Civil War II

Earth 616 may still be feeling the effects of Secret Wars, but another summer means another Marvel crossover event (or two or three... *narrows eyes at the X-Men*) as everything changes again with Civil War II.

- Carl Anka

Much like the previous Civil War crossover (not to mention the recent Captain America movie), Civil War II sees two opposing factions of superhero locking horns over a larger philosophical issue. A new Inhuman called Ulysses has been discovered with the ability to “accurately” predict the future. The dilemma becomes whether or not to take proactive advantage of this. On one side is Captain Marvel, Carol Danvers, who hopes to use Ulysses to stop crimes before they happen. On the other side is Tony Stark, who believes that giving in to pre-crime would lead to wider ethical issues that the Avengers would rather not get into.

Taking a conceit from Minority Report and applying it to the world of capes and criminals is an inspired decision. Civil War II has a very well developed narrative point which all the characters can work from. Based on their previous histories it’s apparent which heroes would fall in favour of pre-crime or against it, allowing Brian Michael Bendis to draw believable lines in the sand between the different factions without much irrational or arbitrary escalation.