History Comicbook / CivilWar

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* ''ComicBook/CivilWar2015'': Rather than a full CrisisCrossover in its own right, this ''Civil War'' is part of the wider ''ComicBook/{{SecretWars|2015}}'' event. In an alternate world where the original ''Civil War'' ended in a tragedy that killed millions, Captain America and Iron Man are now the leaders of two new nations, still locked in endless war.

The name "Civil War" may make reference to different comics
* ''ComicBook/CivilWar2006'' (the original one, just heroes and villains over superhero registration)
** ''ComicBook/CivilWarII'' (sequel to the first one)
* ''ComicBook/CivilWar2015'' (the one with the death of the multiverse)

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%%[[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/marvel_civil_war_3500.jpg]]
%%[-[[caption-width-right:250:ComicBook/IronMan's ''pretty'' sure this is the right way to handle things. [[http://comicsmedia.ign.com/comics/image/article/746/746270/iron-mancaptain-america-casualties-of-war-20061115031019603.jpg Although, so is Cap.]]]]-]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/civil_war_7.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:ComicBook/IronMan's ''pretty'' sure this is the right way to handle things. Although, so is [[ComicBook/{{CaptainAmerica}} Cap]].]]

The 2006–2007 Marvel CrisisCrossover.

The ComicBook/NewWarriors, during the filming of a RealityTV program, unthinkingly start a fight with several fugitive supervillains (including Nitro) in the middle of a suburban housing development in Stamford, Connecticut. Nitro quite literally explodes -- killing all of the New Warriors (except Speedball) and 612 civilians, including the entire population of an elementary school.

This sparks a flurry of anti-super feelings in civilians. In the wake of ''ComicBook/HouseOfM'' (the previous CrisisCrossover) and ''ComicBook/{{Secret War|2004}}'', Congress decides they have to act to control all metahumans, and the [[SuperRegistrationAct Superhuman Registration Act]] (SHRA) is passed. Although different individual comics in the crossover treated the act in slightly different (and occasionally [[DependingOnTheWriter inconsistent]]) fashions,[[note]]For the entire event, Marvel's editorial staff refused to lay down any rules on the actual wording of the Registration Act, their excuse being that it would be "too complicated" to understand.[[/note]] the most commonly used presentation of the SHRA included these features:

* Mandatory registration of all superpowered individuals (whether active as superheroes or not)
* Mandatory registration of all costumed crimefighters (whether superpowered or not)
* All crime-fighting and lifesaving activity by non-registered superheroes is illegal
* All registered heroes are to attend -- and pass -- mandatory government training (waivers were issued by Tony Stark for himself and his pro-registration [[Comicbook/TheAvengers Avengers]] comrades)
* All registered heroes are potentially liable to be called up into active government service, at the discretion of the government, without the option of refusing

ComicBook/CaptainAmerica is taken at gunpoint for saying that he plans to refuse to register, though the law has yet to be passed, then forms the Secret Avengers, an underground organization that continues unregistered heroics, and therefore resists the Act. The Comicbook/XMen declare the whole mess [[BystanderSyndrome someone else's problem]] (although they do point out that following ''House of M'', there simply aren't enough mutants in the world to get involved), and Tony "ComicBook/IronMan" Stark leads a S.H.I.E.L.D. force to help capture all renegade metahumans, hero or villain. The US government, with Stark's concurrence, also puts together a task force of supervillains -- the New ComicBook/{{Thunderbolts}} -- for the purpose of hunting down unregistered metahumans. Some villains like Bullseye and Venom are used for the government-sanctioned hunting down of and crippling of unregistered heroes, with mind implants to prevent misconduct. (Also against all sense, the government hires ComicBook/{{Deadpool}} for similar duties.)

The crossover was similar to, but far more extreme than, previous SuperRegistrationAct plots in comics. It is also notable for big changes in the status quo, including ''ComicBook/TheDeathOfCaptainAmerica'' and the unmasking of ComicBook/SpiderMan (among several other heroes). Despite Creator/JoeQuesada (then-editor-in-chief of Marvel) promising that Spidey's unmasking would not be undone via a [[SuspiciouslySpecificDenial "magic retcon"]] (those being his exact words), Spidey's unmasking was retconned as a part of Quesada's wildly unpopular pet storyline ''ComicBook/OneMoreDay'' -- by ''literal'' magic, less than three months later.

Most of the Franchise/MarvelUniverse was involved in this, including ''Comicbook/TheAvengers'', the ''Comicbook/FantasticFour'', the ''ComicBook/{{Runaways}}'', and many other heroes. The ''Comicbook/XMen'' were, by and large, uninvolved in the crossover; this is because of the decimation of the mutant population that happened at the end of ''ComicBook/HouseOfM''. However, two of them did join, both of them time travelers -- Cable sided with Captain America, and Bishop joined forces with Iron Man. Marvel's cosmic heroes also stayed out of the event as most of them were dealing with the ''Comicbook/{{Annihilation}}'' event, though ComicBook/{{Nova}} was briefly involved afterwards. Another hero notably left out was [[ComicBook/TheIncredibleHulk the Hulk]], who was deliberately PutOnABus in-universe and got caught up in his own ''ComicBook/PlanetHulk'' storyline as a result.

An alternate take on the story is one of the realities featured in ''Comicbook/SecretWars2015'', as the Warzone, where the fight in Prison 42 was supposed to end when Cloak teleported everyone out at the same time Black Panther triggered the facility's self-destruct mechanism. But the explosion came through Cloak, killing him, a handful of other heroes, and ''15 million more people''. As a result, the Civil War never ended, and America has been split down the middle for six years: Iron Man built the Iron, a pro-Reg utopic state, while Captain America established the Blue, an anti-Reg territory whose main principle is freedom.

In December 2015, it was announced that ''ComicBook/CivilWarII'' would take place in Spring 2016, featuring a cosmic focus on the story as opposed to a political one.

In ''WesternAnimation/TheAvengersEarthsMightiestHeroes'' episode "The Man Who Stole Tomorrow", the Negative Zone prison "42" makes an appearance although only to incarcerate supervillains. Like in the comics, it was designated 42 because it was Tony Stark's and Reed Richards' 42nd idea for improving the world. Later in "Hail HYDRA!", Maria Hill states that she will talk to the President about registering with S.H.I.E.L.D.. Notably unlike the comics, Stark is against the idea of registering, as seen in his conversations with Hill in the episode "Alone Against A.I.M.", citing among other reasons the Good Samaritan principle.

The storyline was going to be going to be adapted in the third season of ''EMH''. But unfortunately, the series was cancelled before it could receive an episode that is an adaptation of the storyline and it became an AbortedArc.

The event's plot is used as the story in the video game ''VideoGame/MarvelUltimateAlliance 2''. The Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse had a PragmaticAdaptation of the event in ''Film/CaptainAmericaCivilWar'', downplaying the CrisisCrossover aspect of the story to focus on the conflict between Iron Man and Captain America (although other superheroes are present). Additionally, elements of the crossover were very loosely adapted for the "Avengers Disassemble" storyline in ''WesternAnimation/AvengersAssemble'', while a more faithful adaptation will appear as the main crux of Season 3.

----
!!''Civil War'' provides examples of:

* AccidentalPublicConfession: When Wolverine is tracking Nitro, Iron Man interrupts him, and tells him that a SHIELD unit is ready to deal with Nitro, that they only need to know a place and attack... and Wolverine, without thinking before talking, has just slipped Nitro's location.
* AchillesInHisTent:
** Namor refuses to take part in the disputes of power of the surface dwellers, but finally helps Captain America in his hour of need. Mainly because Sue Storm asks him.
** The Sentry has the power of a FlyingBrick, but remains unwilling to assist the Pro-Reg side because he's afraid of losing control to the Void.
** Doctor Strange remains inside his Sanctum Sanctorum, refusing to get involved.
* ActuallyADoombot:
** Nick Fury's whereabouts were unknown since he went on the run after ComicBook/{{Secret War|2004}}. Each time after, it's actually a [[DeceptivelyHumanRobots Life Model Decoy]] made by S.H.I.E.L.D. (and of course, She-Hulk makes fun of this). There's an interesting twist with Sharon Carter: she has a LMD of Nick Fury at her room, everybody in SHIELD knows it's a LMD, but it's a LMD hacked by the real Nick Fury, who uses it to talk with her.
** Spider-Woman's focus issue of ''New Avengers'' has her approached by Nick. Partway through the conversation she blasts him through the torso, and tells Maria Hill that the ''real'' Nick Fury smells like "Havana at low tide". [=LMDs=] smell like a tire factory.
* TheAlcatraz: The captured superhumans are imprisoned in 42, a large prison in the Negative Zone. Escape is [[CardboardPrison "futile"]] since it is in a separate dimension composed of {{antimatter}}.
* AliensInCardiff: In the Fantastic Four lead-up, the FF, Dr. Doom and an army of doombots start a war over an object fallen from space in... Oklahoma. The Thing is confused about being woken up to go to Oklahoma, of all places, ''on purpose''. What ever happens there? [[spoiler:That object was {{Mjolnir}}, and Thor was dead at the time]].
* {{Allegory}}
** Spider-Man is fighting the Titanium Man in Washington DC, but takes pause for a moment to give his respects to the Lincoln Memorial. "[[UsefulNotes/TheAmericanCivilWar Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation or any nation so conceived and so dedicated can long endure. We are met on a great battlefield of that war]]".
** After that adventure, Tony Stark voices his own opinion of Honest Abe. "I have always admired Lincoln. When the South began going its own way, he knew that taking a position against them would lead to civil war. But he did it anyway. Because he understood something... understood it more perhaps than anyone else in that time. He knew that a house divided against itself cannot stand... a nation can not be divided and survive. Under his administration, brother hunted down brother, friend turned against friend. It was terrible. It was bloody. It was '''necessary'''. Because at the end, the republic held, and the nation was restored"
* AllThereInTheManual: The Daredevil who shows up through most of the main series is actually Iron Fist dressed as Daredevil, since Matt was doing his own thing and Danny's covering for him. The main series never mentions this.
* AmbiguousSituation: Peter Parker and Mary Jane are sleeping. A little eagle statue starts calling Parker to go to Stark's lab. Mary Jane asked: is this thing voice only, or does it have video? Stark said that it was voice only, and added "Nice tan, by the way". Did he guess that Mary Jane was half-naked because he had just woke Peter up and understood that he was sleeping with her, or was Stark a pervert spying on Mary Jane? This being Tony Stark, both are equally plausible.
* AmericaWonWorldWarII: Punisher tries to invert this when he downplays Cap's role in Hitler's defeat, by praising the Russians. Sally Floyd, alternately, tries actively defending the German army of the second world war as not "evil", but just [[MyCountryRightOrWrong German patriots that were]] ''just following orders''. She does not see the irony.
* AndTheAdventureContinues: The story does not have an end. It simply leaves the characters in their new places, where they would fight from then on.
* ArmedWithCanon: Parodied in ''Amazing Spider-Man'' #530. Spider-Man thinks in a ThoughtCaption that things are going to get ugly. More captions follow:
-->'''Editor's note:''' Some of us at Marvel disagree with this statement, and feel that many of those options are perfectly reasonable.
-->'''Editor's note:''' Okay, but the rest of us don't feel that way
-->'''Editor's note:''' Who asked you?
-->'''Editor's note:''' Look, we have already been through this...
-->'''Editor's note:''' You are not listening
-->'''Editor's note:''' Shhhh! Watch it, [[Creator/JoeQuesada Quesada]]'s coming down the hall!
* ArmorPiercingQuestion
** Tony Stark attends the funeral for the victims of Stamford, and Miriam Sharpe blames him for it. He said that he had nothing to do with it. She replied that by financing the Avengers, he encouraged the notion that any guy with powers or super-gadgets should consider themselves above the law. He takes note and becomes the enforcer of the SHRA.
* ArsonMurderAndJaywalking: When Speedball wakes up (after being blown up to another state and losing his powers in the process), he is told the bad news, that, because of his actions, Stamford is now a smoking crater, that all the other New Warriors are dead, that all super-humans must now register to the U.S. government... and that he is under arrest.
* ArtifactAlias: Franchise/SpiderMan reveals his secret identity in a press conference. Now everybody (heroes, villains, government, regular people, J. Jonah Jameson, etc.) knows that he is Peter Parker. Still, he keeps using the mask and the name "Spider-Man." He even wonders in one moment if there is a point for that anymore.
* ArtisticLicenseLaw: Among other things, as lawandthemultiverse.com points out, a law is not necessarily enforced as soon as it goes into effect and doesn't necessarily go into effect as soon as it's signed (it can be done that way to an extent but is extremely bad form and likely to get cases thrown out of court). Once the law is passed, it typically goes into effect on a future date, often in stages, to give both the government and the people time to prepare to comply with the law, especially if registration is part of the new law. But S.H.I.E.L.D. has a go at arresting Captain America before it ''even comes up for a vote''.[[note]]And, it must be added, not because Captain America was adverse to the idea of registering himself, but because he expressed disapproval of the idea of being made to enforce it upon other heroes ([[DependingOnTheWriter something which the different writers of the storyline couldn't agree on actually being a part of the law or not]]).[[/note]] Later they end up busting into people's houses' at 12:01 am with registration slips and arrest warrants in hand. In other words, S.H.I.E.L.D. essentially operates as if America is a tyrannical PoliceState.
** Lots of heroes (and villains) get arrested, but there's precious little legal process to go along with it. Alleged criminals don't get their Miranda warnings ("You have the right to remain silent" etc.), they don't get to see a lawyer in the Negative Zone, they don't get to post bail, etc... [[SuspiciouslySpecificDenial any similarity to Guantanamo Bay is a mere coincidence.]]
** Similarly, for an experienced lawyer, She-Hulk's website takedown lawsuit goes off the rails quickly into a trial of the New Warriors. It would have been an open-and-shut case in reality. If speech creates a clear and present danger for anyone, it's illegal. Revealing the identities of superheroes and then reporting on the resulting violence against them clearly passes even this high standard. Testimony about the tragedy itself and somehow getting Iron Man to testify about the upcoming superhero registration act is irrelevant and should not have been allowed.
* AsTheGoodBookSays: Before fully engaging into the Civil War crossover, Wolverine takes on the Crusader, who repeats texts from the Bible.
* TheBadGuysAreCops: Several villains are forced by the government to capture the rebel heroes. Most of them take pride of the "now I'm the cop and you're the criminal" irony.
* TheBadGuyWins: Red Skull had a simple plan: take advantage of Captain America being detained to kill him with a sniper shot [[spoiler:and a close shot by Sharon Carter, under mental control]]. And it worked: Captain America is dead. [[DisneyDeath At least for a while...]].
* BadLiar:
** Captain America in disguise, luring Sally Floyd into a secret room for an interview. He doesn't know that, in 2007, Coca-Cola was not being distributed in glass bottles anymore. [[AluminumChristmasTrees Except it is,]] [[CriticalResearchFailure and you can buy it at several New York grocery stores.]]
** How does Captain America know that Spider-Man has really left Iron Man's side, that he's not a spy? Because Spider-Man is a very bad liar, and he would notice it if he lied to him.
* BatmanGambit: The trick to trap Hulk in the satellite and shoot him into space was based on the likely reactions of Bruce Banner: that he wouldn't trust the people leading S.H.I.E.L.D., but that he ''would'' trust Nick Fury, not knowing that he's been missing since Secret War, and that he would decide that "this is a job for Hulk".
* BeautifulCondemnedBuilding: Discussed when when Doctor Strange conceals the New Avengers in his own mansion, bespelled to look decrepit and boarded up (to twist the knife a bit more, it even wears a "Coming Soon — A Starbucks" banner).
* BigEntrance: All the heroes stop their discussion when the Watcher shows up in the Baxter Building.
* BigNo: When Hulk was sent to another distant planet.
* BittersweetEnding
** The government supporters have won, and superheroes must now be registered. However, a number of heroes go clandestine and keep doing things the old way. Also, Captain America is dead.
** She-Hulk finally solves her problems with changing back and forth between her Jennifer Walters and She-Hulk forms. But after Stamford, being a superhero is no longer as fun it used to be.
* {{Bouncer}}: The disco has a bouncer ready to let Johnny Storm ignore the waiting line and get inside, as usual. He doesn't do much of a good job when the guys get violent and beat Johnny into a coma.
* BreakTheComedian: This trope is what kicks off ''Civil War:'' Speedball is the goofy, fun-loving leader of the New Warriors, and agrees to film a reality show about their exploits. The first episode ends in complete horror, as the villain Nitro explodes when the Warriors try to apprehend him (in the process killing the entire team except for Speedball, plus 612 civilians). Following this traumatic event, a trial determined to hold him responsible, an attempt on his life, his own mother disowning him, and anti-superhero sentiment ushering in the Superhuman Registration Act, Speedball loses all traces of his humor and becomes the tortured antihero Penance..
* BreakingTheFellowship
** The Fantastic Four verge on this with their own domestic civil war. Reed Richards fully supports the act and is the big brain of it, second to Stark, but the Thing opposes it and leaves the country, Johnny Storm is in the hospital, and Sue is so against it that she leaves Reed, begging that he "fix" things.
** The Illuminati also disbanded when Civil War was approaching. Iron Man and Reed support the act, while Dr. Strange is against it, and asks to not be called again. Xavier was still missing, Namor considered it a surface world problem, and Black Bolt's disdain was obvious without a translator.
** There was no specific scene of the Comicbook/NewAvengers breaking up, but that team was disbanded by Civil War. Suffice to say that it was a team with Captain America, Iron Man, and others.
* BreakoutCharacter:
** This is the first CrisisCrossover (and not a mere BatFamilyCrossover) with ComicBook/IronMan as a main character. The [[Film/IronMan film series]] and animated series followed in short order. [[note]]Though ironically the films and series made him a fan-favourite, while this crossover made the comic-book version extremely divisive and controversial to say the least [[/note]]
** She was already around, but since this story ComicBook/MariaHill became a steady and unavoidable character of the Marvel Universe.
* BrokenAesop: The storyline featured the superheroes favoring registration fighting the superheroes opposing it. Apparently, the two sides were supposed to be presented evenly but due to the clear Aesops of the last century saying that {{secret identit|y}}ies are ''good'' and government oversight of superheroes is ''evil'', it was hard to sympathize with the Pro-Regs. Especially since Comicbook/IronMan, the Pro-Reg leader, became a borderline Fascist Nazibot for most of the storyline. The whole thing was basically a titanic IdiotPlot where everyone held the ConflictBall.
** The X-Men, bizarrely, stayed ''neutral'' for the entire debate surrounding the Super Human Registration Act -- even though in their own comics, government registration of mutants was always portrayed as the first step towards state-sponsored internment/genocide of anyone with an X-gene. Is that really something they should suddenly be neutral about?
*** Justifed in-universe by Emma Frost, who pointed out that the X-Men were being asked to do things for the government of America on the grounds of 'humanitarian' reasons and when Stark tried to throw the deaths of the people of Stamford up as a reason they should side with him, her immediate response was "Where were the Avengers when ''our children'' were dying?" referring to the total and complete destruction of Genosha. Out-of-universe this is a bit more awkward since this particular incident happened under Creator/GrantMorrison and his ComicBook/NewXMen run which very deliberately went out of it's way to keep as many non-X-Men heroes out of the storyline as possible to give it more of it's unique identity, meaning the ''actual'' reason the Avengers weren't involved was a case of WriterOnBoard.
* BulletproofHumanShield: Captain America grabs a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, and uses him as a shield to escape. No harm is actually done to the agent, as they were firing tranquilizers (S.H.I.E.L.D. wanted to stop him, not kill him).
* BullyingADragon: A guy in a mob recognizes Jennifer, grabs her, and claims "I have She-Hulk, the lawyer of the New Warriors". All she has to do was turn into her She-Hulk form. The guy admits that he DidntThinkThisThrough.
* BurnTheWitch: After the explosion, people are '''so''' angry with the New Warriors that they burn them in effigies.
* TheBusCameBack: Debra Whitman, an old flame of Peter Parker's from years back, returns when he unmasks, having written a tell-all book about Peter.
* ButForMeItWasTuesday: After revealing his identity, all the enemies of Spider-Man who have ever been began to attack him. And one of them...
-->'''Spider-Man:''' And you are...?
-->'''Villain:''' Don't you remember me, Peter?
-->'''Spider-Man:''' I'm sorry, do I know you?
-->'''Villain:''' I am... Will o' the Wisp? We have fought... a pair of times?
-->'''Spider-Man:''' Oh, yes. And remind me, which were your powers...?
-->'''Villain:''' Are we really having this conversation? You really don't remember me, Peter?
* CallingYourAttacks: The Thing points out that the Human Torch does this, by yelling "Flame on!" each time he is about to attack, and suggests trying "FLAME OFF!" when he does the reverse.
* CapeBusters: S.H.I.E.L.D. creates a new unit to capture heroes that refuse to register in defiance of the SHRA. In an amazing display of subtlety, they are named the "Cape Killers."
* CardboardPrison: In the ''Illuminati'' one-shot María Hill refers to a discussion she had with an agent, who pointed out that Spider-Man has his hands on Norman Osborn three times a year, but never does what "needs to be done". Spider-Man simply webs him up, Osborn is taken to prison, he escapes and goes on to kill more people. The agent asked, how many times does it have to happen until it becomes Spider-Man's fault?
* CassandraTruth: Now that Debra Whitman knows that Peter Parker is Spider-Man, she wants to know how he became Spider-Man. What? A radioactive spider? An animal totem? This isn't a moment for jokes, Parker!
* TheCavalry:
** For the final battle. First, Captain America's side use their mole to open the cells, and have the prisoners on their side. Then, Namor and his army provides further support. But Stark replied with a counter-cavalry, the new heroes of the 50 states initiative and the mechanical Thor.
** Luke Cage, attacked as soon as the Act came into force, is rescued by Captain America, Daredevil (well, Iron First dressed as Daredevil) and the Falcon.
* CavalryBetrayal: Sort of. Wonder Man finds an Atlantean terrorist cell, and calls S.H.I.E.L.D. for reinforcements. And the reinforcement is... the Green Goblin, who begins to kill all the blue guys with his bombs. Wonder Man asks S.H.I.E.L.D., WhatTheHellHero, what kind of cavalry is that? They tell him that the Green Goblin is ''not'' the cavalry,[[TheCavalryArrivesLate they're still ten minutes away]].
* ChekhovsGun: What is that CD with the number "42" in it? Sorry, classified information.
* ChekhovsGunman: A relative of Goliath, who wants to avenge him, and wants the secret of the Pym particle. Black Panther treated him as a NaiveNewcomer, but he got a higher role in ''World War Hulk''.
* TheChessmaster: Hammerhead organizes a meeting of all supervillains, to be their new leader, replacing the Kingpin. The Kingpin manages to have his plans thwarted... despite the minor inconvenience of being in prison at the time.
* CivilWar: The superhero community, split over whether or not to support the registration act, starts fighting eachother.
* ClarkKenting: The heroes in the resistance must stay hidden, and use new secret identities. But the Human Torch is a celebrity (in-universe), so how can he hide his face? [[Franchise/{{Superman}} With a pair of glasses?]] Reed Richards [[LampshadeHanging tells him]]: that won't work.
* CliffHanger: Issue 3 ends with [[spoiler:the return of Thor. Or is it? In issue 4 it is revealed that it isn't the real Thor, but a robotic clone created by Richards and Stark.]]
* CListFodder: Goliath, Plunderer, Goldbug and the New Warriors in the main series. Typeface in ''Front Lines''.
* ClothesMakeTheSuperman: Speedfreek has no powers without his suit, so Speedball attacked him before he had time to put it on.
* CluelessAesop: Mark Millar says that we're supposed to side with the Pro-reg side... even though the Pro-regs are depicted as a bunch of borderline fascists who mind-control or threaten heroes and villains into working for them and casually toss people into the Negative Zone for refusing to register. Some tie-in writers depicted the anti-regs as borderline terrorists who were putting everyone at risk while others portrayed them as being the heroes standing against a WellIntentionedExtremist tyranny. The biggest agreed upon complaint with this event was that it couldn't seem to decide which side it was rooting for.
* LesCollaborateurs: Iron Man's group.
* ComicBookDeath: One tie-in ends with the villain Underworld killing an incapacitated Hammerhead. He got better.
* CompositeCharacter: [[http://marvel.com/images/gallery/story/1816/images_from_what_if_planet_hulk_smashes_to_a_sell_out/image/115448 Captain America in "What If Civil War #1"]]. In a "What If?" where Tony Stark died before Civil War, Captain America donned an Iron Man suit with the red, blue and white colors. He did not call himself [[Comicbook/DarkReign "Iron Patriot"]], but it was the same idea (and written before).
* ConflictBall: Was there any real reason for them to be fighting like that? Just ''one act'' people don't agree with, and they are at each others' throats? Even small wars do not work that way. There had to have been some underlying tension that the act finally set off (like many political hot button issues).
** Granted, there is some discussion about how "tensions have been rising" for awhile, but it still doesn't make sense that so much violence happened so quickly.
* ContinuityNod: Before the last battle, Iron Man reveals that he has a mole within Captain America's ranks. Steve responds that he was already aware of that. Iron Man doesn't understand how the secret got out. It didn't: the traitor was discovered by Black Panther, in his comic book.
* ContinuitySnarl: Beyond the creative differences between writers, there were some minor contradictions between the main series and the tie-in comics:
** When Iron Man gives a tour guide to Spider-Man of the prison in the Negative Zone (''Amazing Spider-Man''), he says that prisoners will stay there for all their lives, unless they signed. When Spider-Man wants to leave the Pro-registration side and join the resistance (main crossover comic), Iron Man says that the prison was only a temporary measure.
** In the first issue, Reed Richards supports Stark's projects because he made studies that confirmed that superhuman activity would lead to even greater disasters. In the FF comic book, he talks instead about an old uncle who had conflicts with the law. The contradiction was fixed in a later FF comic book (or planned all along), when it's revealed that the alleged uncle was a lie, that he supported Stark because of his studies.
** When Spider-Man joined the resistance, he took off the spider-armor (as Stark may manipulate him with it) and retrieved his classic suit. However, when he appeared in the ''Frontline'' comic book helping Ben Urich to hack into Stark's finances, he was still using the armor.
* CoversAlwaysLie: ''Fantastic Four'' #537: Dr. Doom lifting [[ComicBook/TheMightyThor Thor]]'s hammer, over the defeated bodies of the Fantastic Four. Only a tiny and limited number of "worthy" heroes have been capable to lift it. Nobody should be surprised to find out that Dr. Doom is not among them.
* CrazyPrepared: That Tony Stark had safeguards in the Iron Spider Armor in case Peter ever turned on him is not that surprising. Especially not to Peter, who found them, and programmed in countermeasures.
* CrypticallyUnhelpfulAnswer: The press surround Stark after a senate comitee, and ask about the rumors of a registration act. "The Committee and I had a good meeting, and we discussed some options that, as far as I know, are still just that: options".
** Tony actually educates Peter in this trope during their visit to Capitol Hill, asking Peter if he knows what time it is. When Peter tells Tony the time, Tony says that's the wrong answer, and the correct answer to "Do you know what time it is?" is "[[MathematiciansAnswer Yes.]]" Only if pressed for more information should you give it.
* CurseCutShort: Hammerhead is having a secret meeting with all supervillains, to announce himself as their new leader. Iron Man and S.H.I.E.L.D. storm into their meeting, but he was expecting to find Captain America's secret base in there (the Kingpin had intentionally provided them false information). Both of them were equally surprised to see the other.
* DamselInDistress: The Invisible Woman rejects the Act, even [[GodwinsLaw comparing it to Nazi Germany]]. When Richards' arguments failed, he tries to invoke the trope: he's doing all this to protect her. She breaks the ''whole building'' to point out that she doesn't need "protection", she's the poster girl of TookALevelInBadass.
* DarkerAndEdgier: The story begins with a fun and colorful battle of the New Warriors against a set of C-class villains, with jokes, "take that" and all the usual stuff. Then Nitro blows up, taking the whole Stamford with him, and things get increasingly darker.
** Formerly FunPersonified Speedball gets new, pain-based powers, takes up an outfit lined with spikes on the inside (one for each person who died in the explosion) and dubs himself Penance.
* DeathByAdaptation: Speedball dies alongside the rest of the New Warriors in the novelization. The entire first chapter is spent building up the character so that his demise has more impact on the reader.
* DefectorFromDecadence: Ronin.
* DefiantStoneThrow: Miriam Sharpe spits on Tony Stark during the funeral of her son, blaming him for the whole thing.
* DeliberateValuesDissonance: A member of ComicBook/AlphaFlight, Canada's major superhero team, comments that this conflict looks ridiculous over their border: all superheroes in Canada have to be registered with Department H, a branch of the Canadian military which provides training and legal support of their activities among other perks, and no one has a particular problem with that practice there.
* DependingOnTheWriter: The viability of the SHRA and the actions of either side. Sometimes the pro-Reg just want accountability, while at other times they are holding American citizens in a concentration camp without trial after intentionally setting mass-murdering supervillains on them. Sometimes the anti-Reg side are [[YourTerroristsAreOurFreedomFighters terrorists, other times freedom fighters]].
* DevelopingDoomedCharacters: ''The Thing'' #1 has a guest appearance of Bill Foster, Goliath, a long forgotten character. You all know what happened to him a short time later...
* DidntThinkThisThrough: During the arc, Jennifer Walters is outed as ComicBook/SheHulk by a New Warriors hate site. On the way into her office through an angry mob to help some former New Warriors keep their identities hidden from the public, one of the mob recognizes her, grabs her by the arm and rips her shirt, proudly exclaiming "I've got She-Hulk!" Jen shifts and hoists the guy up by his lapels.
-->'''She-Hulk:''' Alright, you've got She-Hulk! Now what?!\\
'''Angry Citizen:''' I... uh... guess I didn't think this through...
* DiscoDan: Justice and Rage have a meeting with She-Hulk, and they have the bright idea of going around in their New Warriors suits, that they are so proud of. Hey, they were Avengers trained by Captain America! Yes, sure, add the most wanted fugitive into the mix. Please get indoors before people start a riot...
* DisproportionateRetribution: Issue 2 begins with a SHIELD unit blowing up a building to arrest Patriot for... stopping a mugging.
* TheDissenterIsAlwaysRight: Zig-zagged. The leaders of Marvel's superhuman community (e.g. ComicBook/IronMan, ComicBook/DoctorStrange, [[ComicBook/FantasticFour Reed Richards]], [[ComicBook/XMen Professor Xavier]]), Captain America is most against the Superhuman Registration Act [[note]] Doctor Strange was indifferent due to having bigger concerns, while Xavier was likewise dealing with more urgent business[[/note]]. While WordOfGod is that Iron Man was supposed to be the one in the right (i.e. people with superhuman powers should be registered), Cap was later proven to be correct in his fears that the SHRA would be misused. Ironically, it's Iron Man himself who shows this by doing things like attacking people in their own homes because they didn't register, recruiting AxCrazy PsychoForHire-types like Bullseye to hunt down dissenting heroes, and tossing people into the Negative Zone.
* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything:
** The first time the moment when [[spoiler: Speedball]] gets shot in ''Civil War: Front Line'' is shown the panel is practically identical to the famous picture of Jack Ruby shooting Lee Harvey Oswald. Right down to the expression of pain on [[spoiler: Speedball's]] face and the shooter's clothing.
** The angry mother was Cindy Sheehan who protested the second Iraq war and became famous for doing so after her son was lost. Though in Sheehan's case, she was already politically active before her son deployed.
** The ''New Avengers'' tie-in which was a spotlight on Luke Cage. He compares the Registration to the Jim Crow Laws, and decides to ship his family off to Canada to escape these laws. Not very subtle.
* DuelingMessiahs: Regarding the SuperRegistrationAct, anyway. Iron Man takes the "Lawful" side of the conflict while Cap takes the "Good" side.
* EngineeredPublicConfession: Tony Stark attends a Senate hearing, where he tries to delay the SHRA bill. The Titanium Man shows up on a rampage, fights with Spider-Man (who was also there), and boasts how the SHRA will eradicate all superheroes and leave the U.S. defenseless. His words are recorded, and shown to the Senate as an argument. Unknown to all of them, Stark had paid him to show up and do that (but he didn't instruct the Titanium Man to say that, those are his own words, and he is convinced of them, with or without payment).
* EscapedFromHell: Dr. Doom was trapped in a Hell-like dimension, but took advantage of a rip of time and space caused by Ragnarok and {{Mjolnir}} to escape from it.
* EtTuBrute: All the U.S. hates the New Warriors. Anyone can be the webmaster of the www.destroyallwarriors.com hate site. But it was [[spoiler:Carlton Lafroyge, Hindsight, former member of the team]].
* EverythingIsRacist: Luke Cage compares the Pro-Registrators rounding up those who haven't registered to the Jim Crow Laws.
* EvilCostumeSwitch: On the covers, and a few of the supers who switched sides.
* {{Eyedscreen}}: After exiling Hulk, and the big reaction of Namor, Iron Man summons the Illuminati again, when the Act was being discussed. Will Namor come? Yep. His big eye make it clear: he is here.
* FaceFault: Not a common sight in superhero comics, but in this case it was largely justified. Spider-Man is on live television, just about to take off his mask. J.J. Jameson, the highest hater of Spider-Man in the universe, is dying to finally see his face after all those decades. "My name is Peter Parker, and I have been Spider-Man since I was 15" (if anyone needs to remember the obvious, he has also been Jameson's employee most of this time). How ''else'' could have Jonah reacted?
* TheFaceless: Norman Osborn, the Green Goblin, is held prisoner, but someone has allowed him to leave prison and deceive the tracking nanobots to seem as if he was still in prison. The man who helped him was [[spoiler:Tony Stark]].
** The "What if...?" issues were introduced by a faceless manifestation of TheWatcher.
* FalseFlagOperation: In ''Prelude to Civil War'', ComicBook/IronMan hires his old enemy the Titanium Man to make an attempt on his life in order to provide a cause for not passing the registration act (America's enemies would take advantage of the division and wipe them all out).
* FantasyConflictCounterpart: The events of 9/11 ''did'' [[http://www.clydefitchreport.com/2013/09/comics-about-the-day-the-towers-fell/ happen in the Marvel Universe as well]], but the comics that dealt with it always focused on TheRealHeroes. Nitro blowing up Stamford was the FantasyConflictCounterpart of the 9/11 and everything that took place after it, as well as the "How would it have impacted in the superhero community?" angle, which would be completely out of place if done with the real event.
* ForWantOfANail: The ''What if..'' comic books work on the premise that some detail was slightly different.
** The first story is based on the premise that Iron Man died in the ''Extremis'' story, before the whole Civil War started. Captain America convinces all the heroes (even Reed and Hank) to stand against the SHRA, enforced by Peter Gyrich, Jim Rhodes and Maria Hill. Instead of a single clone of Thor, Gyrich creates an ''army'' of those robots. He defeated the heroes, and was elected president.
** The second story is based on the premise that, during the ambush, Iron Man was honest with Captain America, and requested his help. Cap kept the machine to disrupt Iron Man's armor in his pocket, and began to talk. Some LeeroyJenkins agent released the Thor cyborg anyway, and both teams team-up to defeat it. After it, Captain America and Iron talked about the crisis, and arranged a compromise: there would be a SHRA, but it wouldn't be managed by the government, but by Captain America himself.
** The third story is based on the premise that in Civil War's sister event Comicbook/{{Annihilation}} Drax fails to free Galactus, leading to the deaths of himself, Galactus, and the Silver Surfer therefore preventing the pivotal turn in the Annihilation War which gave Nova the opening to kill Annihilus. Civil War's climax battle is interrupted by Nova fending off several of Annihilus' scouts who landed in New York right in the middle of the big battle. The Civil War is halted immediately, as well as the Inhumans's ComicBook/SilentWar, and the heroes organize the defenses against Annihilus. The Watcher aids the heroes, who win, but with a huge cost: the moon was destroyed. Captain America, Iron Man and Nova died together, in the final resistance against the horde.
** The last of these is perhaps the truest use of this trope, since there is a '''''single throwaway line of dialogue''''' in ''Annihilation'' #5 that it's implied Drax failed to heed.
* FrenchJerk: Inverted. Ben spends most of the event in Paris, where he meets a team of eccentric Justice League pastiches.
* FriendlyEnemy: All superheroes (and specially Captain America and Iron Man) may be going at each other's throats, but they have been friends and allies for decades. The tension was best seen in the "War Crimes" tie-in, in which Captain America and Iron Man meet alone in the abandoned Avengers mansion to try to settle their differences in a civilized manner (of course, they can't). The comic addresses several events in their past history, and how their conflicting views (Captain America as the traditionalist and idealist, and Iron Man as the visionary and pragmatist) get in the way of their friendship.
* FromBadToWorse: A band of terrorists try to attack Midtown High School, where Peter Parker is working as a science teacher before revealing his identity. But the resistance (that Parker had already joined) is protecting it, and Wolverine attacks the terrorists. All except one, who knows how will things end if he fights against Wolverine, and runs... only to be stopped by the Punisher. [[spoiler:Except it's all actually Pete pretending to be them, to scare away anyone thinking of attacking the school.]]
* FullyAbsorbedFinale: The first line-up of the ComicBook/NewAvengers (Iron Man, Captain America, Luke Cage, Spider-Man, Wolverine, etc) had no break up scene in their comic book, and we last saw all them toguether and happy during the marriage of Luke Cage and Jessica Jones. From then on, the comic book was based on individual stories of the former members of that team coping with the civil war.
* GetOut: Spider-Man fights the Titanium Man in Washington DC and forces him to escape. He thinks that he had to say something important, so he closes his fist and shouts "And don't come back!"
* GodwinsLaw: Take a drink every time someone compares the registration act to Nazi Germany, the USSR, China, the Roman Empire, or any other oppressive/totalitarian regime you can think of and you could potentially be wasted after a single issue of any given tie-in.
* GreyAndGrayMorality: Both the sides are portrayed with flaws and having a point.
* HauledBeforeASenateSubCommittee: Tony Stark is taken to one of those before the Civil War starts, to explain his perspective on the issue.
* HeelRealization: Initially, Tony Stark simply denied any relation with the New Warriors. The reaction of Miriam Sharpe, a woman who lost her son in the explosion, made him take a more proactive role to enforce the registration act.
** Peter himself has one when he sees [[TheAlcatraz 42]] with his own eyes, and Tony tells him what he intends to do with it. It, along with [[spoiler:Thor's clone, [[EvilKnockoff Ragnarok]]]] drive him to turn on Tony and join the anti-registration side.
* HeroAntagonist: Both sides in the war are heroes, and have their own reasons to think that the most heroic thing to do is to support/oppose the act and fight the other side.
* HeroicBSOD: Robbie/Speedball was deeply traumatized by the Stamford explosion and the deaths of over 600 people, including the rest of his team. Combined with being mis-blamed for what happened, imprisoned and nearly killed led him to become [[DarkerAndEdgier Penance]] after [[TraumaticSuperpowerAwakening recovering his powers]]. It would take years both in universe and real life for him to recover... [[TheAtoner more]] [[StepfordSmiler or]] [[SadClown less]]...
* HeWhoMustNotBeSeen: Nick Fury
* HiddenDisdainReveal: A few lines here and there make it seem half the Avengers have always secretly hated the other half. The Falcon telling Captain America that "Tony Stark is a sellout and always has been" is a good example.
* HollywoodHacking: Spider-Man hacking into Tony Stark's private financial operations.
* ICannotSelfTerminate: When the Illuminati discuss the fate of the Hulk, Dr. Strange points out that Banner would have already committed suicide if he could (and, in fact, tried. He was interrupted by soldiers bursting just as he started).
* IChooseToStay: Luke Cage sends his wife and baby to Canada, to keep them safe, but he stays. He will not allow the Man to drive him away from his home.
* IdiotBall:
** Iron Man and Captain America first and worst, but they were ''far'' from the only ones.
** In the first issue, Maria Hill attempts to arrest Captain America under the registration act, the problem being that the act hadn't actually been voted on in the US Congress yet, much less ratified by the President into official American law. Even worse, Cap never stated that he was personally going to disobey the law, only that he had no intentions of aiding in actively enforcing it, making her reasoning seem even more ridiculously flimsy, and only resulting in triggering Cap's rebellion in favor of the anti-registration side, when he would probably otherwise just have settled for quietly resigning from active duty. And the idiocy only grows from there.
** Also notably, ComicBook/SpiderMan. Yes, Spider-Man. Reveal your secret identity to the public. It's not like [[ComicBook/TheNightGwenStacyDied last time one of your enemies had it, you underwent a tragedy that took you years to cope with, cost an innocent life, and you still angst about to this day.]] And of course, history repeats itself, this time with Aunt May. Leading to [[ComicBook/OneMoreDay one of the few stories in Marvel canon that receives the same level of hatred Civil War gets.]]
** Living up to [[ReedRichardsIsUseless the trope named after him]], Mr. Fantastic was the sole human on Earth who was informed about [[ComicBook/{{Annihilation}} Annihilus' genocide of all life in the universe that was going on at the same time.]] First from the Super Skrull, a hated enemy who literally had to '''beg''' Richards to let him use the Negative Zone portal after giving a firsthand account of Annihilus' genocide. Later Nova sent multiple distress signals to Reed, warning him that Annihilus was ''days away'' from reaching Earth. Reed told no one about either of these warnings. ''What If? Annihilation'' shows just how costly that would have been.
** C'mon, Captain America. You let the Punisher join you and then recruit a pair of supervillains the next day. What did you ''think'' Castle was gonna do?
* IncestuousCasting: In-universe. All the members of the resistance have fake identities. For the Invisible Woman and the Human Torch, the only thing that Nick Fury could get was the identities of a married couple. Yes, they also {{squick}}ed.
* INeedAFreakingDrink: As former alcoholics, Sally Floyd and Tony Stark each had some of those moments when put under great tension. At one point, the only thing that stops Stark from taking a drink is the intervention of the Invisible Woman (who has shown up to harangue him, since they're on opposite sides).
* IWarnedYou
** With the footage of the fight, Sharon Carter reminded Maria Hill that she warned her that Captain America would not accept her proposal to lead the registration act. But no, Hill thought that she knew Cap better than his old lover did...
** One of the New Warriors heard the profile of the villains and pointed that they are out of their league, that they shouldn't go in. Speedball ignores him. However, that guy never gets the chance to point it out, as he dies in the explosion.
** Captain America warned Hill that the SHRA would divide the super heroes and start a civil war. She openly ignored him. "Weapons down, or I will not be responsible for what comes next..."
** A short time after the Kree-Skrull War, Iron Man proposed the creation of a massive group with '''all''' superheroes, to control each other and share information. His proposal was rejected, and he accepted to create ComicBook/TheIlluminati as a compromise. When the Registration Act bill was proposed, Namor snarkily asks if he's about to say that if they'd just listened to him, this would all have been avoided. Tony's answer? "[[BluntYes Yes]]."
-->'''Tony Stark:''' A hero, probably a young one... one of the Young Avengers, or those kids in Los Angeles... Some carefree, happy-go-lucky, well-meaning young person, with the best of intentions, will do something wrong. He'll be trying to save someone--do something heroic--but he'll make a mistake. Turn to the left instead of the right--and people will be hurt or killed because of it. And it'll happen on live TV, or it'll be recorded... and, like Rodney King, it'll play over and over and over... All over the world. Until... the unrest that is already bubbling will boil over... and every politician looking to make a name for himself will run right on TV and they'll tell America how they are going to save the world from these out-of-control costumed characters who think the law doesn't apply to them. And half of us will go along with it and half of us won't. And because of this mini-rebellion, our lawmakers will be forced to make an example of someone. Someone like our friend Spider-Man. Someone they can make a real spectacle of. Someone they can unmask on TV, destroy his marriage and family and pin a crime or two on! All for the whole world to see. And the country will rupture. Sides will be taken and people will get hurt. Friend against friend. People who used to be adversaries finding themselves teamed up against a common cause. Friends dying at the hands of a former ally or teammate. That is what will happen.
* IntellectuallySupportedTyranny: Pro-reg 'Futurist' Reed Richards.
* IronicEcho: Hold him down! Hold him down!
* IssueDrift: Ye gods. One second we have a pseudo-''X-Men'' recycle. The next we have the biggest [[ArmedWithCanon writers']] FlameWar about the Bush Administration since ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy''[='=]s uncancellation.
* ItAlwaysRainsAtFunerals: Both during the funeral of [[spoiler:Goliath]], and the funeral of the cameraman that was filming the New Warriors' reality show (shown in Civil War: Frontline)
* JerkassHasAPoint:
** In this case, it's so big that it's the story ending: Captain America realizes that Iron Man had a point all along, and stops fighting.
** Maria Hill attempts to arrest Captain America for voicing disapproval of the registration act, before it has even been put into law. Iron Man didn't agree with Cap, but finally admits that Maria was definitely in the wrong for trying to arrest him preemptively and takes her to task for doing so.
* JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope: Both sides showed signs of this during the course of the series.
* JustFollowingOrders:
** Reed Richards says that the Act is the law, and it must be obeyed simply because of that, end of discussion. The Invisible Woman pointed him that he's now JustFollowingOrders.
** Lampshaded by Reed himself, who's seen at one point singing to himself "[[Music/ThatWasTheYearThatWas Werhner von Braun]]" by Music/TomLehrer.
--->'''Reed:''' Once the rockets are up, who cares where they come down. That's not my department, says Werhner von Braun.
* KarmaHoudini:
** Failed attempts by ExecutiveMeddling to grant ComicBook/IronMan KarmaHoudini for his crimes during this storyline -- instead of admitting how wrong (or at least over-the-top) he was -- have only resulted in {{Flanderization}} and ruining an originally strong character.
** Tony and Reed are never arrested or receive any punishment for cloning Thor, resulting in the death of Bill Foster (unless you count Tony's well deserved beatdown at the hands of the real Thor).
* KickTheDog: One ''FF'' tie-in issue has Ms. Marvel trying to arrest Silverclaw, who is a legal minor, and judging by her confused reaction has no idea what's going on (since she's asking Carol why the woman's trying to arrest her).
* KilledOffForReal: There were many claims that 'these characters (Cap, the New Warriors, etc) are dead forever', but in the long run this trope was subverted. Only Microbe, Goliath, and Goldbug remain dead.
* KillerRobot: Clor / Ragnarok, Tony's robo-Thor clone. It wasn't ''meant'' to be, but maybe having Hank Pym help program it was a mistake, [[spoiler:even if Hank hadn't been replaced by a Skrull at the time.]] End result: Goliath gets a massive lightning blast through the chest, and then it tries to outright kill the others.
* LackOfEmpathy: Iron Man tells the Illuminati that innocent people are dying because of the Hulk. Reed Richards replies that "innocent people die every day".
* LawfulStupid: The slightly nicer depictions of SHIELD and the pro-red side fall on "the law must always be obeyed", such as sending an agent to force people to sign up who were either not superheroes or already immune from the law anyway (or not American citizens to begin with).
* LeaveHimToMe: Iron Man said this about Captain America, at the end of the first issue.
* LeeroyJenkins: Who cares if those villains are way more powerful than the New Warriors? Speedball does not need a plan! Let's just storm into their house, in superhero style, and give a good show! WhatCouldPossiblyGoWrong
* LesserOfTwoEvils: Iron Man admits that he was being a bit of a jerk, but that one of the reasons he was doing all this was because the government had even worse plans: instead of making superheroes join the army, they would fill the sky with Sentinels and outlaw '''all''' superhumans. [[ComicBook/DaysOfFuturePast Because that worked so well in the past...]]
* ALighterShadeOfGray: Though some writers and editors intended to invoke BothSidesHaveAPoint, the attempt failed due to the amount of power and authority the Pro-Reg side had at their fingertips. For all the flaws of the Anti-Reg side, they didn't build a gulag in the Negative Zone, make a berserk clone of a dead friend, or try to arrest people who were doing absolutely nothing. Those actions gave the Pro-Reg side the unfortunate image of a totalitarian police state.
* LivingLieDetector: The Black Panther checks the members of the resistance one by one, and found the traitor within them: [[spoiler:Tigra]].
* LostAesop:
** The comments of Sally Floyd to Captain America. Her references to UsefulNotes/{{Nascar}}, Website/MySpace, Website/YouTube, etc; merely illustrate that he was out of touch with the peoples' real interests. Meaning: during the times a guerrilla organization wages a civil war over some important issue, only a very small fraction of the population agrees with it. Most of the people want, first and foremost, to have a normal life (iconized by NASCAR, [=MySpace=], [=YouTube=], etc) with no guerrillas around, even if they agree with the guerrilla's claim on the level of the ideas. But the Aesop was completely lost on most of the readers, as the real United States has not endured a real civil war for over a century (and certainly not a civil war like the Spanish one).
** Fans sympathetic to Captain America's side have pointed out that in the hands of a better writer, Captain America could have pointed out that a 'resistance group' that has spent most of the last decade repeatedly saving the nation, the earth and/or the galaxy could reasonably be expected to have an informed opinion about the Slippery Slope, even if they ''don't'' have an informed opinion about Nascar or Website/MySpace.
* MagicPants: Averted. Wolverine tracks Nitro, who explodes badly enough to shred Wolverine. Wolverine's healing factor restores him, but not his clothes: he has to fight naked. With [[CensorShadow Censor Shadows]] all around, but he was still fully naked.
* MaleGaze:
** This [[http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_mch6k8JbX61qjjkl2o1_500.jpg shot]] of Ms Marvel.
** A panel from the series proper features a similarly generous view of She-Hulk's bottom.
* MeaningfulRename: Speedball --> Penance.
* MirandaRights
** The new Miranda Rights for a superhuman caught in illegal unregistered super-hero duty was apparently to warn him that he is making an illegal use of super powers, and that he has 10 seconds or so to surrender. Of course, [[DefiantToTheEnd most of them don't do that]].
** Sally Floyd, accused of hiding the whereabouts of Captain America, receives the standard Miranda Rights when taken prisoner. But as there's no evidence against her, she's released.
* MissionControl: The control room of the MRVL television station, recording the New Warriors reality show.
* TheMole: Both sides had a mole inside the other side: [[spoiler:Tigra was with Cap but supported Iron Man, and Pym was replaced by Hulkling.]]
** Besides the Civil War itself, Sally Floyd and Ben Urich investigated Norman Osborn, who was somehow released from prison. And, to make it more strange, the nanobots in his blood had been manipulated to make it seem as if he was still in prison; something that could only be done by a superhero of the conclave that led the registration process. Sally Floyd had a mole among them, [[spoiler:Ms. Marvel]], who told her that it was [[spoiler:Tony Stark]].
* MoodWhiplash: Captain America and Iron Man have a secret meeting, at the destroyed Avengers mansion, to attempt to solve things by talking. Trying to start with a positive angle, he mentioned the first time that they had fought, in the silver age. The scene has an appropriate EverybodyLaughsEnding... and then they get dark and serious, and go on to talk about the current issues.
* MoralGuardians
-->'''Pilot:''' Jeezus!
-->'''Captain America:''' Keep flying, son... and watch that potty mouth!
* MoralMyopia: Iron Man said that Hulk can not control himself, and should be exiled from the planet. Namor pointed Stark's problem with alcohol, and asked if he should be blasted into the sun as well.
* TheMostWanted: When the govenment stated that metahumans should be registered or else being rogue and chased by the justice, ComicBook/CaptainAmerica decides to stand against what he considers a violation to superhuman laws and becomes the most wanted, overcoming almost all ComicBook/{{SHIELD}} and escaping, later becoming the leader of the superheroes that are against the law.
* MyFriendsAndZoidberg
-->'''Peter Parker:''' (''to Tony Stark'') Now that I have had time to play with the rest of the team, I know that you can depend on every single one of them.
-->'''Mary Jane:''' Except Logan
-->'''Peter Parker:''' Well, yeah, except Logan. There's not one of them who wouldn't put his or her life in the line for you.
-->'''Mary Jane:''' Except Logan
* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: Iron Man's reaction to the outcome of the alternate scenarios presented to him in the "What If" special. Comicbook/SpiderMan also goes through this after witnessing just what he's been helping Comicbook/IronMan [[TheAlcatraz do with all those pesky heroes...]] Also Captain America's reaction when he realises that they're destroying the public trust and endangering the public with every internecine brawl.
* NaiveNewcomer: Everybody treats the ComicBook/YoungAvengers as such. Reed Richards, Captain America, the Winter Soldier... even Deadpool.
-->'''Deadpool:''' ...and the ripe, nubile Young Avengers! And I'm especially discomfited to admit that Wiccan and Hulkling are looking especially nubile!
* NewscasterCameo: She-Hulk discusses the options of banning or registering superheroes in a CNN program hosted by "Larry", who looks [[NoCelebritiesWereHarmed suspiciusly similar to Larry King]].
* NiceJobBreakingItHero:
** The New Warriors storming into the villain's house and causing the destruction of Stamford is almost a poster example of the trope.
** Spider-Man is aware that there is popular support for Iron Man and the act, that only superheroes are against it (which is the whole point of the story). So, when he turned against Iron Man, he showed up at a TV news that was airing live, and revealed Stark's big secret: that there is a prison for superhumans in the Negative Zone, and that they send the villains and unregistered heroes to it. The result? ''Stark became even more popular''.
* NoGoodDeedGoesUnpunished: The X-Men show up to help after the explosion in Stamford. They are not happy to find out that the Sentinels will follow them even ''then''.
* NoisyGuns: When Captain America refuses to be the main enforcer of the SHRA, Hill said that she thought that suer villains were men in masks that refused to obey the law. All the other agents nearby make "chik-chak" with their guns, getting ready to fire if so ordered.
* NonFatalExplosions: Speedball survives the explosion. He's blasted to another state, and nearly dies, but survives. And, of course, Nitro survives his own explosions.
* NotHelpingYourCase
** Stark is HauledBeforeASenateSubCommittee, and attends it with Peter Parker. When he's unable to reply to their points, Mr. Parker tries to defend super hero activities, but instead he gives them further arguments to reinforce their points.
** Justice and Rage need She-Hulk's lawyer help, to cope with the hostilities against the New Warriors. But they attend the meeting wearing their loathed suits, and people insult them on sight. They reply that they were Avengers once, trained by Captain America himself! Yes, the same Captain America that started a guerrilla warfare to stand against the law. She-Hulk asked them to get indoors before they made things even worse.
* NotSoStoic: When he escaped from Hell, Dr. Doom felt the power of the dying Asgardians, and thought that he would be able to lift Thor's hammer. Of course, he wasn't. Then, he says three words he does not say very often: "I was wrong".
* NothingIsTheSameAnymore: This was ''supposed'' to be one of the aims of 'Civil War' -- to shake the Marvel Universe into a pattern that puts law vs. liberty above the classic pattern of good vs. evil. After a few follow-up events, the universe is ''almost'' back to its original pattern.
* NothingPersonal: Defied by Underworld, one of Hammerhead's henchmen. after he betrays him. He goes around killing people for him, and always clarifies this. In the end, he turns against him, mocks on the concept, and reminds Hammerhead that he had killed his brother. Nothing Personal? Of course not. All murders are personal.
* NotInThisForYourRevolution:
** Punisher. He's on Cap's side simply because Iron Man is employing supervillains. But he's not selective: if villains try to join Cap's side, he'll kill them as well.
** The Radioactive Man is Chinese, he does not care either way about the politics in the United States. In fact, he had wanted to return home several months before. He helps the Thunderbolts, and by extension the Pro-Registration side, [[MyCountryRightOrWrong simply because the Chinese government requested him to do so]].
** The Heroes for Hire want to stay neutral in the whole conflict, and stay in good terms with both Iron Man and Captain America... except [[spoiler:Paladin]], who has no problem betraying his other teammates to get to the bounty.
* NotSoOmniscientCouncilOfBickering: ComicBook/TheIlluminati, as it turns out: they split evenly rather than unify on the pro- or anti-registration side. Foreseen by Black Panther, who refused membership in the group because he saw this coming.
-->'''Black Panther''': You just decided all by yourselves that you are the Earth's protectors. And that you, and only you, not your teammates or family, are trustworthy enough to include in the process... What happens when you disagree? When one of these Earth-changing moments finds you all at odds with each other, here in a secret meeting?
* {{Novelization}}: Released in 2012, and written by Stuart Moore. It's also set in the alternate timeline created by Spider-Man's "One More Day" storyline, as it describes how Peter missed out on arriving at his own wedding to Mary Jane Watson, and has other alterations (including how the only one of the X-Men to arrive at Stamford is Wolverine, due to his also being an Avenger; the rest of the team does not show up like they did in the original comics).
* NumberTwo: Spider-Man starts off as this for the Pro-Registration side, even being the first hero to officially register live on television. He eventually defects though when he disagrees with Iron Man's methods.
* OffscreenMomentOfAwesome: In the final fight, as seen in the Black Panther comic book, Storm took a few rounds against the fake Thor. She took him down several times, and each time he gets up for more. Then Hercules saluted her and the Invisible Woman. "Excuse me, beautiful ladies, I will continue from here". From that point on, Ororo and Susan simply watch Hercules destroying the robot (offscreen).
* OhCrap: Oh, no! Coldheart has heard the New Warriors discussion! They've lost the element of surprise!
* OldShame:[[invoked]] Hindsight Lad now hates the New Warriors, and hates having ever been involved with people like them.
* OmniscientMoralityLicense:
** Tony Stark and Reed Richards claim this, due to their status as "futurists". Whether or not people call them on this depends on the writer.
** On the anti-reg side, Cable, who takes the opportunity to give the President a lecture on how the Fifty States Initiative will only lead to tyranny while ComicBook/{{Deadpool}} is using the White House toilet.
** In a meta-example, many readers would have seen Captain America as in the right no matter what he did mostly because his name is Captain America.
*** Captain America has consistently been one of the two main moral compasses of the Marvel Universe (the other being Spider-Man). While they both have been shown to be wrong on occasion, neither has historically slipped too far from the straight and narrow. They took both these people and put them on the same, anti-registration side.
** Averted with Comicbook/DoctorStrange, who took himself completely out of the conflict other than to side with the Anti-Registration group on principle. When questioned by Uatu the Watcher, he claimed it wasn't his responsibility to decide which role superpowered humanity chose, and all he could do was pray for the outcome that would be best for everyone.
* OutsideManInsideMan: Captain America was Outside, Iron Man was Inside.
* {{Plothole}}: Norman Osborn is held prisoner, and for the Thunderbolts program he has nanobots in his blood that allow S.H.I.E.L.D. to control him and track his activities. But someone messed with the nanobots, and he sneaked into a diplomatic conference with an Atlantean ambassador and shot him. But the police interrogating him want to know: nanobots or not, how did he got into a diplomatic conference with a phony ID card? How is it that the security cameras did not notice him before? And how did he got inside with a gun? All that he replied was "I can not reply" (clearly having been brainwashed into not exposing his controller), and then S.H.I.E.L.D. came to take him, leaving the questions completely unanswered. The mastermind behind him[[spoiler:, Tony Stark,]] would have been able to hack the cameras, but the rest is still odd.
* PointOfNoReturn: Capturing Prodigy, the first superhuman detained to enforce the Registration Act, is the "crossing of the Rubicon" for Iron Man... in a very explicit way. The comic book shows two stories for the price of one: on one side, Iron Man fights against Prodigy and starts the Civil War, and on the other side, the Roman Julius Caesar crossed the Rubicon, fully aware that by doing so he would start a civil war. Alea Iacta Est: The die has been cast!
* PrescienceByAnalysis: Reed Richards, from the Fantastic Four, supports Iron Man: his math proves that lack of oversight would lead to several world-destroying disasters. This is explored even further in the Fantastic Four's own comic, where Richards and the Mad Thinker compare notes. The Mad Thinker grants that Richards' equations are far more advanced than those he could come up with, but, as he had done himself in the past, Richards committed the grave mistake of ignoring the "human factor". By being so focused on his equations, he ignored the Invisible Woman's viewpoint, who then left him to join Cap's resistance.
* ProfanityPolice: Captain America makes a SuperWindowJump out of the hellicarrier. He lands over a nearby soldier in a flying unit, who gets scared by this sudden event. "Keep flying, son, and watch that potty mouth!"
* ProperlyParanoid: Peter Parker thanks Stark for the new suit, but he told Mary Jane that he is sure that there is some hidden purpose behind it. Yes, there is. Take it, a copy of the Super Human Registration Act bill. Be sure to share your thoughts about it.
* ProsceniumReveal: Wonder Man fights against a Z-class villain ("C-class" is too much, it's just a harmless small guy in a mice costume), the police orders him to show his superhero ID, and then the director stops filming: Wonder Man was filming an advertisment.
* PutOnABus: Nova had to leave Earth to report to Xandar, and so was not present in the Stamford incident.
* PyrrhicVictory: How Iron Man feels after the conclusion, as he admits to Cap[[spoiler:'s corpse]]. On his first speech to S.H.I.E.L.D. after being made head of the organisation, he even compares himself to Pyrrhus. Somehow, this doesn't go over well with the troops.
* ReadTheFinePrint: Wonder Man is a registered super hero. Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. gave him a stealth mission, to follow an Atlantean guy and see what he's up to. Simon says that he never signed to be an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.. Poor misinformed soul: as they tell him, that is '''precisely''' what he signed for!
* TheRealHeroes: Pops up right at the end. Ironically, it's because of ''them'' that Cap surrenders, and we all know what happened later...
* RealityIsUnrealistic: She-Hulk witnesses first-hand a mob showing their hate for the New Warriors. It's worse than crowds which had been literally zapped by hate-rays.
* RedEyesTakeWarning: Good work Namorita, you have just slammed a living atomic bomb to a school bus, and ordered him to surrender. Hey, wait, why are his eyes red now...?
* RememberWhenYouBlewUpASun: As pointed by the TV channel, it may be hard to believe, but Speedfreek, that loser the New Warriors easily defeated, once almost [[http://static.comicvine.com/uploads/scale_super/11114/111149425/3662690-3201837-hulk%2Bfeat%2Bspeed%2Bvs%2Bspeed%2Bfreak%2B(2).png took down the Hulk]].
* RemixComic: The fan parody ''[[http://mightygodking.com/i-dont-need-your-civil-war/ I Don't Need Your Civil War]]''.
* LaResistance: Captain America's group.
* RevisitingTheRoots: In-universe. The Thing doesn't want to take sides, and leaves the United States, moving to France. Once in Paris, a local superhero team request his help for a grave crisis. So what now? A secret government agency that turns against its people? A multinational conspiracy? A war between superheroes? No, it's the "empereur le monde souterrain", a French expy of the Mole Man, who threatens to destroy Paris with his underground rocky creatures. Like in YeGoodeOldeDays of BlackAndWhiteMorality of UsefulNotes/TheSilverAgeOfComicBooks.
* ScrewTheRulesIHaveConnections: Subverted. The Human Torch though that he could go in the disco despite the waiting line, as usual, simply because of his fame. The crowd turns violent, and puts him in the hospital.
* ScrewThisImOuttaHere:
** [[ComicBook/FantasticFour Ben Grimm]] decided this was a load of crap he didn't feel like dealing with due to the lack of care over civilians, so he skipped town and [[MythologyGag spent his time in France]].
** Ben Urich resigned from the Daily Bugle, as he discovered something so heavy that the Bugle would never be able to publish it.
** Stature, Nighthawk and Cable all quit the resistance after the fight with Clor.
* ShipperOnDeck: Despite of all of his problems, Captain America has time to advise John Jameson to propose to She-Hulk now, and don't wait for the end of the war.
* ShoutOut: Reed Richards admits to having basically invented psychohistory, but needs someone to check his figures. He asks recurring villain Mad Thinker for help, as he's an evil super-mathematician who likes to use {{Xanatos Gambit}}s. The Thinker is bowled over by the scope of Reed's calculations.
* SirSwearsALot: Sally Floyd. It's part of her charm.
* SnarkToSnarkCombat: Kingpin wants to help Tony Stark win the civil war, and cited the story of Lucky Luciano as a precedent of the U.S. government accepting help from the mafia. During his exposition, he pointed that it is debated why Luciano helped: some say it was because of patriotism, and others are more skeptical. Nice story. Now Fisk, why would you help Stark? He says that, for the moment, it would be because of patriotism. And Stark replied that, for the moment, he's more skeptical. Tony knows that means he will mention the price at a later point.
* SomethingWeForgot: With all the political controversy, nobody had the time to check a little detail: capture Nitro and make him pay. Nobody, except Wolverine.
* SoreLoser: Iron Man proposed to the Illuminati to exile Hulk off planet. All of them agree, except Namor. Namor attacks them, refusing to accept it (well, that and Tony telling him his authority doesn't mean a thing on the surface).
-->'''Namor:''' Banner will come back from whence you send him and he will kill you all! And he will be right!
* SpiritualSuccessor:
** ''[[ComicBook/DarkReign Siege]]'' is thought of as ''Civil War'' without the moral ambiguity, with Norman Osborn and supervillains taking the place of ComicBook/IronMan and other Pro-Reg characters.
** The [[ComicBook/XMen X-Family]] [[BatFamilyCrossover Crossover]] ''Schism'' is also compared to ''Civil War'' for being a morally grey conflict, this one seeing more success in making each viewpoint defensible (with their home under attack and only junior members around to defend it, Cyclops wants to make a stand, which the kids are willing to do even though they know not everyone will survive; while Wolverine doesn't like them getting mixed up in this and wants to retreat).
* StopTheHeroTwist: The miniseries ends with a group of [[BadassBystander ordinary people]] restraining ComicBook/CaptainAmerica during his fight with ComicBook/IronMan, because their fight was smack in the middle of New York City, and causing untold damage. At the time, Iron Man was the figurehead of a movement to make superheroes accountable for actions like this, so those civilians attacked Cap because they saw him as being part of the problem. Cap himself is remorseful for his actions and surrenders.
* SupermanStaysOutOfGotham: Turned on its head when the X-Men {{Lampshade}} how anti-mutant sentiment was never on the radar of the heavy hitters in the superhero community (comparing the Stamford disaster to the Genosha massacre which no superheroes helped with) and declare they're [[BystanderSyndrome staying out of the whole mess]]. Likely due to the X-Books' constant theme of mutant registration being the first step to anti-mutant genocide not jiving with the "Pro-Reg is right" message.
** The Sentry is formally part of the registration side, but it was described at the Avengers issue that he could win the war all by himself, and so refuses to take an active part in it.
** Doctor Strange is anti-registration and is a heavier hitter than anyone actually involved, but believes that it's not his place to decide this for the superhero community. Iron Man doesn't push the issue with him for obvious reasons.
* SuperRegistrationAct: The central conflict of the event is the U.S. government passing a Superhuman Registration Act ([[DependingOnTheWriter with conflicting content]]) and the superhero community being split down the middle over which side they support.
* SuperWindowJump: Captain America, escaping from S.H.I.E.L.D. And he jumped from the hellicarrier, ''which is flying in the sky''. And ''without any flying heroes around''. He simply [[PlotArmor had the luck]] that one of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s planes was flying by that place at that moment.
** Subverted, then double subverted by Spider-Man when he turns traitor on Tony. Peter attempts to leap out the window, but only cracks the reinforced S.H.I.E.L.D. glass. However, he succeeds the second time when some S.H.I.E.L.D. agents open fire on him.
* SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome: Peter Parker is talked into unmasking himself on live international TV. The first thing he finds on getting off the airplane back in New York State? A lawyer telling him that ol' J.J. is suing his ass off.
* SurveillanceAsThePlotDemands: Mysterio is at his secret base, watching Spider-Man as he reveals his identity, begins his EvilGloating about his plans to destroy him... and, in turn, the original Mysterio is watching his undesired LegacyCharacter.
-->'''Mysterio II:''' The original Mysterio was all tricks and special effects, but you fight against Francis Klum now, and my teleportation powers will prove to be more than...
-->'''Mysterio I:''' BlahBlahBlah. He loves the sounds of his own voice. Fortunately, I have a volume control. Spider-Man will be lucky if this jerk does not [[TalkingIsAFreeAction kill him with boredom.]]
* SwitchingPOV: After the big fight where Goliath died, several heroes were captured, and had to be transported across the street in a military convoy. The resistance tried to liberate to prisoners. This incident (unmentioned in the main story) was seen at the Fantastic Four and Spider-Man comic books, in each case from the point of view of The Thing and Spider-Man.
* SymbolSwearing: Speedfreek's opinion when the New Warriors interrupted his X-Box routine.
* {{Technobabble}}: The Radioactive Man is listening to Tony Stark and Reed Richards lost in their technobabble about the "42" prison. At one point, he mentions that he was a bit satisfied that the U.S. was following in China's footsteps. When they reject the idea, he points out something:
--> Captain America. You want to capture and imprison Captain America. Say those words aloud, weigh their meaning, and tell me again that I'm exaggerating.
* ThatManIsDead: "Robbie Baldwin is dead. Speedball is dead. It's time for Penance."
* TheMeddlingKidsAreUseless: Civil War included a crossover between the Runaways and the Young Avengers. The Runaways simply mind their own business, and the Young Avengers fail to recruit them. Their little adventure has no actual effect over the civil war itself. However, averted with the main series. Hulking proves essential to freeing the inmates of the 42 Prison. (And their actions ''do'' have an impact on ''Secret Invasion'').
* ThereWasADoor: Inverted by Spider-Man. Sally Floyd doesn't understand how Spider-Man got in her house; her window is closed. He used the front door.
* ThrowingTheDistraction: Dr. Doom sent an army of doombots to attack a lab in Oklahoma. Reed Richards noted that they were not following any strategy, that it must be a distraction.
* ToBeLawfulOrGood: Almost ''everyone'' in the superhero community is caught into this ethical dilemma, but the two characters who take most of the cake are ComicBook/CaptainAmerica and ComicBook/IronMan. (However, the Xmen and Comicbook/DoctorStrange [[TakeAThirdOption take a third option]] and stay out of the conflict.) The pro-registration side believes that their way is lawful ''and'' good, but of course the other side disagrees.
* ToCatchHeroesHireVillains: They empowered the ''ComicBook/{{Thunderbolts}}'' to go after heroes who refused registration. Including Bullseye, whose personal body count is probably well in excess of those killed in the Stanford explosion. To their credit, the pro-registration side does attempt to keep the Thunderbolts on a tight leash.
* TooDumbToLive: The New Warriors ignore all strategy or precautions, and simply rush to the attack against the villains. Stamford is blown up as a result.
* TookALevelInJerkass: ComicBook/IronMan.
* TorchesAndPitchforks: Giant Man is sure that, after Stamford, people is going to come after them that way. Ad they did, and their victim was the Human Torch.
* {{Troll}}: She-Hulk dealt with the web site www.destroyallwarriors.com, a hate site that outed the identities of all the New Warriors. The site even had a dead pool going on!
* TwoLinesNoWaiting: The story takes place on Earth while the ''ComicBook/{{Annihilation}}'' arc takes place in outer space at the same time.
* UnderestimatingBadassery: While Goliath's death at the hands of Clone Thor is denounced by everyone in-universe and out, it should be noted that untill the tragedy happened everyone thought it was the real deal pulling a HesBack. Goliath's last words were boasting to clone Thor that his comeback was going to be short, i.e., he was going to.be swiftly taken down. Anyone with even thebetter remote knowledge of comics would know that size-shifters like Goliath are on the very bottom rungs of super weights while a PhysicalGod like Thor is at the very top. Goliath was basically asking for an ass kicking.
* UngratefulBastard: Marvel civilians, to a man. One disaster is enough to make them turn on super-heroes entirely.
* VaguenessIsComing: "I gotta tell you, the rumblings I'm hearing on Capitol Hill... they are looking for things to blame on you guys".
* ViewersAreGeniuses: In-Universe. When Tony Stark was reluctant to accept the help from Kingpin, a crime boss, Kingpin reminded him about the negtiations between the US government and [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucky_Luciano Lucky Luciano]] during WWII. If you don't know who is that man, don't worry, [[MrExposition the Kingpin explains all you need to know to understand the plot]]. But Stark is not so fortunate. He asked Kingpin what he wants in return for his help, and he tells him: grab a history book, read the whole story of Lucky Luciano (and not just the compressed comic book overview), and you will have the answer for your question. Which is what he had to do: he left, and continued the conversation another day, after reading the whole story.[[spoiler:Lucky Luciano was pardoned and released from prison, in exchange for his help.]]
* VillainOfAnotherStory: Annihilus and [[{{Satan}} Lucifer]]. One's an alien man-bug leading an armada of spaceships toward Earth with intent to wipe out all life in the Universe, the other is the FallenAngel himself recently escaped from Hell and causing mischief with an army of resurrected dead. What's Marvel's main superhero plot line in the midst of these two threats? Paperwork over the death of six hundred people. Annihilus and Lucifer only get passing mentions in the "main" books.
* VillainousValour: Dr. Doom was trapped in hell, with his armor working with minimal power. And a legion of demonic creatures coming to eat him.
-->'''Dr. Doom:''' It matter not. Even cornered, to my last breath I remain who and what I am. I will not hide, nor tremble, nor beg. Let them come and reckon with fury that is doom defiant. Here I stand, hell horde! Unbowed! But understand: if it is my destiny that I shall perish this day, I shall not go down easily... and I shall not go down alone.
* VillainsOutShopping: Cobalt Man, Coldheart, Speedfreek and Nitro weren't doing anything evil when the New Warriors attacked them: Coldheart was emptying the trash, and the others were playing with their X-Box. They ''were'' escapees from a mass prison breakout.
* WackyMarriageProposal: She-Hulk and the New Warriors are attacking the webmaster of a hate site, but the neighbours turn into a mob, ready to defend the guy from those dammed super heroes. The riot is interrupted by the landing of a S.H.I.E.L.D. ship. No, nobody came to detain them: it's John Jameson, who wants to know asap if She-Hulk would marry him.
* WallOfText: When Tony Stark first gives Spider-Man a copy of the Act bill, Spider-Man refuses to read it: it's heavier than a Harry Potter book. Stark corrects him: the actual bill is just the first thirty pages. The rest is comments and amendments by senators trying to include their own agendas with it.
* WhatTheHellHero
** Twice in the above mentioned ''Civil War: Frontline''. The {{intrepid reporter}}s Ben Urich and Sally Floyd go to interview Captain America and Ms. Floyd proceeds to chastise him for his reckless superheroics. Then they pay a visit to [[ComicBook/IronMan Tony Stark]] [[spoiler: and reveal that they have discovered that he turned Norman Osborn into a ManchurianAgent, and made him attack an Atlantean ambassador in order to create tensions between Atlantis and the United States, so that the US government would be compelled to grant military contracts to Stark, which would boost his corporation's stock value, and the profits from which he could use to fund the Avengers Initiative program]]. This revelation lead to Tony Stark's hilarious [[HeroicBSOD reaction]].
** In ''What If: Annihilation'', Nova does this to everyone on both sides for arguing and fighting each other over a law and their identities when ''all life in the galaxy'' was on the brink of extinction.
* WhyDidYouMakeMeHitYou
** Technically, it's [[MoralEventHorizon "Why did you make me imprison you without trial in an extradimensional concentration camp?"]], but otherwise, this is Iron Man throughout the arc.
** Also, the Iluminati apologies when sending Hulk to a distant planet.

[[folder:Secret Wars version]]
* ActionPolitician: Each time you see Iron Man and Captain America head to superhero brawls, remember that in this story ''they are heads of state''.
* CompositeCharacter: Spider-Man has the wings of Falcon.
* DiabolusExMachina: In-Universe, Iron Man makes a timeline of the war. He points out that there were many key moments that should have been an end of the war, but instead kept it going on. Some of those events (such as the neutrality of the X-Men, or the death of Black Goliath) are actually plausible, but many others (such as the big explosion at the Baxter Building, and the death of Miriam Sharpe) seem so weird and unexpected that it has to be the result of someone manipulating them to keep the war going on.
* DividedStatesOfAmerica: The U.S. has been split into two countries: The Iron, led by Iron Man, with a strong focus on security, an The Blue, focused on freedom.
* TheDragon: Spider-Man for Captain America, the Winter Soldier and She-Hulk for Iron Man.
* {{Egopolis}}: Iron Man's nation is called "The Iron".
* FailureIsTheOnlyOption: The premise of this alternate version is that the civil war never ended. And the present-day action of the first issue starts with... peace negotiations? No surprise, things got screwed.
* NarratorAllAlong: The first part of the first issue (Civil War as it first took place, and the point of divergence) is narrated by [[spoiler:Miriam Sharpe]].
* StealthSequel: [[spoiler:There is no advertisment about this, but the story also serves as an alternate take on ComicBook/SecretInvasion]]
* TakeAThirdOption: America is divided in two countries, divided by a chasm, and all the Americans had to decide in which country would they live. Miriam Sharpe preferred instead to live in a house built over a bridge that crosses the chasm.
* WhatTheHellHero: Iron Man is furious with Captain America when he thinks he ordered Black Panther to destroy Prison 42 by activating its self-destruct. [[spoiler:Black Panther was actually a Skrull at the time, and it was just one event the Skrulls manipulated to keep the war going.]]
[[/folder]]

This sparks a flurry of anti-super feelings in civilians. In the wake of ''ComicBook/HouseOfM'' (the previous CrisisCrossover) and ''ComicBook/{{Secret War|2004}}'', Congress decides they have to act to control all metahumans, and the [[SuperRegistrationAct Superhuman Registration Act]] (SHRA) is passed. Although different individual comics in the crossover treated the act in slightly different (and occasionally [[DependingOnTheWriter inconsistent]]) fashions[[note]]For the entire event, Marvel's editorial staff refused to lay down any rules on the actual wording of the Registration Act, their excuse being that it would be "too complicated" to understand.[[/note]], the most commonly used presentation of the SHRA included these features:

This sparks a flurry of anti-super feelings in civilians. In the wake of ''ComicBook/HouseOfM'' (the previous CrisisCrossover) and ''ComicBook/{{SecretWar|2004}}'', Congress decides they have to act to control all metahumans, and the [[SuperRegistrationAct Superhuman Registration Act]] (SHRA) is passed. Although different individual comics in the crossover treated the act in slightly different (and occasionally [[DependingOnTheWriter inconsistent]]) fashions[[note]]For the entire event, Marvel's editorial staff refused to lay down any rules on the actual wording of the Registration Act, their excuse being that it would be "too complicated" to understand.[[/note]], the most commonly used presentation of the SHRA included these features:

** Nick Fury's whereabouts were unknown since he went on the run after ComicBook/{{SecretWar|2004}}. Each time after, it's actually a [[DeceptivelyHumanRobots Life Model Decoy]] made by S.H.I.E.L.D. (and of course, She-Hulk makes fun of this). There's an interesting twist with Sharon Carter: she has a LMD of Nick Fury at her room, everybody in SHIELD knows it's a LMD, but it's a LMD hacked by the real Nick Fury, who uses it to talk with her.

This sparks a flurry of anti-super feelings in civilians. In the wake of ''ComicBook/HouseOfM'' (the previous CrisisCrossover) and ''ComicBook/SecretWar'', Congress decides they have to act to control all metahumans, and the [[SuperRegistrationAct Superhuman Registration Act]] (SHRA) is passed. Although different individual comics in the crossover treated the act in slightly different (and occasionally [[DependingOnTheWriter inconsistent]]) fashions[[note]]For the entire event, Marvel's editorial staff refused to lay down any rules on the actual wording of the Registration Act, their excuse being that it would be "too complicated" to understand.[[/note]], the most commonly used presentation of the SHRA included these features:

** Nick Fury's whereabouts were unknown since he went on the run after ComicBook/SecretWar. Each time after, it's actually a [[DeceptivelyHumanRobots Life Model Decoy]] made by S.H.I.E.L.D. (and of course, She-Hulk makes fun of this). There's an interesting twist with Sharon Carter: she has a LMD of Nick Fury at her room, everybody in SHIELD knows it's a LMD, but it's a LMD hacked by the real Nick Fury, who uses it to talk with her.

* AntiVillain: Captain America is a type IV, ''technically'' speaking he is the villain.

* AmericaWonWorldWarII: Captain America doesn't fare well when he tries to invoke this trope. Punisher points out that Hitler was not defeated by Captain America, but by the Russians. Sally Floyd points out that the vast majority of the soldiers of the Wehrmacht were not "evil", but just [[MyCountryRightOrWrong German patriots that simply followed military orders]].

** Captain America says that he was doing what he thought was right for America. He is asked "Do you know what Myspace is?", followed by similar questions about American pop culture, to claim that Cap was out of touch with what the Americans really think. The questions left him in StunnedSilence.

* ArtisticLicenseLaw: Among other things, as lawandthemultiverse.com points out, a law is not necessarily enforced as soon as it goes into effect and doesn't necessarily go into effect as soon as it's signed (it can be done that way to an extent but is extremely bad form and likely to get cases thrown out of court). Once the law is passed, it typically goes into effect on a future date, often in stages, to give both the government and the people time to prepare to comply with the law, especially if registration is part of the new law. But S.H.I.E.L.D. has a go at arresting Captain America before it ''even comes up for a vote''.[[note]]And, it must be added, not because Captain America was adverse to the idea of registering -- he outright said he would comply with the law and turn himself in for registration if it went to effect -- but because he expressed disapproval of the idea of being made to enforce it upon other heroes ([[DependingOnTheWriter something which the different writers of the storyline couldn't agree on actually being a part of the law or not]]).[[/note]] Later they end up busting into people's houses' at 12:01 am with registration slips and arrest warrants in hand. In other words, S.H.I.E.L.D. essentially operates as if America is a tyrannical PoliceState.

** In the first issue, Maria Hill attempts to arrest Captain America under the registation act, the problem being that the act hadn't actually been voted on in the US Congress yet, much less ratified by the President into official American law. Even worse, Cap never stated that he was personally going to disobey the law, only that he had no intentions of aiding in actively enforcing it, making her reasoning seem even more ridiculously filmsly, and only resulting in triggering Cap's rebellion in favor of the anti-registration side, when he would probably otherwise just have settled for quietly resigning from active duty. And the idiocy only grows from there.

* ArtisticLicenseLaw: Among other things, as lawandthemultiverse.com points out, a law is not necessarily enforced as soon as it goes into effect and doesn't necessarily go into effect as soon as it's signed (it can be done that way to an extent but is extremely bad form and likely to get cases thrown out of court). Once the law is passed, it typically goes into effect on a future date, often in stages, to give both the government and the people time to prepare to comply with the law, especially if registration is part of the new law. But SHIELD has a go at arresting Captain America before it ''even comes up for a vote''. Later they end up busting into people's houses' at 12:01 am with registration slips and arrest warrants in hand. In other words, SHIELD essentially operates as if America is a tyrannical PoliceState.

** Tony actually educates Peter in this trope during their visit to Capitol Hill, asking Peter if he knows what time it is. When Peter tells Tony the time, Tony says that's the wrong answer, and the correct answer to "Do you know what time it is?" is "Yes." Only if pressed for more information should you give it.

* NotSoDifferent: The Invisible Woman notes that when she asks Reed a difficult question, he repeats the question, while trying to gain some time to come up with an evasive. The next issue, she asks a question to Dr. Doom, who repeats the question.

In ''WesternAnimation/TheAvengersEarthsMightiestHeroes'' episode "The Man Who Stole Tomorrow", the Negative Zone prison "42" makes an appearance although only to incarcerate supervillains. Like in the comics, it was designated 42 because it was Tony Stark's and Reed Richards' 42nd idea for improving the world. Later in "Hail HYDRA!", Maria Hill states that she will talk to the President about registering with S.H.I.E.L.D. Notably unlike the comics, Stark is against the idea of registering, as seen in his conversations with Hill in the episode "Alone Against A.I.M.", citing among other reasons the Good Samaritan principle.

The ComicBook/NewWarriors, during the filming of a RealityTV program, unthinkingly start a fight with several fugitive supervillains (including Nitro) in the middle of a suburban housing development in Stamford, Connecticut. Nitro quite literally explodes - killing all of the New Warriors (except Speedball) and 612 civilians, including the entire population of an elementary school.

* All registered heroes are to attend - and pass - mandatory government training (waivers were issued by Tony Stark for himself and his pro-registration [[Comicbook/TheAvengers Avengers]] comrades)

ComicBook/CaptainAmerica is taken at gunpoint for saying that he plans to refuse to register, though the law has yet to be passed, then forms the Secret Avengers, an underground organization that continues unregistered heroics, and therefore resists the Act. The Comicbook/XMen declare the whole mess [[BystanderSyndrome someone else's problem]] (Although they do point out that following ''House of M'', there simply aren't enough mutants in the world to get involved), and Tony "ComicBook/IronMan" Stark leads a S.H.I.E.L.D. force to help capture all renegade metahumans, hero or villain. The US government, with Stark's concurrence, also puts together a task force of supervillains - the New ComicBook/{{Thunderbolts}} - for the purpose of hunting down unregistered metahumans. Some villains like Bullseye and Venom are used for the government-sanctioned hunting down of and crippling of unregistered heroes, with mind implants to prevent misconduct. (Also against all sense, the government hires ComicBook/{{Deadpool}} for similar duties.)

The crossover was similar to, but far more extreme than, previous SuperRegistrationAct plots in comics. It is also notable for big changes in the status quo, including ''ComicBook/TheDeathOfCaptainAmerica'' and the unmasking of ComicBook/SpiderMan (among several other heroes). Despite Creator/JoeQuesada (then-editor-in-chief of Marvel) promising that Spidey's unmasking would not be undone via a [[SuspiciouslySpecificDenial "magic retcon"]] (those being his exact words), Spidey's unmasking was retconned as a part of Quesada's wildly unpopular pet storyline ''ComicBook/OneMoreDay'' - by ''literal'' magic, less than three months later.

Most of the Franchise/MarvelUniverse was involved in this, including ''Comicbook/TheAvengers'', the ''Comicbook/FantasticFour'', the ''ComicBook/{{Runaways}}'', and many other heroes. The ''Comicbook/XMen'' were, by and large, uninvolved in the crossover; this is because of the decimation of the mutant population that happened at the end of ''ComicBook/HouseOfM''. However, two of them did join, both of them time travelers - Cable sided with Captain America, and Bishop joined forces with Iron Man. Marvel's cosmic heroes also stayed out of the event as most of them were dealing with the ''Comicbook/{{Annihilation}}'' event, though ComicBook/{{Nova}} was briefly involved afterwards. Another hero notably left out was [[ComicBook/TheIncredibleHulk the Hulk]], who was deliberately PutOnABus in-universe and got caught up in his own ''ComicBook/PlanetHulk'' storyline as a result.

* NothingIsTheSameAnymore: This was ''supposed'' to be one of the aims of 'Civil War' - to shake the Marvel Universe into a pattern that puts law vs. liberty above the classic pattern of good vs. evil. After a few follow-up events, the universe is ''almost'' back to its original pattern.
* NothingPersonal: Defied by Underworld, one of Hammerhead's henchmen. after he betrays him. He goes around killing people for him, and always clarifies this. In the end, he turns against him, mocks on the concept, and reminds Hammerhead that he had killed his brother. Nothing Personal? Of course not. All murders are personal.

* RealityEnsues: Peter Parker is talked into unmasking himself on live international TV. The first thing he finds on getting off the airplane back in New York State? A lawyer telling him that ol' J.J. is suing his ass off.

** Captain America says that he was doing what he thought was right for America. He is asked "Do you know what Myspace is?", followed by similar questions about American pop culture, to claim that Cap was out of touch with what the Americans really think. The questions left him in StunnedSilence. (Yes, it was one of the WORST things, and Cap had a damn reason to be so silent after something so dumb and stupid).

** Captain America says that he was doing what he thought was right for America. He is asked "Do you know what Myspace is?", followed by similar questions about American pop culture, to claim that Cap was out of touch with what the Americans really think. The questions left him in StunnedSilence.

* FantasyConflictCounterpart: The events of 9/11 ''did'' [[http://www.clydefitchreport.com/2013/09/comics-about-the-day-the-towers-fell/ happen in the Marvel Universe as well]], but the comics that dealt with it always focused on TheRealHeroes. Nitro blowing up Stamford was the FantasyConflictCounterpart of the 9/11 and everything that took place after it, as well as the "How would it have impacted in the superhero community?" angle, which would be [[DudeNotFunny completely out of place]] if done with the real event.

* CivilWar: [[RecycledINSPACE Recycled with super heroes]].

* DependingOnTheWriter: Up to and including whether holding American citizens in a concentration camp without trial after intentionally setting mass-murdering supervillains on them was a bad thing.
* DevelopingDoomedCharacters: ''The Thing'' #1 has a guest appearence of Bill Foster, Goliath, a long forgotten character. You all know what happened to him a short time later...

* SuperRegistrationAct