Secretory of State Thaddeus Ross visited the New Avengers Facility and explained to the Avengers that although they had saved the world many times, the governments of the world could not let them be an independent organization. He showed them the Sokovia Accords, a document that required the Avengers to operate under the overseeing of an United Nations panel. The Avengers and Tony Stark argued on whether they should sign the Accords or not. Stark highly supported it, since he felt guilty for creating Ultron and the damages it caused. On the other hand, Steve Rogers did not agree with the Accords, claiming that the panel would send them where they would not think they should go, or would not send them where they should go. Eventually, only Stark, Natasha Romanoff, James Rhodes and Vision agreed to signed the Accords.
In Vienna, the United Nations convened to approve the Sokovia Accords. However, during the conference, a bomb was set outside the Vienna International Centre building, killing the king of Wakanda. The authorities suspected Bucky Barnes to be responsible for it. Steve Rogers, knowing it was an illegal action, defended his longtime friend from the Joint Counter Terrorist Centre and T'Challa, prince of Wakanda, who tried to kill Barnes in order to avenge his father's death. This ended up with Rogers' arrest by War Machine, along with Barnes, Sam Wilson and T'Challa.
The four were brought to the JCTC Building in Berlin, where Stark once again tried to convince Rogers to sign the Accords, but after he discovered that Wanda Maximoff was under house arrest by Vision under Stark's orders, he refused. As Barnes had a psychological test by a psychiatrist, a power outage occurred. Rogers suspected the psychiatrist had a part in it. Barnes managed to escape from his cell and Rogers, Wilson, Stark, Natasha Romanoff, Sharon Carter and T'Challa tried to stop him. After Rogers prevented him from escaping in a helicopter, he, Wilson and Barnes went underground. Thaddeus Ross gave Stark 36 hours to bring Rogers, Wilson and Barnes in. Knowing he could not do it alone, he recruited the teenage vigilante Peter Parker, while Romanoff recruited T'Challa.
Captain America's team came to Lepzig/Halle Airport, but Iron Man's team waited for them. They gave Captain America one last chance to surrender, but he refused. The scattered team of Captain America caused a dispersion in Iron Man's team, who tried to catch the Winter Soldier and prevent them from reaching the Quinjet. The two teams fought each other until Captain America and his team reunited and ran to the Quinjet, but Vision arrived and stopped them with his energy blast. The two teams then faced and charged at each other. During the fight, Ant-Man increased his body to a huge size to create a distraction for Captain America and the Winter Soldier to reach the Quinjet. Iron Man, War Machine, Vision and Spider-Man worked together to take him down. Once Captain America and the Winter Soldier reached the hangar, Black Widow waited for them. However, she betrayed her team and stunned Black Panther to help the two reach Zemo. As they flew away, Iron Man and War Machine pursed them with Falcon behind them. Stark asked Vision, who checked on Wanda Maximoff, to take Falcon down. Vision missed his blast and hit War Machine's Arc Reactor. He crashed to the ground but he survived. Rogers and Barnes managed to escape.
Steve Rogers' teammates were arrested after the battle in Lepzig/Halle Airport and were put in the Raft prison. Tony Stark told Natasha Romanoff that Thaddeus Ross knew she betrayed them, who made her run from the authorities. As Stark visited the prisoners, F.R.I.D.A.Y. informed him that the psychiatrist who had meant to interview Bucky Barnes, had been killed by Helmut Zemo. Additionally, Zemo also had a wig and facial prosthesis matching the appearance of Barnes. Stark entered the Raft and asked Sam Wilson where he could find Rogers. After he told him, Stark wore his armor and flew to the HYDRA Siberian Facility. Meanwhile, Rogers and Barnes arrived at the facility searching for Zemo. Stark also arrived and declared a ceasefire to find Zemo. They found the Winter Soldiers, all dead. Zemo revealed himself and explained that he wanted revenge on the Avengers for his loss of his family during the Battle of Sokovia. He showed them a video from 1991, in which Barnes, under HYDRA control, killed Stark parents. Stark demanded that Rogers would tell him if he had known that. After Rogers told him he had known, Stark tried to kill Barnes while Rogers tried to stop him, claiming it was not Barnes' fault. The three fought viciously. The fight eventually ended with Rogers taking Barnes with him and leaving his shield behind for Stark.
During the Battle of the HYDRA Siberian Facility, T'Challa, who had followed Tony Stark there, prevented Helmut Zemo from killing himself and had him arrested. After a few days, Stark helped James Rhodes, whose legs were paralyzed after the fall, with his rehabilitation in the New Avengers Facility. He received a letter from Steve Rogers, explaining that he was sorry for the recent events and he wished they could agree on the Sokovia Accords.
Leader:
Iron Man
Members:
War Machine
Black Widow
Vision
Temporary Members:
Black Panther
Spider-Man
Supporting Cast:
General Thaddeus "Thunderbolt" Ross
Everett Ross
