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Civil War! Team Iron Man


It's pretty obvious from this site, but I love my comics. I wasn't such a huge fan of the original Civil War comic. It was one of those big events that Marvel and DC do every year because, well, Marvel and DC do a big event every year. All the regular comics stop their regular stories and have to tie-in to the event, and the endings are rarely satisfactory, because they aren't actually endings, just a final issue which sets up the next lot of plotlines which will lead to the next big event (kind of like Avengers: Age of Ultron).

The comic took a great idea, and went off in a ridiculous direction with it: The actions of a group of superheroes with their own reality TV show result in a supervillain blowing up a chunk of a small town, including a school. As a result, it is decided that anyone with superpowers or supersuits has to register with the government; no more acting as vigilantes. Not a ridiculous idea, even if it does impact on even people whose power don't present a danger to anyone. Captain America decides this is un-American, and starts a resistance movement, while Tony Stark becomes 'Iron Hitler'.

No, really, with the help of Reed "Mr Fantastic" Richards and Hank "Ant-Man" Pym, Stark builds a super-concentration camp in another dimension, and builds an evil clone of Thor, which kills one of the members of Cap's resistance. He also tries to blackmail the Wakandan Royal couple, Black Panther and Storm, to register while on a state visit, which leads to a giant mecha-fight over the White House. It all seems quite out of character for Tony, and it makes it impossible for any reader to really sympathise with a position that didn't need to be so controversial.

In the trailer for Captain America: Civil War, though, Cap's motivation is to protect his friend, Bucky. This is understandable, but bearing in mind that friend has been killing people for Nazis for about 70 years, I question his judgment. Now, the trailer does show that the people after Bucky are looking to bring him in dead, rather than alive, but between the abilities of Team Cap, I'd reckon a safe handover, and a consideration of the fact that Bucky was violently brainwashed at the time could be managed. I have sympathy with Cap, but I'm just not comfortable with him putting himself above the law. I find myself agreeing with the label of "vigilante" applied to him in the trailer.

As for Tony, the MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe) has built up an ongoing arc of Tony starting off as purely ego-driven and self-obsessed, through to being willing to heroically sacrifice himself in Avengers, to trying to 'put a suit of armour around the world' in Avengers: Age of Ultron, which has more than a hint of control-freakery about it, and blows up in his face as his work creates Ultron, who nearly wipes out life on Earth. It looks like his motivation in Civil War is trying to make up for all this, and continuing his growing desire to protect the world by taking control of it (for its own good) - now he's trying to control his fellow Avengers, and make them play by the rules.

Basically, he's trying to do the right thing (making sure superheroes powers aren't left unchecked), but for the wrong reasons (assuaging his personal guilt over his work on Ultron causing so much damage), while Cap is doing the wrong thing (placing himself above the law) for the right reason (protecting his friend). So, I'm throwing my lot in with Team Tony for now. While neither side is perfect, what also helps swing it is that he's got the Black Panther on his side, and you'd be a fool to go against the king of Wakanda.

Here's the commission I did of Iron Man a while ago to seal the deal. Let me know who you're going for, and if there are any heroes you want to see drawings of.

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