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Captain America: Steve Rogers #5 Changes Civil War II #3 – The Civil Warriest Of Civil War II Crossovers

Most weeks, Bleeding Cool checks in with all the week's Civil War II crossovers, to see just how Civil Warry they are. Whether they are actually connected with Marvel's big event. Or whether they have just slapped the logo on the cover and had someone say "Ulysses".

I get the feeling I may be the only one reading them all, but there we go.

Well, today, we have Captain America: Steve Rogers #5, and it is the most Civil Warry of Civil War crossovers yet, and exposes a plot element that had been skipped over, fundamentally changing the reading of Civil War II #3.

Remember that? When we discovered that Bruce Banner had been experimenting on himself?

Well, today's Captain America: Steve Rogers reveals this as a distraction planned by Captain America, agent of Hydra.

So the vision that Ulysses had of Banner Hulking out may have been all set up by Steve Rogers,  and the subsequent assassination of him by Hawkeye..

…yes that one, was all a side benefit of a plan to distract Ulysses from looking in his direction. Oh captain, my Captain, that deserves a full row of Banner heads of Civil Warriness.

Although Amadeus Cho in today's Totally Awesome Hulk might take issue with Bruce Banner's statement that he was curing himself of the Hulk…

And with Black Panther on the hunt of Cho to help Hawkeye.

So, yes, pretty Civil Warry.

And Spider-Woman #11 is also all up in the after-death of the Hulk, maybe looking at those very notes that Captain America had sent to Banner… the clues are all there!

 If you know where to look. So, yes, very Civil Warry too.

Captain America: Sam Wilson #13, however, isn't that Civil Warry, even though it carries through themes of profiling raised by the event.

It does, however, remind us that Iron Man is the biggest hypocrite of all. By using Sam Wilson's mutant power as a universal surveillance system – and pretty much doing exactly what Ulysses is doing, extrapolating from all available information. Apparently though, there are safeguards, so that's okay. What could go wrong? Gets some thematic heads as a result.

Ms Marvel #11tries to show the whole Captain Marvel Civil War II side for the crock of profiling that it is by concocting something for it to find.

So basically she's doing just what Captain America, Agent Of Hydra was doing. So, yeah, heads.

Captain Marvel #9 sees her dealing with Ms Marvel leaving her side, and her doubts seeing her doubling back on some of the Minority Report aspect of her actions.

 And also one of the more subtle references to Aurora's mental conditions. I have been thinking that mental illness, however you want to name it, might be the next step in exploration of diversity in super-hero comic books, especially with the new Legion TV show picking up on Si Spurrier's X-Men Legacy, and Aurora may well be the one to take that on.

We talked about Thunderbolts #5 before and so, yes…

Pretty Civil Warry.

Civil War II: Kingpin #3 is less so, leaving much of the impact of Janus' abilities in counting Ulysses out and instead exploring how Wilson Fisk relates to his peers and employees in running a criminal organisation.

He's very hands on…

Oh and you know crossovers in name only that have people jumping in at the very last moment to shoehorn the fact that this is a crossover?

New Avengers #16, written by Al Ewing, does that very literally. But it also gets back to the matter of working out what has been happening to the Marvel Universe since Secret Wars, so there is that.

The final web issue of Marvel's decampi digital comic Ulysses #6, is also out, and also written by Al Ewing

It is all up in Civil War II, but it remains pretty inconsequential.

We don't even get to see him war painted up…

Ewing, does a much more immersive Civil War II experience with The Ultimates #11, as well it should. Captain Marvel, Thanos, and talking about the morality of this whole thing.

And yes, Alison Green. Remember her?

That's right, Alison Green, the financier who was predicted by Ulysses to be a top secret Hydra spy planning on wreaking havoc with an empty briefcase.

The one who was kidnapped by Nightcrawler from the Treskelion in Civil War II #4 and that led to the big fight of Civil War II #5.

And covered in depth by last month's Ultimates #10.

Well, back to that Captain America: Steve Rogers comic out today – not only does it reveal what was happening with Bruce Banner… but also knocks out the Alison Green story. She's not Hydra.

 I thought that Minority report style, Alison Green would be revealed as a sleeper Hydra agent and Ulysses was right all along. Seems not. 

What is intriguing in these Al Ewing and Nick Spencer written comics is they have plot that affects and changes the main event series. Most every other crossover has to dance around the plots, but The Ultimates and Captain America; Steve Rogers might as well be additional chapters to the main series. Normally that's reserved for Spider-Man and Guardians Of The Galaxy, which are written by Brian Bendis.

Most other writers don't get that access. Something Rocket Racoon & Groot #10 writer Nick Kocher lets everyone in on, as Captain Marvel life is threatened and Gwenpool doesn't care…

Until someone turns up…

That's a line from the V For Vendetta movie, right?

So it doesn't have a lot to do with Civil War II. But it goes a long way to explaining the rest of the crossovers. And for that…

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