Two sides were taken in 2016 and to this day those party lines continue to be drawn in debates. But if we take a step back from our current positions and look only at the facts, who really was right in Civil War? First, I think it’s really important to split Civil War into two parts: the Accords and Tony’s parents.

Starting with the Sokovia Accords, as the film does, let’s look into what they were all about. In summary, the Accords were created to control and regulate individuals with enhanced capabilities, roping in the Avengers. In a sense, the Accords forced all enhanced individuals or people associated with the Avengers and similar groups (Black Widow for example) to be registered in a database. Additionally, the Accords made the Avengers accountable to the UN and did not allow them to operate outside their home country. The ability to use technology to create an enhanced person is limited and making self-aware AI (Vision) was prohibited. To sum it up, the Avengers would have answered to the government and would have had no control over where they go. For instance, if there was an Avengers-level threat in India unless brought in by the Indian government, it would have had to have been ignored by the Avengers. Understanding this background, Tony and Steve took on two different points of view on where these accords could take the Avengers.

Tony felt guilt for his actions and the fallout from the creation of Ultron. He saw the Accords as something inevitable and that the Avengers needed to be held in check. On the other hand, Steve saw the Accords as taking away the ability to choose and saw danger in putting weapons such as the Avengers in the hands of the government. So we ask again: who was actually right? By looking at the facts, the Accords would have made the ability for the Avengers to stop intense threats difficult. While Tony has a point that they needed to be kept in check, there are other options in doing so rather than signing a document that takes the choice on how or when they are allowed to act away from the Avengers. It would make the Avengers criminals (which we saw play out) if they went against any of the rules, even if it was to help or save people.

However, when the storyline shifts to Tony’s parents, I will say that factually, Tony was not at all out of line for reacting the way he did. Taking Bucky himself out of the situation, Steve should have told Tony what he knew if he truly respected him and their friendship. Not to mention, Steve also worked closely with Howard, so it was in extremely ill taste to not tell Tony the truth. Bringing Bucky into it just to clear his name, Bucky didn’t kill Tony’s parents, the Winter Soldier did, but he is living with the consequences of those actions. Those consequences were made worse by Steve withholding information from Tony.

All in all, Steve and Tony technically tie, both being right about one of the parts of Civil War. If you’re Team Tony or Team Cap, you can walk away happy knowing both held solid points for their arguments and were correct in their own realms.

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