These are the Civil War issues and they’re pretty strong in comparison to the usual confusing melodrama across these pages. They also resolve the ongoing Squadron Sinister/Grandmaster storyline that is both confusing and annyoing. those issues (#107-109) don’t have the “Civil War” cover, but I’m including them so I can plow through all of this in one post.
The team members all agree to serve the government in a very special way: By recruiting villains to unmask, get amnesty, and serve their country.
Their ranks swell with all kinds of heroes. Big names and small alike. Doctor Octopus. Wrecker. Vermin. Ox. Even Tatterdemalion! And if that’s not enough, a bunch of useless villains are invented to also fill space between pages–but they’re never seen again so I’m ignoring them.
It’s also a chance for Zemo and Cap to face off (pun intended–see below) again, but this time on opposite sides, where Cap is the outlaw and Zemo the hero.
These issues also deal with some ongoing continuity points (because they’re written by Fabian Nicieza and we can’t just have a straight up rebrand of the team). They really don’t matter for the most part, except for the Songbird/Zemo soap opera. We’ve seen that Songbird is pretending to be in love with Zemo, biding her time before she kills him. (I know, I know. That makes no sense. Why be with him at all? Why not just kill him at the first opportunity? But there’s an explanation for that: The script is written by Fabian Nicieza, which means nobody has normal reactions to anything.)
Anyway, Zemo tells Songbird that he’s been hip to her deception all along, and plans to be a martyr to save the world from Grandmaster. Or something like that. The Grandmaster storyline across these issues does not make it better. It just adds layers of confusion.
During the fight, Zemo shoots Grandmaster in the head.
Don’t worry he’s not really dead. And Songbird betrays Zemo anyway and uses her voice to crack a hole in Zemo’s moonstone and exile him into some other kind of dimension or something. I really don’t care. And we’ll see him again in his own “Born Better” miniseries.
The big final battle also kills off the Squadron Sinister for good.
In the aftermath, Zemo is FINALLY out of this series. The team we knew breaks up. Fixer and Beetle continue to work for the government. Blizzard quits.
Erik Josten ends up in a coma (don’t ask). Etc. Etc.
Who’s left? Songbird, Moonstone, Swordsman (Andreas Strucker) and Radioactive Man. Songbird is the de facto leader of this small team. It’s the first time the Thunderbolts haven’t had sinister forces leading and misleading them behind the scenes. It’s her team now, and thus issue #110 will be a chance for a reboot. Warren Ellis and Mike Deodato will take over and this will become a “must read” series for the first time in many years.