Ms. Marvel (vol. 2) #7
Battle Lines, Part 2
Civil War continues from Cable & Deadpool #31…
After attempting to stop a robbery as an unregistered superhero, Araña (Añya Corazon) fled the scene when the crooks were busted by Ms. Marvel (Carol Danvers) and Wonder Man (Simon Williams).[1] Certain she’ll get caught, Añya now grapples with finally coming clean to her father about her secret double life. Sitting on the roof of their apartment building, Añya’s thoughts are interrupted when her father arrives with a cake as a surprise. Seconds later, Ms. Marvel and Wonder Man show up with a team of SHIELD Cape Killers.
An hour later, Gilberto finds himself in a cell demanding to be let out. Carol comes in to talk to him and calms him down with assurances that his daughter won’t be locked up in a cell. She then shows him a training room where Wonder Man and Araña are running their paces. When the training is done, Carol encourages Añya to retract her spider carapace and reveal her true identity to him for the first time.
Meanwhile, Arachne (Julia Carpenter) and the Shroud (Maximillian Coleridge) are fugitives from the law. Max, for being an unregistered superhero and Julia for tipping him off about an impending bust. Sneaking into a laundromat, Julia steals some clothes while Max hotwires are car in the parking lot.
Back at Avengers Tower, Carol has a sit down meeting with Añya and her father. She explains that as Araña, she hasn’t broken any major laws yet and they can be forgiven if she registers under the Super Human Registration Act (SHRA) and gets trained in the use of her powers. Gilberto is against this idea as he thinks his daughter is too young.[2] However, when he tries to get up to leave, Añya refuses to go as she still wants to be a hero. However, the experience at her workplace taught her that her need to do the right thing is conflicted by her fears that she doesn’t have the skills to protect lives. She insists that signing up under the SHRA and undergo training is the right thing to do. Gilberto relents and hugs his daughter, consenting to her wishes. However, he warns Carol that he will blame her if any harm comes to his daughter.
On the road, Julia and Max pull over to change out of their costumes and figure out their next plan. The Shroud wants to flee north to Canada, saying they can get there in the next seven hours. Unfortunately, Julia refuses to go anywhere without her daughter Rachel, whom she left with her mother in Colorado. She doesn’t think there is any safer way of getting reunited with her daughter other than getting the girl herself. Max still doesn’t understand why Julia did this to start with. She explains she registered and appeared to side with Tony Stark so she could tip off anti-registration heroes about raids and help them evade arrest. What she didn’t expect was everyone being so idealistic about the law and how easily she was exposed. This is why Max thinks she should have turned him in to protect herself. However, Julia couldn’t have done that anymore than she could abandon her daughter. Seeing that Julia means it, Max agrees that they should go and get Rachel.
Back in New York, Carol outlines Añya’s duties as a trainee when they are interrupted by Iron Man, who is summoning Ms. Marvel for a new mission. Añya wants to tag along and manages to convince Carol that being part of this briefing will be a valuable lesson. Ms. Marvel agrees and vouches for Añya’s presence to Iron Man. Tony quickly explains to them that SHIELD has learned that Arachne has been tipping off non-registrants and is now on the run with the Shroud. He wants Ms. Marvel and Wonder Man to go and bring Jessica and Coleridge in.
The two race to their location in Pennsylvania where they catch Julia and Max on the highway. They try to get their vehicle to stop on the busy highway but the two fugitives fight back. Although Max is captured, Julia’s spider agility allows her to bail out of the vehicle and escape. Although Ms. Marvel failed to capture Arachne, she knows that Julia can’t run forever.
… Civil War continues in Civil War: X-Men #3.
Recurring Characters
Ms. Marvel, Wonder Man, Araña, the Shroud, Arachne, Gilberto Corazon, Iron Man, SHIELD
Continuity Notes
This story takes place shortly after the passage of the Super Human Registration Act in Civil War #3. The law requires superhumans to register with the government. It is a law that remains on the books until Siege #4.
Carol mentions here that Spider-Man was around Añya’s age when he first became a superhero back in Amazing Fantasy #15. As revealed in Civil War #2, Peter Parker was 15 years old when he first became Spider-Man.
Topical References
One of the shirts that Julia steals is a Dazzler World Tour concert t-shirt. It lists that the tour happened sometime in the 1993. That date should be considered topical as it is relative to the date of publication (2006). Modern readers should interpret this to mean the tour happened during that publication year as, making the tour has having happened during “Year 8” of the Modern Age.
When seeing Iron Man’s holographic projection, Añya states that she wants one for her Xbox 360. At the time this comic was published, the 360 had just been released the year before and was at the height of its popularity. The system was retired in 2016, as such its reference her should be considered topical.
Civil War Reading Order
Road to Civil War: Amazing Spider-Man #529, 530, 531, Fantastic Four #536, 537, New Avengers: Illuminati #1
Main Event: Civil War #1, She-Hulk (vol. 2) #8, Wolverine (vol. 3) #42, Amazing Spider-Man #532, Civil War: Front Line #1
Civil War #2, Thunderbolts #103, Civil War: Front Line #2, X-Factor (vol. 3) #8, New Avengers #21, Wolverine (vol. 3) #43, Amazing Spider-Man #533, Fantastic Four #538, Civil War: Front Line #3, Thunderbolts #104, Civil War: X-Men #1
Civil War #3, Cable & Deadpool #30, Civil War: Young Avengers & Runaways #1, Civil War: Front Line #4, X-Factor (vol. 3) #9, New Avengers #22, Wolverine (vol. 3) #44, Amazing Spider-Man #534, Fantastic Four #539, Civil War: Front Line #5, Ms. Marvel (vol. 2) #6, Civil War: X-Men #2, Heroes for Hire (vol. 2) #1, New Avengers #23, Wolverine (vol. 3) #45, Civil War: Young Avengers & Runaways #2, Cable & Deadpool #31, Ms. Marvel (vol. 2) #7, Civil War: X-Men #3
Civil War #4, Wolverine (vol. 3) #46, Heroes for Hire (vol. 2) #2, Civil War: Young Avengers & Runaways #3, Civil War: Front Line #6, Captain America (vol. 5) #22, Cable & Deadpool #32, Amazing Spider-Man #535, Civil War: Choosing Sides #1, Fantastic Four #540, Civil War: Front Line #7, Civil War: X-Men #4, Ms. Marvel (vol. 2) #8, Wolverine (vol. 3) #47, Heroes for Hire (vol. 2) #3, Captain America (vol. 5) #23, New Avengers #24
Civil War #5, Civil War: Young Avengers & Runaways #4, Iron Man (vol. 4) #13, New Avengers #25, Punisher: War Journal (vol. 2) #1, Civil War: Front Line #8, Amazing Spider-Man #536, Black Panther (vol. 4) #22, Captain America (vol. 5) #24, Civil War: War Crimes #1, Civil War: Front Line #9, Iron Man (vol. 4) #14, Fantastic Four #541, Black Panther (vol. 4) #23, Punisher: War Journal (vol. 2) #2
Civil War #6, Civil War: Front Line #10, Amazing Spider-Man #537, Fantastic Four #542, Civil War: The Return #1, Punisher: War Journal (vol. 2) #3, Black Panther (vol. 4) #24
Civil War #7, Amazing Spider-Man #538, Civil War: Front Line #11, Black Panther (vol. 4) #25, Civil War: The Initiative #1, Iron Man: Director of SHIELD #15, Mighty Avengers #1, Captain America (vol. 5) #25, Civil War: The Confession #1, Fallen Son: The Death of Captain America #1, 2, 3, 4, 5, Fantastic Four #543-544, Avengers: The Initiative #1