Civil War is a 2015 Marvel Comics limited series written by Charles Soule.
The series is part of the Secret Wars (2015) event, set at a time when reality has been remade and the only remaining planet is Battleworld, a patchwork of different realms held together by the will of Doctor Doom.
An alternate take on Civil War (2006), the Warzone is one of the realities featured in Secret Wars (2015), where the fight in Prison 42 was supposed to end when Cloak teleported everyone out at the same time Black Panther triggered the facility's self-destruct mechanism. But the explosion came through Cloak, killing him, a handful of other heroes, and 15 million more people. As a result, the Civil War never ended, and America has been split down the middle for six years: Iron Man built the Iron, a pro-Reg utopic state, while Captain America established the Blue, an anti-Reg territory whose main principle is freedom.
Civil War (2015) provides examples of:
- Action Politician: Each time you see Iron Man and Captain America head to superhero brawls, remember that in this story they are heads of state.
- Bittersweet Ending: The series ends with the Blue and the Iron reunited and the Skrull treachery revealed. However, the heroes are now powerless and Tony and Steve died to stop the war.
- Body Horror: Kingpin in issue 3. Not only is he even fatter than usual, he has been driven insane by Doctor Octopus's tentacles, which essentially lobotomized him after he murdered Doc Ock to steal them. Tony only keeps him around to build weapons for him. It gets even worse when Venom smashes his head like a melon.
- Conflict Ball: Still being held by both General America and Iron Man. The impetus for the continued conflict this time is that both assumes the other was responsible for the destruction of The Raft, and have never come to a mutual conclusion that someone else may be manipulating them. In fact, in the first issue of the series proper, a sniper takes out the only person willing to get the two of them to sit down and talk and they're too busy blaming each other to even consider a third possibility. Tony Stark, however, diverts some of his attention to figuring out who the third party is, while General America (and especially his Number Two, Peter Parker) is still gung-ho on taking down The Iron. Attilan Rising reveals that the third party prolonging the war is Doom himself working through the Skrulls.
- Composite Character: Spider-Man has the wings of Falcon.
- Diabolus ex Machina: In-Universe, Iron Man makes a timeline of the war. He points out that there were many key moments that should have been an end of the war, but instead kept it going on. Some of those events (such as the neutrality of the X-Men, or the death of Black Goliath) are actually plausible, but many others (such as the big explosion at the Baxter Building, and the death of Miriam Sharpe) seem so weird and unexpected that it has to be the result of someone manipulating them to keep the war going on.
- Divided States of America: This time, Civil War lives up to its name. the United States has been split down the middle, with the west called "The Blue" (governed by General America) and "The Iron" governed by President Tony Stark. The West is a far-right libertarian utopia while the East is a far-left benevolent bureaucracy.
- The Dragon: Spider-Man for Captain America, the Winter Soldier and She-Hulk for Iron Man.
- Egopolis: Iron Man's nation is called "The Iron".
- Face–Heel Turn: Zig-zagged. It initially seems like Black Panther is the true Big Bad and the mastermind behind the war, but it actually turns out to be the Skrull Queen Veranke posing as him.
- Failure Is the Only Option: The premise of this alternate version is that the civil war never ended. And the present-day action of the first issue starts with... peace negotiations? No surprise, things got screwed.
- For Want Of A Nail: The series has the final battle Gone Horribly Wrong.
- Forever War: The Warzone is a domain where the Superhero Civil War never ended.
- Good Versus Good: You have the Anti-Registration heroes led by General America and the Pro-Registration heroes led by President Stark, who are fighting for control of The Warzone. Who is the more ethical of the two is up to the reader but both are shown to be good in their own ways.
- The Man Behind the Man: In issue 3 Black Panther is revealed to be manipulating Stark and Rogers to keep them fighting each other. It is promptly subverted in issue 4 when it was revealed that it was actually the Skrull Queen impersonating Black Panther.
- Narrator All Along: The first part of the first issue (Civil War as it first took place, and the point of divergence) is narrated by Miriam Sharpe.
- Stealth Sequel: There is no advertisment about this, but the story also serves as an alternate take on Secret Invasion
- Take a Third Option: America is divided in two countries, divided by a chasm, and all the Americans had to decide in which country would they live. Miriam Sharpe preferred instead to live in a house built over a bridge that crosses the chasm.
- Official Couple: President Tony Stark and Jennifer Walters.
- President Evil: Norman Osborn was briefly able to conquer the White House (an obvious nod to Dark Reign) but Tony killed him with a Kill Sat before he could take over.
- Spotting the Thread: Iron Man realizes that his captor isn't really Black Panther after coming to the conclusion that the real Black Panther would never have been stupid enough to leave Tony alive after kidnapping him. It turns out he's correct; it's actually the Skrull queen Veranke posing as Black Panther.
- Utopia: Both sides consider their territory to be this. Iron Man's "The Iron" is a heavily-regulated state where certain personal freedoms (such as superpowers) are forbidden without training. However, it is extremely safe and recognized by foreign nations as a legitimate state. General America's "The Blue" is a wide expanse that's sparsely populated and where personal freedoms are protect first and foremost. The Blue only has two laws: don't hurt anyone, and don't be a deadbeat. It's stated that both sides are run so well that individuals can freely come and go as they decide which place they'd rather live in and the citizens of both are satisfied enough that neither has any desire to reunify. However, both have their problems: The Iron has extremely limited space but a rapidly growing population while The Blue has more space than they could ever use, but very little means of getting by since the land is mostly barren and foreign states won't trade with them since they're considered a rogue state.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Iron Man is furious with Captain America when he thinks he ordered Black Panther to destroy Prison 42 by activating its self-destruct. Black Panther was actually a Skrull at the time, and it was just one event the Skrulls manipulated to keep the war going.
