Make Mine Marvel: Looking Back at “Civil War II”

Marvel Comics has no shortage of classic stories. All Marvel fans have a favorite character or series they’ve been reading for a long time, but every now and then Marvel creates a story that draws everyone’s attention and stands out above the rest.

With that in mind, I’ve decided to take a look back at these classic stories and maybe help you decide whether or not you would like to check them out. Our next series is a sequel of sorts to another classic Marvel crossover. Tony Stark and Carol Danvers disagree on another big issue facing our heroes. And when you disagree with Tony Stark, bad things usually happen. That’s exactly how we get…

Civil War II

The world of superheroes is getting bigger every day and this story kicks off with a brand new inhuman with a very controversial ability – he can see visions of the future. On the surface, that seems like a great tool for superheroes, who can now prevent bad things from happening before they happen. However, there are some major ethical questions about using an ability like that in that way.

Those questions explode to the surface when Captain Marvel tries to use this ability to stop Thanos from potentially acquiring a cosmic cube. She had the best intentions, but the result is disastrous as one of Tony Stark’s friends is killed in the battle. When Tony learns that this death occurred in a fight that didn’t need to happen, he… well, he goes full Tony Stark.

And just like that, we have a second superhero Civil War. Captain Marvel still believes they should be using the inhuman’s ability to prevent the future from happening while Iron Man points out the ethical issues with this, and the fact that she picked a fight with Thanos. The rest of the heroes are left to choose a side, with the Inhumans caught in the middle.

Civil War is one of the most iconic Marvel Comics stories of all-time, so it makes sense that it would spawn a sequel. While sequels can often be a letdown, especially when it comes to comics, this one certainly does not. You might expect the cause of the civil war to simply be the same as it was the first time, but this series presents a brand new story that just happens to result in a fight between the superhero community.

And while a lot of the same characters from the first civil war also play a role in this one, there is also a whole new crop of heroes who get involved in this one. Miles Morales, for example, plays a very important role in this story. And of course the Inhumans are heavily featured as well.

While this comic features a lot of great action and even better characters, neither are what make this series as great as it is. The greatness of this story comes from the incredibly powerful emotional moments. Friends are lost, families are broken and longtime partners can never fully trust each other again. There a lot of really great panels that are charged with enough emotion to get anyone completely hooked on this story.

Artist David Marquez adds to that with some truly amazing artwork. The action sequences in particular are beautifully done, with some great color used throughout. Combine this with Brian Michael Bendis’ incredible story and the long history between some of these characters, and you’ve got a very special crossover comic series.

You can find “Civil War II” here. And be sure to check out some of our other looks back at other classic Marvel Comics here.

Mike Mack
Mack is the Editorial Director for Marvel and ESPN content and he has covered comic cons, theme park events, video game showcases and other fun events. He is a fan of theme parks, sports, movies, Marvel Comics and is a self-proclaimed "nerd."