GANG WAR: What’s Happening In Marvel’s Street Level Crossover Event (So Far)

Warning: Spoilers for Marvel’s Gang War event!Marvel’s ongoing Gang War eventhas featured so many heroes and crime families fighting in the streets, it’s hard to keep track of who’s on what side, especially when Marvel heroes start fighting each other. New villains and new heroes have emerged, and some distant relatives have been called back to New York. Read on below for a guide to who’s who, what’s happening where, and who’s already fallen in this massive Marvel event.

The Gang War has been simmering since The Amazing Spider-Man #31 by Zeb Wells, John Romita Jr., Emilio Laiso and Ze Carlos. At the wedding of Robbie Robertson and Janice Lincoln, an assassin takes out mafia heavy Tombstone, and Hammerhead kills Madame Masque, creating a huge power vacuum in the underworld.

Not everything is as it seems, however, and the storyline has, so far, contained double-crosses, stabs in the back, and big moves that no one saw coming, creating a great deal of chaos. Spider-Man and Luke Cage have each formed hero teams to fight the threats, but they may not be enough.

Some Of The Gang War’s Early Players Have Already Lost

Z-Listers & Big Names Have Both Fallen

Some groups have already been taken off the board at this point in the Gang War. Low-level villains Frost Pharaoh and Bumbler fight each other for bigger pieces of Brooklyn, and are immediately defeated by Miles Morales’ Spider-Man, Colleen Wing, and Misty Knight. The similarly-named Ringmaster and Crime-Master see their Upper East Side showdown interrupted by Peter Parker, Spider-Woman, and Daredevil, and are carted off to jail by Luke Cage. “Big Ben” Donovan, a super-strong crime family leader in the Bronx, has his turf conquered by the Menagerie, a human-animal hybrid gang led by White Rabbit.

Wilson Fisk’s son, the Rose, is knocked out of the game by his own father. As Fisk tells the unlikely duo of Spider-Man and Tombstone in Amazing Spider-Man #42 by Zeb Wells and John Romita Jr., “I have a new life now. A wife. Sons. These wars…you have to be willing to give up everything. I no longer am.” Black Mariah tries to move in on Tombstone’s territory in Harlem while he is in the hospital, not expecting his daughter, Beetle, to be a real threat to her. Beetle convinces Mariah to back down and cede her land with a small flight and a great fall.

The biggest loser may be Hammerhead: he controls Queens and a portion of Manhattan at the start of Gang War, and thinks he’ll be on top of the Maggia family after killing Madame Masque. He doesn’t see the biggest surprise of Gang War coming, namely the revelation that Madame Masque faked her death, and got close to Hammerhead in disguise. After knocking him out, she moves on to take out her father, Count Nefaria, and Silvermane, a leader in the Maggia. The three are last seen in Daredevil: Gang War #3 by Erica Schultz and Sergio Davila, chained up in a prison cell together.

An MCU Hero’s Heel Turn Has Kept Him Safe So Far…

Shang-Chi is Targeted From All Sides

Lower Manhattan’s lines have remained largely unchanged, with a few exceptions. When Beetle chases the now Hydra-affiliated Diamondback out of Harlem, he takes over Madame Masque’s former downtown territory, still believing she is dead and that her land is up for grabs. Mr. Negative and his Inner Demons group have defended much of his space from some of Marvel’s most fan-favorite teams, and no one’s been able to take a bite out of vampire Lady Yulan’s turf. However, those three organizations are currently focusing their attention on an area they surround: the Five Weapons Society’s Chinatown, and its leader, Shang-Chi.

Shang-Chi himself has been trying to play both sides, assuring the heroes that he’s reforming his father’s criminal organization, while breaking bread with the other crime families. He’s also currently without the Mandarin’s Ten Rings. In the Deadly Hands of Kung Fu: Gang War by Greg Pak and Caio Majado, he’s been echoing a lesson his father taught him – success in war depends upon deception. However, this means he cannot let either friend or foe know what side he considers them to be on. It might keep some of the crime families guessing, but it’s also bringing the Avengers straight to him, ready for a fight.

The Heavy Hitters Are Preparing For A Final Showdown

Madame Masque vs. Beetle

The leaders to watch are Beetle and Madame Masque. Masque had Tombstone shot while faking her death, kicking off the chaos. She’s been pulling the strings since before that fateful wedding – after finding out that her father hired an assassin to kill her. Her “death” has allowed her to make moves from the shadows, taking over the Maggia and making massive land grabs in the city. She’s also assembled the girl squad from Hell: Masque is financing tech wizard Rabble, providing weapons to all the factions, and she hired Wolverine clone Bellona to sow even more chaos in the city.

Beetle has been making her own unexpected moves. After her father is shot at her interrupted wedding, Janice’s fiancé, Robbie Robertson, is also shot and wounded. Between her grief and a desire to prove herself, Beetle has fiercely protected and expanded Tombstone’s territory. Her alliance with White Rabbit means the Menagerie’s turf is functionally hers, too. Beetle’s smart, but Masque has been five steps ahead the entire time. Whoever wins their showdown will control New York. The event continues until March, so readers have to keep up to find out which of the major factions will win Marvel’s Gang War.