UNITED HEROES COMPOUND
The Secretary of State, Thaddeus Ross, is standing at the head of a table. Rhodey, Natasha, Steve, Tony, Sam, Vision, Batman, Superman, Tails and Sonic are gathered around.]
[The Secretary of State Thaddeus Ross has summoned the United Heroes to a meeting]
Secretary Ross: Five years ago, I had a heart attack. I dropped right in the middle of my back-swing. Turned out it was the best round of my life, because after 13 hours of surgery and a triple bypass . . . I found something 40 years in the Army had never taught me: Perspective. The world owes the United Heroes an un-payable debt. You have fought for us, protected us, risked your lives . . . but while a great many people see you as heroes, there are some . . . who would prefer the word "vigilantes".
Natasha Romanoff: And what word would you use, Mr. Secretary?
Secretary Ross: How about "dangerous"? What would you call a group of US-based, enhanced individuals who routinely ignore sovereign borders and inflict their will wherever they choose and who, frankly, seem unconcerned about what they leave behind?
[Ross activates a screen behind him. News footage from past Avengers and SHIELD matters flash on the screen as he speaks.]
Secretary Ross: New York.
[A Chitauri leviathan. Terrified citizens. A soldier firing a gun. The Hulk smashes into a building and sends a dust cloud to engulf the camera.]
[Rhodey looks regretful. He glances behind him at Natasha.]
Secretary Ross: Washington DC.
[The three Insight helicarriers, firing on each other. The destroyed Triskelion. A helicarrier crashing into the Potomac and throwing up a massive wave, engulfing citizens and the camera.]
[Sam looks down.]
Secretary Ross: Sokovia.
[Terrified citizens, running. The city rising. A building falling over.]
[Wanda stares at the screen, as does Tony.]
Secretary Ross: SAN Francisco
[The burning building. Paramedics moving a body. A dead girl.]
[Sonic is particularly affected by the footage from San Francisco. Steve sees this and intervenes.]
Steve Rogers: Okay. That's enough.
[Secretary Ross nods to an aide and the images disappear.]
Secretary Ross: For the past year, you've operated with unlimited power and no supervision. That's an arrangement the governments of the world can no longer tolerate. But I think we have a solution. [he places a thick document on the desk and passes it to Sonic]
[An aide hands him a thick book, which Ross slides across the table to Sonic. He picks it up, then slides it to Rhodey.]
Secretary Ross: The Sokovia Accords. Approved by 117 countries . . . it states that the United Heroes shall no longer be a private organization. Instead, they'll operate under the supervision of a United Nations panel, only when and if that panel deems it necessary.
Steve Rogers: The United Heroes were formed to make the world a safer place. I feel we've done that.
Secretary Ross: Tell me, Captain, do you know where Thor and Banner are right now?
[Steve looks up and meets Ross's eyes.]
Secretary Ross: If I misplaced a couple of 30 megaton nukes . . . you can bet there'd be consequences. Compromise. Reassurance. That's how the world works. Believe me, this is the middle ground.
James Rhodes: So, there are contingencies.
Secretary Ross: Three days from now, the UN meets in Vienna to ratify the Accords.
[Steve glances at Tony.]
Secretary Ross: Talk it over.
Natasha Romanoff: And if we come to a decision you don't like?
Secretary Ross: Then you retire.
[Natasha stifles a smile.]
[The Heroes are gathered at HQ. Steve is sitting, studying the Accords, while Rhodey and Sam argue behind him.]
James Rhodes: Secretary Ross has a Congressional Medal of Honor, which is one more than you have.
Sam Wilson: So let's say we agree to this thing. How long is it gonna be before they LoJack us like a bunch of common criminals?
James Rhodes: A 117 countries want to sign this. 117, Sam, and you're just like, "No, that's cool. We got it. "
Sam Wilson: How long are you going to play both sides?
Vision: I have an equation.
Sam Wilson: Oh, this will clear it up.
Vision: In the eight years since Mr. Stark announced himself as Iron Man, the number of known enhanced persons has grown exponentially. And during the same period, the number of potentially world-ending events has risen at a commensurate rate.
Steve Rogers: Are you saying it's our fault?
Vision: I'm saying there may be a causality. Our very strength invites challenge. Challenge incites conflict. And conflict . . . breeds catastrophe. Oversight . . . oversight is not an idea that can be dismissed out of hand.
James Rhodes: Boom.
[Tony is lying on the couch, one hand over his face. When Natasha speaks, he removes the hand to look at her.]
Natasha Romanoff: Tony. You are being uncharacteristically non-hyper-verbal.
Sonic: Yeah tin man, why are you so down?
Steve Rogers: It's because he's already made up his mind.
Tony Stark: Boy, you know me so well.
[He gets up and winces, rubbing the back of his head.]
Tony Stark: Actually, I'm nursing an electromagnetic headache.
[He walks to the kitchen and grabs a mug.]
Tony Stark: That's what's going on, Cap. It's just pain. It's discomfort. Who's putting coffee grounds in the disposal? Am I running a bed and breakfast for a biker gang?
[He puts his phone in a basket and taps phone projects an image of a smiling young man. He looks down, then back up, and pretends to notice the picture for the first time.]
Tony Stark: Oh, that's Charles Spencer, by the way. He's a great kid. Computer engineering degree, 3.6 GPA. Had a floor level gig at Intel planned for the fall. But first, he wanted to put a few miles on his soul, before he parked it behind a desk. See the world. Maybe be of service. Charlie didn't want to go to Vegas or Fort Lauderdale, which is what I would do. He didn't go to Paris or Amsterdam, which sounds fun. He decided to spend his summer building sustainable housing for the poor. Guess where, SAN Francisco.
[The others look affected by this .]
Tony Stark: He wanted to make a difference, I suppose. I mean, we won't know because we dropped a building on him while we were kicking ass. [He takes a pill with some coffee, then faces the others.]
Tony Stark: There's no decision-making process here. We need to be put in check! Whatever form that takes, I'm game. If we can't accept limitations, if we're boundary-less, we're no better than the bad guys.
Batman: Stark didn't you say at the hearing that we weren't a threat?
Tony Stark: Yes and I still think that. But we can secure this by agreeing to these documents.
Steve Rogers: Tony, someone dies on your watch, you don't give up.
Tony Stark: Who said we're giving up?
Steve Rogers: We are if we're not taking responsibility for our actions. This document just shifts the blames.
James Rhodes: I'm sorry. Steve. That - that is dangerously arrogant. This is the United Nations we're talking about. It's not the World Security Council, it's not SHIELD, it's not HYDRA.
Steve Rogers: No, but it's run by people with agendas, and agendas change.
Tony Stark: That's good. That's why I'm here. When I realized what my weapons were capable of in the wrong hands, I shut it down and stopped manufacturing.
Tails: Tony can I just ask, where did you get that picture of that boy from?
Tony Stark: Oh well after the hearing, the boy's mother came to me and slapped me in the face. I wish I could thank her. It gave me a wake up call. Which is why I'm signing.
Steve Rogers: Tony, you chose to do that. If we sign this, we surrender our right to choose. What if this panel sends us somewhere we don't think we should go? What if there is somewhere we need to go, and they don't let us? We may not be perfect, but the safest hands are still our own.
Tony Stark: If we don't do this now, it's gonna be done to us later. That's the fact. That won't be pretty.
Sonic: You're saying they'll come for us.
Vision: We would protect each other.
Natasha Romanoff: Maybe Tony's right.
[Tony looks at her, surprised.]
Natasha Romanoff: If we have one hand on the wheel, we can still steer. If we take it off -
Sam Wilson: Aren't you the same woman who told the government to kiss her ass a few years ago?
Natasha Romanoff: I'm just . . . I'm reading the terrain. We have made . . . some very public mistakes. We need to win their trust back.
Tony Stark: Focus up. I'm sorry, did I just mishear you or did you agree with me?
Natasha Romanoff: Oh, I want to take it back now.
Tony Stark: No, no, no. You can't retract it. Thank you. Unprecedented. Okay, case closed-I win.
[Steve's phone buzzes, and he pulls it out to check it. A text message reads: 'She's gone. In her sleep.']
Steve Rogers: I have to go.
[Steve gets up sharply, drops the Accords on the coffee table, and goes downstairs. He stops at the bottom of the stairs, leans against the banister, and bows his head.]
LONDON
[A cathedral, packed with mourners. A choir is singing. Steve is one of six pallbearers carrying a coffin draped with the Union Jack. His eyes are red-he's been crying.]
[At the altar, a candle burns by a framed photograph of Peggy Carter in a military uniform. The label reads "Margaret 'Peggy' Carter". The priest addresses the mourners.]
Priest: And now, I would like to invite Sharon Carter to come up and say a few words.
[Agent 13, Steve's "neighbor" from DC, steps up to the podium.]
[Steve sits beside Sam in a pew at the front. Steve is looking down and doesn't see Sharon walk up. Sam is watching, and nudges Steve. He looks up to see Sharon, who glances at Steve and takes a breath.]
Sharon Carter: Margaret Carter was known to most as a founder of SHIELD . . . but I just knew her as Aunt Peggy.
[Steve realizes who exactly Sharon is, and takes a surprised breath.]
Sharon Carter: She had a photograph in her office. Aunt Peggy standing next to JFK. As a kid, that was pretty cool. But it was a lot to live up to. Which is why I never told anyone we were related.
[She looks directly at Steve.]
Sharon Carter: I asked her once how she managed to master diplomacy and espionage in a time when no one wanted to see a woman succeed at either. And she said, compromise where you can. But where you can't, don't. Even if everyone is telling you that something wrong is something right. Even if the whole world is telling you to move . . . it is your duty to plant yourself like a tree, look them in they eye and say " No, you move."
[Later, Steve stands alone in the isle, still dressed in black. Natasha to him and he turns to her. He begins to speak without any introduction]
Steve Rogers: When I came out of the ice, I thought everyone I had known was gone. Then I found out that she was alive. I was just lucky to have her.
Natasha Romanoff: She had you back, too.
Steve Rogers: Who else signed?
Natasha Romanoff: Tony. Rhodey. Vision.
Steve Rogers: Clint?
Natasha Romanoff: Says he's retired.
[She smiles slightly.]
Steve Rogers: Wanda?
Natasha Romanoff: TBD (To Be Determined). I'm off to Vienna for the signing of the Accords. There's plenty of room on the jet.
[Steve sighs and bows his head.]
Natasha Romanoff: Just because it's the path of least resistance doesn't mean it's the wrong path. Staying together is more important than how we stay together.
[Natasha almost seems to be convincing herself.]
Steve Rogers: What are we giving up to do it?
[She sighs. He shakes his head, unconvinced.]
Steve Rogers: I'm sorry, Nat. I can't sign it.
Natasha Romanoff: I know.
Steve Rogers: Then what are you doing here?
Natasha Romanoff: I didn't want you to be alone.
[She pulls him in for a hug.]
Natasha Romanoff: Come here.
?
Meanwhile, at an unknown location, Monica and George were watching the heroes at the compound due to them hacking their security footage.
Monica: Phase 1 is complete.
George: As expected, they are divided.
Monica: The progress on the Adaptoids are running smoothly.
George: Excellent.
Monica looks at George and remembers something.
Monica: It's time for another dosage. This one is a new formula however, but it should make you heal faster.
George: Is it stable?
Monica: Almost.
She then injects the serum into his neck and purple electricity surrounds the area. George looks amazed.
George: I…. feel…. incredible.