While best known today for inspiring a 2016 MCU movie, 2006’s Civil War was incredibly controversial upon release. The chief reason for this was many characters being written incredibly out-of-character. However, a new Marvel miniseries offers a retcon which explains the actions of two heroes.

Written by Christos Gage, with art by Edgar Salazar, Civil War: Unmasked #1 is set within the events of 2006’s Civil War #3. The issue opens with a conversation between Tony Stark and Emma Frost. However, the general tone of the conversation differs from the original story.

(Image Source: Marvel / Steve McNiven)

In the original comic, Iron Man, representing the American government, seeks assurances that the X-Men will not join the Resistance established by Captain America. White Queen confirms they have no plans to fight the American government, but neither will they fight for them. Despite this, the X-Men’s Bishop approaches Stark about joining the Pro-Registration team as an individual.

This scene in Civil War #3 was criticized by many Marvel Comics readers. They could not believe that the X-Men would remain neutral on the subject of the government registering people with superpowers. It was particularly unbelievable that Bishop, who was born in an alternate future where the Sentinels enslaved Human and Mutant alike, would ever work for the Pro-Registration team. And many couldn’t believe Tony Stark, given his own issues with the American government abusing his technology, would ever become a government shill. However, the retcon in Civil War: Unmasked #1 explains these incongruities.

Why X-Men’s Bishop joined the Pro-Registration side

(Image Source: Marvel / Edgar Salazar)

The retconned story has Emma Frost referencing the then-recent events of House of M. That storyline saw the number of Mutants on Earth reduced to 198. This retroactively offers a better explanation for why the X-Men as a whole did not concern themselves with the events of Civil War. They were more focused on the more immediate issue of the Mutant species’ survival.

As for why Bishop asked to join the Pro-Registration side, he saw it as the least of all evils. When Tony Stark questioned why Bishop would help him, Bishop explained that there was no Registration Act in his future. His timeline, as seen in X-Men: Days of Future Past, came about because of an American government initiative called Project Wideawake. Given that, Bishop reasoned the best chance of averting that future was to ensure the Registration Act worked.

(Image Source: Marvel / Edgar Salazar)

Knowing that Stark was a “seeing is believing” sort of man, Bishop agreed to guide him into his future. This gave Tony a chance to see first-hand how bad things might be. When he and Bishop barely survived an encounter with a Nimrod-class Sentinel, Iron Man’s course was set.

Why Stark pushed for Registration Act in Civil War

Upon returning to his own time, Stark questions the President regarding Project Wideawake. The President refuses to discuss it with a civilian. However, he does tell Tony that he should do everything he can to get the superhero community to support the Registration Act if he is that concerned about Project Wideawake.

(Image Source: Marvel / Edgar Salazar)

This retcon offers a softer angle on Tony Stark’s characterization in the original Civil War comics. Rather than being a dyed-in-the-wool supporter of government intervention, Tony is trying to avert the worst-case-scenario he saw for himself. This is a marked improvement, which also invites comparison to how the MCU made Tony’s fears of a superhero civil war in Captain America: Civil War more reasonable.

Civil War: Unmasked #1 is now available at comic shops everywhere.

Originally written by Matt Morrison at SuperHeroHype