Fantastic Four #539
Decisions Made
Cee, leader of the Yancy Street Gang, and his man Mouse have come to the secret location of Captain America's anti-registration group. They have come to provide Captain America with information regarding the transport of arrested heroes that will be passing through New York later that day. However, they are unaware that this information was secretly provided by the Mad Thinker and the Puppet Master. The two villains are constructing a massive replica of the prison transport in order to manipulate events so that pro and anti-registration sides clash in the streets so they can eliminate as many heroes as possible in one swoop. While they are setting up, the two long time allies talk about the virtues of anger management and the Mad Thinker recommends the Puppet Master to his therapist. With a massive clay mock-up of Yancy Street and the transport, the Puppet Master will manipulate events from afar thanks to a Cerebral Enhancement System that the Thinker has constructed. As both sides being to mobilize, the Mad Thinker and the Puppet Master prepare to unleash their scheme.
Meanwhile, the Thing is in the area at the local deli having lunch and expressing his concerns to the owner about what sort of trouble the Yancy Street Gang could be getting themselves into. He learns that there is a scheduled protest during the prisoner transfer and the Thing realizes there could be dangerous trouble and rushes out to stop the gang. At that very moment, Spider-Man's spider-sense goes off and he warns the other pro-registration heroes that there is trouble coming from below them. The wall-crawler is correct, as Captain America and his forces are making their way to the location.
Blocked by protesters, the prison transport is forced to take an alternate route down Yancy Street. The moment they do, the members of the Yancy Street Gang begin pelting the heroes with bricks and other projectiles. Realizing that Spider-Man is somehow detecting his influence, the Puppet Master is ordered to command one of the SHIELD agents in a helicopter to fire his missiles. Suddenly, the soldiers start attacking Iron Man and his forces. Spotting the Thing, Iron Man calls out to him and asks for his help. It's at that moment that Captain America and his forces launch their attack as well, with Luke Cage asking Ben to join their side.
It's at this moment that the Puppet Master takes control of Mouse and orders him to set a bomb. When Cee spots this, he tackles his friend sending the bomb landing on the ground. When the battling heroes notice the bomb, the Thing quickly uses one of the now-empty prisoner transports to try and contain the blast. While mostly everyone is safe, Cee is struck by some shrapnel and killed. With the heroes about to renew their battle, the Thing gets between them and shows them Cee's dead body. He tells them that this is the result of their senseless conflict, the death of innocent people. When both Iron Man and Captain America plead to the Thing to join their respective sides, Ben flat out refuses and tells them that he is leaving the country until the civil war is over.
Recurring Characters
Thing, Yancy Street Gang, Secret Avengers (Captain America, Luke Cage, “Daredevil”, Cloak, Dagger), Iron Man, Spider-Man, Ms. Marvel, She-Hulk, “Yellowjacket”, Wasp, Tigra, Mad Thinker, Puppet Master
Continuity Notes
This story follows the events of Civil War #4 wherein Sue leaves Reed following the death of Goliath during a battle between pro and anti-registration forces.
The Puppet Master recalls his first encounter with the Fantastic Four, which took place in Fantastic Four #8.
Mention is made about how frequently the Mad Thinker and the Puppet Master have worked together. They first teamed up together in Fantastic Four #18.
The battle on Yancy Street is expanded upon in both Amazing Spider-Man #534 and the second story in Civil War: Choosing Sides #1.
There are two impostors in this battle:
The man posing is Daredevil is actually Danny Rand, aka Iron Fist, who is posing as Daredevil so that Matt Murdock can tackle registration from the legal side of things. This is seen in Civil War: Choosing Sides #1.
The being posing as Yellowjacket is actually a Skrull spy named Citri Noll, as revealed in Secret Invasion #1.
