Writer: Mark Millar
Marvel Comics
$2.99 US, $3.75 CAN
With the aid of Black Panther overriding the computer system, and Cloak's teleportation abilities, Cap and the anti-registration forces take the battle from Ryker's Island to the streets outside the Baxter Building.
Namor and an army of Atlanteans join on the side of Cap. The Thor clone and Captain Marvel join Stark. Vision compromises the protective armor of Iron Man. Minutes later, on the ground, face armor broken, Stark tells Cap to 'finish it.' Police and EMT pull Cap back, and he notices the destruction the battle has caused, and realizes they stopped fighting to protect the people, and started fighting for fighting. He also realizes that while they might be close to winning the 'war,' they wouldn't have won the 'argument.'
Cap orders a cease fire, removes his mask, and surrenders as Steve Rogers.
Post-war, there is an amnesty period for more heroes to register, and a new 'Initiative', where the registered superheroes are divided into 50 groups - one for each state.
Captain America is in jail. Spider-Man remains part of the 'underground' and dons a black suit. Sue and Reed Richards are reunited. With Nick Fury missing, Tony Stark is appointed as head of SHIELD. Stark tells Miriam Sharpe the prison was #42 on a list of 100 things he, Reed Richards, and Hank Pym came up with the night her son was killed. Cleaning up SHIELD is #43.
6 comments:
Lots of fan complaints about this ending, and Cap just 'giving up.'
I think it could have been written better, but there is an important line some are missing.
When it becomes clear he's about to surrender, others on his side start to protest saying they're about to win. And Cap responds, 'everything except the argument.'
Because in a war fought over ideas it's not about who wins the battles. Winning is irrelevant if opinions haven't changed.
The 7 issue series is over. But the war isn't.
It's not a pat ending. It's not a happy ending with the major loose ends wrapped up. It's not an ending with the clear-cut bad guy hanging his head in shame and the clear-cut good guys going back to their everyday lives. It's not an ending where Doc Strange waves his hands and taps the Big Reset Button.
If you want to be cynical, it's a springboard for a million crappy spinoffs.
If you want to be even MORE cynical, it's also an accurate metaphor for the politics of the real world right now, where evildoers remain in control long after their nefarious plans become public knowledge.
It's the sort of ending that makes you feel sick. And right now, it's making the Marvel Universe look a lot more relevant and readable than the Other Guys' gross misfires.
It's not an ending at all. Perhaps that is why everyone's so upset. They believed Marvel would be satisfied carrying this plot line over just seven months. Silly people.
Though I will say that this storyline is more for grownups than children. Comics for children are and should be an escape from the real world. But the majority of comic readers at this point aren't children, and Marvel does have its Marvel Adventures line.
And if there was a vast mind-wipe at the end of seven issues there would have been a (justified) greater outcry against it.
There's even a lot of "resolution" that isn't resolution at all.
Does anyone reading Thunderbolts right now (wherein Bullseye, on the government's behalf, paralyzes a superhero for life with a pigsticker for the crime of using his powers to stop a rape, and Captain America figures are marketed on TV as a terrorist villain who screams in fear) honestly believe Tony's going to just "clean up SHIELD?" Is anyone on either side going to treat Tigra or Hawkeye II or Ms. Marvel like anything but lepers, even if they have to work together? Will all the heroes who accepted amnesty still comply with Tony's grand schemes? Will Sue be able to love the man who actually wrote about "the terrible things we did on the road to respectability" with a straight face devoid of irony? Will any of these "Peter's acting suspicious, don't you think" people ever trust or be worthy of trust again?
Will T'Challa ever stop washing the hand that shook Yellowjacket's?
The President (as seen in Cable & Deadpool) is still a conniving creep, Atlanteans are still infiltrating the US, Maria Hill's probably thinking twice about her suggestions to Tony, and Red Skull is still waiting to pull something.
The worst is yet to come.
Ummm...what the heck is up with Sentry?
He should have been able to stop the whole thing by himself; he wasn't even shown during the fight.
Did the writers forget about him?
Shhhhh. Sentry's too powerful. They couldn't write him out of the way like Doc Strange. Shhhhhhhhhh. :)
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