New Avengers #17 -- *Spoilers*

[cmdrkoenig67]

Anyone with powers... anyone in costume... any mutants... any of our kind is going to be required by law to reveal themselves to the United States government. In return the registered hero will be given a job as a guard in the new SHIELD Security Force. You will get to be a superhero, but you will have to answer to someone. Refusing to do so will be considered a federal crime.
Okay, see this pretty much illustrates why I'm on the side I'm on... its too broad, and too generalized. Once again as I just posted in a very long (at least it seemed long writing it) post in another thread, I believe this is IM's attempt to coordinate all these powers for a greater purpose... but forcing those born with a trait to enlist is definetely not the way to go about it... last time I checked, we chose the jobs we have in the world, not the government... mutants for one should not have to sign up for this ridiculous draft, and I might go so far as to call it an enslavement (although the term gives me hesitation because people will automatically bring to mind the plight of African American slavery, which I certainly do not mean to indicate... nevertheless, they would be slaves to the government.) This law very much makes it a crime to be born... also, what is to be said of those who have already been 'created' by accidents and not choice? This in my mind goes against the basic values of the American system, and is most probably the reason why Cap is against it. After all, even he was a volunteer, a subject to the government's experiments... I'd very much also like to see one of the lawyers (Dare or She-Hulk) take this as a case to the Supreme Court to see how in the nine hells Marvel would even dare to attempt to explain how this would pass the strict scrutiny test that the court would use.

I can't wait to see the poor schlub who tries to force Juggernaut to register. I wonder what happens if an ET like the Silver Surfer shows up? Do they need to get a special license to be on Earth?
Well, since Juggernaut is seemingly taking up permanent residence in England, I doubt that they'd even bother to try and cross international lines (perhaps an element of what has been hinted at with heroes taking safety across border lines), and in fact he is already semi-registered with the Brits as he is now essentially an agent of the government, seemingly working off his past crimes in a very suicide squad-esque manner. That actually brings me to the next point, that it seems that they will be actively seeking to strike down the heroes who refuse to obey this law, rather than aiming to do that instead to the villains who would also be breaking this law. That should be the first priority in my mind, which certainly has not been the indication thusfar. Also, if this does extend to ETs, they will have far outstretched their bounds, as such law should truly only be applicable to American citizens. In many ways I'm hoping that this mandatory registration backfires in their faces and Earth gets hell-of-a-smashed as a result of the depletion of all the powered heroes. That'd make me happy.

I also thought that SHIELD was now international, which makes me even edgier about the actual reasonable application of this law... I might be nitpicky, but I always appreciate it when comics delve into real-world issues that they actually remain accurate to what the issues truly are... also, I might have said this earlier (but in all my blabber I've lost track of what I've said), but what if a hero wants to retire after their 'duty' to SHIELD? Work until you're dead? Is that the new policy? Would they have a choice as to the foes that they would be working against? Would they have to work on seemingly suicide runs? Could they refuse an order if they felt it unethical without fear of a reprimand? Would the government be held responsible for the death of that hero? These are the things that bother me about all of this. I'm a stickler, but I think we need the details in order to understand the true nature of the scenario posed to us (at least in deciding who is going to pick what side...)

A Federal Crime? It'd have to be an international crime, to be SHIELD jurisdiction; if they're UN, not US.

The Federal crime comment is obviously bad writing(an uninformed or ignorant writer?...Nah!) or a flub(I'm thinking/hoping Tony meant International crime).

...And of course, this is going to ruffle feathers and piss people off....hello?!...The series is called Civil War! People will of course, take sides...i.e. Mutants(probably most) will be offended and refuse to register, Mystics will also feel like their in the middle of a witchhunt. It's a major breach of personal privacy.

Although...what was that "Identity Disk" storyline all about? Don't S.H.I.E.L.D. or the Governments of the world already have files on most active superhumans? The Canadian Government already knows the identities of all of Alpha/Beta/Gamma/etc.. Flights. The U.S. Government probably knows the ID's of every Avenger that's ever been a member. The Russian Government must know the ID's of the Winterguard members...and so on.

What I really don't get are Captain America, Iron Man and any other Avengers just accepting this(this is probably why Wolverine will be leaving Avengers soon)....These men have spent years fighting tyrrany, domination, enslavement, etc... Why are they suddenly suddenly licking the Goverment's/S.H.I.E.L.D'S boots??? Steve Rogers even gave up being Captain America for a while, when the Govt. wanted to be his boss and tell him what to do(remember the Commission putting John Walker in the Cap costume and Steve became the Captain?). It's really out of character for them. Don't forget the trouble the Avengers had for years with Gyrich and government trying to control them?

Dana

[Ben]

I don't think it was a "flub" by Tony, if this were an international issue, there wouldn't be the deal made about super-powered people fleeing across the border. I suspect Millar is planning on having Alpha Flight protect and offer sanctuary to those coming across.


Ben

[Shaman Of The Whills]

I don't think it was a "flub" by Tony, if this were an international issue, there wouldn't be the deal made about super-powered people fleeing across the border. I suspect Millar is planning on having Alpha Flight protect and offer sanctuary to those coming across.
Even if Alpha Flight doesn't center in that role, I'm suspecting others certainly will... actually I think that the most prominent figure(s) in the other countries element will be Black Panther (I saw his rejection in the Illuminati special as a dismissal of all of these sorts of plans, and the fact that he is building up cred, is a prominent leader and is marrying Storm), Namor (although I doubt he'd really provide sanctuary, something tells me that he'll be seeking a way to protect those mutants who need it), and perhaps other foreign teams and heroes (New Excalibur, Captain Britain, Union Jack), and even in the most extreme cases perhaps the Inhumans offering safety(although as I typed it I realized how silly it sounded, especially with their general policies... in fact, I'm slightly confused as to why they're really involved in this at all, but I'm sure I'm just no seeing their role correctly).

[PWalk]

I don't think it was a "flub" by Tony, if this were an international issue, there wouldn't be the deal made about super-powered people fleeing across the border. I suspect Millar is planning on having Alpha Flight protect and offer sanctuary to those coming across.


Ben

Now that's an interesting theory. I wouldn't mind seeing that happen so long as AF gets in some action.