With the series now over, it’s fair to say that Civil War II was not a resounding success. After suffering numerous delays and receiving overwhelmingly negative reviews from fans and critics alike, the fact that the story has finally wrapped up came as a blessed relief to many, though it’s arguably left the Marvel Universe in a pretty interesting place.
That’s something Marvel Editor-in-Chief Axel Alonso was quick to point out in a recent interview when he was asked for his thoughts on the way things ended up playing out.
“We accomplished what we wanted with the story. Of course, we wish we could’ve wrapped it up on time, and we’re sorry about that, but we didn’t want to do that at the expense of the overall quality of the final package — and we think Brain and David wrote a beautiful story. In terms of the event’s impact on the Marvel Universe, it’s having the ripple effect that we wanted: the emergence of the Champions as a counterpoint to the Avengers, the repositioning of Tony Stark and Carol Danvers, and the huge Hulk-sized hole created by Hawkeye’s arrow. As the story unfolds across the entire line, we will start to seed clues about the future that will have our hardcore fans salivating. Could “O.G.” Thor be worthy again? How long can Hydra Cap keep his secret? Did Bruce Banner have a contingency plan for his contingency plan? How dead is Logan? Is the Marvel Universe better off with Tony Stark off the board? [Laughs] These are the questions we have been contemplating.”
While Civil War II may have succeeded in getting things to a place that Marvel wanted, many of the story decisions mentioned above by Alonso have alienated fans. The fact that the comic failed to live up to its predecessor is also problematic, especially as the Brian Michael Bendis-penned series has arguably hurt the Civil War brand moving forward.
Event fatigue is something else Marvel should be worried about, but Civil War II still sold well despite its problems, so perhaps the publisher can get away with pretty much anything at this stage. What their next event will be remains to be seen, but with Alonso clearly still confident about Marvel’s ability to use events like this one to shake up the status quo, expect them to continue.