Marvel's roster of superheroes face their greatest obstacle yet as they are pitted against one another in a battle for the future of herodom
The Marvel Civil War began in February 2006, climaxed in March 2007 with the death of septuagenarian Captain America, and left many loose ends to be revisited in future comics.
The Civil War began as one of those rifts of ideology that are so key to superhero identity. Iron Man (alter ego Tony Stark) decides that he will force all superheroes to register themselves so that a governing body can makes these heroes accountable for their actions. The problem is that in-so-doing, the characteristic dual identities of many of these heroes may never exist as they once did. Heroes are forced to choose sides and to fight in one of the biggest wars ever to hit the Marvel universe.
Much of the depth of character of these heroes comes from their non-superheroic side – but heroic nonetheless. Spiderman manages to find just as many obstacles with his job and personal relations as with his masked nemeses. At these points, readers see themselves most in these characters.
Captain America, perhaps more than any other hero, epitomizes the traditional comic book hero. He is torn apart during the Civil War – his generation-spanning friendship with Iron Man on one side and his sense of morality and justice on the other. As he tries to make sense of this war, we see him painfully lose his grasp on his alter-ego as an illustrator. He tries, but is unable to draw a thing.
The ethical matter of the Civil War touches every corner of the Marvel universe, exciting readers with most of their favourite big-name heroes, some lesser-knowns, and even some from the past. Particularly interesting were the heroes the Thing encountered in Paris. Readers wrote in about their excitement over seeing le Phantom, la Lumière Bleue, and… um… le Cowboy, for the first time since childhood.
Comic books have been looking for ways to connect with audiences. Marvel has taken to creating big budget movies and video games to attract young minds to the literary world of superheroes. With the Civil War, exciting story-lines, character-based drama, and universal themes explored in each compelling issue kept readers checking the comic racks for the latest release just as they had at the inception of comic books. The beauty of the Civil War is that it drew heavily from the traditions of the past and while Captain America is dead, there is no doubt about the life of the comic book, nor the honourable values for which Captain America stood.
