BT06 – Civil War

Civil War is a cheat.

Here’s the situation.  Plenty of people are nervous about super-heroes already.  Fantastic powers, limited accountability — especially for all those masked and secret-identitied heroes. A disaster raises a call for heroes / vigilantes / metahumans to be registered with the government. Some heroes agree. Some thing it’s the least worst outcome. And others think it’s an infringement of their liberties. A civil war ensues.

It’s a fascinating subject, with a lot of relevancy to modern life and arguments about security and liberty and good stuff like that. I blogged about this at length back here.  Go ahead and read that — I’ll wait.

(whistles tunelessly while he waits)

Okay, my concern there was that the writers and editors behind this wouldn’t play fair. That the tough way to handle this would be to take the unpopular course, or even admit that it’s a tough situation that defies a simple answer. And here’s what I suggested would be the way it would instead probably run.

First, the story will spin as the Governent/Control Sorts vs. Freedom. Goliath vs. David. The Sheriff vs. Robin Hood. The British vs. the Sons of Liberty. The Fascists vs. … well, you get the idea. It’s a theme that resonates with most people, certainly in the US. Heck, even a fun-loving Bonnie & Clyde get sympathy against those nasty cops. That already puts a strike in the sympathy game against the regulators. Heck, framing it as “regulation” already presiposed folks against it.

This is made even worse in the present circumstances. The idea of governmental control of super-powers is kinda scary, in the right light. The idea of George W. Bush having control of super-powers is outright terrifying for a lot of people, I suspect.

This will be, I predict, enhanced by the tactics used by the “for” camp in the story. If this is truly a civil war, the betrayal, already hinted at, will come from the folks taking the thirty pieces of silver from the Feds. We’ve already seen that, with attempts being made to arrest and detain Captain America (always a silly thing to try, as well as a guaranteed sympathy-gatherer for one rhetorical side, as well as an anticipated betrayal by Iron Man (and others) cropping up at the end of the first volume.

Indeed, it seems that play will be to the emotions, with Captain America representing (very literally) the side of freedom and liberty and emotional power, and the other side being represented by the side of logic and intellect, as embodied (on the last page) by Iron Man, Mister Fantastic, and Yellowjacket.

So the argument comes down to patriotism, on the power of the individual, individual responsibility and freedom, arrayed against the dangerously pragmatic, practical, logical, functional.

In the polemical opera which is comic books, there’s no question where the sympathy, and the result, are supposed to lie.

And … that’s pretty much what’s going on.

1. The unregistered heroes are outnumbered and outgunned.  They are bold, grim freedom fighters.
2. The registration forces have the numbers.  And they tend to beat up on people trying to run away.
3. The non-heroes in the mix — the law enforcement types — are tending toward brutality and nastiness toward the captured heroes.
4. Iron Man, the guy who’s the symbol of the pro-registration forces, keeps playing fast and loose with the rules.  Half the time he’s cold and ruthless.  Half the time he’s got the mask on, faceless and inhuman.  Half the time he’s thinking three steps ahead as to how to control or take out even the folks presently on his side.
5. There are villains trying to take advantage of the Civil War by launching crime sprees.  The only people seemingly stopping this are the unregistered heroes.  There are also villains trying to co-opt or exploit the registration side.
6. The younger heroes are on the unregistered side.  Huzzah for youthful idealism!
7. We’re getting a lot more into the heads of those fighting The Man than those who aren’t.  That’s not entirely true, but the pro-registration types seem to come across as shallow, truckling, uncertain, and/or operating out of fear.  The Rebel Alliance unregistered heroes are thoughtful, noble, brave, etc. 

The only questioning I hear coming from the anti-registration sorts is where they should hide or how to get away from SHIELD, not, “Am I doing the right thing?  Or am I just acting from fear, or selfishness?”  The sort of self-analysis that, say, Spider-Man is doing. 

I don’t buy it. There are very few major political debates of this sort where the virtue is all on one side.  “People of good will can disagree” … but that’s not what we’re seeing here.  The deck is stacked.  Iron Man’s being an asshole and Cap’s being a hero.  As long as that’s the case, it’s all just a straw man argument.  Might as well have Doctor Doom or the Red Skull in charge of the registration movement.

I want to see villains trying to exploit the anti-registration folks (“Come with us — the good guys have betrayed you.”)  I want to see self-questioning among the righteous defenders of liberty.  I want someone to address the issues that are driving this.  Let’s debate the message, not the messenger.  Let’s not make this Iron Man vs. Captain America.  And let’s acknowledge that there probably isn’t a nice, neat answer that doesn’t mean pain and sacrifice and compromise for someone.

It’s a decent story.  It will make a difference.  I’m glad they’re doing it.

I just wish they’d been honest about it.