This isn't actually a story per se. In fact, I just copied and pasted it from my Myspace blog. This is just a treatment for an alternate story idea for Marvel's Civil War that I had. I'll make actual stories with dialogue in the future but I just wanted to use this to get a feel for what the site does.
To all those who frequent some of the comic book groups on Myspace, you all know I hold no love for Civil War with its gross mischaracterizations, shock value ploys, and the like.
Well, I decided, for the heck of it, to see if I could make a better story. I'm not quite sure if I suceeded, but this is what I came up with: a relatively small issue-by-issue plot synopsis with some of Steve McNiven's art from the actual series thrown in just to spruce things up. And yes, I realize I borrowed a lot of stuff from Kingdom Come but Kingdom Come is awesome and if you rip off any story, it should be Kingdom Come.
Anyways, here's the story. Enjoy. Or not as the case may be.
All characters are copyrighted by Marvel Comics
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1-- The story starts as Daredevil wakes up in a cold sweat in a New Jersey motel room. As he goes to wash his face in the bathroom sink, he thinks of the nightmare he just had: a shadowed figure with glowing hands standing above a mountain of skeletons and a sea of blood. Matt struggles to understand why he had this dream and why it was so vivid.
Late in Stark Tower, Cap and Iron Man meet in the conference room to discuss Tony's trip to Washington. Cap asks how it went and Tony tells him that he thinks people are getting scared. Tony says he talked with a few of members of the Commission and he believes they are worried that the superheroes are becoming too dangerous. After the recent crisis with the Scarlet Witch, public opinion has swayed against superheroes. Cap tells Stark they should plan for when the gov't turns on them. Stark asks if that's really necessary and suggests that his political connections could give them the footing to build a cooperative measure. Cap rebuffs that, feeling they shouldn't have to compromise and that the heroes should be allowed to work without censure. Tony says that seems to be a bit unpractical and that they shouldn't butt heads with the gov't if it can be helped. Cap says not to be so certain the gov't will be so accommodating, but then says they're just speaking in hypothetical terms and that nothing will probably happen and dismisses the meeting.
As Daredevil is setting back up to go to bed again after turning away the maid when a bright light appears. Uatu the Watcher appears and tells Daredevil he requires him for a matter of most importance. Both disappear dissipate into nothing as the maid returns to check on him again.
In Stamford, the New Warriors are riding in a TV van, heading to where Nitro and his allies are housed. The producer gives a quick bio on all four villains, added that a rumor states he killed Captain Marvel though Namorita rebuffs that, saying Mar-Vell died of cancer. Microbe interjects, stating he thinks Nitro might be out of their league and maybe they should call the Thunderbolts or the Avengers. Speedball rejects that, stating this will be their biggest moment on the show.
Peter Parker is leaning on the window of his room when MJ comes over and asks what's wrong. Pete says he feels that, since he got back from Washington, a big dark cloud is looming over the entire country. Heroes aren't being trusted like before. Pete feels the balance is so tenuous right now that anything could set it off.
Daredevil and Uatu arrive at the Blue Area of the Moon. Matt asks Uatu what's going on. Uatu says that he believes a catastrophe will happen that will set off a chain of events that will destroy the planet. He knows about DD's dreams and thinks it might be part of a message a future Uatu has sent to the past.
The New Warriors stake out the house, but Coldblood makes them. A fight breaks out and Namorita gives chase to Nitro and knocks them out of the house. Nitro says they're out of his league and starts to glow. Speedball looks out in the front as he holds Cobalt Man and sees a bright light coming towards them.
All the characters in their seperate settings are watching TV when an emergency broadcast comes through that a massive explosion has happened in Stamford. Uatu simply says that it has begun.
2-- A week after the Stamford incident, Cap sits in the Helicarrier waiting for an appointment with Commander Maria Hill. On the monitors, a news reporter says today Congress, in an emergency session, will vote on a Superhero Registration Act that will make any active superheroes require a government-issued license.
Hill excuses Natasha Romanov out of her office and summons Cap in. Closing her blinds, Hill tells Cap that the act is all but a foregone conclusion. She asks if there's any metas that will object to this. Cap replies that there will be many that will fight the gov't rather than submit to this law. Hill says she believes some are already forming a resistance movement, including Cloak, Dagger, Goliath, Danny Rand, and the Falcon. She orders Cap to form a squad of superheroes and SHIELD agents to investigate and capture this group after the bill has passed. Cap refuses and says this bill will not go unchallenged, saying heroes must be above such things and that this goes against all he believes. Hill asks if he'll comply with this and Cap says he will fight this every step of the way. Hill tries to call guards in, but Cap knocks her out first, quietly escaping out of the Helicarrier.
Back on the ground, Cap goes to a NY coffee house and calls Tony Stark. Cap tells Tony everything that happened in the Helicarrier. He tells Tony to rally the Avengers and prepare to go underground. Tony tries to plead with Steve to reconsider, stating registration might not be all that bad. Steve gets irate and demands Tony to tell him if he's with him. Tony says he can't be with him on this. Cap then screams at him, asking how he could support something like this. Tony says not only does he support it, he helped write it. A bewildered Cap hangs up, seeing something on the coffee house TV about a memorial happening in Stamford tonight.
Making it to Stamford, Cap attends the memorial and sees Miriam Sharpe tells the audience that this tragedy happened in order to make America aware of the dangers of superheroes. Just before Cap can stand and protest, a drunken New Warriors villain named Impulse attacks the proceedings. Cap quickly puts on his costume and confronts the cursing Impulse. The fight is brutal. After Impulse cuts Cap's cheek and calls the New Warriors a bunch of dead losers, Cap flies into a rage and beats him half to death. With his hands covered in blood, Cap looks to see the crowd throw things at him and hurl insults as SHIELD agents come. Falcon and Cloak arrive to take Cap away.
Back at the resistance's base, Cap informs them he will lead them as Diamondback tells everyone to see the TV. Both Iron Man and Spider-Man have outed themselves as Tony Stark and Peter Parker.
3-- As Daredevil has another dream involving a snake biting an eagle and the blood spreading into fire and igniting the whole world, Uatu attempts to decipher the meaning behind the dream. He tells the now-waking Matt that he believes this crisis will originate over the war about the SRA. He tells Matt he doesn't know which side will cause this Armageddon, but that this apocalypse will be birthed out of this war.
Hill declares a meeting between Reed Richards, Tony Stark, Charles Xavier via TV screen, and Helmut Zemo to discuss Cap's side in this war. Hill fears that his mere presence in the resistance is rallying other metas to join his cause. Tony chides Hill for her heavy-handed handling of her meeting with Cap, saying he could have reasoned with Cap were it not for her trying to get him detained. Hill admits she made a mistake, but states whining about it won't solve anything. She asks the team leaders if their teams will help bring in Cap and his rebellion. Stark says half his team has either joined Cap's side or has dropped off the radar and are not going to pick a side but those who remain will help bring in the rebels. Reed says he will help build the technology and structure needed to regulate the act but cannot promise that his family will help hunt down Cap. Xavier flat out refuses to get involved, citing other matters taking up their time and saying while the X-Men will register for licenses, they will not follow the gov't. Zemo tells Hill the Thunderbolts are unanimous in their backing of the gov't and will hunt Cap tooth and nail and declares he will be employing villains to help. Stark objects, but Hill shoots him down, stating if Stark could be a more charismatic leader, they'd have the manpower necessary to off-set Cap's forces.
As Cage and Cloak rescue the Young Avengers from SHIELD forces, Magneto appears in Cap's base with the Brotherhood, offering their assistance in the conflict. Cap declines, stating that the Secret Avengers are freedom fighters, not terrorists. Magneto tells him he'd be surprised how often the two are the same, but Cap still refuses much to the protest of various SA members.
Daredevil watches on and asks if Magneto might be the man in the dream. Uatu says it's not likely; the man there most likely had a great hand in this war. Daredevil asks sternly if Uatu thinks that man is Cap himself. Uatu pauses and says he doesn't know.
The Secret Avengers arrive at an industrial fire and find that the Initiative has set a trap for them. Stark attempts to reason with Cap, but to no avail and the battle begin. The various heroes face off against each other. Goliath grabs Swordsman's sword and slashes Radioactive Man, causing a small nuclear explosion that destroys the building they're in. Cap and Iron Man stop fighting to look on in horror.
4-- The Radioactive Man continues to spew atomic energies from his body. Stark must make a decision: continue to fight Cap's forces or let them go while he organizes a containment of the fallout. He chooses the latter while the Secret Avengers grab their wounded and head into the night.
Zemo calls in the "Beta Team" to handle the rebellion while Stark and the others try to handle the crisis at hand. Trying to revive Cloak and Wiccan, the SA find themselves confronting an army of villains. The battle is vicious, with the villains, Goblin and Bullseye especially, pulling no punches. Goblin is prepared to stab Cap with a razorwing as Stark tackles the Goblin to the ground as Cloak finally wakes up and gets the SA out of there. Beating at him, Stark is told by Norman that the villains are on his side. Angry, Stark gets up and punches out Zemo, cursing him for hiring such immoral figures. Zemo retorts that this is war and his immoral figures caught their only prisoners. Stark swears to take this up with Hill and get him thrown in jail. Zemo tells him it was Hill's idea.
Daredevil asks Uatu if he's deciphered anymore of the dreams. Uatu says this new development sheds new light on the situation and he will factor it into his equations. Uatu explains that he believes a future version of himself sent a psychic message through the timestream but was damaged along the way and made it into Daredevil's subconscious somehow, possibly because Daredevil's deep Catholic faith coupled with a lack of optic sight made it easier to implant the images while his costumed career could help him understand the images better. Matt laments how circumstances have driven things this far. Uatu says Matt isn't so sure it was all coincidence that led to this. Uatu then states he isn't all that sure either.
Back at the SA base, the rebellion is licking their wounds. While new recruits come in, many others leave the rebellion, citing that they either don't want to fight other heroes and cops or that Cap's insurrection solves nothing. Though Cap berates them for giving up, he quietly sulks back to his room where he confides in Diamondback that he feels this rebellion is going nowhere. He admits none of what he's doing is going to bring things back to the way they were. Diamondback then says she thinks there's a way to fix that.
Over in the Baxter Building, Sue and Johnny leave their notes stating they are joining Cap's resistance, citing the villain army and Stark's failure to reason with either Cap or Hill as the reasons and hopes that Cap will be able to stop this war.
Over in Stark Tower, as the Radioactive Man is held in intensive care, Tony meets with Spider-Man in the Parkers' room. Peter tells Tony he's quitting the team. Tony asks why. Pete says he can't in good conscience attack men like Captain America and allow monsters like Norman Osborn being rewarded for being monsters. Tony says he respects his decision but warns him that should he ally with cap, he'll be branded a traitor and hunted as well. Spidey tells him he wants no part of this war anymore and for Tony to remember a time when they actually made the world a better place as he leaves.
Both Cap and Stark, sitting alone, ask themselves what have they done.
5-- Iron Fist is being interrogated at the 42 Compound in the Negative Zone by Jasper Sitwell and Tony Stark. Stark and Sitwell inform Danny that he'll be put on trial and sent back to the 42 for a long time unless he gives some information on Cap's whereabouts. Rand gives no info and Stark tells the guards to take him back to his cell as Stark leaves for Stark Tower.
At the SA base, Cap informs everyone of the new plan. The Secret Avengers are to raid a military base in the Ozarks where SHIELD placed the Cosmic Cube Cap took from Lukin and the Winter Soldier months before. Cap will use the Cosmic Cube to alter reality to change the Congressional vote on the bill, making so the SRA never comes to pass. Falcon questions the ethics of such an act, warping elected officials' choices to fit your own. Cage also brings up the fact that the Cosmic Cube rarely is used without some kind of catch. Cap says he realizes both, but that this is the only chance they have now to reverse the horrors of the war. Sue tells Cap if they fail, they'll be branded as traitors against America and swiftly executed. Cap then says that is the reason they must not fail.
At the Helicarrier, Daredevil arrives and tries to tell Stark of the impending danger and attempts to tell him of the prophetic dreams he's had, but to no avail. Stark believes the imminent danger DD is talking about comes from Captain America and what his actions will do to the country and will not attempt to make amends.
Later, Daredevil approaches Cap in Hell's Kitchen and tries to reason with him the same way he tried with Stark but likewise Cap believes the catastrophe will come from Stark's actions and ignores Daredevil's plea to end his actions against the gov't. While he tries to get through to Cap, a mysterious figure watches in the shadows.
Soon after this, the SA base is attacked by the supervillain army led by the Green Goblin. The villains and the Secret Avengers engage in a massive bloody battle, but eventually the Secret Avengers are able to escape by teleporting out. However, their quick retreat leaves their databases wide open and the villains are able to figure out where the rebellion is headed.
Cap, realizing it won't be long before the villains discover the plan to use the Cube, decide they must assault the base now.
Back on the Moon, Daredevil returns to find Uatu badly wounded and unconscious. As he tries to figure out what happened, Uatu's assailant shoots him twice in the chest and walks off. Having a moment of clarity while bleeding all over the floor, Daredevil realizes who is responsible for what's going to happen.
6-- As Daredevil struggles to make it to Uatu's teleportation pod, he sees in his head what's about to happen. When Cap assaults the base, Iron Man and his forces will be there to stop him. A great battle will ensue and Cap will inch closer and closer to the Cube. Just as he is about to grasp it, Diamondback will pull out a pistol and shoot him in the back. Then, she will reveal herself to be Mystique in disguise and hand the Cube to her partner in this plot, Baron Zemo. Zemo will then attempt to merge the Moonstones and the Cube, causing him to go extremely insane and wipe out all the heroes and villains in the area, eventually destroying the earth and later the universe.
Cap looks out onto the base and feels a strange feeling. He realizes that Stark and the Initiative are already wise to his plot and are waiting inside. Gritting his teeth, he girds his loins and makes the famous Avengers Assemble cry and marches towards the base.
Daredevil finally reaches the pod. Realizing he has no strength left to fight Zemo and knowing he has no way to get into the base, Daredevil picks the one person who can help him teleports him onto the Moon.
The battle inside the bunker grows fierce. Cap and Iron Man square off head-to-head. Using an electromagnetic scrambler, Cap evens the power odds a bit and manages to get closer and closer to the room holding the Cube. Each rain blow after blow on the other as the heroes continue to battle each other through the narrow halls.
Soon, both men tumble into the room. Yet as Mystique enters to take out Cap and claim the cube, she is kicked to the wall by Daredevil's visitor: Spider-Man. Having been made aware of the situation, Spidey knocks out Mystique as Zemo enters the room. Infuriated, Zemo opens the controls to the nanites with the supervillain army and orders them to attack the ALL the heroes. Soon the real battle begins.
7-- As the villains attack the heroes, both sides of the registration unite to defeat Zemo's new Masters of Evil. Zemo attempts to kill Cap in anger, but Iron Man manages to blast away the attacking Baron. Together for the first time in a long time, Captain America and Iron Man unite against the Moonstones-wielding mastermind.
As Cap, Zemo, and Iron Man take to the skies to battle, Spidey rallies the heroes against the Masters, though the sheer numbers of the villain army manages to overwhelm the heroes. However Spidey happens to soundly defeat them by hacking into their nanites systems and shutting them down.
Up in the sky, Zemo faces off against both Cap and Iron Man. After much fighting, the two manage to cause one of the Moonstones to crack, causing Zemo to fly to a torrent of cosmic energy that sends him "away."
As Spider-Man enters the Cube room again, he finds Mystique has escaped.
Disguising herself as various heroes, Mystique makes it out of the bunker and calls her unknown superior and informs him that Zemo has failed.
With the battle over, both Cap and Iron Man sit down to talk out the perimeters of what to do. After much deliberation, a compromise is reached. Registration will no longer be mandatory, yet an independent organization run by Cap himself will determine the competency of each unregistered hero, responsible for stopping any and all irresponsible, extremist, or insane superheroes. Meanwhile, this organization will also run the New Avengers while Stark continues to work for SHIELD as the new Director and leader of the Mighty Avengers.
As Tony and Steve prepare for their new roles in the world, they sit together and reminisce about the old times, reaffirm their respect for each other and look towards a bright and mysterious future as Uatu smiles high in the sky.