Analyses by David

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Civil War- Fantastic Four

  • Johnny Storm is visited in the hospital by the other members. Mister Fantastic and Invisible Woman are at odds with each other

  • Ben Grimm confronts the Yancy Street gang who are rioting and protesting in the name of anti-registration

  • Grimm expresses that the law is the law and even though he doesn’t support it he won’t fight it

  • The gang tells him to stop being neutral and pick a side

  • Few of the gang members meet with Captain America and other heroes and pass intel on when and where a security convoy containing heroes will be

  • Unbeknownst to Captain America and the gang members, the intel was passed on by Puppet Master who is devising something with Mad Thinker

  • Spiderman senses anti-reg heroes (Cap’s group) underground as Iron Man diverts the convoy towards Route C which is where the Yancy Gang formed a blockade

  • Puppet Master uses a Cerebral Enhancement System helmet designed by Thinker to take control of multiple civilians to attack the convoy

  • Chaos ensues as security helicopters fire down

  • Two YS gang members, Cee and Mouse, become casualties of PM and MT’s machinations after Mouse is controlled to detonate a bomb. He is also the member who received the intel from them

  • Cap and Iron Man are determined to take each other down when they come face to face but Grimm scolds them both for what this ‘superhero civil war’ is doing

  • Each side tries to persuade him to join but he refuses

  • Sue scolds Reed that nothing could have ever separated them until Reed chose this

  • Sue leaves, as does Ben. Reed shows Peter Parker the Negative Zone and rationalizes that whether the law is right or wrong, it must be followed

  • Ben spends some time in Paris

  • Johnny and Reed have a personal conversation where Reed attempts to justify the registration act because the law must be followed and people are justifiably afraid- the law is absolutely necessary

  • Richards takes Thinker into a private room where he shows him an equation social dynamics aka predicting the trajectory of societal trends which has a basis in psychohistory (why humans as a group have done the things they’ve done)

  • He calculated that chaos would have ensued had superheroes not been put in check so it would have to happen inevitably 

  • He believes Mad Thinker is the only person capable of proofing his work

  • The one flaw Thinker sees is that Reed thought he could do this without personal cost whereas Tony Stark knew the cost

  • Invisibly in the room, Sue discovers Reed’s equation and chalks it up to him being him. She leaves and declares her allegiance to Captain America. Reed tells her she can’t beat the odds

  • On an anniversary night of the Fantastic Four’s space flight, several people speak about them including Black Panther, Namor who shares his respect, and Doom who speaks ill of them, naturally

  • Reed and Sue decide to take a break