Marvel's Civil War Reading Order / Suggestions

How do I save this video for like... ever?

@MileHighRonin

In the CW show Supernatural, we are asked to suspend our disbelief at the uselessness of most policing authorities. From ignoring basic fingerprint technology to a preponderance of Keystone-esque cops to the constant impersonation of FBI agents, we are willful participants in acceptance of these clear oversights. This allows the writers to tell some incredibly plotted stories without the omnipresent intrusion of the local authorities getting in the way. So very many of their adventures would be episode upon episode of the two of them hanging out in some jail cell for obstruction, tampering, impersonation, or worse . . . murder.

Suspension of disbelief.

In Civil War, Marvel opened a Pandora's box and reengineered the mutant persecution plight from the perfectly suited X-Men "universe," and twisted it into a societal cry for accountability. No longer were gifted, enhanced, mutated do-gooders allowed to save people without governmental approval. YES, this is realistic. In fact, in the real world, the government (all governments) would NEVER stop until each and every person with a special ability was caged and firmly under thumb, for use by them and ONLY by them.
Going forward, how are we to believe that SHEILD won't descend on Spider Gwen after a battle with whatever Green Goblin version they settle on destroys a building? How fast should the government respond and incarcerate Hyperion and Thundra after they emerge victorious in the ruins of some sports stadium?
My point is that Marvel has introduced us to a U.S. government (through SHIELD) that is more interested in corralling the good guys than in going after the bad guys. Why would that ever change? No government would EVER stop trying to direct and control people like that.

We had our suspension of disbelief before. That suspension of disbelief allowed us to ignore the normal rules of law in favor of a good story. It's why we almost NEVER see superheroes testify in court. Because they don't. They'd have to remove their mask and then it'd be all over. I mean come on, the police receive three jewel-bag-holding-thugs, trussed up in webbing, hanging from a street lamp with a note attached saying, "Your welcome! Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man!" That is soooo cool. But REALISTICALLY their lawyer would have them out in under an hour. "Your honor . . . CLEARLY Spider-Man planted the jewels on these poor unfortunate youths."

Suspension of disbelief.

You are dead on when you suggest what Civil War SHOULD have been about. Comic readers had long accepted the notion that it was okay for the mutants to be feared and all other super powered beings to be welcomed like the Fantastic Four. It's ridiculous, but you can make AN argument that the whole evolutionary aspect really unnerves people. Suspension of disbelief again.

It SHOULD have been about that. But it wasn't.

By the way it'll make PERFECT sense in the movie universe as everyone is attached to SHIELD anyway.

@CorndogBurglar
Okay, I see the valid points you raise.
So this was a firmly held belief that Stark (and others), and SHIELD (and therefore, the US Government) had about superpowers running around untrained, unregistered, and without direction. This was not a passing fad of an idea. So the government and Stark have set a new policy - one that they are willing to battle for physically - that from here on out, all superpowers must check in, sign up, reveal your secret identity, and submit to a "handler" (for lack of a better word). They did not come to this conclusion easily.
So going forward (cause I accept the idea of grandfathering in the older heroes), all heroes must respect this new policy.
Every origin story must include the part where SHIELD (or some other closely related organization) approaches them in the field and "invites" them to "join-up" in the next 48 hours.
I mean, people fought a war for this belief. You can't just move on to the next issue, the story arc where the government is suddenly okay with masked vigilantes, can you? All those very realistic concerns you raised will NEVER go away, yes? The government and Tony believe that new, inexperienced, untrained heroes will actually do more damage than good. That concept can't change (if they actually believed it). So why is Kamala Khan (among many others) allowed to roam free as a vigilante, putting lives in danger?

My point is that you're right, it IS a valid concept to deal with. HOWEVER, it shouldn't be dealt with in such a huge, company defining, governmental-line-in-the-sand kind of way. Sure, has Captain America come across super powered beings who HE thought were doing more harm than good? Yes. But he's also taken some under his wing, as it were. He's also met them, fought along side them, and when the case was finished, sent them on their way with a compliment of some sort. He reacted to each on it's own merits. A case by case methodology. Did he (or ANY superhero for that matter) routinely, as a matter of self defined policy, scoop up new, freshly minted persons-of-power to make sure they were doing it right and safely? With the notable exception of the X-Men who LIVE for just that exercise, the answer is no.
Unless the fictional government that chooses to go to war over the issue, is going to change the face of fictional-America by creating a HUGE Department of Super Powers bureaucracy as part of the 616 universe, where ALL super powered being now work for Uncle Sam, I think it was a mistake. It's a breaks in to our suspension of disbelief.
It'd be like Spider-Man, after rescuing Aunt May, saying something to her like, "Please be careful, Miss Daisy. I can't do all your driving!" And then Aunt May looks at him, noticing his body type, the way he moves, and the sound of his voice – says, "Peter? Peter, what are you doing?" Because REALISTICALLY just because you put on a costume and mask, doesn't mean your family and friends won't recognize you instantly. But we chose to suspend our disbelief, we willingly suspend our common sense about just how easy it is to recognize people you know in costume . . . in order to enjoy the story.
Of course the government would want to control all super powered individuals.
Of course secret identities are implausible.
But they can't – long term – sustain a fictional universe where those two walls have been broken.
Right now it's very cool (and this is supported by the movies) to NOT have a "secret identity." It's A LOT harder and takes A LOT more imagination to construct a story that includes a hero who has to deal with his civilian life and how he maintains his anonymity. But anyone who has read Spider-Man knows that when a villain finds out his secret identity, usually within five pages, Aunt May or someone else from Peter's life has been tied to a chair with a bomb in their lap. Tik, tik, tik. This is THE ENTIRE ARGUMENT for maintaining a secret identity, which the comics are completely ignoring. Even Avengers 2 noted that the guy with a family keeps them hidden away (Hawkeye).

It would seem that the writers/editors at Marvel are practicing their own brand of suspension of disbelief - villains would be so dishonorable as to attack a heroes family.