Civil War- Frontline
We follow two reporters: Sally Flloyd from The Advantage and Ben Urich from the Daily Bugle
Sally is to investigate the Anti-Registration side while Ben Urich investigates Pro-Reg
Spiderman meets with Sally to put on the record that he wants to do the right thing with the law and register and wants the public to know he has a family. He tells her while it may be for good reasons, there will be a cost
She attends Iron Man`s press conference where he reveals that he is Tony Stark
Speedball of the New Warriors crash-lands in upstate NY from Stamford, Connecticut and is unconscious
He uncontrollably ignites, killing two onlookers and is pronounced dead
Doctors proclaim that his abilities absorbed kinetic energy from the blast in Stamford which blasted him to NY but rendered him powerless
Speedball is revealed to still be alive and is told by an N.S.A. agent named Eric Marshall that he's the only survivor of the Stamford explosion, that 612 people died there, that the kinetic absorption of that magnitude burned out the synapses which control his abilities, and that he`s under arrest
Robbie Baldwin aka Speedball is put in prison and is offered a deal from the government by Eric Marshall to register to avoid a sentence as well as be an example for superhero reform
Robbie denies he committed any crimes and refuses to register. He's incarcerated and beaten by the inmates who deem him a baby killer
A metaphorical comparison is made between the superhero civil war and Julius Caesar crossing the Rubicon river in Italy which sparked a civil war
Sally Floyd has a secret meeting with anti-reg heroes who defend their right to privacy
Ben Urich meets with Mr. Fantastic who shows him an equation that the Superhero Registration Act (SRA) is the safest course of action
A pro-reg hero named Bantam is accidentally killed by an anti-reg hero named Thunderclap in a street fight. Sally witnesses this
As Robbie`s lawyer, She-Hulk offers the same terms to him that Eric Marshall did with the addition that Robbie helps track unregistered heroes and do community service, in exchange for his designation of being guilty being expunged. He refuses the deal
Sally strongly thinks the Bantam vs Thunderclap incident was staged. Ben tells her she's not seeing it objectively and is taking it personally
A secret meeting of anti-reg heroes which Sally attends is ambushed by pro-reg heroes. Solo thinks Sally betrayed them
Sally calls Ben about the attack and of reporters being tagged. Ben is also confronted by Green Goblin who confronts him about defamation
Robbie is highly humiliated in prison and releases a powerful blast when deliberately injured during a boxing match
Robbie`s mother tells him she`ll never visit him again because he won't admit his guilt
Two detectives are searching for a man named Joe who mysteriously disappears and has no records of any kind. They suspect he was a Russian sleeper aget or an insurance scammer for a fish store. One of them is right as Joe is actually an Atlantean sleeper cell hiding in plain sight
Jameson doesn`t believe Ben about the Green Goblin
A hooded figure warns Sally that there is no sinister motive or conspiracy theory with the Registration Act but there are holes
Jameson fires Urich after Urich calls him a coward for fear in believing that Osborn (Goblin) is out of jail
Sally and her publisher Neil Crawford are placed under arrest by Eric Marshall for conspiracy to commit terrorist acts and harboring the identity of an unregistered combatant
Robbie is transferred to the Negative Zone
Wonder Man is assigned to look into the sleeper cell case in case Joe is a national security threat
Robbie Robertson (Daily Bugle editor) convinces Ben to stay by telling him he'll support the Goblin story
Ben witnesses the Thor clone kill Bill Foster aka Goliath
He questions Iron Man on why Thor would do that and if Tony is utilizing criminals such as the Goblin as well as insinuates that Goblin isn`t in full control and whether it`s stupidity or arrogance which led Tony to strike a deal with him. Tony shrugs it off and exercises Miranda rights
Mister Fantastic makes a deal to get Robbie in front of Congress to testify his side of the story in Stamford
While walking up to the Capitol Building, Robbie is shot by a father of a casualty from Stamford. Ben witnesses it firsthand
Osborn speaks to a shady character who is supplying him with a serum that suppresses the nanites that the government is using to control villains
Robbie is taken to the hospital and explodes in the ambulance where She-Hulk is with him
After finding a group of Atlanteans converged in a warehouse seemingly mobilizing, the next moment we find all of them except Wonder Man dead who is found unconscious by N.Y.F.D. and the two detectives
Among the dead Atlanteans is Joe
What actually happened is revealed in a flashback where Green Goblin randomly attacked the Atlanteans and Wonder Man
The N.Y.P.D. call it a warehouse fire to ease public concern and everyone assumes the Atlanteans were there to prepare for a revenge-attack for the death of Namorita (New Warrior member) in Stamford
Ben Urich and Danny Granville think that Stark is controlling Osborn with nanites and orchestrated the attack on the Atlanteans to profit off it by supplying the government with weapons to retaliate in case war breaks out
Mr. Fantastic’s A.I. Cloc, speculates that Robbie is undergoing a secondary mutation where his kinetic abilities respond to external stimuli
Osborn shoots an Atlantean ambassador who met with American and European dignitaries to confirm that the sleeper cells were there for peaceful observation. He survives and leaves
Sally secretly meets with Captain America. She holds him accountable that he should hold the rule of law, no matter what it is
Cap compares the recent events to Nazi Germany and that he will defend freedom, not a dictatorship
Sally argues that the Wehrmacht were patriots fighting for a wrong cause making the point that pro-reg are also fighting for what they believe is right
Reed Richards is convinced that someone sabotaged the nanites in Osborn’s body and suspects it’s either Yellowjacket, Carol Danvers, Iron Man, Radioactive Man, or Sentry who all worked on them
Now admitted into the Raft, an inmate injures Robbie wherefore he releases a blast knocking out only the inmates. Now seemingly in control of his newfound abilities, he agrees to sign with the Act
The two nameless detectives interrogate Osborn who cannot reveal the name of who put him up to the hit
Tony confirms there is a traitor to the other 5 but will not disclose who, raising suspicion when Carol brings it up to Sally
Ben resigns from the Daily Bugle after what he suspects about Tony Stark is true
Robbie meets with the father who shot him who claims Robbie has no remorse for the pain he’s caused. Not caring because he didn’t kill the man’s daughter, Robbie tells him pain literally drives everything he does now
He burns his Speedball uniform and takes up a new one with 612 inward-facing spikes on the torso to remind him of the casualties in Stamford. He also has spikes on his fists for the men that died in upstate NY and in the ambulance. Lastly, he shall always carry Sarah Stricker in his heart, the daughter of the man who shot him
His new name is Penance
Sally and Ben witness the final battle between superheroes and the surrender of Captain America
Sally and Ben confront Stark together about profiting off Osborn’s attack on the Atlanteans and supplying $90 million worth of weapons to the government which the money was then used to provide pensions for firefighters, police, and registered heroes and their families
He also presumably helped design the Negative Zone Prison 42 as a prototype for testing and then would have the government pay him for an improved design and grant the formerly incarcerated heroes amnesty
Being a futurist, Stark predicted that by making Atlanteans seem a real threat, that more heroes would register with the Act which they have by an increase of 38%
Ben and Sally agree not to publish the story and leave
Emotionally distraught and angry at himself, Tony knocks his helmet off the table, falls on his knees and begins to cry
