Captain America's 'Civil War' Nightmare Came True, Thanks To DC
In Civil War, Captain America feared the Superhero Registration Act would lead to a severe curtailing of freedom, and this nightmare scenario came true in the DC Universe. In 2007’s Lord Havok and the Extremists #1, written by Frank Tieri and illustrated by Liam Sharp, DC introduces readers to Earth-8, a thinly-disguised pastiche of the Marvel Universe, one where the Registration Act passed, leading to the rise of a fascist government.
In the wake of the September 11th terrorist attack in 2001, the administration of then-President George W. Bush, with vast bi-partisan support, passed the PATRIOT Act. Among the many aspects of this controversial act was that it granted a great deal of leeway to law enforcement and intelligence agencies to carry out their work—which activists believed to be a gross overreach of authority on the United States government. Civil War brought this debate to the Marvel Universe, using the Superhero Registration Act to explore the post-9/11 political landscape. After a tragedy caused by superhumans resulted in hundreds of deaths, the Act is passed, forcing superpowered individuals to register with the government. In favor of the act was Iron Man, feeling it was the next logical step in the evolution of superheroes; opposing it was Captain America, who believed it to be a violation of civil liberties. The two sides fought, and ultimately Iron Man was victorious. The Act passed, but its evils soon became apparent, and it fell by the wayside.
Yet on Earth-8 in DC Comics, their Civil War ended in a truce between the Americommando (Captain America) and Tin Man (Iron Man). Tin Man then ran for President, with Americommando as his running mate; they won in a landslide, and the two enacted an equivalent of the Registration Act, called the “Metahuman Act,” creating a government-sanctioned superhero army called the “Meta Militia.” Under the leadership of first Tin Man and later Americommando, the United States descends into fascism, forcing villains such as Lord Havok to fight back.
Civil War barely hid itself as a post-9/11 allegory, tackling issues of surveillance and police states. The series explored the morally grey areas of its time, weighing the cost of freedom versus the cost of security, and arriving at no easy answers. This commentary finds an even sharper focus in Lord Havok and the Extremists #1. Unlike Captain America and Iron Man, their Earth-8 counterparts were able to arrive at a truce—and the end result was still a fascist, corrupt government. As mentioned earlier, the PATRIOT Act had support on both sides of the aisle, and it is not a stretch to see Tin Man and Americommando’s actions as commentary on this unfortunate aspect of post-9/11 America.
Such a truce, and the fascist dictatorship that arose as a result, would have horrified Captain America, as the world Tieri and Sharp depict realize every fear he had about the Superhero Registration Act during Civil War. Captain America realizes the value in compromise, but never at the cost of freedom.
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