Volume 50: Civil War

Civil War

Author: Mark Millar  |  Illustrator: Steve McNiven

"What are they trying to do? Turn us into civil servants?"

When a small team of rookie 'heroes' publicly screw up in a very major way, on camera, no less, the people they're supposed to be protecting start to feel nervous, and a large percentage of public opinion regarding all costumed heroes begins to shift.

The argument that police officers undergo years of training and psychological testing before they're allowed to hit the streets, whereas all a superhero has to do to qualify as a defender of public interests is to put on tights and they're good to go, understandably begins to upset a lot of people.

In some ways a mandatory registration of heroes makes a kind of sense, making them accountable for their actions may make them more sympathetic champions, but any kind of mass unmasking will thrust the families of each person into the limelight, making innocents a prime target for evildoers. Hard choices have to be made. Is the comfort of many worth the danger it poses to a select few?

The events in Civil War are some of the most logical reasons Marvel has ever had for a large number of costumed heroes being gathered together in the same place at the same time. And as with any such gathering, there'll be a difference of opinion about the underlying cause. The proposed reforms split the costumed community down the middle. On one side are people who want to go on the government payroll, who want the security and respect that legitimacy brings. On the other are people who value their personal life and feel that it's a grave error to mix their two states of being. They believe that their autonomy and freedom of choice is under threat.

It inevitably ends up in a giant punch-up, but heroes do actually die this time, and Millar manages to at least make the clash serve a dual purpose, one that leads to a devastating result for the community at large and worse for one individual in particular (Volume 51).

I was on board will it all until a single event made it feel forced. The event in question is something that I believe simply wouldn't happen. Maybe the person at the centre of it got swept up in the moment, but considering their painful past it's unlikely such a decision would be made without due consideration. Shortly thereafter people began switching sides and it started feeling silly.

The book collects together Civil War #1–7.

Verdict: