Civil War

Captian America
fighting Iron Man

Recently, during a televised raid of a house containing select villains that had recently escaped from the super villain facility at Ryker's Island prison, the villain Nitro detonated himself and the resulting explosion killed the majority of the New Warriors, as well as the children at a nearby elementary school and the residents of the surrounding neighborhood. In the wake of the tragedy, Capitol Hill proposed the Superhuman Registration Act, a government movement to register all super-powered beings as living weapons of mass destruction, requiring all costumed heroes to unmask themselves before the government and subject themselves to federally mandated standards. This event triggered negative public opinion against the super heroes, in which sole blame from the public was placed. The international organization S.H.I.E.L.D. quickly propositioned Captain America to lead a squad of "cape killer" soldiers, trained to fight super-powered humans. He refused, and after being attacked by S.H.I.E.L.D.'s Anti-Superhuman Response Unit, went underground. Iron Man, however, was in full support of the act. After numerous skirmishes and a full out super hero battle in downtown New York, Iron Man emerged victorious; however his former ally Goliath (Bill Foster) had perished combating Iron Man's forces, and Captain America was assassinated on the steps of the courthouse after surrendering. In the wake of the war, Stark was offered the position as Director of S.H.I.E.L.D., and has accepted.