For those who haven’t read the main Civil War II book it’s probably a smart idea that you go there before jumping into this arc, but to each their own. You can probably get by here well enough, though some beats might get lost along the way.
#spoilers
This was a nice companion, better than most tie-ins because it managed to tell its own concise plot with few jumps/gaps on account of the event taking place. The better portion of this story revolves around Carol handling the Alpha Flight board as she eases into what becomes known as the “Ulysses Initiative.” Between Alpha Flight and the Ultimates, Ulysses’ precognition is used to immense advantage and a lot of bad guys are put away before they execute any real harm. Great stuff, right?
Listen… in terms of CVII I was pro-Tony. I was pro-Cap the first time around, so I think it’s safe to say that I’ll usually pick the underdog… which just so happens to be the correct side.
So no, I’m not all for Carol’s obsession with bringing down villains, more specifically PEOPLE, before they actually commit any crimes. HOWEVER, the benefit of her solo book here is that we get a little more insight to her side of things. She’s still a bit of a hardass who doesn’t really care about the fact that she’s overstepping certain boundaries, but there’s a lot more evidence that shows her trying to appease both sides; trying to use Ulysses’s powers the best way possible.
Through that we see the great internal struggle she bears as she has to convince both the superhuman community and the government of her actions. Honestly, it’s kind of maddening. Why wouldn’t it be? I admit it made me sympathetic towards her. If there’s one thing that this Civil War had over the first it’s that it ushers a lot of mixed feelings on my part, because there is a lot of good to come from Ulysses, but a lot of good has a lot of potential for abuse, too.
Anyhow, in the end it turns out the Canadian Trudeau-look-alike that’s been aiding Carol on the board is actually the long time Alpha Flight super-villain, Master of the World. So at the end of all the government hubbub we get a spectacular battle between Captain Marvel and MoW, and boom, the world is saved and everybody is happy, including the people and their hero.
This story achieved what I expected it to: it solidified Captain Marvel’s stance as a hero. Like I said in my last post, she’s a hero that acts in a way I could never see myself performing, but that doesn’t necessarily make it wrong. Yeah, I kind of cringe at the ending where the masses are rallying their support for Carol at the Triskelion, because I’m still pro-Tony in all this mess, but I get it, I totally do. Captain Marvel is basically the Captain America that sticks to her orders, no matter the cause. Does she cut corners occasionally? Sure. But at the end of the day, even when the entire world is screaming that what she’s doing is wrong, she sticks to her guns for the simple fact that her lover (Rhodey, in case you missed it) died a hero’s death in the name of her cause. That’s not just on account of more or less avenging Rhodey (which she is), but her simple recognition of a fellow soldier that followed orders until the end, ergo she will do the same. Captain Marvel isn’t so much a superhero, but more so a super soldier in a way that Captain America isn’t.
TL;DR Score: I’m not crazy, right? Philippe totally looks like Justin Trudeau.
TL;DR Comics 