Marvel has published many events over the years, butCivil Warremains perhaps the biggest and most popular of all time. When I was first getting into comic books,Civil Warwas one of the first stories I read. I didn’t know much about the Marvel Universe, but I’d heard of this event. However,having recently checked out its most overlooked tie-in, I’ve learned I never knew just how incredibly bloody it was, and most fans don’t.
Civil Warwas a brutal hero vs hero conflict, asIron Man and Captain America clashedover the idea of registering superhumans with the government. After a number of offensives and counter-attacks, Steve Rogers lays siege to Tony Stark’s Prison 42, hoping to free all his captured allies. The battle spills out into New York, where Captain America finally surrenders, unwilling to put innocent lives at risk by continuing the fight.
However, while reading the tie-in epilogue comicCivil War: Battle Damage Report, I just learned he didn’t surrender fast enough. The issue includes a memo written by Tony Stark which specifies that"47 non-powered humans were killedduring the massive superhero battle that erupted in Times Square.“These deaths aren’t shown in the event itself, and they change the entire tone of the story.
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Civil War: Battle Damage Reportby Anthony Flamini, Ronald Byrd and Ronald Byrd
The final battle ofCivil Waris a massive fight between Tony Stark’s pro-registration heroes and Captain America’s resistance. Essentially every major Marvel hero is involved, and the fight ends with Captain America preparing for what appears to be a killing blow against a downed Tony Stark. However, Cap is tackled by emergency workers who desperately want to end the battle. Realizing he’s putting everyday heroes at risk, Captain America surrenders, allowing himself to be arrested without backing down on his ideological stance.
I always thought Captain America’s surrender was a little overblown, as he cries over what the battle has done to New York. The main event series' central death is William Foster’s Goliath, though tie-in stories also killed D-list figures including heroes Typeface and Bantam, as well as villains Slyde, Jack O’Lantern, Goldbug and Plunderer who are gunned down by the Punisher while pursuing an injured Spider-Man.While Goliath’s death is tragic, it’s also presented as the one major fatality of the conflict.
However, knowing that 47 people were already dead in the battle Captain America created, his surrender iswaymore impactful. In fact, it enhances the story, depicting the superhero Civil War as a conflict that is growing more and more out of control and heading for disaster.
Captain America Surrendered, But Only After Nearly Fifty People Died
Civil War #7by Mark Millar and Steve McNiven
Early inCivil War, Captain America warns that if Iron Man continues to push him, he’ll learn the difference between traditional superhero fights and warfare. Similarly, tie-in seriesCivil War: Front Linecontrasts events in the superhero war with real-life conflicts, including war poetry and depictions of deaths in historical wars. For today’s reader, it’s overblown and borderline offensive to compare a superhero event to real-life deaths in combat. However, the deaths of 47 people transform the story, making it so thatCivil Waris about the superhero conflictbecominga literal war.
The 47-person death toll changes how I understandCivil War, becauseit turns Goliath’s tragic death into far more of a warning of what was going to come from hero fighting hero. If Iron Man or Captain America had been willing to step back from violent conflict, almost 50 people would still be alive. That’s different to the massive property damage that theCivil Warseries actually depicts - a disquieting visual, but something that’s far more par for the course in superhero stories.
Interestingly, 2015’sCivil War volume 2showswhat would have happened if Cap hadn’t stood down. This alternate reality depicts anAmerica split in two by Captain Americaand Iron Man’s war, with many heroes and villains dying as the two rival groups drag their war on for six years. This shows whatCivil War’s New York battlecouldhave started, rather than what it ended, with those 47 deaths showing what happens when superhuman conflict is allowed to run out of control.
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Civil War’s Huge Death Toll Exists in Continuity Limbo
Ultimately, Readers Get to Choose Whether the 47 Deaths Happened
Civil War: Battle Damage Report’s detail of 47 deaths changesCivil Warin multiple ways.On one hand, it gives the conflict greater significance, creating a very real cost to Iron Man and Captain America’s conflict beyond the tragic death of a single hero. On the other, it further plays into the event’s self-serious tone, making it difficult to redeem Marvel’s heroes when their internecine squabble cost so many lives. Worse still,Captain America later recalled the Superhuman Registration Actwhen he was asked to take charge of SHIELD, meaning all those people ultimately died for nothing.
But whileCivil War: Battle Damage Report’s reveal changes how I understand the event, I find it hard to truly consider this detail canon. Later stories haven’t treated Iron Man and Captain America’s conflict as if it killed 47 people, with most of the focus placed on Goliath’s death at the hands of the Thor clone known as Ragnarok. If you didn’t read one obscure event tie-in (which is mostly an encyclopedia of the characters involved, presented as briefing materials after the ‘war’),you’d never know how devastatingCivil War’s final battle was meant to be. In some ways, this is a good thing - fans get to choose whether they ‘believe’ this number or not depending on whether it enhances the story for them.
Marvel lore is dense, and there are always surprises lurking in back issues. I was genuinely surprised that, at least at one point, Marvel intendedCivil War’s final battle to have claimed almost 50 lives, turning Captain America and Iron Man’s ideological battle into one of the bloodiest moments in Marvel continuity.
