firefighters and EMTs surround Cap and stop him. All the other superheroes stop fighting to watch this happen. Teary-eyed, Cap seems to have an epiphany. He says, “We’re not fighting for the people anymore,” followed by, “We’re just fighting.” Cap surrenders to the NYPD, unmasking in front of them and revealing his secret identity to them. He orders all his troops to stand down, adding “That’s an order,” as the cops haul him away.

With the battle over, the Punisher emerges from the shadows, and swipes Captain America’s mask to keep for himself. Flip back over to Black Panther #25, and we see that the Wakandan embassy did indeed get destroyed, but only after everyone got out safely. This was Panther and Storm’s home, and she says they can rebuild. The Panther says it’s worse than that, and he informs her that Cap surrendered. “We’re on our own,” he says.

Now back to Civil War #7. It’s two weeks later, and Reed is writing a letter to Sue, mirroring the one she wrote to him in issue #4. Through this letter, we see that Cap’s anti-reg team helped the clean-up of Manhattan. We also see the official formation of the Fifty States Initiative, which is apparently now just called the Initiative. A small group of heroes loyal to Cap are still operating as the Secret Avengers, including Spider-Man, who’s gone back to his black costume, originally from Secret Wars. The Negative Zone prison is still operational, and with overwhelming positive public response.

Reed concludes the letter saying that the utopian ideals he fought for during the Civil War don’t mean anything without Sue by his side. He promises no more clones and no more traps until she returns. He writes, “None of those painful things we had to do on that path to respectability.” As the letter concludes, we see Sue standing in Reed’s doorway with all her suitcases.

Aboard a S.H.I.E.L.D. helicarrier, Tony Stark has taken over as the new director of S.H.I.E.L.D., with Maria Hill stepping down to the role of deputy director. He once again meets with Miriam Sharp, whose son died in the explosion in issue #1. She says that thanks to his efforts, people can believe in heroes again. He responds, “The best is yet to come, sweetheart.”

And that’s the final word on Civil War. Except it isn’t. This is because the real ending is in Civil War: Front Line #11. Although not in the main series, several Civil War tie-ins hinted that there’s some secret conspiracy behind it all. Front Line is where we follow up on that… sort of.

Reporters Ben Urich and Sally Floyd manage to get interviews with Cap and Iron Man. Cap acts apologetic about his actions, while Sally rips on him for his ideals being outdated. Then they get an audience with Tony Stark. They question him about an incident earlier in Front Line, when the Green Goblin attacked some Atlanteans. They say that Tony controlled nanites in Norman Osbourne’s body to make him attack, in hopes that a war against Atlantis could unite the heroes, rather than drive then apart in the Civil War. Sally says that the registration act, the Initiative, and the Negative Zone prison were all engineered by Stark against the inevitability of a war with Atlantis. Tony throws them out of his office and then chucks his Iron Man helmet across the room in remorse over his actions.

Does this make ANY sense? I’ve read and reread this Front Line scene over and over, and I still don’t get it. Tony Stark saw a war with Atlantis was coming, so he secretly engineered the Civil War as the lesser of two evils? But then he got Norman Osbourne into the new Thunderbolts and gave him the nanites just to program Norman to attack the Atlanteans, just to get the public on his side during the Civil War? And why isn’t any of this playing out in the main Civil War series instead of Front Line?

Here’s the thing: If there’s meant to be an Atlantis vs. the surface world plot brewing under the surface in Civil War, then the crossover should have been more about that. Like, what if Namorita was the only one who survived the explosion in issue #1, instead of Speedball? Turning her into Penance would have kept Atlantis front and center. Then the finale of Civil War could have occurred with Atlantis on the verge of attack. They could either have turned back upon Cap’s surrender, or they could have been the first big challenge for the Initiative. Instead, Namor gets his justice for Namorita in the pages of Wolverine, and then he shows up during the final fight with little consequence.

Instead, we must circle back to the ending of the Civil War miniseries, and this assertation that registration, the Negative Zone prison, and the Initiative all work perfectly, and the US (the world?) is better than ever. It sure doesn’t feel that way after all these months and hundreds of pages of division and violence. I fear this is some of writer Mark Millar’s notorious cynicism at work. The heroes have won, good has defeated evil, but it could only happen if everyone is awful to each other.

Basically, I’m saying the same thing fans have been saying for years. Marvel’s Civil War is a mess.

Unstable molecule: Oh, I never followed up on the cliffhanger at the end of Black Panther #24, where Storm showed up on Reed’s doorstep to talk about registration. As issue #25 begins, Storm doesn’t register, but instead tries to understand where Reed is coming from. It’s more of the same debate about registration all the Marvel characters keep having during Civil War. Storm ends the conversation by rejecting Reed’s rationale.

Fade out: Sue is featured prominently in the Black Panther issue, establishing a friendship between her and Storm. This and Storm’s talk with Reed help set up things to come.

Clobberin’ time: We saw earlier that Johnny left a Fantasticar with Ben, so that’s how he came back from France, but how did he know when the big battle was going to happen? Somebody, likely either Johnny or Reed, must have told him about the plan.

Flame on: I don’t know what Johnny was thinking by flying straight at Iron Man instead of attacking from a distance. But at least he got to have a scene during the finale, rather than be drawn fighting someone in the background like most of the heroes.

Four and a half/Our gal Val: There’s a panel showing Reed tucking the kids into bed after the battle is over, showing his rethinking his priorities after the Civil War.

Fantastic fifth wheel: She-Hulk and Luke Cage are seen in the background of the fight, exchanging blow with various other heroes. Luke Cage is a member of the Secret Avengers at the end.

Vibraxis, former member of the Fantastic Force spinoff, gets mentioned during Reed and Storm’s debate, when Reed lists him among known Wakandan superhumans.

Trivia time: We’re told the battle takes place just outside the new Baxter Building, yet a lot of the action happens around the Wakandan embassy. The Marvel Wiki states that the Baxter Building is on 42nd Street and Madison Avenue, while the embassy is located in Turtle Bay, adjacent to the United Nations complex. Are these close enough to be neighbors? (Here in the real world, 42nd and Madison is a high-end Sephora store.)

Fantastic or frightful? See my “Civil War is a mess” comment above.

Next: Fresh faces.

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