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Cleanup.
Not unintentionally hated as the heroes hate her for it. No need to compare.
Not unintentionally hated as the heroes hate her for it. No need to compare.Changed line(s) 40,41 (click to see context) from:
* TheScrappy: Three major ones:
** '''Maria Hill''': The acting head of S.H.I.E.L.D. and pro-reg supporter who decided to arrest Captain America for "not following the law" -- despite the fact that ''said law hadn't been voted on in the US Congress yet'' and Cap had only said that he didn't want to hunt down heroes who disobeyed the law, not that he was adverse to registering himself. She's still largely distrusted by fans in anything she happens to pop up in.
** '''Maria Hill''': The acting head of S.H.I.E.L.D. and pro-reg supporter who decided to arrest Captain America for "not following the law" -- despite the fact that ''said law hadn't been voted on in the US Congress yet'' and Cap had only said that he didn't want to hunt down heroes who disobeyed the law, not that he was adverse to registering himself. She's still largely distrusted by fans in anything she happens to pop up in.
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* TheScrappy: Three major ones:
** '''Maria Hill''': The acting head of S.H.I.E.L.D. and pro-reg supporter who decided to arrest Captain America for "not following the law" -- despite the fact that ''said law hadn't been voted on in the US Congress yet'' and Cap had only said that he didn't want to hunt down heroes who disobeyed the law, not that he was adverse to registering himself. She's still largely distrusted by fans in anything she happens to pop up in.TheScrappy:
** '''Maria Hill''': The acting head of S.H.I.E.L.D. and pro-reg supporter who decided to arrest Captain America for "not following the law" -- despite the fact that ''said law hadn't been voted on in the US Congress yet'' and Cap had only said that he didn't want to hunt down heroes who disobeyed the law, not that he was adverse to registering himself. She's still largely distrusted by fans in anything she happens to pop up in.
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** '''Sally Floyd''': A reporter who accused Captain America of being un-American [[LogicalFallacies because he doesn't use a particular social media webpage, enjoy car races, or watch a certain TV series]]. Because of this, Sally ended up being the most hated character in the ''entire'' Marvel Universe, second perhaps only to Miriam Sharpe.
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** '''Sally Floyd''': A reporter who accused Captain America of being un-American [[LogicalFallacies because he doesn't use a particular social media webpage, enjoy car races, or watch a certain TV series]]. Because of this, Sally ended up being the most hated character in the ''entire'' Marvel Universe, second perhaps only to Miriam Sharpe.
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While it's true that reception to Civil War was all over the place, the books sold extremely well, so it doesn't really fit this trope.
Deleted line(s) 8 (click to see context) :
* AudienceAlienatingEra: Some felt Marvel would be better off disavowing this story and undoing the big changes made by it. It finally happened after ''ComicBook/DarkReign'', which led to the abolishment of the Registration Act.
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Bad indentation, misuse (please see the fifth paragraph in the trope page).
Changed line(s) 22,25 (click to see context) from:
* HarsherInHindsight:
** The opening event of the story is a disaster in suburban Stamford, Connecticut that involves the destruction of, among other things, an elementary school, serving as the tipping point for a national debate over superhero registration. Six years later, an elementary school in another Connecticut town, just one hour away from Stamford, was the site of [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandy_Hook_Elementary_School_shooting one of the deadliest killing sprees in history]], acting (together with another massacre five months earlier at a movie theater in Aurora, Colorado) as the tipping point for a national debate over gun control. Notably, unlike in Marvel where a sweeping superhero registration act is promptly passed, in real life those massacres did ''not'' result in ''any'' new gun control laws.
** When Spider-Man confronts Iron Man about [[spoiler:the clone of Thor killing Goliath, a black superhero]], Iron Man defends it by saying [[spoiler:the clone]] was acting how any police officer would in that situation. This in combination with the argument used multiple times in the event, that superheroes should be held accountable just like the police, casts a rather dark pall over the whole thing considering the subsequent rise in evidence of cases of police brutality and groups like Black Lives Matter exposing how little accountability cops actually have to face.
*** And earlier at Goliath's funeral, Miriam Sharpe tells Tony that he shouldn't be held accountable for Goliath's death, saying that he was justified in doing his job like a police officer would do when a punk pulls a gun on them. This comment did not win Sharpe any favours back then and it has only aged poorly following the increased attention paid to police brutality.
** The opening event of the story is a disaster in suburban Stamford, Connecticut that involves the destruction of, among other things, an elementary school, serving as the tipping point for a national debate over superhero registration. Six years later, an elementary school in another Connecticut town, just one hour away from Stamford, was the site of [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandy_Hook_Elementary_School_shooting one of the deadliest killing sprees in history]], acting (together with another massacre five months earlier at a movie theater in Aurora, Colorado) as the tipping point for a national debate over gun control. Notably, unlike in Marvel where a sweeping superhero registration act is promptly passed, in real life those massacres did ''not'' result in ''any'' new gun control laws.
** When Spider-Man confronts Iron Man about [[spoiler:the clone of Thor killing Goliath, a black superhero]], Iron Man defends it by saying [[spoiler:the clone]] was acting how any police officer would in that situation. This in combination with the argument used multiple times in the event, that superheroes should be held accountable just like the police, casts a rather dark pall over the whole thing considering the subsequent rise in evidence of cases of police brutality and groups like Black Lives Matter exposing how little accountability cops actually have to face.
*** And earlier at Goliath's funeral, Miriam Sharpe tells Tony that he shouldn't be held accountable for Goliath's death, saying that he was justified in doing his job like a police officer would do when a punk pulls a gun on them. This comment did not win Sharpe any favours back then and it has only aged poorly following the increased attention paid to police brutality.
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* HarsherInHindsight:
**HarsherInHindsight: The opening event of the story is a disaster in suburban Stamford, Connecticut that involves the destruction of, among other things, an elementary school, serving as the tipping point for a national debate over superhero registration. Six years later, an elementary school in another Connecticut town, just one hour away from Stamford, was the site of [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandy_Hook_Elementary_School_shooting one of the deadliest killing sprees in history]], acting (together with another massacre five months earlier at a movie theater in Aurora, Colorado) as the tipping point for a national debate over gun control. Notably, unlike in Marvel where a sweeping superhero registration act is promptly passed, in real life those massacres did ''not'' result in ''any'' new gun control laws.
** When Spider-Man confronts Iron Man about [[spoiler:the clone of Thor killing Goliath, a black superhero]], Iron Man defends it by saying [[spoiler:the clone]] was acting how any police officer would in that situation. This in combination with the argument used multiple times in the event, that superheroes should be held accountable just like the police, casts a rather dark pall over the whole thing considering the subsequent rise in evidence of cases of police brutality and groups like Black Lives Matter exposing how little accountability cops actually have to face.
*** And earlier at Goliath's funeral, Miriam Sharpe tells Tony that he shouldn't be held accountable for Goliath's death, saying that he was justified in doing his job like a police officer would do when a punk pulls a gun on them. This comment did not win Sharpe any favours back then and it has only aged poorly following the increased attention paid to police brutality.laws.
**
** When Spider-Man confronts Iron Man about [[spoiler:the clone of Thor killing Goliath, a black superhero]], Iron Man defends it by saying [[spoiler:the clone]] was acting how any police officer would in that situation. This in combination with the argument used multiple times in the event, that superheroes should be held accountable just like the police, casts a rather dark pall over the whole thing considering the subsequent rise in evidence of cases of police brutality and groups like Black Lives Matter exposing how little accountability cops actually have to face.
*** And earlier at Goliath's funeral, Miriam Sharpe tells Tony that he shouldn't be held accountable for Goliath's death, saying that he was justified in doing his job like a police officer would do when a punk pulls a gun on them. This comment did not win Sharpe any favours back then and it has only aged poorly following the increased attention paid to police brutality.
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** Sally Floyd's infamous "Do you know what Website/MySpace is?" rant convinced few readers even in its time, but it has only grown more laughable now that [=MySpace=], Nascar, and ''Series/AmericanIdol'' have substantially fallen in popularity and cultural relevance since 2006.
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** Sally Floyd's infamous "Do you know what Website/MySpace is?" rant convinced few readers even in its time, but it has only grown more laughable now that [=MySpace=], Nascar, and ''Series/AmericanIdol'' have substantially fallen would very quickly fall off in popularity and cultural relevance since after 2006.
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* AlternateAesopInterpretation: Some fans came to believe, running with the intended BothSidesHaveAPoint message, that the [[DependingOnTheWriter inconsistent treatment]] of the SHRA creates a deeper message than what was originally intended, interpreting the SHRA being presented as a vague law that manages to create chaos because of its lack of concrete detail or regulation for either side.
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Changed line(s) 30 (click to see context) from:
** Sally Floyd's ArmorPiercingQuestion "What is Website/MySpace?" would be [[WhatAreRecords just as baffling to most people in the U.S. today]].
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** Sally Floyd's ArmorPiercingQuestion "What is Website/MySpace?" "Do you know what Website/MySpace is?" would be [[WhatAreRecords just as baffling to most people in the U.S. today]].
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** The story was written in the aftermath of 9/11, the reaction of the Bush administration, and UsefulNotes/TheWarOnTerror. Also Website/MySpace.
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** The story was written in the aftermath of 9/11, the reaction of the Bush administration, and UsefulNotes/TheWarOnTerror. Also Website/MySpace.At least a chunk of why it proved so notoriously controversial is that [[ProductionLeadTime it came out in 2006,]] at right about the time that Bush burned through the last of his post-9/11 goodwill.
** Sally Floyd's infamous "Do you know what Website/MySpace is?" rant convinced few readers even in its time, but it has only grown more laughable now that [=MySpace=], Nascar, and ''Series/AmericanIdol'' have substantially fallen in popularity and cultural relevance since 2006.
** Sally Floyd's infamous "Do you know what Website/MySpace is?" rant convinced few readers even in its time, but it has only grown more laughable now that [=MySpace=], Nascar, and ''Series/AmericanIdol'' have substantially fallen in popularity and cultural relevance since 2006.
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Changed line(s) 54 (click to see context) from:
* UnintentionallyUnsympathetic: The pro-reg side decide to back the government because "the law is the law is the law"... which, natter-inducing argument aside, would hold slightly more weight if this A: Wasn't the government of the [[CrapsackWorld Marvel Universe]], but more importantly B: Wasn't a government which a few weeks prior to the event beginning had tried to ''nuke'' the Avengers to get rid of one supervillain. And these are the people Tony Stark thinks are worth trusting?
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* UnintentionallyUnsympathetic: The pro-reg side decide to back the government because "the law is the law is the law"... which, natter-inducing argument aside, would hold slightly more weight if this A: Wasn't the government of the [[CrapsackWorld Marvel Universe]], but more importantly B: Wasn't a government which a few weeks prior to the event beginning had tried to ''nuke'' the Avengers to get rid of one supervillain. And these are the people Tony Stark thinks are worth trusting?
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Doesn't meet the following criterion: "To qualify, most fans must hold a strong opinion on the subject, with very little middle ground. It must inspire passionate and sustained reactions with very few involved holding no opinion, choosing to stay neutral, or trying to Take a Third Option in regards to the conflict."
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* BrokenBase: Is the story a compelling modern classic, or an awkward idiotic plot? A [[TakeAThirdOption third option]] appears to be that it's just [[SoOkayItsAverage "eh"]].
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** Cap himself refuses to hear Tony out when he offers to make peace and beats Punisher senseless for murdering criminals. While Punisher might not be the greatest person the fact he refuses to fight back really makes Cap come off as the bigger jackass. It also doesn't help the writer Creator/MarkMillar who wrote ''ComicBook/TheUltimates'' bled a good deal of {{Jerkass}} Ultimate Cap into 616 Cap.
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** Cap himself refuses to hear Tony out when he offers to make peace and beats Punisher senseless for murdering criminals. While Punisher might not be the greatest person person, the fact he refuses to fight back really makes Cap come off as the bigger jackass. It also doesn't help that the writer Creator/MarkMillar who (who wrote ''ComicBook/TheUltimates'' ''ComicBook/TheUltimates'') bled a good deal of {{Jerkass}} Ultimate Cap into 616 Cap.
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Changed line(s) 53 (click to see context) from:
** The story was written in the aftermath of 9/11, the reaction of the Bush administration, and the "War on terror". Also Website/MySpace.
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** The story was written in the aftermath of 9/11, the reaction of the Bush administration, and the "War on terror".UsefulNotes/TheWarOnTerror. Also Website/MySpace.
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Changed line(s) 50 (click to see context) from:
** Y'know what was going on at the same time as this event? ''ComicBook/{{Annihilation}}'', aka the event where Annihilus killed Quasar and the entire Nova Corps (except Nova himself), stole the Quantum Bands thus making himself invincible, and then led a Negative Zone army on a warpath, trying to slaughter all life in the ''universe''. This was a threat so big that almost every space superhero, villain, and alien race up to and including ''Galactus'' teamed up to stop it. Compared to that, the events here seem incredibly pointless. Not to mention the Hulk was on his way back to rain holy hell on the superheroes. Lampshaded by a ''What If?'' Issue where Nova calls out Iron Man and Cap on wasting everyone's time like this when a ''galaxy destroying army of bugs'' is on the way. Hell, it's lampshaded in ''Annihilation'' itself by Star-Lord and Nova, who argue whether the heroes would even be able to stop fighting one another long enough to not die if the Wave reaches their back door. Side note, Annhilus was waging this intergalatic war which killed trillions out of rage that the universe was encroaching on his territory, the Negative Zone. Guess where Iron Man built his concentration camp without any permission from Annihilus.
to:
** Y'know what was going on at the same time as this event? ''ComicBook/{{Annihilation}}'', aka the event where Annihilus killed Quasar and the entire Nova Corps (except Nova himself), stole the Quantum Bands thus making himself invincible, and then led a Negative Zone army on a warpath, trying to slaughter all life in the ''universe''. This was a threat so big that almost every space superhero, villain, and alien race up to and including ''Galactus'' teamed up to stop it. Compared to that, the events here seem incredibly pointless. Not to mention the Hulk was on his way back to rain holy hell on the superheroes. Lampshaded by a ''What If?'' Issue where Nova calls out Iron Man and Cap on wasting everyone's time like this when a ''galaxy destroying army of bugs'' is on the way. Hell, it's lampshaded in ''Annihilation'' itself by Star-Lord and Nova, who argue whether the heroes would even be able to stop fighting one another long enough to not die if the Wave reaches their back door. Side note, Annhilus was waging this intergalatic intergalactic war which killed trillions trillions, out of rage that the universe was encroaching on his territory, the Negative Zone. Guess where Iron Man built his concentration camp without any permission from Annihilus.
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Changed line(s) 50 (click to see context) from:
** Y'know what was going on at the same time as this event? ''ComicBook/{{Annihilation}}'', aka the event where Annihilus killed Quasar and the all of Nova Corps (except Nova himself), stole the Quantum Bands thus making himself invincible, and then lead a Negative Zone army on a warpath, trying to slaughter all life in the ''universe''. This was a threat so big that almost every space superhero, villain, and alien race up to and including ''Galactus'' teamed up to stop it. Compared to that the events here seem incredibly pointless. Not to mention the Hulk was on his way back to rain holy hell on the superheroes. Lampshaded by a ''What If?'' Issue where Nova calls out Iron Man and Cap on wasting everyone's time like this when a ''galaxy destroying army of bugs'' is on the way. Hell, it's lampshaded in ''Annihilation'' itself by Star-Lord and Nova, who argue whether the heroes would even be able to stop fighting one another long enough to not die if the Wave reaches their back door. Side note, Annhilus was waging this intergalatic war which killed trillions out of rage that the universe was encroaching on his territory, the Negative Zone. Guess where Iron Man built his concentration camp without any permission from Annihilus.
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** Y'know what was going on at the same time as this event? ''ComicBook/{{Annihilation}}'', aka the event where Annihilus killed Quasar and the all of entire Nova Corps (except Nova himself), stole the Quantum Bands thus making himself invincible, and then lead led a Negative Zone army on a warpath, trying to slaughter all life in the ''universe''. This was a threat so big that almost every space superhero, villain, and alien race up to and including ''Galactus'' teamed up to stop it. Compared to that that, the events here seem incredibly pointless. Not to mention the Hulk was on his way back to rain holy hell on the superheroes. Lampshaded by a ''What If?'' Issue where Nova calls out Iron Man and Cap on wasting everyone's time like this when a ''galaxy destroying army of bugs'' is on the way. Hell, it's lampshaded in ''Annihilation'' itself by Star-Lord and Nova, who argue whether the heroes would even be able to stop fighting one another long enough to not die if the Wave reaches their back door. Side note, Annhilus was waging this intergalatic war which killed trillions out of rage that the universe was encroaching on his territory, the Negative Zone. Guess where Iron Man built his concentration camp without any permission from Annihilus.
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Changed line(s) 46 (click to see context) from:
** '''Miriam Sharpe''': The mother of one of the Stamford victims who blames heroes for her son's death -- despite the fact that most of the people she attacks had ''nothing whatsoever'' to do with the disaster. Not helping matters was her appearance at Goliath's funeral, saying that Goliath's death was his own fault because Tony and the rest of the pro-reg side was just doing their job. Said comment not only comes off as extremely insensitive, but shows that Sharpe has no remorse for how much damage and death caused by the Act that she helped to push for. She remains reviled to this day.
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** '''Miriam Sharpe''': The mother of one of the Stamford victims who blames heroes for her son's death -- despite the fact that most of the people she attacks had ''nothing whatsoever'' to do with the disaster. Not helping matters was her appearance at Goliath's funeral, saying that Goliath's death was his own fault because Tony and the rest of the pro-reg side was just doing their job. Said comment not only comes off as extremely insensitive, but shows that Sharpe has no remorse for how much all the damage and death caused by the Act that which she helped to push for. She remains reviled to this day.
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* AudienceAlienatingEra: Some felt Marvel would be better off disavowing this story and undoing the big changes made by it. It finally happened after ''ComicBook/DarkReign'', and which led to the abolishment of the Registration Act.
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* AudienceAlienatingEra: Some felt Marvel would be better off disavowing this story and undoing the big changes made by it. It finally happened after ''ComicBook/DarkReign'', and which led to the abolishment of the Registration Act.
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* AudienceAlienatingEra: Some felt Marvel would be better off disavowing this story and undoing the big changes made by it. It finally happened after ''Dark Reign'', and which led to the abolishment of the Registration Act.
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* AudienceAlienatingEra: Some felt Marvel would be better off disavowing this story and undoing the big changes made by it. It finally happened after ''Dark Reign'', ''ComicBook/DarkReign'', and which led to the abolishment of the Registration Act.
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Changed line(s) 6 (click to see context) from:
* {{Anvilicious}}: All of the messages delivered in the the event are incredibly unsubtle, from the pro-Registration being fascist to the anti-Registration being anti-accountability, only made worse by the fact that the comic can't even seem to decide what its [[AnAesop Aesop]] even is.
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* {{Anvilicious}}: All of the messages delivered in the the event are incredibly unsubtle, from the pro-Registration faction being fascist to the anti-Registration faction being anti-accountability, only made worse by the fact that the comic can't even seem to decide what its [[AnAesop Aesop]] even is.
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Changed line(s) 24 (click to see context) from:
** When Spider-Man confronts Iron Man about [[spoiler:the clone of Thor killing Goliath, a black superhero]], Iron Man defends it by saying the [[spoiler:the clone]] was acting how any police officer would in that situation. This in combination with the argument used multiple times in the event, that superheroes should be held accountable just like the police, casts a rather dark pall over the whole thing considering the subsequent rise in evidence of cases of police brutality and groups like Black Lives Matter exposing how little accountability cops actually have to face.
to:
** When Spider-Man confronts Iron Man about [[spoiler:the clone of Thor killing Goliath, a black superhero]], Iron Man defends it by saying the [[spoiler:the clone]] was acting how any police officer would in that situation. This in combination with the argument used multiple times in the event, that superheroes should be held accountable just like the police, casts a rather dark pall over the whole thing considering the subsequent rise in evidence of cases of police brutality and groups like Black Lives Matter exposing how little accountability cops actually have to face.
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Dork Age was renamed
* AudienceAlienatingEra: Some felt Marvel would be better off disavowing this story and undoing the big changes made by it. It finally happened after ''Dark Reign'', and which led to the abolishment of the Registration Act.
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* DorkAge: Some felt Marvel would be better off disavowing this story and undoing the big changes made by it. It finally happened after ''Dark Reign'', and which led to the abolishment of the Registration Act.
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** Was Sally Floyd literally claiming that [=MySpace=] and NASCAR are the new pillars of America, or was she trying to explain to Cap that most people are more concerned with whatever helps them get through the day over abstract ideals (at least in the way that Cap was brought up on them)? Not that this lets her off the hook for her hostile, condescending tone.
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removing superfluous youtuber reference
Changed line(s) 56 (click to see context) from:
** Cap himself refuses to hear Tony out when he offers to make peace and beats Punisher senseless for murdering criminals. While Punisher might not be the greatest person the fact he refuses to fight back really makes Cap come off as the bigger jackass. It also doesn't help (as pointed out by Linkara) the writer Creator/MarkMillar who wrote ''ComicBook/TheUltimates'' bled a good deal of {{Jerkass}} Ultimate Cap into 616 Cap.
to:
** Cap himself refuses to hear Tony out when he offers to make peace and beats Punisher senseless for murdering criminals. While Punisher might not be the greatest person the fact he refuses to fight back really makes Cap come off as the bigger jackass. It also doesn't help (as pointed out by Linkara) the writer Creator/MarkMillar who wrote ''ComicBook/TheUltimates'' bled a good deal of {{Jerkass}} Ultimate Cap into 616 Cap.
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If the Take That didn't actually land/happen, not this.
Deleted line(s) 47,48 (click to see context) :
* TakeThatScrappy: The side of Maria Hill won… but ''she'' did not; she was demoted to be the NumberTwo of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s new head honcho, Tony Stark. At least that's [[YouGetMeCoffee how it looks]] in the main title. In the Iron Man tie-in, she hands over the reins to him of her own volition, having realized that she was given power for the wrong reason. Many didn't think that was punishment enough for her.
** Many people must have thought this when the Cape Killers gave the MirandaRights to Sally Floyd and took her prisoner. Fortunately, they did not have any strong evidence to keep her there, so she's free to continue annoying all superheroes. On the other hand, this somehow causes her to [[DefeatMeansFriendship switch to supporting the Pro-reg side]].
** Many people must have thought this when the Cape Killers gave the MirandaRights to Sally Floyd and took her prisoner. Fortunately, they did not have any strong evidence to keep her there, so she's free to continue annoying all superheroes. On the other hand, this somehow causes her to [[DefeatMeansFriendship switch to supporting the Pro-reg side]].
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Not this if they were not supposed to be strawmen.
Deleted line(s) 47,50 (click to see context) :
* StrawmanHasAPoint: The whole arc had this problem.
** It was supposed to be a nuanced exploration of whether or not [[SuperRegistrationAct compulsory registration for superheroes]] was necessary to curb catastrophic mistakes and potential abuses of power. ''Both sides'' were supposed to have valid points (but supposedly supporting the Pro-Registration overall). Unfortunately, due to insufficient coordination between the writing teams of different books (Marvel's editorial team infamously [[FlipFlopOfGod outright refused to give any clear answers to what the letter of the act]] ''[[FlipFlopOfGod actually said]]'', even to the writers, causing what can only be described as a RightHandVersusLeftHand situation), as well as a ''serious'' difference in the skills of the writing teams -- while the anti-reg side got '''Creator/JMichaelStraczynski''', Creator/MarkMillar failed at making readers sympathize with the pro-registration side, and both sides ended up looking like straw men, with the pro-registration side looking particularly monstrous. For starters, the SHRA criminalized the act of apprehending a criminal even as an average citizen, as well as S.H.I.E.L.D. trying to arrest ComicBook/CaptainAmerica for refusing to join the pro-reg side and enforce the law, ''before'' it was actually signed into law. To make matters worse, the actual specifics of registration [[DependingOnTheWriter varied from book to book]]:
*** In pro-reg books, registration was treated as a prerequisite to a superhero being a crime fighter. Supers were given the option of not using their powers, getting trained in using them properly and to establish that they were not a threat to themselves or others, and going to prison. If they did not want to fight crime after they were finished being trained, then they didn't have to, and there was no indication that they would be forced. It was just shown that a lot of people chose to fight crime because they had made friends with their fellow trainees and they felt like they should use their powers for good. However, the pro-registration side was still not sympathetic because Tony Stark and Mr. Fantastic were portrayed as being jerks, who felt like [[OmniscientMoralityLicense they knew what was best]], as well as committing some blatant crimes. But they were making excellent points throughout, and [[TakeOurWordForIt if Mr. Fantastic's soothsaying math can be believed]], it was the lesser of a few evils.
*** In anti-reg books, S.H.I.E.L.D. [[MutantDraftBoard forcibly conscripted anyone who happened to have any kind of superpowers]] whether they wanted to fight crime or not, and the pro-reg heroes were {{Well Intentioned Extremist}}s at best. When ComicBook/LukeCage said he just was going to not use his powers and stay out of it, armed gunmen showed up at his door on midnight of the day the act went into effect. In ''ComicBook/AvengersTheInitiative'', kids recruited were told that they either join the initiative, get their powers taken, or go to jail. Cloud 9, whose power was a little cloud that could make her fly (kind of like [[Manga/DragonBallZ the Flying Nimbus]]), was recruited, turned into a sniper and sent to killing missions, even though she never wanted to use her power for crimefighting let alone assassinations. In addition, Stark orchestrated an attack on ComicBook/BlackPanther, foreign chief of state, because his wife (who had diplomatic immunity) refused to sign up. It was quite clearly a case of "work for us or else".
** It was supposed to be a nuanced exploration of whether or not [[SuperRegistrationAct compulsory registration for superheroes]] was necessary to curb catastrophic mistakes and potential abuses of power. ''Both sides'' were supposed to have valid points (but supposedly supporting the Pro-Registration overall). Unfortunately, due to insufficient coordination between the writing teams of different books (Marvel's editorial team infamously [[FlipFlopOfGod outright refused to give any clear answers to what the letter of the act]] ''[[FlipFlopOfGod actually said]]'', even to the writers, causing what can only be described as a RightHandVersusLeftHand situation), as well as a ''serious'' difference in the skills of the writing teams -- while the anti-reg side got '''Creator/JMichaelStraczynski''', Creator/MarkMillar failed at making readers sympathize with the pro-registration side, and both sides ended up looking like straw men, with the pro-registration side looking particularly monstrous. For starters, the SHRA criminalized the act of apprehending a criminal even as an average citizen, as well as S.H.I.E.L.D. trying to arrest ComicBook/CaptainAmerica for refusing to join the pro-reg side and enforce the law, ''before'' it was actually signed into law. To make matters worse, the actual specifics of registration [[DependingOnTheWriter varied from book to book]]:
*** In pro-reg books, registration was treated as a prerequisite to a superhero being a crime fighter. Supers were given the option of not using their powers, getting trained in using them properly and to establish that they were not a threat to themselves or others, and going to prison. If they did not want to fight crime after they were finished being trained, then they didn't have to, and there was no indication that they would be forced. It was just shown that a lot of people chose to fight crime because they had made friends with their fellow trainees and they felt like they should use their powers for good. However, the pro-registration side was still not sympathetic because Tony Stark and Mr. Fantastic were portrayed as being jerks, who felt like [[OmniscientMoralityLicense they knew what was best]], as well as committing some blatant crimes. But they were making excellent points throughout, and [[TakeOurWordForIt if Mr. Fantastic's soothsaying math can be believed]], it was the lesser of a few evils.
*** In anti-reg books, S.H.I.E.L.D. [[MutantDraftBoard forcibly conscripted anyone who happened to have any kind of superpowers]] whether they wanted to fight crime or not, and the pro-reg heroes were {{Well Intentioned Extremist}}s at best. When ComicBook/LukeCage said he just was going to not use his powers and stay out of it, armed gunmen showed up at his door on midnight of the day the act went into effect. In ''ComicBook/AvengersTheInitiative'', kids recruited were told that they either join the initiative, get their powers taken, or go to jail. Cloud 9, whose power was a little cloud that could make her fly (kind of like [[Manga/DragonBallZ the Flying Nimbus]]), was recruited, turned into a sniper and sent to killing missions, even though she never wanted to use her power for crimefighting let alone assassinations. In addition, Stark orchestrated an attack on ComicBook/BlackPanther, foreign chief of state, because his wife (who had diplomatic immunity) refused to sign up. It was quite clearly a case of "work for us or else".
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Now Flame Bait.
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* BrokenBase: Is the story a compelling modern classic, or an awkward IdiotPlot? A [[TakeAThirdOption third option]] appears to be that it's just [[SoOkayItsAverage "eh"]].
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* BrokenBase: Is the story a compelling modern classic, or an awkward IdiotPlot? idiotic plot? A [[TakeAThirdOption third option]] appears to be that it's just [[SoOkayItsAverage "eh"]].
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* IdiotPlot: In-between all the highly debated topics of Pro-Registration versus Anti-Registration, is Peter Parker's public unmasking to prove he's fully on the pro-reg side as a publicity stunt. Despite the FlipFlopOfGod, the Registration Act's one consistency was that it ''only'' involved giving one's identity to the United States Government (which ultimately amounted to S.H.I.E.L.D. knowing who you were), meaning the entire reveal was unnecessary. Lo and behold, Peter's entire life is upended because people want revenge on him and target those he cares about -- the very thing he hid behind the mask to prevent in the first place, and, as noted in HilariousInHindsight above, was something he had previously sworn to even only ''two years prior.'' All to make a comic-selling headline about Spider-Man's identity being revealed to the public as setup for future plotlines to come. It manages to stand out as one of the crowning moments of pointless idiocy in the mini-series.
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* UnfortunateImplications: As [[WebVideo/AtopTheFourthWall Linkara]] pointed out during his [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q_iCAivfGsg "15 Things Wrong with Marvel's Civil War" video]] (at point 6), the prominent casualty of an event named ''Civil War'' is a black guy...killed by a blond, blue-eyed guy based on Nordic Mythology [[note]]Norse mythos being the core mythos for the North ''German''ic[[/note]] and his body gets wrapped up in chains afterwards. What's worse? [[https://youtu.be/q_iCAivfGsg?t=21m7s Said blondie]] was cloned from the original Thor to act as a, for lack of a better term, ''slave''. Not helping matters is that Clone Thor's shutdown code is Music/RichardWagner, whose image would come to be associated with Nazism due to his infamous antisemitism and being a role model for the Nazis. In the same review, Linkara was also struck speechless by Tony saying that the Thor clone acted like any police officer would -- that is, he immediately decided to shoot to kill against a black man. And earlier at Goliath's funeral, Miriam Sharpe tells Tony that Goliath's death is, in her words, "no more [Tony's] fault than a cop could be blamed for shooting a punk who pulled a gun on him". Given that several race riots have erupted because police officers acted like that against minorities... yeah, [[HarsherInHindsight that defense didn't age well]]. It gets even worse then ''The Initiative'' shows that one of the people involved in making the clone of Thor was... a literal Nazi war criminal who'd been [[BoxedCrook forcibly recruited]] by the pro-reg side.
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* WereStillRelevantDammit: Sally Floyd's speech to Captain America about him being out of touch just ''screams'' this. Most of the topics Floyd brings up ended up being dated barely a year after the comic.
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Removing Link
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** The one big player on the pro-Reg side who turned out to be a Skrull is [[spoiler:knocked out and impersonated by the half-Skrull, half-Kree ComicBook/{{Hulkling}} during the climax.]]
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** The one big player on the pro-Reg side who turned out to be a Skrull is [[spoiler:knocked out and impersonated by the half-Skrull, half-Kree ComicBook/{{Hulkling}} Hulkling during the climax.]]
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* IdiotPlot: In-between all the highly debated topics of Pro-Registration versus Anti-Registration, is Peter Parker's public unmasking to prove he's fully on the pro-reg side as a publicity stunt. Despite the FlipFlopOfGod, the Registration Act's one consistency was that it ''only'' involved giving one's identity to the United States Government (which ultimately amounted to S.H.I.E.L.D. knowing who you were), meaning the entire reveal was unnecessary. Lo and behold, Peter's entire life is upended because people want revenge on him and target those he cares about -- the very thing he hid behind the mask to prevent in the first place, and, as noted in HilariousInHindsight above, was something he had previously sworn to even only ''two years prior.'' All to make a comic-selling headline about Spider-Man's identity being revealed to the public as setup for future plotlines to come. It manages to stand out as one of the crowning moments of pointless idiocy in the mini-series.
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I could have sworn I changed it, but misuse of Game Breaker
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** Here's one for Iron Man and Mr. Fantastic from before the Civil War even started: Iron Man has stated multiple times that they knew the War would happen before anyone else did. Now, before the war began, they, along with the rest of the Illuminati (minus Namor) also decided to [[ComicBook/PlanetHulk send the Hulk away on another planet]] because they deemed Hulk to be too dangerous. However, what if Tony and Reed had another reason? What if their real reason for sending Hulk away was because they knew that Hulk would be more likely to side with Captain America than with them and because they knew that whoever had Hulk on their side (again, most likely Steve) would have [[GameBreaker a huge advantage over the other side?]]
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** Here's one for Iron Man and Mr. Fantastic from before the Civil War even started: Iron Man has stated multiple times that they knew the War would happen before anyone else did. Now, before the war began, they, along with the rest of the Illuminati (minus Namor) also decided to [[ComicBook/PlanetHulk send the Hulk away on another planet]] because they deemed Hulk to be too dangerous. However, what if Tony and Reed had another reason? What if their real reason for sending Hulk away was because they knew that Hulk would be more likely to side with Captain America than with them and because they knew that whoever had Hulk on their side (again, most likely Steve) would have [[GameBreaker [[StoryBreakerPower a huge advantage over the other side?]]
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** Cap himself refues to hear Tony out when he offers to make peace and beats Punisher senseless for murdering criminals. While Punisher might not be the greatest person the fact he refuses to fight back really makes Cap come off as the bigger jackass.
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** Cap himself refues refuses to hear Tony out when he offers to make peace and beats Punisher senseless for murdering criminals. While Punisher might not be the greatest person the fact he refuses to fight back really makes Cap come off as the bigger jackass. It also doesn't help (as pointed out by Linkara) the writer Creator/MarkMillar who wrote ''ComicBook/TheUltimates'' bled a good deal of {{Jerkass}} Ultimate Cap into 616 Cap.
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** '''Maria Hill''': The acting head of S.H.I.E.L.D. and pro-reg supporter who decided arrest Cap for "not following the law" -- despite the fact that ''said law hadn't been voted on in the US Congress yet'' and Cap had only said that he didn't want to hunt down heroes who disobeyed the law, not that he was adverse to registering himself. She's still largely distrusted by fans in anything she happens to pop up in.
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** '''Maria Hill''': The acting head of S.H.I.E.L.D. and pro-reg supporter who decided to arrest Cap Captain America for "not following the law" -- despite the fact that ''said law hadn't been voted on in the US Congress yet'' and Cap had only said that he didn't want to hunt down heroes who disobeyed the law, not that he was adverse to registering himself. She's still largely distrusted by fans in anything she happens to pop up in.
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* UnfortunateImplications: As [[WebVideo/AtopTheFourthWall Linkara]] pointed out during his [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q_iCAivfGsg "15 Things Wrong with Marvel's Civil War" video]] (at point 6), the prominent casualty of an event named ''Civil War'' is a black guy...killed by a blond, blue-eyed guy based on Nordic Mythology [[note]]Norse mythos being the core mythos for the North ''German''ic[[/note]] and his body gets wrapped up in chains afterwards. What's worse? [[https://youtu.be/q_iCAivfGsg?t=21m7s Said blondie]] was cloned from the original Thor to act as a, for lack of a better term, ''slave''. Not helping matters is that Clone Thor's shutdown code is Music/RichardWagner, whose image would come to be associated with Nazism due to his infamous antisemitism and being a role model for the Nazis. In the same review, Linkara was also struck speechless by Tony saying that the Thor clone acted like any police officer would -- that is, he immediately decided to shoot to kill against a black man. And earlier at Goliath's funeral, Miriam Sharpe tells Tony that Goliath's death is, in her words, "no more [Tony's] fault than a cop could be blamed for shooting a punk who pulled a gun on him". Given that several race riots have erupted because police officers acted like that against minorities… yeah, [[HarsherInHindsight that defense didn't age well]]. It gets even worse then ''The Initiative'' shows that one of the people involved in making the clone of Thor was...a literal Nazi war criminal who'd been [[BoxedCrook forcibly recruited]] by the pro-reg side.
to:
* UnfortunateImplications: As [[WebVideo/AtopTheFourthWall Linkara]] pointed out during his [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q_iCAivfGsg "15 Things Wrong with Marvel's Civil War" video]] (at point 6), the prominent casualty of an event named ''Civil War'' is a black guy...killed by a blond, blue-eyed guy based on Nordic Mythology [[note]]Norse mythos being the core mythos for the North ''German''ic[[/note]] and his body gets wrapped up in chains afterwards. What's worse? [[https://youtu.be/q_iCAivfGsg?t=21m7s Said blondie]] was cloned from the original Thor to act as a, for lack of a better term, ''slave''. Not helping matters is that Clone Thor's shutdown code is Music/RichardWagner, whose image would come to be associated with Nazism due to his infamous antisemitism and being a role model for the Nazis. In the same review, Linkara was also struck speechless by Tony saying that the Thor clone acted like any police officer would -- that is, he immediately decided to shoot to kill against a black man. And earlier at Goliath's funeral, Miriam Sharpe tells Tony that Goliath's death is, in her words, "no more [Tony's] fault than a cop could be blamed for shooting a punk who pulled a gun on him". Given that several race riots have erupted because police officers acted like that against minorities… minorities... yeah, [[HarsherInHindsight that defense didn't age well]]. It gets even worse then ''The Initiative'' shows that one of the people involved in making the clone of Thor was... a literal Nazi war criminal who'd been [[BoxedCrook forcibly recruited]] by the pro-reg side.
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* AlternateCharacterInterpretation:
** One humorous one is that Captain America isn't shamed into silence by Sally Floyd's interview but is [[StunnedSilence simply too stunned by how stupid she's sounding to respond]].
** Here's one for Iron Man and Mr. Fantastic from before the Civil War even started: Iron Man has stated multiple times that they knew the War would happen before anyone else did. Now, before the war began, they, along with the rest of the Illuminati (minus Namor) also decided to [[ComicBook/PlanetHulk send the Hulk away on another planet]] because they deemed Hulk to be too dangerous. However, what if Tony and Reed had another reason? What if their real reason for sending Hulk away was because they knew that Hulk would be more likely to side with Captain America than with them and because they knew that whoever had Hulk on their side (again, most likely Steve) would have [[GameBreaker a huge advantage over the other side?]]
* {{Anvilicious}}: All of the messages delivered in the the event are incredibly unsubtle, from the pro-Registration being fascist to the anti-Registration being anti-accountability, only made worse by the fact that the comic can't even seem to decide what its [[AnAesop Aesop]] even is.
* BizarroEpisode: In one of the crossover comic books, Comicbook/HowardTheDuck tries to register. Not because he supports the law, but simply because he's too poor and cowardly to be running away from Iron Man and simply wants to avoid trouble. But he got into the wrong waiting line and wound up renewing his driver's license instead. When he found the actual place for registering, he was rejected--S.H.I.E.L.D. is so tired of receiving reports about "the duck man from Cleveland" (the duck man driving a taxi, the duck man insulting hot dog stands, the duck man painting graffiti in bus stops, etc), that they made it an official policy that he does not exist, and all the reports are dismissed. He yelled that they can not turn him into an UnPerson just like that. Then the officer tells him they ''can'' because he's a duck... Which he instantly takes advantage of when he leaves the registration office because now, as an UnPerson, he is no longer legally required to vote or sit on a jury (or pay parking tickets).
* BrokenBase: Is the story a compelling modern classic, or an awkward IdiotPlot? A [[TakeAThirdOption third option]] appears to be that it's just [[SoOkayItsAverage "eh"]].
* CommonKnowledge:
** A common misunderstanding of ''Civil War'' is that registering may mean revealing the secret identity to all the public and becoming vulnerable to attacks from super villains. In fact, they were only legally required to reveal their identities to the government, '''not''' the public. Spider-Man took things a step forward as a gesture of support to Stark. Not helping is the fact that the actual text of the registration act was ''never'' shown, and different writers gave contradictory accounts of what it entailed.
** Civil War is often cited in the media, and other Marvel comics, as why Steve died in Captain America #25. However, he was assassinated by the Red Skull's henchmen in a scheme unrelated to the conflict. The only connection was that Cap's arrest at the end of Civil War put him in the location of his death.
* CompleteMonster: [[WardensAreEvil The unnamed warden]] of the "[[HellholePrison Cube]]", appearing in the ''ComicBook/YoungAvengers & ComicBook/{{Runaways}}'' tie-in, is a government-licensed TortureTechnician who admits, since a child, he's always had an obsession with playing private, sadistic games. Now able to exert his childhood fantasies over a classified superhuman prison facility, the warden subjects many hundreds of prisoners to paranoia agents and torture for his own glorification. When some of the Young Avengers and the Runaways fall into his hands, the warden is positively gleeful that their unique physiology means he'll be able to effectively torture them for days. The warden's prize accomplishment is what he does to Noh-Varr; after cutting him off from the Kree hivemind, the warden "[[MindRape stomped around in his head]]" until Noh-Varr becomes a conditioned killer, still [[AndIMustScream somewhat aware of what the warden is forcing him to do]].
* CriticProof: Many fans do not like ''Civil War'', and at the time critics were heavily split on it. On the other hand, the event ''did'' sell extremely well, and is one of the highest selling comics of all time.
* DesignatedHero: Marvel's official stance at the time was that [[ComicBook/IronMan Tony]] was the good guy. Though, the extent that this applied [[DependingOnTheWriter depended on the writers]], who all had their own ideas and evidently no intercommunication. Which character was presented as being "right" is subject to change depending on what particular comic you were reading. Besides, he had supervillains working for them, and captured superheroes were jailed in the Negative Zone.
* DesignatedVillain: Marvel's official stance at the time was that [[ComicBook/CaptainAmerica Cap]] was in the wrong, though the books themselves were constantly implying that ''Steve'' was right and Iron Man was acting fascistic. And given that Tony was locking up any captured anti-registration heroes in a concentration camp in ''[[PhysicalHell the Negative Zone]]'', it's kind of hard to argue against that point of view.
* DorkAge: Some felt Marvel would be better off disavowing this story and undoing the big changes made by it. It finally happened after ''Dark Reign'', and which led to the abolishment of the Registration Act.
* EnsembleDarkhorse: Hercules. The popularity he gained from him beating the clone of Thor with his own hammer got him his own series.
* FanNickname:
** This is the storyline that led many fans to call Tony Stark 'Der Eisenfuhrer'.
** The Marvel brass really regretted not giving the Thor clone an official name right away, since the fans' decision to label it "Clor" seemed to irk them. Marvel later on named it "Ragnarok". Fans still call it Clor.
* FranchiseOriginalSin: ''Civil War'' is usually seen as when Marvel began to go overboard with the Hero Vs Hero events. It was a welcome change at the time, good vs. evil conflicts are somewhat predictable as they always ends with good triumphing over evil in the end. If both sides are the good guys, then you can't be sure in advance who will win. The ending was in fact surprising, as Marvel's stories about a superhuman registration act always ended with either the act being repealed or with it leading to an evil dystopia. The more it was used, however, the more it alienated fans. More often than not, fans like ''both'' sides in those conflicts, and hero vs. hero events force them to choose either of them. And properly writing stories where BothSidesHaveAPoint is hard: plots frequently turn one of both sides into the villain of the story, and their fans will obviously not like that.
* HarsherInHindsight:
** The opening event of the story is a disaster in suburban Stamford, Connecticut that involves the destruction of, among other things, an elementary school, serving as the tipping point for a national debate over superhero registration. Six years later, an elementary school in another Connecticut town, just one hour away from Stamford, was the site of [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandy_Hook_Elementary_School_shooting one of the deadliest killing sprees in history]], acting (together with another massacre five months earlier at a movie theater in Aurora, Colorado) as the tipping point for a national debate over gun control. Notably, unlike in Marvel where a sweeping superhero registration act is promptly passed, in real life those massacres did ''not'' result in ''any'' new gun control laws.
** When Spider-Man confronts Iron Man about [[spoiler:the clone of Thor killing Goliath, a black superhero]], Iron Man defends it by saying the [[spoiler:the clone]] was acting how any police officer would in that situation. This in combination with the argument used multiple times in the event, that superheroes should be held accountable just like the police, casts a rather dark pall over the whole thing considering the subsequent rise in evidence of cases of police brutality and groups like Black Lives Matter exposing how little accountability cops actually have to face.
*** And earlier at Goliath's funeral, Miriam Sharpe tells Tony that he shouldn't be held accountable for Goliath's death, saying that he was justified in doing his job like a police officer would do when a punk pulls a gun on them. This comment did not win Sharpe any favours back then and it has only aged poorly following the increased attention paid to police brutality.
* HilariousInHindsight:
** The one big player on the pro-Reg side who turned out to be a Skrull is [[spoiler:knocked out and impersonated by the half-Skrull, half-Kree ComicBook/{{Hulkling}} during the climax.]]
** In ''Marvel Knights: Spider-Man #2'', Spider-Man is told by Tony Stark the benefits of unmasking. When Spidey tries to refute, ''Cap backs up Tony's assertions.'' What makes this even funnier is that the issue is written by Mark Millar!
** On the flip side of that is ''[[BatFamilyCrossover The Other]]'' storyline, which ran across all of the Spider-Man titles the previous year – After Spider-Man's supposed death, the New Avengers (led by Captain American & Iron Man, no less) decide that they can't reveal Peter Parker is Spider-Man and have to create a cover-up for his death, because revealing his identity would result in Aunt May & Mary Jane being targeted by every lowlife with a grudge against Spider-Man. ''And that's exactly what happens after Spider-Man unmasks.''
** At some point Peter was involved in some event or other where ComicBook/{{Daredevil}} got unmasked and stated that [[http://mightygodking.com/index.php/2007/08/08/things-you-always-wondered-about-comics-revealed/ the whole thing had convinced him to never unmask]]...
** Sally Floyd's ArmorPiercingQuestion "What is Website/MySpace?" would be [[WhatAreRecords just as baffling to most people in the U.S. today]].
* MemeticMutation:
** During the initial promotion for the crossover, Marvel released a pair of message board signature images reading either "I'm with Captain America" or "I'm with Iron Man". Within days, fans were creating their own versions by the dozens, and similar images are still being created for both Marvel and DC's {{Crisis Crossover}}s as well as things that have nothing to do with comics. There was also the [[TakeAThirdOption Third Option]]: "[[ComicBook/WorldWarHulk You're all fucked when]] [[ComicBook/PlanetHulk the Hulk gets back]]."
** "'''''THOU ART NO THOR!'''''" said by Hercules while he was fighting an evil Thor clone that Reed and Tony cooked up and turned loose.
* MisaimedFandom: Captain America’s famous “No, ''you'' move!” speech in the pages of ''Amazing Spider-Man'', taken from a quote by Creator/MarkTwain, was originally about having the courage of your convictions and thinking for yourself rather than siding with the crowd against the powerless or going blindly along with preconceived notions. It was immediately adopted as a motto by stubborn and/or toxic people on the Internet, equating outside moderation or attempts to curb their unpopular opinions and desire to harass people based on them with actual persecution and mob rule, as a reason to ''never'' rethink or reevaluate their opinions based on anything anyone else ever says, and remains so to this day.
* MoralEventHorizon:
** Nitro crosses his at the beginning of the story. After being cornered by the New Warriors and struck down by Namorita, he uses his powers to cause an explosion so he can escape. He did it right next to a park of playing children, killing all of them and a total of 612 people altogehter.
** To Captain America, the Punisher crosses it when he just straight up ''murders'' Goldbug and Plunderer [[note]] Although the latter was later revealed to have survived, as Punisher killed his "American representative." [[/note]] after their attempted HeelFaceTurn just because they were once criminals.
* {{Narm}}: Bill Foster having to be buried at giant size in over eighty burial plots because for no apparent reason they can't shrink his corpse. Kinda undermines the drama of his death, especially with them having dialogue discussing it.
* NightmareFuel: Just think about the fact that [[spoiler:Hulkling was vivisected]] and his [[spoiler:organs were rearranging themselves.]]
* ObviousJudas: Did anyone really believe the Punisher would follow Cap's ThouShaltNotKill philosophy for long?
** In "What If Civil War 1", Iron Man died during the Extremis arc, and Captain America led all the heroes against the Registration act. The law was enforced by Gyrich, Hill, Jim Rhodes, and their armies of Sentinels and mechanical Thors. Jim Rhodes negotiated an agreement with Captain America, but a traitor standing in the shadows told it to Gyrich, and they were both killed. Who was the traitor? Come on... as if you didn't see it coming.
* OneSceneWonder: The crossover generated a big upswing in interest in [[ComicBook/TheIncredibleHercules Hercules]] (kicking off what would turn out to be a few very good years for him), in a series of moments that amount to about six pages.
* TheScrappy: Three major ones:
** '''Maria Hill''': The acting head of S.H.I.E.L.D. and pro-reg supporter who decided arrest Cap for "not following the law" -- despite the fact that ''said law hadn't been voted on in the US Congress yet'' and Cap had only said that he didn't want to hunt down heroes who disobeyed the law, not that he was adverse to registering himself. She's still largely distrusted by fans in anything she happens to pop up in.
** '''Miriam Sharpe''': The mother of one of the Stamford victims who blames heroes for her son's death -- despite the fact that most of the people she attacks had ''nothing whatsoever'' to do with the disaster. Not helping matters was her appearance at Goliath's funeral, saying that Goliath's death was his own fault because Tony and the rest of the pro-reg side was just doing their job. Said comment not only comes off as extremely insensitive, but shows that Sharpe has no remorse for how much damage and death caused by the Act that she helped to push for. She remains reviled to this day.
** '''Sally Floyd''': A reporter who accused Captain America of being un-American [[LogicalFallacies because he doesn't use a particular social media webpage, enjoy car races, or watch a certain TV series]]. Because of this, Sally ended up being the most hated character in the ''entire'' Marvel Universe, second perhaps only to Miriam Sharpe.
* StrawmanHasAPoint: The whole arc had this problem.
** It was supposed to be a nuanced exploration of whether or not [[SuperRegistrationAct compulsory registration for superheroes]] was necessary to curb catastrophic mistakes and potential abuses of power. ''Both sides'' were supposed to have valid points (but supposedly supporting the Pro-Registration overall). Unfortunately, due to insufficient coordination between the writing teams of different books (Marvel's editorial team infamously [[FlipFlopOfGod outright refused to give any clear answers to what the letter of the act]] ''[[FlipFlopOfGod actually said]]'', even to the writers, causing what can only be described as a RightHandVersusLeftHand situation), as well as a ''serious'' difference in the skills of the writing teams -- while the anti-reg side got '''Creator/JMichaelStraczynski''', Creator/MarkMillar failed at making readers sympathize with the pro-registration side, and both sides ended up looking like straw men, with the pro-registration side looking particularly monstrous. For starters, the SHRA criminalized the act of apprehending a criminal even as an average citizen, as well as S.H.I.E.L.D. trying to arrest ComicBook/CaptainAmerica for refusing to join the pro-reg side and enforce the law, ''before'' it was actually signed into law. To make matters worse, the actual specifics of registration [[DependingOnTheWriter varied from book to book]]:
*** In pro-reg books, registration was treated as a prerequisite to a superhero being a crime fighter. Supers were given the option of not using their powers, getting trained in using them properly and to establish that they were not a threat to themselves or others, and going to prison. If they did not want to fight crime after they were finished being trained, then they didn't have to, and there was no indication that they would be forced. It was just shown that a lot of people chose to fight crime because they had made friends with their fellow trainees and they felt like they should use their powers for good. However, the pro-registration side was still not sympathetic because Tony Stark and Mr. Fantastic were portrayed as being jerks, who felt like [[OmniscientMoralityLicense they knew what was best]], as well as committing some blatant crimes. But they were making excellent points throughout, and [[TakeOurWordForIt if Mr. Fantastic's soothsaying math can be believed]], it was the lesser of a few evils.
*** In anti-reg books, S.H.I.E.L.D. [[MutantDraftBoard forcibly conscripted anyone who happened to have any kind of superpowers]] whether they wanted to fight crime or not, and the pro-reg heroes were {{Well Intentioned Extremist}}s at best. When ComicBook/LukeCage said he just was going to not use his powers and stay out of it, armed gunmen showed up at his door on midnight of the day the act went into effect. In ''ComicBook/AvengersTheInitiative'', kids recruited were told that they either join the initiative, get their powers taken, or go to jail. Cloud 9, whose power was a little cloud that could make her fly (kind of like [[Manga/DragonBallZ the Flying Nimbus]]), was recruited, turned into a sniper and sent to killing missions, even though she never wanted to use her power for crimefighting let alone assassinations. In addition, Stark orchestrated an attack on ComicBook/BlackPanther, foreign chief of state, because his wife (who had diplomatic immunity) refused to sign up. It was quite clearly a case of "work for us or else".
* TakeThatScrappy: The side of Maria Hill won… but ''she'' did not; she was demoted to be the NumberTwo of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s new head honcho, Tony Stark. At least that's [[YouGetMeCoffee how it looks]] in the main title. In the Iron Man tie-in, she hands over the reins to him of her own volition, having realized that she was given power for the wrong reason. Many didn't think that was punishment enough for her.
** Many people must have thought this when the Cape Killers gave the MirandaRights to Sally Floyd and took her prisoner. Fortunately, they did not have any strong evidence to keep her there, so she's free to continue annoying all superheroes. On the other hand, this somehow causes her to [[DefeatMeansFriendship switch to supporting the Pro-reg side]].
* TooBleakStoppedCaring: Like [[ComicBook/WorldWarHulk two other]] [[ComicBook/AvengersVsXMen crisis crossovers]] that would later follow, this story focuses on superheroes fighting each other rather than supervillains. It's pointed out ''inside the story'' by Doctor Strange that nobody really is right or wrong in this, meaning it can be hard to decide who to root for. And finally, it ends on a rather dark note, with [[spoiler:''[[TheParagon Captain America]]'' being arrested and assassinated while anti-registration superheroes ''still'' are operating against the law, giving you the impression nothing really was accomplished]]. You could be excused to stop caring in these conditions.
* TrappedByMountainLions:
** Y'know what was going on at the same time as this event? ''ComicBook/{{Annihilation}}'', aka the event where Annihilus killed Quasar and the all of Nova Corps (except Nova himself), stole the Quantum Bands thus making himself invincible, and then lead a Negative Zone army on a warpath, trying to slaughter all life in the ''universe''. This was a threat so big that almost every space superhero, villain, and alien race up to and including ''Galactus'' teamed up to stop it. Compared to that the events here seem incredibly pointless. Not to mention the Hulk was on his way back to rain holy hell on the superheroes. Lampshaded by a ''What If?'' Issue where Nova calls out Iron Man and Cap on wasting everyone's time like this when a ''galaxy destroying army of bugs'' is on the way. Hell, it's lampshaded in ''Annihilation'' itself by Star-Lord and Nova, who argue whether the heroes would even be able to stop fighting one another long enough to not die if the Wave reaches their back door. Side note, Annhilus was waging this intergalatic war which killed trillions out of rage that the universe was encroaching on his territory, the Negative Zone. Guess where Iron Man built his concentration camp without any permission from Annihilus.
** The event also went on during the same time as ''X-Men: Decimation,'' in which most of the world's mutants have been depowered and they're being hunted to extinction. ''[[ComicBook/NewXMenAcademyX New X-Men]]'' even has Emma give a five-page TheReasonYouSuckSpeech to Ms. Marvel, telling her about all the students she lost while the Avengers were busy doing their own thing instead of helping them.
* UnfortunateImplications: As [[WebVideo/AtopTheFourthWall Linkara]] pointed out during his [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q_iCAivfGsg "15 Things Wrong with Marvel's Civil War" video]] (at point 6), the prominent casualty of an event named ''Civil War'' is a black guy...killed by a blond, blue-eyed guy based on Nordic Mythology [[note]]Norse mythos being the core mythos for the North ''German''ic[[/note]] and his body gets wrapped up in chains afterwards. What's worse? [[https://youtu.be/q_iCAivfGsg?t=21m7s Said blondie]] was cloned from the original Thor to act as a, for lack of a better term, ''slave''. Not helping matters is that Clone Thor's shutdown code is Music/RichardWagner, whose image would come to be associated with Nazism due to his infamous antisemitism and being a role model for the Nazis. In the same review, Linkara was also struck speechless by Tony saying that the Thor clone acted like any police officer would -- that is, he immediately decided to shoot to kill against a black man. And earlier at Goliath's funeral, Miriam Sharpe tells Tony that Goliath's death is, in her words, "no more [Tony's] fault than a cop could be blamed for shooting a punk who pulled a gun on him". Given that several race riots have erupted because police officers acted like that against minorities… yeah, [[HarsherInHindsight that defense didn't age well]]. It gets even worse then ''The Initiative'' shows that one of the people involved in making the clone of Thor was...a literal Nazi war criminal who'd been [[BoxedCrook forcibly recruited]] by the pro-reg side.
* UnintentionalPeriodPiece:
** The story was written in the aftermath of 9/11, the reaction of the Bush administration, and the "War on terror". Also Website/MySpace.
** The politics dealt with in the event have also not aged well. The frequent allusions to the Pro-Reg side operating more like police officers is especially cringe-inducing, since later controversies in the mid-2010's have led to the US police being heavily scrutinized and painted in a negative light by various sectors of the public.
* UnintentionallyUnsympathetic: The pro-reg side decide to back the government because "the law is the law is the law"... which, natter-inducing argument aside, would hold slightly more weight if this A: Wasn't the government of the [[CrapsackWorld Marvel Universe]], but more importantly B: Wasn't a government which a few weeks prior to the event beginning had tried to ''nuke'' the Avengers to get rid of one supervillain. And these are the people Tony Stark thinks are worth trusting?
** It also doesn't help that Tony Stark formed a group of ''supervillains'' to aid him in fighting the anti-reg side. For someone who's supposed to be in the right, his willingness to ally with villains who could have easily gone rogue makes his judgement all the more questionable.
** Cap himself refues to hear Tony out when he offers to make peace and beats Punisher senseless for murdering criminals. While Punisher might not be the greatest person the fact he refuses to fight back really makes Cap come off as the bigger jackass.
* ValuesDissonance: Many readers from countries with {{conscription}} display more negative opinion on its conflict, especially the Anti-Registration's views on [[SuperRegistrationAct Superhero Registration Act]] as slavery.
* WereStillRelevantDammit: Sally Floyd's speech to Captain America about him being out of touch just ''screams'' this. Most of the topics Floyd brings up ended up being dated barely a year after the comic.
* WhatDoYouMeanItsNotPolitical: Didn't help that writers of the tie-ins '''directly''' brought [[AuthorFilibuster politics into their writings]].
* TheWoobie: Speedball survives the horrific incident that kick-starts the entire mess, is made the scapegoat for all of it, and while completely powerless is sent to a maximum security prison, where he is, naturally, attacked repeatedly with no way to defend himself until his powers kick back in, and even then it's in a horrific new way that requires him to feel pain in order to do it. Not surprising then he goes mad.
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* AlternateCharacterInterpretation:
** One humorous one is that Captain America isn't shamed into silence by Sally Floyd's interview but is [[StunnedSilence simply too stunned by how stupid she's sounding to respond]].
** Here's one for Iron Man and Mr. Fantastic from before the Civil War even started: Iron Man has stated multiple times that they knew the War would happen before anyone else did. Now, before the war began, they, along with the rest of the Illuminati (minus Namor) also decided to [[ComicBook/PlanetHulk send the Hulk away on another planet]] because they deemed Hulk to be too dangerous. However, what if Tony and Reed had another reason? What if their real reason for sending Hulk away was because they knew that Hulk would be more likely to side with Captain America than with them and because they knew that whoever had Hulk on their side (again, most likely Steve) would have [[GameBreaker a huge advantage over the other side?]]
* {{Anvilicious}}: All of the messages delivered in the the event are incredibly unsubtle, from the pro-Registration being fascist to the anti-Registration being anti-accountability, only made worse by the fact that the comic can't even seem to decide what its [[AnAesop Aesop]] even is.
* BizarroEpisode: In one of the crossover comic books, Comicbook/HowardTheDuck tries to register. Not because he supports the law, but simply because he's too poor and cowardly to be running away from Iron Man and simply wants to avoid trouble. But he got into the wrong waiting line and wound up renewing his driver's license instead. When he found the actual place for registering, he was rejected--S.H.I.E.L.D. is so tired of receiving reports about "the duck man from Cleveland" (the duck man driving a taxi, the duck man insulting hot dog stands, the duck man painting graffiti in bus stops, etc), that they made it an official policy that he does not exist, and all the reports are dismissed. He yelled that they can not turn him into an UnPerson just like that. Then the officer tells him they ''can'' because he's a duck... Which he instantly takes advantage of when he leaves the registration office because now, as an UnPerson, he is no longer legally required to vote or sit on a jury (or pay parking tickets).
* BrokenBase: Is the story a compelling modern classic, or an awkward IdiotPlot? A [[TakeAThirdOption third option]] appears to be that it's just [[SoOkayItsAverage "eh"]].
* CommonKnowledge:
** A common misunderstanding of ''Civil War'' is that registering may mean revealing the secret identity to all the public and becoming vulnerable to attacks from super villains. In fact, they were only legally required to reveal their identities to the government, '''not''' the public. Spider-Man took things a step forward as a gesture of support to Stark. Not helping is the fact that the actual text of the registration act was ''never'' shown, and different writers gave contradictory accounts of what it entailed.
** Civil War is often cited in the media, and other Marvel comics, as why Steve died in Captain America #25. However, he was assassinated by the Red Skull's henchmen in a scheme unrelated to the conflict. The only connection was that Cap's arrest at the end of Civil War put him in the location of his death.
* CompleteMonster: [[WardensAreEvil The unnamed warden]] of the "[[HellholePrison Cube]]", appearing in the ''ComicBook/YoungAvengers & ComicBook/{{Runaways}}'' tie-in, is a government-licensed TortureTechnician who admits, since a child, he's always had an obsession with playing private, sadistic games. Now able to exert his childhood fantasies over a classified superhuman prison facility, the warden subjects many hundreds of prisoners to paranoia agents and torture for his own glorification. When some of the Young Avengers and the Runaways fall into his hands, the warden is positively gleeful that their unique physiology means he'll be able to effectively torture them for days. The warden's prize accomplishment is what he does to Noh-Varr; after cutting him off from the Kree hivemind, the warden "[[MindRape stomped around in his head]]" until Noh-Varr becomes a conditioned killer, still [[AndIMustScream somewhat aware of what the warden is forcing him to do]].
* CriticProof: Many fans do not like ''Civil War'', and at the time critics were heavily split on it. On the other hand, the event ''did'' sell extremely well, and is one of the highest selling comics of all time.
* DesignatedHero: Marvel's official stance at the time was that [[ComicBook/IronMan Tony]] was the good guy. Though, the extent that this applied [[DependingOnTheWriter depended on the writers]], who all had their own ideas and evidently no intercommunication. Which character was presented as being "right" is subject to change depending on what particular comic you were reading. Besides, he had supervillains working for them, and captured superheroes were jailed in the Negative Zone.
* DesignatedVillain: Marvel's official stance at the time was that [[ComicBook/CaptainAmerica Cap]] was in the wrong, though the books themselves were constantly implying that ''Steve'' was right and Iron Man was acting fascistic. And given that Tony was locking up any captured anti-registration heroes in a concentration camp in ''[[PhysicalHell the Negative Zone]]'', it's kind of hard to argue against that point of view.
* DorkAge: Some felt Marvel would be better off disavowing this story and undoing the big changes made by it. It finally happened after ''Dark Reign'', and which led to the abolishment of the Registration Act.
* EnsembleDarkhorse: Hercules. The popularity he gained from him beating the clone of Thor with his own hammer got him his own series.
* FanNickname:
** This is the storyline that led many fans to call Tony Stark 'Der Eisenfuhrer'.
** The Marvel brass really regretted not giving the Thor clone an official name right away, since the fans' decision to label it "Clor" seemed to irk them. Marvel later on named it "Ragnarok". Fans still call it Clor.
* FranchiseOriginalSin: ''Civil War'' is usually seen as when Marvel began to go overboard with the Hero Vs Hero events. It was a welcome change at the time, good vs. evil conflicts are somewhat predictable as they always ends with good triumphing over evil in the end. If both sides are the good guys, then you can't be sure in advance who will win. The ending was in fact surprising, as Marvel's stories about a superhuman registration act always ended with either the act being repealed or with it leading to an evil dystopia. The more it was used, however, the more it alienated fans. More often than not, fans like ''both'' sides in those conflicts, and hero vs. hero events force them to choose either of them. And properly writing stories where BothSidesHaveAPoint is hard: plots frequently turn one of both sides into the villain of the story, and their fans will obviously not like that.
* HarsherInHindsight:
** The opening event of the story is a disaster in suburban Stamford, Connecticut that involves the destruction of, among other things, an elementary school, serving as the tipping point for a national debate over superhero registration. Six years later, an elementary school in another Connecticut town, just one hour away from Stamford, was the site of [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandy_Hook_Elementary_School_shooting one of the deadliest killing sprees in history]], acting (together with another massacre five months earlier at a movie theater in Aurora, Colorado) as the tipping point for a national debate over gun control. Notably, unlike in Marvel where a sweeping superhero registration act is promptly passed, in real life those massacres did ''not'' result in ''any'' new gun control laws.
** When Spider-Man confronts Iron Man about [[spoiler:the clone of Thor killing Goliath, a black superhero]], Iron Man defends it by saying the [[spoiler:the clone]] was acting how any police officer would in that situation. This in combination with the argument used multiple times in the event, that superheroes should be held accountable just like the police, casts a rather dark pall over the whole thing considering the subsequent rise in evidence of cases of police brutality and groups like Black Lives Matter exposing how little accountability cops actually have to face.
*** And earlier at Goliath's funeral, Miriam Sharpe tells Tony that he shouldn't be held accountable for Goliath's death, saying that he was justified in doing his job like a police officer would do when a punk pulls a gun on them. This comment did not win Sharpe any favours back then and it has only aged poorly following the increased attention paid to police brutality.
* HilariousInHindsight:
** The one big player on the pro-Reg side who turned out to be a Skrull is [[spoiler:knocked out and impersonated by the half-Skrull, half-Kree ComicBook/{{Hulkling}} during the climax.]]
** In ''Marvel Knights: Spider-Man #2'', Spider-Man is told by Tony Stark the benefits of unmasking. When Spidey tries to refute, ''Cap backs up Tony's assertions.'' What makes this even funnier is that the issue is written by Mark Millar!
** On the flip side of that is ''[[BatFamilyCrossover The Other]]'' storyline, which ran across all of the Spider-Man titles the previous year – After Spider-Man's supposed death, the New Avengers (led by Captain American & Iron Man, no less) decide that they can't reveal Peter Parker is Spider-Man and have to create a cover-up for his death, because revealing his identity would result in Aunt May & Mary Jane being targeted by every lowlife with a grudge against Spider-Man. ''And that's exactly what happens after Spider-Man unmasks.''
** At some point Peter was involved in some event or other where ComicBook/{{Daredevil}} got unmasked and stated that [[http://mightygodking.com/index.php/2007/08/08/things-you-always-wondered-about-comics-revealed/ the whole thing had convinced him to never unmask]]...
** Sally Floyd's ArmorPiercingQuestion "What is Website/MySpace?" would be [[WhatAreRecords just as baffling to most people in the U.S. today]].
* MemeticMutation:
** During the initial promotion for the crossover, Marvel released a pair of message board signature images reading either "I'm with Captain America" or "I'm with Iron Man". Within days, fans were creating their own versions by the dozens, and similar images are still being created for both Marvel and DC's {{Crisis Crossover}}s as well as things that have nothing to do with comics. There was also the [[TakeAThirdOption Third Option]]: "[[ComicBook/WorldWarHulk You're all fucked when]] [[ComicBook/PlanetHulk the Hulk gets back]]."
** "'''''THOU ART NO THOR!'''''" said by Hercules while he was fighting an evil Thor clone that Reed and Tony cooked up and turned loose.
* MisaimedFandom: Captain America’s famous “No, ''you'' move!” speech in the pages of ''Amazing Spider-Man'', taken from a quote by Creator/MarkTwain, was originally about having the courage of your convictions and thinking for yourself rather than siding with the crowd against the powerless or going blindly along with preconceived notions. It was immediately adopted as a motto by stubborn and/or toxic people on the Internet, equating outside moderation or attempts to curb their unpopular opinions and desire to harass people based on them with actual persecution and mob rule, as a reason to ''never'' rethink or reevaluate their opinions based on anything anyone else ever says, and remains so to this day.
* MoralEventHorizon:
** Nitro crosses his at the beginning of the story. After being cornered by the New Warriors and struck down by Namorita, he uses his powers to cause an explosion so he can escape. He did it right next to a park of playing children, killing all of them and a total of 612 people altogehter.
** To Captain America, the Punisher crosses it when he just straight up ''murders'' Goldbug and Plunderer [[note]] Although the latter was later revealed to have survived, as Punisher killed his "American representative." [[/note]] after their attempted HeelFaceTurn just because they were once criminals.
* {{Narm}}: Bill Foster having to be buried at giant size in over eighty burial plots because for no apparent reason they can't shrink his corpse. Kinda undermines the drama of his death, especially with them having dialogue discussing it.
* NightmareFuel: Just think about the fact that [[spoiler:Hulkling was vivisected]] and his [[spoiler:organs were rearranging themselves.]]
* ObviousJudas: Did anyone really believe the Punisher would follow Cap's ThouShaltNotKill philosophy for long?
** In "What If Civil War 1", Iron Man died during the Extremis arc, and Captain America led all the heroes against the Registration act. The law was enforced by Gyrich, Hill, Jim Rhodes, and their armies of Sentinels and mechanical Thors. Jim Rhodes negotiated an agreement with Captain America, but a traitor standing in the shadows told it to Gyrich, and they were both killed. Who was the traitor? Come on... as if you didn't see it coming.
* OneSceneWonder: The crossover generated a big upswing in interest in [[ComicBook/TheIncredibleHercules Hercules]] (kicking off what would turn out to be a few very good years for him), in a series of moments that amount to about six pages.
* TheScrappy: Three major ones:
** '''Maria Hill''': The acting head of S.H.I.E.L.D. and pro-reg supporter who decided arrest Cap for "not following the law" -- despite the fact that ''said law hadn't been voted on in the US Congress yet'' and Cap had only said that he didn't want to hunt down heroes who disobeyed the law, not that he was adverse to registering himself. She's still largely distrusted by fans in anything she happens to pop up in.
** '''Miriam Sharpe''': The mother of one of the Stamford victims who blames heroes for her son's death -- despite the fact that most of the people she attacks had ''nothing whatsoever'' to do with the disaster. Not helping matters was her appearance at Goliath's funeral, saying that Goliath's death was his own fault because Tony and the rest of the pro-reg side was just doing their job. Said comment not only comes off as extremely insensitive, but shows that Sharpe has no remorse for how much damage and death caused by the Act that she helped to push for. She remains reviled to this day.
** '''Sally Floyd''': A reporter who accused Captain America of being un-American [[LogicalFallacies because he doesn't use a particular social media webpage, enjoy car races, or watch a certain TV series]]. Because of this, Sally ended up being the most hated character in the ''entire'' Marvel Universe, second perhaps only to Miriam Sharpe.
* StrawmanHasAPoint: The whole arc had this problem.
** It was supposed to be a nuanced exploration of whether or not [[SuperRegistrationAct compulsory registration for superheroes]] was necessary to curb catastrophic mistakes and potential abuses of power. ''Both sides'' were supposed to have valid points (but supposedly supporting the Pro-Registration overall). Unfortunately, due to insufficient coordination between the writing teams of different books (Marvel's editorial team infamously [[FlipFlopOfGod outright refused to give any clear answers to what the letter of the act]] ''[[FlipFlopOfGod actually said]]'', even to the writers, causing what can only be described as a RightHandVersusLeftHand situation), as well as a ''serious'' difference in the skills of the writing teams -- while the anti-reg side got '''Creator/JMichaelStraczynski''', Creator/MarkMillar failed at making readers sympathize with the pro-registration side, and both sides ended up looking like straw men, with the pro-registration side looking particularly monstrous. For starters, the SHRA criminalized the act of apprehending a criminal even as an average citizen, as well as S.H.I.E.L.D. trying to arrest ComicBook/CaptainAmerica for refusing to join the pro-reg side and enforce the law, ''before'' it was actually signed into law. To make matters worse, the actual specifics of registration [[DependingOnTheWriter varied from book to book]]:
*** In pro-reg books, registration was treated as a prerequisite to a superhero being a crime fighter. Supers were given the option of not using their powers, getting trained in using them properly and to establish that they were not a threat to themselves or others, and going to prison. If they did not want to fight crime after they were finished being trained, then they didn't have to, and there was no indication that they would be forced. It was just shown that a lot of people chose to fight crime because they had made friends with their fellow trainees and they felt like they should use their powers for good. However, the pro-registration side was still not sympathetic because Tony Stark and Mr. Fantastic were portrayed as being jerks, who felt like [[OmniscientMoralityLicense they knew what was best]], as well as committing some blatant crimes. But they were making excellent points throughout, and [[TakeOurWordForIt if Mr. Fantastic's soothsaying math can be believed]], it was the lesser of a few evils.
*** In anti-reg books, S.H.I.E.L.D. [[MutantDraftBoard forcibly conscripted anyone who happened to have any kind of superpowers]] whether they wanted to fight crime or not, and the pro-reg heroes were {{Well Intentioned Extremist}}s at best. When ComicBook/LukeCage said he just was going to not use his powers and stay out of it, armed gunmen showed up at his door on midnight of the day the act went into effect. In ''ComicBook/AvengersTheInitiative'', kids recruited were told that they either join the initiative, get their powers taken, or go to jail. Cloud 9, whose power was a little cloud that could make her fly (kind of like [[Manga/DragonBallZ the Flying Nimbus]]), was recruited, turned into a sniper and sent to killing missions, even though she never wanted to use her power for crimefighting let alone assassinations. In addition, Stark orchestrated an attack on ComicBook/BlackPanther, foreign chief of state, because his wife (who had diplomatic immunity) refused to sign up. It was quite clearly a case of "work for us or else".
* TakeThatScrappy: The side of Maria Hill won… but ''she'' did not; she was demoted to be the NumberTwo of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s new head honcho, Tony Stark. At least that's [[YouGetMeCoffee how it looks]] in the main title. In the Iron Man tie-in, she hands over the reins to him of her own volition, having realized that she was given power for the wrong reason. Many didn't think that was punishment enough for her.
** Many people must have thought this when the Cape Killers gave the MirandaRights to Sally Floyd and took her prisoner. Fortunately, they did not have any strong evidence to keep her there, so she's free to continue annoying all superheroes. On the other hand, this somehow causes her to [[DefeatMeansFriendship switch to supporting the Pro-reg side]].
* TooBleakStoppedCaring: Like [[ComicBook/WorldWarHulk two other]] [[ComicBook/AvengersVsXMen crisis crossovers]] that would later follow, this story focuses on superheroes fighting each other rather than supervillains. It's pointed out ''inside the story'' by Doctor Strange that nobody really is right or wrong in this, meaning it can be hard to decide who to root for. And finally, it ends on a rather dark note, with [[spoiler:''[[TheParagon Captain America]]'' being arrested and assassinated while anti-registration superheroes ''still'' are operating against the law, giving you the impression nothing really was accomplished]]. You could be excused to stop caring in these conditions.
* TrappedByMountainLions:
** Y'know what was going on at the same time as this event? ''ComicBook/{{Annihilation}}'', aka the event where Annihilus killed Quasar and the all of Nova Corps (except Nova himself), stole the Quantum Bands thus making himself invincible, and then lead a Negative Zone army on a warpath, trying to slaughter all life in the ''universe''. This was a threat so big that almost every space superhero, villain, and alien race up to and including ''Galactus'' teamed up to stop it. Compared to that the events here seem incredibly pointless. Not to mention the Hulk was on his way back to rain holy hell on the superheroes. Lampshaded by a ''What If?'' Issue where Nova calls out Iron Man and Cap on wasting everyone's time like this when a ''galaxy destroying army of bugs'' is on the way. Hell, it's lampshaded in ''Annihilation'' itself by Star-Lord and Nova, who argue whether the heroes would even be able to stop fighting one another long enough to not die if the Wave reaches their back door. Side note, Annhilus was waging this intergalatic war which killed trillions out of rage that the universe was encroaching on his territory, the Negative Zone. Guess where Iron Man built his concentration camp without any permission from Annihilus.
** The event also went on during the same time as ''X-Men: Decimation,'' in which most of the world's mutants have been depowered and they're being hunted to extinction. ''[[ComicBook/NewXMenAcademyX New X-Men]]'' even has Emma give a five-page TheReasonYouSuckSpeech to Ms. Marvel, telling her about all the students she lost while the Avengers were busy doing their own thing instead of helping them.
* UnfortunateImplications: As [[WebVideo/AtopTheFourthWall Linkara]] pointed out during his [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q_iCAivfGsg "15 Things Wrong with Marvel's Civil War" video]] (at point 6), the prominent casualty of an event named ''Civil War'' is a black guy...killed by a blond, blue-eyed guy based on Nordic Mythology [[note]]Norse mythos being the core mythos for the North ''German''ic[[/note]] and his body gets wrapped up in chains afterwards. What's worse? [[https://youtu.be/q_iCAivfGsg?t=21m7s Said blondie]] was cloned from the original Thor to act as a, for lack of a better term, ''slave''. Not helping matters is that Clone Thor's shutdown code is Music/RichardWagner, whose image would come to be associated with Nazism due to his infamous antisemitism and being a role model for the Nazis. In the same review, Linkara was also struck speechless by Tony saying that the Thor clone acted like any police officer would -- that is, he immediately decided to shoot to kill against a black man. And earlier at Goliath's funeral, Miriam Sharpe tells Tony that Goliath's death is, in her words, "no more [Tony's] fault than a cop could be blamed for shooting a punk who pulled a gun on him". Given that several race riots have erupted because police officers acted like that against minorities… yeah, [[HarsherInHindsight that defense didn't age well]]. It gets even worse then ''The Initiative'' shows that one of the people involved in making the clone of Thor was...a literal Nazi war criminal who'd been [[BoxedCrook forcibly recruited]] by the pro-reg side.
* UnintentionalPeriodPiece:
** The story was written in the aftermath of 9/11, the reaction of the Bush administration, and the "War on terror". Also Website/MySpace.
** The politics dealt with in the event have also not aged well. The frequent allusions to the Pro-Reg side operating more like police officers is especially cringe-inducing, since later controversies in the mid-2010's have led to the US police being heavily scrutinized and painted in a negative light by various sectors of the public.
* UnintentionallyUnsympathetic: The pro-reg side decide to back the government because "the law is the law is the law"... which, natter-inducing argument aside, would hold slightly more weight if this A: Wasn't the government of the [[CrapsackWorld Marvel Universe]], but more importantly B: Wasn't a government which a few weeks prior to the event beginning had tried to ''nuke'' the Avengers to get rid of one supervillain. And these are the people Tony Stark thinks are worth trusting?
** It also doesn't help that Tony Stark formed a group of ''supervillains'' to aid him in fighting the anti-reg side. For someone who's supposed to be in the right, his willingness to ally with villains who could have easily gone rogue makes his judgement all the more questionable.
** Cap himself refues to hear Tony out when he offers to make peace and beats Punisher senseless for murdering criminals. While Punisher might not be the greatest person the fact he refuses to fight back really makes Cap come off as the bigger jackass.
* ValuesDissonance: Many readers from countries with {{conscription}} display more negative opinion on its conflict, especially the Anti-Registration's views on [[SuperRegistrationAct Superhero Registration Act]] as slavery.
* WereStillRelevantDammit: Sally Floyd's speech to Captain America about him being out of touch just ''screams'' this. Most of the topics Floyd brings up ended up being dated barely a year after the comic.
* WhatDoYouMeanItsNotPolitical: Didn't help that writers of the tie-ins '''directly''' brought [[AuthorFilibuster politics into their writings]].
* TheWoobie: Speedball survives the horrific incident that kick-starts the entire mess, is made the scapegoat for all of it, and while completely powerless is sent to a maximum security prison, where he is, naturally, attacked repeatedly with no way to defend himself until his powers kick back in, and even then it's in a horrific new way that requires him to feel pain in order to do it. Not surprising then he goes mad.
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