Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10
The cost of Civil War is not one that can be solved by simply adding up the numbers and marking a line underneath where the money comes from to rectify the problem; it is a dangerous attitude to believe that wounds can heal with the introduction of a cash injection to make the public gracious to those on the opposing side of the conflict. War is war, be it a personal spat between once former friends, through to the disease of global destruction but a Civil War in the family, in the country, always seems more devastating, more personal, and as we find we cannot take a side, the fallout infects us to the point of decay.
As much as the Marvel Studios Film Captain America: Civil War honestly endeavoured to show the audience, there was so much more going on at the time than what appeared on the screen. The original story line involving The Avengers was only part of this superbly captured idea, one that asked a question that we are now perhaps living with in a very real, and dangerous world, and there is no escaping the possibility of great loss.
The unsettling nature of the phrase ‘Us against them’ is never more treacherous than when you find that you arguably didn’t know who you friends were in the first place, it is the ring of familiarity played out in the day to day, and one where in the comic universe it is possible to explore and learn from, that you can see yourself in the characters, your family in the reflection of opinions broadcast openly and without fear of retribution.
What Captain America: Civil War unfortunately neglected, due to time constraints and the MCU not being expanded enough at the time, was the side stories that were beautifully told in the non-Avengers comics released at the time, and in the Marvel’s First Family of heroes, The Fantastic Four, their part in the civil war and the damage that was wrought on the intimate, domestic and dynasty of the lives of Reed and Susan Richards as they fought from opposite sides of the fierce argument, the psychology of The Thing, Ben Grimm, who understandably saw it from both sides, being a patriot but also feeling the deep resentment on the street by those who lives had been transformed by those wishing to remain anonymous as they went through life helping others; these particular three members of the Fantastic Four showcased brilliantly what civil war can do to a family.
Friends can heal quicker perhaps, but in family the blood is forever tainted and the suspicion of not truly having known your family is one that threatens society as a whole.
Fantastic Four: Civil War is a must-read graphic novel for anyone who wants to understand just how devastating Civil War can be; and one that reiterates the need to choose the present the right side of the argument and argue it completely before a bullet is fired and the family suffers and dies.
Ian D. Hall