Okay. So Iâve been stiring on this for a while so I finally decided to take a really good look at whatâs actually happening.
Iâd like to start off by saying that Steve was pretty much a dick the entire film. I mean I get that he didnât want to sign the accords but the way he went about it was just so completely wrong. Thing is I completely agree with Tony because he had it right because he knew what was going on. I mean, out of the two of them who actually knows the politics of the 21st century and has worked these sorts of things for decades? Tony.
Tony knew, as soon as the Sokovia Accords were made that he had to sign on. It wasnât about guilt, although that was part of it. It was about the fact that if they didnât do it now, it would be much worse later and or done to them and he knew that. (He actually says this in the film.) He also knew that the only way to have ammendments was to prove he was willing to cooperate. As with any new law and itâs affected parties.
Tony knew they needed oversight. Everything has some sort of chain of command. Military. Police. Business. Etc. And Tony knew the value of having that chain.
Steve Rogers on the other hand, doesnât seem to understand the necessity. Need I remind you that he repeatedly went against that chain and was rewarded for it? Sure, he saved a bunch of people when he went to get Bucky, but thatâs not the point. He ignored the chain and there could have been dire consequences (as we see in the future after S.H.I.E.L.D fell)
Another thing. He went after Bucky. Only Bucky. Noone else. It was pure chance that he let those guys out first, but they were used as a distraction so he could get to his main goal. Bucky. We see time and time again that Steve gets tunnel vision when it comes to Bucky.
And in Civil War it escalates to the point where heâs injuring and getting innocent people killed for Bucky. Only Bucky. When it comes to Bucky, everyone and everything else is inconsequential and unimportant as long as Bucky is fine.
Steve did not read the Accords. Fact. He left for Peggyâs funeral while he was skimming. Even if he did read it all, there is no possible way (and Tony Stark would bet his fortune on it) that he understood all of it enough to make an informed opinion. Laws use a lot of big words. Big words that would have been invented in the 70 years Cap was gone. So no, Steve didnât actually know what the Accords were about.
He probably had no idea what the UN was either. Did you see his notebook in CAWS? Pop culture. 7 decades worth of world history? No, Moon landing, thatâs it. Politics? Nope. New laws or government organizations (like the UN)? Nada. I think itâs safe to say that Steve wasnât really caught up if pop culture is the sort of thing heâs catching up on.
Steve had made his mind up already. And he canât use the Bucky excuse because by then Bucky wasnât in the picture yet. Steve never gave a thought to the Accords and then Bucky fueled that fire and made him stubborn to a point beyond stupidity.
So, to sum up here. Tony knew that the Accords were going to happen no matter what and was willing to help make ammendments to suit everyone affected by the law. Steve went âFuck you, I know better that 117 countriesâ and got a lot of people hurt and or killed.
Hereâs another kicker. Tony convinced Steve to sign the Accords. He was literally about to and then Wanda was brought up, which is another thing.
Okay, a) why the fuck is she an Avenger? She was a HYDRA agent. A willing one, might I add. She and her brother volunteered to be experimented on and then work for them. She was the cause of Ultron.
She did mess with his head, and arguably, because it probably was, it was worse for him. He was alone. He didnât know she was there, then suddenly heâs shown his worst fears mingled with a shit tonn of major PTSD triggers. He probably didnât even know Wanda gave him the vision. He has PTSD, heâs probably used to attacks where he sees things.
I mean seriously, Tony has made AIâS before and none of them went bad. (DUM-E, U, JARVIS, then FRIDAY) They (Bruce & Tony) even say in AOU âWeâre not even close to an interface yetâ which means something jumped the mind stone to hijack the incomplete program.
Then youâve got to think, an AI is made, with incomplete programming and whatever the mind stone did, and then was instantly thrust into the Internet. No wonder he wanted to kill everything. Information overload much, then attempting to make something of it all.
She had(/has) an illogical and unreasonable hatred for Tony Stark. Sure, the bomb thing was probably traumatizing, but sheâs like ~23 now. Thatâs over a decade since it happened and youâve got to think, why didnât the bomb go off?
Stark weapons were brilliant. Top of the line never failing basically. So. Two bombs are dropped, and from the sounds of it, there was no explosion or if there was it was really small. Otherwise how could they be so close to her parents without dying too?
So, this leaves two possibilities. First, was the bomb actually Stark tech? Her home was war torn at the time. Iâm sure some sides would like to intimidate their enemies with the idea they have Stark weapons. OR, the bomb was never armed. Again, war torn country. Itâs entirely possible the plane carrying it was shot down.
So, unreasonable and illogical. If someone stabs you, who do you blame? The knife, the manufacturer/designer of the knife, or the person who stabbed you? The third one, obviously. So why was Tony Stark to blame? Weâve also got to remember Obadiah was dealing under the table.
b) She is NOT a kid, and I donât understand why pretty much everyone thinks she is. Sheâs ~23. She can drink. She can vote. She can drive. Sheâs killed people. She became HYDRA. In what way is she a child? The way I see it she hadnât been one in a very long time.
c) back to CW. Steve got all pissy because Tony kept Wanda in the compound (the lap of luxury need I remind you) for her own safety and the safety of those around her. It wasnât a matter of her starting a fight. If sheâd gone out and been attacked and defended herself, the situation would be made so much worse for her. Especially if someone got hurt or dead when she did so.
Now we get to the airport. Tony tries to talk. Steve is dismissive and unwilling to listen. Steve refuses to share vital information that would have helped the situation and the threat they had every reason to believe exists.
Steve starts the fight. His team doesnât hold back like Tonyâs does. They destroy a lot of property and nearly killed T'Challa and Spiderman several times. I mean, fuck you Steve, who just drops a huge heavy walkway create thing on someone who is obviously a teen? And then WALK AWAY while they struggle to hold it up. What if you had overestimated Spidermanâs strength? Congrats, you just killed a kid because once again you show no regard for anyone else besides Bucky.
He leaves his team. They probably knew even less about the situation than he did, because he knew fuck all about the Accords so I canât imagine the bullshit Scott and Clint were told.
Then fucking Natasha. Ffs, she could have easily either disabled/sabotaged the quinjet or delayed them from leaving. But she didnât. Then she has the nerve to tell Tony to watch his back after she betrayed him.
Also, Rhodey. Oh my god. Everyone gives Tony shit for point blank shooting Sam, but think about it. If Sam had taken the hit and turned into a glider, Rhodey would be fine. It doesnât completely make sense, but there was a long moment where Tony was watching Rhodey fall to his death. Sam was a quick way to lash out. He also didnât hit him that hard, just enough to knock him down.
Zoom ahead, Tony gets evidence that prove Bucky is innocent and admits he was wrong. (About what though Iâm not sure, because all he wanted to do was give Bucky mental help and a fair trial but whatever. Itâs not like Steve told him about the threat or anything. Because that would have been helpful.)
Clint makes a crack at Rhodeyâs condition which is such a dick move. Sam then tells Tony the information he should have been given from the beginning by Mr âI-Dont-like-my-team-keeping-things-from-meâ Rogers. Tony heads to Siberia as a friend.
Steve gets a little arrogant cause heâs got this attitude of âI knew I was right the whole time and Iâm glad youâve finally seen senseâ.
Then the video. This pissed me off the most I think.
Youâve just witnessed your parents brutally murdered by the person standing not 10 feet away from you. This reopens unprocessed greif and causes emotional backlash. Then you find out someone you thought of as a friend had known. Known for years. Since CAWS. And never said a thing in an environment where it would have been okay, instead of watching the murder and then being told someone close to you knew the whole time who had done it. (Again because it was Bucky. Bucky is more important than the world, remember?)
And his face. Itâs so broken and betrayed. (Iâd add a picture of Tumblr would let me) and he attacks, because who wouldnât?
And then Steve does the worst possible thing he could in that situation. Fight back. When someone is having an emotional breakdown like that, you hold them until they calm down and Steve was well within his power to do so. If heâd tried he probably could have talked Tony down.
Fighting more fighting. Steve starts disabling the suit. To you can no longer fly properly. Then he proceeds to continue to be violent and make it worse and acts like itâs not a justifiable or reasonable reaction for a human to have (especially one with PTSD and a past of horrible things happening when heâs betrayed by someone close to him)
They gang up on him. Then Bucky had him pinned and is trying to rip out the Arc Reactor. Once again, PTSD. Also, need I remind you that heâs only recently had it removed from his chest. That was the only thing keeping him alive for a long time. In the state of mind he was in, he wouldnât have remembered he no longer needed it to survive, hence blasting off his metal arm.
By this point he seems to have calmed down a bit and isnât actively going for the kill, heâs just defending himself at this point.
He tells Cap to stay down, because he doesnât want to fight him, and when heâs momentarily distracted Cap jumps on him and slams him to the ground. Tony barely does anything and then Steve is punching the faceplate. Then heâs smashing it with the sheild.
Thereâs this moment, you can kinda see it in the 3 secs of gif tumblr would let me use. Thereâs this moment where Steve is seriously considering decapitation. Tony sees this, is terrified and emotionally unbalanced and covers his face.
Steve slams the sheild into the reactor and leaves it there. Tony goes wide eyed with terror and letâs out a very not good sounding breath. Heâs looking at Cap with such fear because he saw what Steve was about to do. Saw him stab him in the back and literally break his heart. (Kept him alive for years, remember?)
There is so much fear and Steve looks at him with no regret for what he just did and twists the sheild out of Tonyâs chest and walks away.
When he drops it, his expression is like indulging a child in something stupid.
Then he leaves him there to die basically. Tony canât fly, the suit is dead. Canât contact anyone. The suit is dead. Noone knows where he is and T'Challa took Steve and Bucky with him when he left.
Steve Rogers beat Tony to a pulp after he witnessed something truly traumatizing and then left him to die in the middle of nowhere in an old HYDRA base.
They act like it was Tonyâs fault for the Raft as well. I mean, theyâre powered and dangerous and also criminals. The Raft was a bit much though, Iâll admit. But Tony didnât put them there. He brought them in because he was following the law like everyone else on the planet should. Because he didnât think himself above the law the Steve did. (Aka flipping the bird at 117 countries whose people say theyâre scared and what someone to oversee the Avengers) and the jacket and collar on Wanda was unethical. I think the collar on its own would have been fine but wearing a straitjacket for too long is really bad for your health.
And then just to put the icing on the cake. The letter. The damn fucking letter. Itâs mocking. Itâs arrogant. Not once is there an apology or true regret. Other than regretting that theyâre now criminals who hurt so many people that is. But mostly just the fact they have to hide when 'they did nothing wrongâ. No remorse for anything. Not for Tony, defiantly not. That would be decent. Not for anyone else either.
âI know I hurt youâ. Thatâs not an apology. There was no mention of the destruction he left behind in his quest for saving a single man, who has killed people. A lot of people. By choice or not, it was still his body. His life was not worth the loss of so many innocent lives. There was no acknowledgement of how deeply you hurt Tony. How much you damaged him.
Steve basically says. âI forgive you for being wrong and because Iâm such a nice and just person when you see Iâm right Iâll be here for you and all will be forgiven. Because weâre still friends/family. Even if you fucked up.â
Argh. Angry ranting at 2am. Iâve probably missed points I wanted to make but my wrists are cramping and Iâm tired.
I just⊠I used to like Steve, but Tony a little more because he always seemed more relatable to me. (And had a more interesting backstory.) And then this movie just made me hate Cap so much. He was such a dick in it and it annoys me that the movie was obviously trying to get you to side with him. Feel free to add anything to this.
