Being both patient and cheap, I didn’t read Civil War until it was published as a collection. Perusing it last week, I note that, before hostilities break out,
Reed Richards tells Dr. Strange that he (Strange) is likely to be among several persons giving a “Post-Human” exemption to the Super-Human Registration Act.
That makes sense, of course. I can’t imagine a successful SHIELD raid on the
Sanctum Sanctorum. Hell, I can’t even imagine Strange giving any more notice to a squad of cape killers than he would a caterwauling alley cat.
But Richards said “One of several”–which raises the question of who ELSE got an exemption?
Sheer power wise, I imagine the Silver Surfer would, but why bother? He doesn’t live on Earth in the first place. Thor, likewise, would likely elicit a “I think we’re gonna need a bigger boat” reaction if anyone suggested bringing him in, but being currently thought dead would not be an issue.
The Eternals appear to have gotten an exemption. Mutants were exempted. I’m curious how visitors, like the Inhumans, are treated. Registration includes mandatory training and the ability for SHIELD to call upon the super as needed. As non-residents of Earth, how would they manage them?
When Stark approached Ares about registration, he detailed what he would do should Ares refuse to cooperate. He has plans in place for rogue gods, but hasn’t yet been able to use it against Hercules.
Hulk is coming back, but doesn’t he have a public identity? That’s another “I think we’re gonna need a bigger boat” one.
Just those resident in the States, I assume. I mean, it’s a US act and has no meaning in Olympia (or whatever Eternal-ville is called).
Pretty much the only Inhumans who come to earth are members of the royal family, who, I assume, would have diplomatic immunity, like T’Challa and Dr. Doom. And Black Bolt is another “bigger boat” guy, as battles in his presence tend to include the order “Hey, everybody make sure not to even remotely annoy the guy with the antenna. And you don’t want to know why.”
Care to spoil the godly contingency plan for me? I hadn’t heard about that.
Mutants aren’t exactly exempted from registration - it’s just that all mutants are already required to register. (or, if current canon is to be believed, all mutants are registered, and no more new mutants are being born, so… ) The members of X-Factor Investigations were registered, on-panel, in fact.
Exemptions are likely to be caused by one of two conditions :
1.) Jurisdictional issues. Black Panther, as noted, has diplomatic immunity. This didn’t stop them from trying to register Storm, however. The Silver Surfer - not a native of the planet, nor is he a U.S.Citizen. Technically, they could bust him for violating U.S. Airspace when he comes to visit, but … that wouldn’t go over well.
2.) Legal Grey Areas. Dr. Strange wields magic - it’s doubtful that the legal definition of superhuman powers is clear on the subject of magic. Can’t anyone do what Doc does, with proper training? Iron Fist/Danny Rand alluded to this as a reason for his failure to register, in last month’s New Avengers - the legal definition of ‘power’ is vague.
Other notes : Doc Strange has a position of Sorcerer Supreme of the Earth Dimension. While the US Govt. is unlikely to officially recognize his authority, Iron Man and associates are smart enough to know that assuming that Dr. Strange doesn’t want to register, and assuming they could apply force to arrest him for failure to register, the consequences would be dire indeed.
Other other notes : Howard the Duck, amusingly, is exempt, as the government refuses to acknowledge his existence.
It was in the first issue of Mighty Avengers,and hardly worthy of spoilers-spacing. He just planned to sic Wonder Man, Vision, Ms. Marvel, Sentry, She-Hulk, and himself on the War God.
Skald hit it. Iron Man said he figured it would take 4 Class A super powers to take down Ares, but just to be sure he would bring 9, and supporting personnel. I don’t recall him mentioning names, but he might have (and forgive me if my numbers are off, but the spirit is there).
I listed the mutants, because I don’t think they have the same training and ‘reserve’ hero requirements those under the SHRA do. I could be mistaken, as I don’t follow mutant books.
And my understanding with the mutants was that they were are registered by default, as virtually all of them were living at Xavier’s when the law took effect.
As alluded to, Nova recieved a huge power boost as a result of being the last living Nova Corps member. He is now the sole possesor of the Nova power. Every last bit of it. He’s now right up there with the cosmic heavyweights.
In his new series, his registration has yet to be determined as he just returned to Earth. I don’t know of anyone that has the power to make him should he decide against registering.
As far as I can tell, they’re registering anyone that they’re able to. It’s less a matter of types of power or area of supervision, but just whether they’d have too much trouble bringing them in.
I liked his (well, his lawyer’s) response. Iron Man has recorded Danny acting as Iron Fist? Well, fine, bring him to court… they look forward to Tony handing over his suit as evidence.
I take that as sloppy writing rather than a gray area. The registration act was poorly defined and used to justify anything and as a result it doesn’t mean anything. Is it anti-vigilante? Anti-costumed vigilante? Anti-superhuman? Just registration? A draft? Justification for deporting US citizens?
The answer is yes and no to all of these depending on what was needed for a given scene. No one thought through the full cultural and legal implications of different aspects of the superhero registration act regardless of how its defined and the whole thing is just a mess.
