This is it, the finale of Civil War II for better or worse. The war of the superheroes over an Inhuman who can supposedly predict the future and how that knowledge should be used is finally at an end. Will the combat between Iron Man and Captain Marvel end in death? Will there be rift in the Avengers forever? Will we get a story as well as an anticlimactic event? The answers are here, with my review of Civil War II #8, after the jump.
Maria Hill Fails Again
Let’s start this nonsense with a small point, but an important one. Maria Hill is not fit to be running S.H.I.E.L.D. She has let her personal feelings get involved in a case of national security. She has let her own beliefs and friendships interfere with the lives and well-being of innocent citizens. To allow Captain Marvel and Iron Man to engage in super-powered combat over the Capitol is irresponsible and almost a breach of contract as Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. Nick Fury would have put a halt to this crap a while ago. The Capitol is under attack!!
For her mind to be swayed at the command of one of the causalities of this problem is ridiculous. Really, is everyone operating on the whim of this child. Four to five pages in to the final issue of Civil War II, I once again have to wonder what Ulysses’ real power is – could it be to manipulate ration people into making irrational decisions? Whatever happened to leaders making their own decisions for the greater good? Maria Hill is just as irresponsible as the quite possibly mad Captain Marvel.
What Is Wrong with Captain Marvel?
Sure, she’s been through hell, and probably should be in therapy at the very least, but really now, what is wrong with her? This bloodlust and hatred she has for Iron Man is just surreal. Her portrayal in the first few pages of the issue, Captain Marvel may as well be the Hulk, a crazed rage monster.
And Captain Marvel might as well have been the Hulk. After all the trouble, death, and destruction she has caused, in the end she’s calm, and is still considered a hero. Yeah, that’s the Hulk’s modus operandi. She even got to almost kill Iron Man, just like the Hulk. She goes into a rage, and then calms down and is almost normal, yep, that’s Hulk. At least there’s an opening for that title now that her actions have caused the real Hulk’s death, thanks, Carol. Sarcasm mode off, but still not happy. I remember a Carol Danvers I used to look up to and root for. Where did she go?
The Futures
There’s a point in the issue, after Captain Marvel blows Tony Stark out of his armor, where Ulysses shows the Inhumans and other bystanders various futures, potential futures. Perhaps it’s just an opportunity for different artists to show possible futures in the Marvel Universe, but it is interesting. We see a monster war, a mutant apocalypse, Killraven’s War of the Worlds, a Sentinel rule, Miles Morales killing Steve Rogers on the Capitol steps, Thor battling Thor in an advanced civilization, and Ultron triumphant (my favorite). Nice, but negative props go to the Marvel advertising department for making Daredevil #15 and Elektra #1 seem like two of those futures.
These are simply teases though. These pages are a peek into what Civil War II could have been about. Let’s explore what these futures could mean, how to prevent them or bring them about. Wouldn’t that have been a more compelling story to bounce from that ‘let’s just have heroes fight heroes’? Show us how we can avoid an Ultron or Sentinel controlled future. Explore Mars or Monster Island to prevent those futures. Give us some background on that cool, Thor/Loki fight – these are things I would have liked to have seen rather than slugfest after slugfest, periodically separated by talking heads for pages on end.
Endgame
Certainly the delays in this series have not helped it, but have made this glaring puzzle piece more obvious. Is it just me or does it seem like there was a mandate for a new status quo, and the powers-that-be told Brian Michael Bendis and David Marquez that this is where we need this series to end? We need Iron Man off the board, Captain Marvel a hero, Miles Morales broken, Star-Lord solo, She-Hulk sympathetic, a new Champions team, a new Defenders team, and the X-Men and the Inhumans at odds – get to work.
The whole thing feels false and anticlimactic. The Iron Man thing feels like a deus ex machina to keep him alive, engineered at the last moment. And that final fight between Iron Man and Captain Marvel, were they so intense and angry at each other that they did not say a word? This is Marvel Comics. These heroes chatter when facing off against the worst of the worst, why clam up now? And no one could get between them to stop this slaughter?
Conclusion
This was terrible, from start to finish, despite having such potential. I can imagine that in the hands of another writer this Civil War II concept might have been very different and very good, but like Maria Hill, Bendis fails again. On the other end of this mediocre saga is the tremendous art of David Marquez, who I can’t say enough good things about. This series is worth it for his visuals alone. All in all however this has been a disappointment, only Bendis’ cliffhangers are well done, but his characterization (or lack thereof) and storytelling skills bring it down.
Civil War II, unlike its namesake, is only an excuse for superheroes to fight each other, rather than a reason, and it’s sad. If most of us had not already read or bought this, I would not recommend it, unless you’re a fan of Marquez. If you’d like to read my reviews of other parts of Marvel’s Civil War II event, click here. What did you folks think?
