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Reading the Fantastic Four comics from the start. It’s time to talk about Civil War, the crossover mega-epic that tore the Marvel Universe to pieces (for a while, anyway). I’d always thought of Civil War as an Iron Man/Spider-Man/Captain America story. But upon re-reading, I see that it’s a lot of Fantastic Four content. Let’s dive in.

If you weren’t following comics in 2005-2006, you might not get why this story was such a big deal. Like Secret Wars II, this was an ambitious project intended to cross over with every Marvel comic and include every character, both famous and obscure. What’s more, the event made full use of internet fan culture. Marvel offered fans banners for their message board signatures (I miss message boards) with the “Whose side are you on?” tagline. Fans were tasked to pick sides just like the characters did, with specific “I’m with Iron Man” and “I’m with Cap” banners. This of course led to fan-made parody banners with “I’m with Homer Simpson,” etc. Every new issue of Civil War was hotly debated online, which only made the following issue anticipated even more.

I have a theory. One of the controversies of Civil War came from fans arguing that the Marvel heroes were acting out of character. They were siding with enemies and fighting their friends. Iron Man seemed villainous, Captain America rejected America, and, most famously, Spider-Man revealed his secret identity to the world. My theory is this: Civil War asks what would happen if the Marvel heroes acted out of character, and would do things that they’d never normally do? Civil War answers that question and follows it to its rather chaotic conclusion.

Civil War issue #1 begins with the New Warriors, who at this time were starring in their own reality TV show. A camera crew followed them everywhere during their superhero adventures. They’re in Stamford, Connecticut, tracking down supervillains Coldheart, Cobalt Man, Speedfreak, and Nitro. A fight breaks out, with a lot of gags about ratings and looking good in front of the camera. Namorita smashes Nitro into a nearby school bus. Nitro unleashes his nuclear powers, and a nearby elementary school goes up in a mushroom cloud.

Cut to later, when the New Avengers, the X-Men, and other Marvel heroes are at the site, helping with wreckage cleanup. There are skeletons all around, as well as a burned-up American flag, if you’re in the mood for some heavy symbolism. Iron Man says Nitro is still alive, and they have a lead on him, but Captain America is more concerned with helping FEMA on the recovery site. Cap says there are around 900 casualties, many of them children.

Giant Man, a.k.a. Bill Foster, says this event will change everything. He lists several other destructive events that recently happened, including the Las Vegas Hulk/Thing fight in Fantastic Four. “They’ll be coming after us,” he says. Then we get talk about the proposed Superhero Registration Act, which has already been brewing in several Marvel comics leading up to this. A woman spits at Tony Stark (!) during a Stamford memorial She blames him for superhero violence, since he publicly funds the Avengers. During all this, we get one-panel glimpses of news reports arguing about how dangerous superheroes are, and how something must be done.

Then the FF enter the picture. In New York, Johnny meets with his date, an unnamed hot blonde, at a cool nightclub. He’s confronted on the sidewalk outside by locals who accuse him of the same type of violence that went down in Connecticut. Johnny insists he had nothing to do with the New Warriors, but the growing crowd doesn’t believe him. He’s knocked unconscious when someone hits him on the head with a beer bottle. Then the crowd dogpiles, beating the crap out of him.

Later, at the new Baxter Building, a huge crowd of superheroes have gathered to discuss superhero registration. Dr. Strange spells out the conflict saying his only choices are either to register and become a federal employee or face a warrant for his arrest. Luke Cage argues it’s not about superheroes becoming civil servants, it’s really about the government wanting to shut them down.  Iron Man counter-argues that registration will make superheroes legitimate, better-trained and publicly accountable. No one can agree on a course of action, debating on whether hiding their identities behind masks is necessary or dangerous. The only thing everyone can agree on is that all their lives are about to change.

On board the S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier, Commander Maria Hill asks Captain America whether his fellow superheroes will agree to registration. He says they’re split, and this will lead to the heroes at war with one another. Hill says she’s already preparing an anti-superhuman response unit, and she wants Captain America to lead it by hunting down and arresting any heroes who are anti-registration. Cap says that the superheroes need to stay above politics, and that Washington shouldn’t tell them who the villains are. Hill responds by surrounding Cap with a bunch of armored S.H.I.E.L.D. agents. After debating it a little more, Hill orders the agents to attack Cap out-fights them all (because of course he does). He smashes his way out of the Helicarrier and rides a fighter plane like a surfboard to escape.

Back at the Baxter Building, the heroes continue their debate. Then the Watcher appears, silently observing them all. Dr. Strange (not Reed) reminds everyone that the Watcher only appears in person during times of great crisis.

In Washington DC, there are crowds of protestors outside the White House (this happens a lot in Marvel Comics). Inside, the President chides his staff for letting Captain America go. Cap’s actions will make superhero registration even more controversial, and that every anti-registration hero will now rally behind him as their leader. Then we see that Iron Man, Yellowjacket, and our own Mr. Fantastic are there as well. Iron Man says, “Leave Captain America to us.”  

To be continued!

Unstable molecule: You’ll remember that a similar superhero registration debate occurred during Acts of Vengeance, and at that time Reed was strictly anti-reg. Why is he then pro-reg in Civil War? After Acts, Reed has seen several instances of super-powers going out of control:

• When fighting Devos, Johnny lost control of his powerful nova flame, destroying part of Empire State University, a tragedy Johnny had to deal with for quite some time.

• The FF battled Hyperstorm, a godlike being who turned out to be Reed’s grandson from the future. When everyone thought he was dead, Reed was in Hyperstorm’s post-apocalyptic future. It was a nightmare world brought about by super-powered being warring with one another.

• Onslaught was another godlike being, born from a combination of mutants, including Reed’s son Franklin. The only way to stop Onslaught was for a bunch of nonmutant superheroes to sacrifice their lives. They were only saved thanks to Franklin’s subconscious machinations.

• When Reed’s mind was trapped in Dr. Doom’s body, he had to pretend to be Dr. Doom. This was the only way to keep Doom’s four generals from invading the Earth with an alien army. Doom’s armor then affected Reed, making act more and more Doom-like.

• The FF attempted to take over and run Latveria to undo all the evil things Dr. Doom had done. Reed acted in opposition to the US government and it didn’t end well, creating an international incident and making the FF fall on hard times.

• During Marvel Knights: 4, Psycho-Man took over the Baxter Building for a crisis that got so extreme that it threatened to blot out the sun (!).

• Similarly, Diablo held all of New York hostage while there was chaos in the streets as everyone’s dreams went haywire.

• Reed worked with the government in Nevada, where astronauts wanted to recreate the FF’s original spaceflight and give themselves powers. Cosmic beings warned Reed to prevent this from happening.

Fade out: Sue seems pro-reg when she tells Spider-Man that life without a secret identity hasn’t been a problem for her. (It hasn’t?) She’ll change her tune shortly.

Clobberin’ time: Ben seems pro-reg during the debate, arguing that Johnny was injured because of street-level masks giving the FF a bad name. He too will quickly change his tune.

Flame on: How can one guy with a beer bottle manage to take out the Human Torch? Maybe he let the crowd get him for fear of not burning anyone.

Fantastic fifth wheel: She-Hulk is interviewed by Larry King (!), where she argues that without superheroes, no one will be able to stop supervillains. She then says she’s open to the idea of supes with badges and training. She’s also at the Baxter Building meeting, but she doesn’t say anything.

Trivia time: The New Warriors lineup is Night Thrasher, Speedball, Microbe, and Namorita. Speedball will not only survive, but become a major character in Civil War in his darker Penance persona. Night Thrasher returns when his soul is restored in a clone of himself. Microbe stayed dead, never appearing again after this. Same for Namorita, sadly. No mention is made of her and Johnny having dated mostly off-panel for several years.

Nitro’s fugitive status will be ongoing concern during Civil War, with questions whether he was powerful enough to explode like he did in Stamford. Coldheart survived the explosion through unknown means, and will later be seen inside a S.H.I.E.L.D. prison. Cobalt Man died and was seen a few times when characters visited the afterlife. He later came back to life for real in a Deadpool story. Speedfreak stayed dead, and this was his last appearance.

Yellowjacket and Spider-Woman are both prominent in this issue, but we’ll later learn they’re Skrulls in disguise, setting up the Secret Invasion crossover.  

Fantastic or frightful? Whew, this is a lot. It succeeds in building a lot of tension, and bringing so much of what’s happening in Marvel come together all at once. The Captain America fight is especially exciting. But all the debates about registration go on for a page or two too long, as writer Mark Millar bends over backwards to create controversy. Still, Civil War is one of the tallest mountains in Marvel continuity, and this issue sets the stage for it all. And away we go.

Next: Hitting the streets.

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Want more? Check out my new ongoing serial, THE SUBTERKNIGHTS, on Kindle Vella. A man searches for his missing sister in a sprawling city full of far-out tech and secret magic. It’s a sci-fi/fantasy hybrid full of action, romance, mystery, and laughs. The first three chapters are FREE! Click here for a list of all my books and serials.

Reading the Fantastic Four comics from the start. Civil War is about to tear the Marvel Universe to pieces, but we have one quick stop to make first, in the Fantastic Four Special one-shot by Dwayne McDuffie and Casey Jones.

We begin with a flashback to Reed and Dr. Doom in college, and how they were rival scientists from the start. Young Reed tries to talk young Doom out of his otherworldly experiments, but Doom refuses to listen. His experiment blows up, horribly scarring his face. Reed wonders if he’s the one to blame.

Cut to the present, and Reed is telling all this to Sue while she adjusts his bowtie for a tuxedo he’s wearing. He’s preparing for dinner with Dr. Doom (!), and he admits to Sue that his guilt isn’t about Doom’s accident, but a small thrill he got from knowing he was right and Doom was wrong. Sue urges Reed not to accept Doom’s dinner invitation, but Reed says, “We’re all responsible for what happens to everybody.”

Reed flies the Fantasticar to the Latverian Embassy, musing about how Dr. Doom is the most dangerous man on Earth. Doom greets him at the door and says Reed’s safety is guaranteed for this day. Today is the “Rapprochement Festival,” a holiday of Doom’s invention in honor of his mother’s memory. Part of this new tradition, Doom says, is to reach out to someone you have wronged, so Doom is reaching out to Reed. They shake hands. Doom again assured Reed that no harm will come to him this day, and they toast to rapprochement.

Doom gives Reed a tour of the embassy. Reed deduces that one doorway they go through is a teleporter, and they’re now in Castle Doom in Latveria. Before Doom can answer, we cut to Stark Tower, current home of the Avengers, where Johnny is visiting Spider-Man and Captain America. After some banter about Spidey being an Avenger now, Johnny admits that Reed thinks Doom is plotting to steal something, and there are very few places in NYC that Doom can’t access. One is Stark Tower. We then cut to the second spot, Damage Control headquarters, where Sue warns them that their high-security basement vault is another target.

Back in the castle, Doom says that a Latverian holiday should be celebrated in Latveria. He and Reed then continue an unfinished chess game they once started in college. They’re both such geniuses that they remember the layout of the board from years earlier.

At Stark Tower, the Avengers get an emergency call. Spidey and Cap run off, leaving Johnny to hold down the fort. Johnny makes a phone call and says, “It’s just about showtime.” At the castle, Reed asks why Doom doesn’t use his genius for the benefit of mankind, and Doom says he and Reed have differing opinions as to what that is.

At the new Baxter Building, Ben spots Dr. Doom trying to get into the building. Sue has a Doom of her own attacking Damage Control, while Johnny fights one at Stark Tower. Reed gets an alert about what’s happening, and he quips that Doom knows it doo. They continue their polite evening and sit down to dinner. In New York, the fighting continues, with the other FF-ers deducing that their Dr. Dooms are mere Doombots.

Reed and Doom continue their dinner. Reed admits that after Doom’s failed experiment in college, Reed saved a piece of Doom’s machine that was considered irreplaceable. He also says that Dr. Strange warned him that the anniversary of Doom’s mother’s death is magically significant. Reed gets a signal on his watch saying the Doombots have been destroyed. Reed then finishes – and wins! – the chess game. Reed asks if he and Doom are to fight to the death now. Doom says he’s lost his appetite and asks to continue this another time.

But Reed isn’t done. He admits that he kept the piece of Doom’s machine because he was afraid. Doom was opening a portal to Hell, and Reed feared this meant unleashing extradimensional powers on the Earth. Then Reed says he later deduced the piece’s real intent, that it was a lodestone whose only purpose is to locate Doom’s mother’s sole. Reed pulls the lodestone from his pocket and returns it to Doom, agreeing that this is a day of rapprochement. Doom accepts the gift, but he says, “This changes nothing between us, Richards!” Reed says, “I think it does, just a little bit,” followed by, “Same time next year?”

Unstable molecule: Among all the politeness between Reed and Doom, Reed also praises Doom’s taste in art and classical music. This shows yet another aspect of Reed’s genius, that he knows all about this stuff.

Fade out: Sue deduces that her Doom is a Doombot and not the real thing after she tries to disorient it by turning the floor underneath it invisible.

Clobberin’ time: Ben is working out when the Doombot attacks. He says his weights are made of super-heavy osmium, and that his strength isn’t all genetic, but that he must work out to keep his strength up.

Flame on: Spider-Man asks Johnny whatever became of Dorrie Evans, and Johnny doesn’t answer. Those who read Marvels Snapshot: Fantastic Four know all about Dorrie.

Trivia time: Spider-Man’s wearing his classic uniform in this, instead of his new red and yellow Iron Spider armor. He was going back and forth between the two at this time.

It’s not mentioned in this issue, but remember that Dr. Doom succeeded in freeing his mother’s soul from Hell in Doctor Strange and Dr. Doom: Triumph and Torment.

How did the lodestone survive after all these years, including the destruction of the original Baxter Building. Remember that the Watcher saved a bunch of the FF’s personal items from the explosion, so we can conclude that the lodestone was one of them.

Fantastic or frightful? Dwayne McDuffie was one of the all-time great writers, and this is a nice little self-contained story. Its placement in chronology is curious, as the rest of Marvel Comics were overflowing with hype over Civil War at the time. Still, it’s a nice slice-of-life tale, or as slice-of-life as Fantastic Four gets.

Next: Not so civil.

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Want more? Check out my new ongoing serial, THE SUBTERKNIGHTS, on Kindle Vella. A man searches for his missing sister in a sprawling city full of far-out tech and secret magic. It’s a sci-fi/fantasy hybrid full of action, romance, mystery, and laughs. The first three chapters are FREE! Click here for a list of all my books and serials.

Reading the Fantastic Four comics from the start. Issue #537 brings us one step closer to Marvel’s Civil War mega-event.

Recap: Thor died heroically in the big Ragnarok story that ended his comic. Now, his hammer has come crashing down to Earth (Oklahoma, to be exact). The Army set up a dome around the hammer, only for a small army of Doombots to attack it. The Fantastic Four arrived on scene to battle the Doombots, only to find a back-from-the-dead Dr. Doom also at the scene.

This issue begins with a caption telling us that no one has tried to lift the hammer yet. Then Reed speaks on behalf of the audience, asking how Doom is still alive. We flash back to Doom in Hell, where we last saw him. We see him weakened, yet still strong enough to fight off all the demons intent on tearing him apart. Then he has a vision of Ragnarok and the Asgardians dying. The battle is so great, Doom says, that rends the fabric of reality itself, causing a tear in Hell’s dimensional plane. He sees the hammer fly through the tear and he follows it back to Earth.

The flashback continues in Latveria, where the acting prime minister of the provisional government speculates that Doom will never return, and that he could make good use of all the leftover Doombots. Doom then returns, strangling the prime minister. He orders the other government goons to find where Thor’s hammer landed.

Cut back to the present. Instead of telling all this to Reed, Doom merely says, “It matters not.” He has the Doombots attack the FF while he strides toward the hammer, which is at the center of the crater left behind from last issue’s big explosion. Reed picks up Ben and throws him into the crater with orders to stop. Ben fights Doom, temporarily switching his catch phrase to, “It’s hammer time!”

Doom stops Ben by blinding him with a bright light. Doom reaches for the hammer, and an even more spectacular white light fills the entire sky. When it fades, we see that Doom has failed to lift the hammer. Doom says he felt the power of Asgard when he witnessed Ragnarok, and he thought that would be enough to give him control of the hammer. “I was wrong,” he says.

Doom summons a jet and flies off, telling the FF to let the hammer serve as Thor’s gravestone. Once he’s gone, Reed speculates that if Doom did have a piece of Asgard’s power in him, maybe that somehow woke up the hammer for a minute. He further speculates that the giant blast might have been a signal to someone, but he can’t say who. Then Ben tries and fails to lift the hammer. “Wouldn’t you give it a shot?” he says. “Just in case?”

Then we go to elsewhere in Oklahoma, where the hammer’s blast has knocked out the power. A man buys a ticket at a bus station. A news report says this was one of many incidents throughout the state, concluding that, “Something major is coming to Oklahoma.”

To be continued!

Unstable molecule: Reed throwing Ben through the air seems to be a variation of all the times he’s stretched into a slingshot to do it. He wraps himself around Ben and then flings Ben a huge distance.

Fade out: Sue’s job is to keep the Doombots at bay while Ben and Reed deal with Dr. Doom. We never see what becomes of the Doombots, so I guess she succeeded.

Clobberin’ time: This isn’t the first time an enemy has slowed Ben down by blinding him. In The Thing #17 he spent an entire issue sightless after getting blasted in the eyes by a villain called the Reckoner. But this took place on Battleworld, meaning the Reckoner was therefore only one part of Ben’s fractured subconscious.

Flame on: Johnny says he’s too weak to pursue Doom’s jet because the blast from the hammer was so powerful it weakened his flame.

Trivia time: This issue and #536 were featured in a Road to Civil War trade paperback. The trade also featured the New Avengers: Illuminati one-shot in which the Illuminati launch the Hulk into space and then disband (or do they?) after debating superhero registration. The other issues in the trade are Amazing Spider-Man #529-530, in which Tony Stark hired Peter Parker as his assistant full-time, which Peter half-jokingly calls “a blood pact.” This was the first appearance of the red and gold Iron Spider armor, and Tony and Peter’s visit to Washington DC to argue in favor of superhero registration.

Yes, the man buying the bus ticket will turn out to be someone important. We’ll follow his story in issues to come, just as we’ll continue to follow the situation in Oklahoma.

Dr. Doom is back in his classic armor in this issue. What happened to his newfangled magic armor, that was grossly made from the remains of lost love Valeria? He states that it’s damaged, but he does show up in Latveria still wearing it. Therefore, he likely still has it in a closet somewhere.

Not long before this issue, Castle Doom was destroyed in the 2005 Secret Wars miniseries. The Marvel Wiki confirms that the one in this issue is a newly rebuilt Castle Doom.

Fantastic or frightful? This issue does a better job of justifying Doom’s return than the previous one. But really, both Dr. Doom and Thor’s hammer in this storyline are all about setting things up for the near future. I suppose that’s what the “Road to Civil War” branding was about, but it feels anticlimactic for Doom to fail to lift the hammer and then just leave.

Next: Just another family get together.

* * * *

Want more? Check out my new ongoing serial, THE SUBTERKNIGHTS, on Kindle Vella. A man searches for his missing sister in a sprawling city full of far-out tech and secret magic. It’s a sci-fi/fantasy hybrid full of action, romance, mystery, and laughs. The first three chapters are FREE! Click here for a list of all my books and serials.

Reading the Fantastic Four comics from the start. It had to happen eventually – we’ve reached Civil War, the mega-event that tore the Marvel Universe apart. Although issue #536 is merely labeled “The Road to Civil War,” it’s here all right.

We begin in space, with a tiny object flying toward Earth. Even though it doesn’t burn up in the atmosphere, astronomers assume it’s too small to do any damage. The object passes by an airplane, and then lands with a massive explosion in a field in Oklahoma.

Cut to six months later. It’s the middle of the night at the new Baxter Building. Reed is staying up late watching the news. Sue asks him “How did it go?” and Reed is hesitant to answer. Then there’s a flashback to Reed meeting with the Illuminati, the top-secret group of influential super-geniuses hoping to make a real difference beyond just fighting crime. In this issue, the group is Iron Man, Reed, Dr. Strange, Namor, and Black Bolt. Iron Man shows the group an early draft of a bill about to hit Congress – the Superhero Registration Act.

Iron Man explains the bill. Anyone with superpowers, any mutant, and anyone deemed a masked crimefighter must register with the government, after which they’ll be given jobs putting their powers to use for S.H.I.E.L.D. Further, the government has special plans to hunt down and detain anyone not registered. Dr. Strange says, “That’s disgusting,” but Iron Man says the Illuminati members should come out in favor of the bill. “We should cooperate now, before it gets ugly,” he says.

Back in the present, Reed and Sue watch the news, where Tony Stark and his new assistant Peter Parker arrive in Washington DC. Tony tells reporters that he’s only there discuss options with the committee on superhero registration. Sue doubts whether superhero registration will actually happen, speculating that it’s just election-year posturing. Reed responds, “It’s not that simple.”

Reed then gets an emergency message from General William Ray, saying there is an emergency in Oklahoma. While Reed rousts his teammates out of bed, soldiers in Oklahoma are under attack. They’ve set up a dome around the object from the start of the issue, and now someone has opened fire to get at it. Turns out the attackers are Doombots!

The FF arrive on the scene, speculating whether the Latverian provisional government is behind the attack. Reed says that if they’re using Doombots, they must be desperate to get whatever’s in the dome. The FF jump into action, and artist Mike McKone gives us this terrific two-page spread of Ben duking it out with a Doombot.

There’s several pages of fighting and banter, as all the Doombots act just like they’re the real Dr. Doom, and the FF not having it. Reed notices that the Doombots are only attacking the perimeter of the dome, spreading the soldiers out around its edge. The soldiers tell Reed that the first wave of the attack knocked out all their radar and imaging. Reed deduces almost too late that a missile has been launched at the dome.

The FF evacuate all the soldiers while Sue does her best to contain the missile’s blast. It leaves a crater in the space where the dome just was. Then the real Dr. Doom emerges, somehow back to life again. He says the object in the crater cannot be moved, and yet it is destined to belong to him. Turn the page and the mysterious object is… the hammer of Thor!

To be continued!

Unstable molecule: Why does the Reed/Sue conversation have to take place at 4 a.m.? He’s wearing his lab coat, suggesting that he was working late in the lab, but then he’s quick to admit to Sue that he was at an Illuminati meeting.

Fade out: Sue makes a joke about Reed going “bowling with the boys.” I assume this is her code word for Reed’s Illuminati gathering.

Clobberin’ time: We get a glimpse of Ben’s bedroom in the new Baxter Building, which is sparsely decorated except for some books scattered around. What happened to his ritzy new apartment from the recent Thing miniseries?

Flame on: Ben shouts “Flame off!” at Johnny during the fight, so Johnny won’t burn out his flame. Johnny scoffs at him, saying it won’t work.

Fantastic fifth wheel: This issue’s letters page has results of a reader poll asking for favorite FF alternate member. We don’t see the numbers, but the editor states She-Hulk is the winner, with Crystal and Luke Cage as the runners-up.

Trivia time: Dr. Doom hasn’t been seen since issue #507, when he dragged into Hell itself.

Where’s Thor at? He’s dead, as far as anyone knows in the Marvel Universe at this time. In Thor #85, we had the epic Ragnarok storyline, also part of Avengers: Disassembled, which saw the downfall of both Asgard and Yggrasil. This kicked off several years when there was no Thor in Marvel Comics (but if you know what’s coming in Civil War, you know there’s a bit of a loophole to that).

What’s the deal with the writing on Thor’s hammer? That’s been there ever since his first appearance, but seen since then only on rare occasions. The official explanation is that the writing is always there, but hard to see unless you look closely.  

According to the Marvel Wiki, the Illuminati has been operating since just after the first Kree-Skrull War, which was in the 70s in our time. In addition to a lot of Kree/Skrull action, the Illuminati were secretly involved in Infinity Gauntlet with Thanos and his gems, and they revealed the real origin of the Beyonder. And yes, they were the ones who really launched the Hulk into space. They’ll continue to be major players in upcoming crossovers Planet Hulk, Secret Invasion, Dark Reign and beyond.

Fantastic or frightful? After everything that went down in the Latveria incident, it’s a letdown for Dr. Doom not just be alive again, but to have him walking up to Reed in the middle of Oklahoma and them having a polite conversation. Fortunately, the big fight was filled with great classic FF-isms. The issue promises big things to come, even without the editorially mandated Civil War tie-in stuff.

Next: Hammer don’t hurt ‘em.

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Want more? Check out my new ongoing serial, THE SUBTERKNIGHTS, on Kindle Vella. A man searches for his missing sister in a sprawling city full of far-out tech and secret magic. It’s a sci-fi/fantasy hybrid full of action, romance, mystery, and laughs. The first three chapters are FREE! Click here for a list of all my books and serials.