5th Column Controversy

This article contains information that no longer applies to the current version of City of Heroes/Villains. It is provided for historical purposes.

Overview

The Issue 3 war between the 5th Column and the Council is a source of much controversy. Some believe the 5th were replaced by the Council to enable sales of the game in Europe; others say the timing of their removal was mere coincidence. Both sides of the issue have evidence to support them.

As of Issue 11, the 5th Column have been slowly worked back into the game in a manner that closely resembles much of their previous set up, but with all new story content. In Issue 16, the 5th Column returned in force, with Council agents in places like Steel Canyon being attacked and defeated by 5th Columnists. For more information about both factions involved, please see the respective factions' background sections.

'European Law' Argument

• Issue 3 was put out right around when the game was released in Europe.
• The 5th Column enemy group was not simply replaced by the Council, they were utterly expunged from the game's history. Plaques and dialogue were changed to read as if the 5th never existed.
• All alternate universe scenarios that involved the 5th Column or Nazis in general were altered to be the Council Empire. Most cases of this involved a world where Germany won World War 2 and conquered the world. After the change, the Council won World War 2 and conquered the world. The special faction found on these missions were unique to the game and the tie in with the 5th was through their similar origins from World War 2.
• After much protests, the Developers promised that the 5th column would return, but as Italian fascists, not German.

'Mere Coincidence' Argument

• There are plenty of other video games featuring Nazis that have been released in Europe.
• German law only prohibits Nazi symbolism when portrayed in a positive light, that is, used as propaganda for the actual Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei.
• The 5th Column emblem looks nothing like conventional Nazi imagery.
• The developers have explicitly denied that the 5th were removed because of European laws.
• The 5th Column appear in a number of missions introduced in Issue 11 and Issue 12.
• The 5th Column appear in the Task Force and Strike Force from Issue 15, in the present - not the "past" (Cimerora).
• All 5th Column re-appearances have been the original 5th Column, not Italian fascists.
• The two countries with the strictest laws are also non-English speaking ones, so the game would be translated anyway and the new versions wouldn't have had to have any references without altering the American and British copies of the game.