This’ll be weird. JMS will make it plain that, while Mark Millar is clearly on Iron Man’s side, Straczynski is not. So Iron Man is completely altruistic and acting in good faith in the main book, while coming off like a manipulative jerk in JMS’s tie-ins. Very awkward. Bendis toed the line and wrote Millar’s borderline feral Captain America, but Straczynski’s not in the mood, I guess. At least Ron Garney & Co. are back this month.
Peter flashes back to him and Tony still in the air on the way back from DC when Tony gets the news of the explosion. 2 hours later, they’re at the scene, and Garney is sadly still whiffing it on the Iron Man suit. Iron Man talks about how there are “its” in your life. Things where you had a life before it, and one after. He says 9/11 was a national one, and this will be another. Spidey notes the people are looking at them with hate, and Iron Man doesn’t blame them.
3 hours after that, they’re at the White House, where Peter is wildly uncomfortable and nervous. Tony goes in to see the President, and then comes out, saying Congress is about to push the Registration Act through, that it will pass in a week. Peter says this will have a bad impact on people who’ve worked hard to keep their identities secret, and points out how hard it was for Tony to make people stop thinking he was Iron Man again.
I mean, it’s just George W. Bush, Tony. He barely counts.
Tony said the act would likely pass in a week, and now he’s got to go right back to Washington for the President to sign it? His lil’ speech there is what this event was sold as, the Marvel U version of the real world debate about freedom vs. security in the wake of 9/11. Which, one, is a very dumb thing to do, as we’re already seeing, and two, is about 5 years too late by the time this comes out. That debate was settled in 2001. Freedom was revoked, the US took some pretty scary steps toward totalitarianism, and certainly not the last ones since. Too late! But the idea that “freedom” in the context of Civil War is the freedom to, again, put on a mask and fight people in the street is just so utterly insane. Yeah, sure, you want Spider-Man to be swinging around stopping crimes, causing destruction and then just leaving if you’re a comic book reader who knows Peter Parker is a good person. But if you think he has a “right” to do that, then anyone else who wants to do it does, too, and that gets ugly real, real fast. In the same way that it’s true you don’t want any government having the power to tell superheroes where they can and can’t intervene, you also don’t want literally anyone to have the “right” to administer vigilante justice. It’s not that both sides have a point, it’s that both sides are wrong. There’s not only no right answer, there’s no appealing answer. Which means the best way to address this question is to NOT DO COMICS ABOUT IT. But, what do I know, I’m describing the most successful comics event story ever. Well, anyway, Peter calls the bank on the way home to see how much money he has (Strictly him, not joint accounts with MJ), and it’s $11,273.47. Being a teacher really should do a better job of paying the bills. So, then he called May & MJ together, because he couldn’t make this choice on his own, and we’re back to page one. I don’t know why MJ’s dressed like it’s the 60s and Aunt May is dressed like a 16th Century peasant.
Bold words from the ladies of the supporting cast. Sure would be a shame if they came to regret them, eh? Well, then it’s 4 days later, and Peter either has to go get on that plane or not. He thinks he can’t do this. He decides he’ll run for it. Go to Canada or “New England.” I don’t know why he thinks he could hide in New England. He’s technically in it right now. But as he’s leaving, Aunt May brings him his red & blues, which she stitched for him in the night. Everyone keeps saying he doesn’t have his old suit anymore since the Other, but, what, did he literally just have one? He used to have several. May says she knows he has a fancy new suit, but he should wear this, so the people know it’s him. She says “with great power comes great responsibility” means you don’t run away when someone asks, “Who did that?” Ouch!
Will he do it? Could he do it? That’s breaking the biggest toy in the toybox. But…