Back in 2006, writer Mark Millar and artist Steve McNiven teamed up for Civil War, an epic seven part event series which took over pretty much every single Marvel Comics title as Earth’s Mightiest Heroes went to war with each other over the Superhuman Registration Act. For years, fans hoped the story might be adapted for the big screen, and that’s now happening with next year’s Captain America: Civil War.
It’s unclear just how faithful to the source material the movie is going to be, but surprisingly, Millar has pointed out that there’s one key moment he’s ok with being left out, and that’s when Spider-Man unmasked to the world.
“People remember that because it was such a good stunt. It’s a seven-issue series, which is 150 pages or something, and Spider-Man appears it it for three pages, one of which is a splash. It was such a tiny part of it. To be honest, it was just a way of boosting up our sales. We were just sitting there thinking, what can we do with Spider-Man for three pages? And that worked.”
That’s a fair point, and it’s actually a moment which wouldn’t really work in Captain America: Civil War because we’re only just meeting the 15 year old Peter Parker at the start of his career as Spider-Man. The Kick-Ass creator went on to explain that the story also doesn’t really need to focus on secret identities because the main conflict comes from heroes being forced to register with the government, and went on to explain how important it is for Marvel to ensure that neither Captain America nor Iron Man end up being vilified.
“What it’s about is Iron Man feels anybody who is walking around with a nuclear reactor on their back or whatever should be under government control of some kind. They should be maybe working for the government the same way cops work for local government. And it’s sensible when you think about it. It totally makes sense. You have a license, you make sure this guy is okay, you make sure he doesn’t have a criminal record and all this kind of stuff.
And it’s sensible but Captain America’s against it because he comes from a simpler time and he feels superheroes should be autonomous and not be involved in politics. It’s an ideological argument between the two, and that’s all that matters. That’s what Civil War is — it’s Iron Man vs. Captain America, and they’re both right, they’re both good guys. Because the moment you demonize one of them, then the story loses its power. You’ve got to like both of these guys, they’re both correct, and that’s why guys we like go to either side with them.”
Fans are inevitably going to end up choosing sides, but the writer is no doubt spot on with what he’s saying here. Do you agree with Millar’s comments about Captain America: Civil War though? Let us know in the comments section.
