Avengers: Age of Ultron Leak

[Gaidin]

Since Fury has a cameo, I'm more inclined for SHIELD to have been behind any Avengers contingency plans. Fury has trust issues so it makes sense from that standpoint. Plus, I can also see the Hydra element of SHIELD coming up with plans of their own in the lead up to Project Insight. The World Security Council and any number of other organizations were probably scrambling to have ways to deal with the Avengers. It might have been after what took place in The Avengers or it might have been after Captain America 2, especially if Project Insight was also intended to deal with the Avengers if they became a problem.

Well, I mean, it was literally SHIELD's job to have these contingency plans. As well as other agencies who liked to have them within their abilities. But SHIELDS job. The moment they dumped their database so many supers became not only identified, but vulnerable to whoever wanted to hit them. Just take Tony for example. All it takes is one middle eastern government or terrorist organization that was in Iron Man 1, a decision they can't let that action in the village from years ago stand even though they've never been able to figure out how to do it for the life of them. But oh! It's easy now. We might not, but let's dump the money on a good mercenary real quick.

[Civil War Man]

Wouldn't Hulk's identity have been in the big info-dump at the end of Captain America 2?

Now that I remember that the info-dump happened, probably. Touche.

Since Fury has a cameo, I'm more inclined for SHIELD to have been behind any Avengers contingency plans. Fury has trust issues so it makes sense from that standpoint. Plus, I can also see the Hydra element of SHIELD coming up with plans of their own in the lead up to Project Insight. The World Security Council and any number of other organizations were probably scrambling to have ways to deal with the Avengers. It might have been after what took place in The Avengers or it might have been after Captain America 2, especially if Project Insight was also intended to deal with the Avengers if they became a problem.

Insight was supposed to deal with the Avengers pre-emptively. When Sitwell is rattling off his random list of people targeted by Insight, he includes Captain America and Banner in his examples, and Tony Stark shows up in the targeting computer when the carriers are powering up.

Jasper Sitwell: Zola'a algorithm is a program for choosing Insight's targets.
Steve Rogers: What targets?
Jasper Sitwell: You! A TV anchor in Cairo, the Under Secretary of Defense, a high school valedictorian in Iowa City, Bruce Banner, Stephen Strange, anyone who's a threat to HYDRA. Now, or in the future.
Steve Rogers: In the future? How could it know?
Jasper Sitwell: How could it not? The 21st century is a digital book. Zola told HYDRA how to read it. Your bank records, medical histories, voting patterns, emails, phone calls, your damn SAT scores! Zola's algorithm evaluates people's past to predict their future.
Steve Rogers: And what then?
Jasper Sitwell: Oh, my God. Pierce is gonna kill me.
Steve Rogers: What then?
Jasper Sitwell: Then the Insight helicarriers scratch people off the list. A few million at a time.

Now, they might have trouble with some of them, since The Other Guy is going to take over if he gets any advance warning that Banner's in danger, and Insight might have trouble tracking Thor since he doesn't have a social security number and all, but the Avengers are definitely on the top of HYDRA's extensive list of people to take out. As Sitwell says, anyone who's a threat to HYDRA, now or in the future.

[Gaidin]

I know in context of MCU Hulk can save him from even suicide and there's no information beyond that. But out of context of MCU, has he ever been able to save him from a surprise attack in the comics he didn't know was coming if it were on the level of say, an Insight carrier focus firing on him and only him?

[Elheru Aran]

I know in context of MCU Hulk can save him from even suicide and there's no information beyond that. But out of context of MCU, has he ever been able to save him from a surprise attack in the comics he didn't know was coming if it were on the level of say, an Insight carrier focus firing on him and only him?

Variable. Trying to sneak up on Banner and catch him unaware is a fairly established tactic, though. So it's an open question. It should be noted that AFAIK Banner's never actually gotten his dumb ass killed by such a surprise attack-- injured perhaps, but once the Hulk shows up, it's all better.

[Ted C]

The traditional way of dealing with the Hulk (in the comics) used to be a gas attack. Those could get him even when transformed. As of The Incredible Hulk (movie), even that isn't very reliable.

[Civil War Man]

I know in context of MCU Hulk can save him from even suicide and there's no information beyond that. But out of context of MCU, has he ever been able to save him from a surprise attack in the comics he didn't know was coming if it were on the level of say, an Insight carrier focus firing on him and only him?

Depends. If he's not trying to hold back, he can go from Banner to Hulk in seconds, and as far as I can recall that only thing that even so much as broke Hulk's skin was one of Abomination's bone spurs, whereas bullets, missiles, shrapnel, or even falling from a helicarrier and hitting the ground at terminal velocity doesn't even so much as faze him. But, on the other hand, he was successfully hit with a tranquilizer as Banner (though, even then, that was after Sterns had temporarily suppressed the Hulk). So the effectiveness of Insight against him depends entirely on what they use against him. If Banner looks up and sees missiles coming in, or if the initial volley doesn't immediately kill or incapacitate him, Insight could fail to take him down.

[Havok]

Is that Tony's style in MCU? Really? Don't go pulling the comics into this. In the MCU Tony was suspecting SHIELD right away for their energy source research in Avengers because they didn't hire him and oh look! They've been researching weapons. Something he turned away from during his very first movie. After he hacked their systems. Truth of the matter is, Tony is a little to blase about these situations to try to set this Batman thing up as far as what we've seen. Even after Iron Man 3. And there's nothing past Iron Man 3 yet for him, for sheer detail. The whole House Party thing was PTSD for him. Now SHIELD/HYDRA? They're one big Batman agency by character. Even after their downfall. That much is downright obvious from the tv show alone. Don't go trying to invent a monster in the closet when there's already one in there in the given universe.

Does Tony disagree with SHIELD though? He OBVIOUSLY understands escalation and being prepared. He mocks MAD, but he is also arrogant enough to think that HE can make it work. And you completely IGNORE the fact that Tony has no issues with being outed and "registered". And if we are going to have discussions, you can't just ignore the comics because it is the source material.

Also Tony doesn't just suspect SHIELD, he has obviously already figured out what they are doing, he just needs actual confirmation, not because he, again, doesn't agree with them, but because he wants to know what he is being brought into and he knows Fury won't tell him everything. You can tell this by how he is leading Banner and Cap to the answer he has already arrived at.

[Havok]

Tony also doesn't see a problem with being open about his identity (something in the comics he originally kept secret for ages. Even from people like Reed Richards) in his MCU incarnation. Cap doesn't have a choice, but people like Hawkeye and Widow understand the value of secrecy, yet they are already "registered". The big problem is that there is no one in the MCU that really has a secret identity.

Banner is closest, in that his identity is, as far as we can tell, only known by the Avengers, the Rosses, Blonsky and Stern, and anyone in SHIELD, the military, or the government with a high enough security clearance. Hell, even after he busted up Harlem, it seems that relatively few people were even aware that the Hulk existed, much less knew his identity. That janitor sees a giant angry green guy fall from the sky and crash through the roof, and not only is his first thought "alien", but even when he finds out Banner's not an alien, the word "Hulk" never crosses his mind. Up until the battle in New York during the Avengers, the Hulk was apparently a Bigfoot-esque myth, with only rumors, blurry photos, shaky videos, and the occasional eyewitness claiming he was real. The news montage in the Avengers after the battle show that the Hulk is now publicly known, but his identity as Bruce Banner is probably still a closely guarded secret in order to prevent causing an incident.

That list is the only people that need to know your identity when you are "registered". It's not as if you register and then they put your secret identity on the nightly news. It's like a Recon or SEAL team.
Like I said, outside of Daredevil and Spider-Man there is no one that keeps their identity a secret from everyone that I can think of.

[Havok]

I know in context of MCU Hulk can save him from even suicide and there's no information beyond that. But out of context of MCU, has he ever been able to save him from a surprise attack in the comics he didn't know was coming if it were on the level of say, an Insight carrier focus firing on him and only him?

I've covered this before in more depth, but saving Banner from a bullet that Banner knows he is going to fire and saving Banner from a bullet fired from a hellicarrier with a velocity of a billion and an unobtanium tipped round is a totally different thing. Even in the context of the MCU, Banner is a splatter from IN-01, IN-02 or IN-03.

[Havok]

Depends. If he's not trying to hold back, he can go from Banner to Hulk in seconds, and as far as I can recall that only thing that even so much as broke Hulk's skin was one of Abomination's bone spurs, whereas bullets, missiles, shrapnel, or even falling from a helicarrier and hitting the ground at terminal velocity doesn't even so much as faze him. But, on the other hand, he was successfully hit with a tranquilizer as Banner (though, even then, that was after Sterns had temporarily suppressed the Hulk). So the effectiveness of Insight against him depends entirely on what they use against him. If Banner looks up and sees missiles coming in, or if the initial volley doesn't immediately kill or incapacitate him, Insight could fail to take him down.

I'm nitpicking, but all of these things phase him. Like he said, it's like an exposed nerve. And hitting the ground at terminal velocity will knock him out, obviously.

[PKRudeBoy]

My biggest problem with an MCU Civil war is that it literally would have to do a complete 180 on Tony's character as seen so far. Tony taking a pro government stance after the events of Iron Man 2 and the Avengers strikes me as completely and utterly implausible.

[Iroscato]

Maybe the civil war won't be caused by a registration act? Mind control, leadership conflicts, different ideas on how to operate in a post-SHIELD world, all these could be one of the factors that sparks it off. As mentioned before, very few of the Avengers we've seen actually have secret identities, and even those who have them will probably have been outed by the info dump in TWS.
They might be calling it Civil War, but that doesn't necessarily mean it's a particularly faithful adaptation. Look at the upcoming Infinity War, it's basically an adaptation of Infinity Gauntlet but uses the much snappier title of Infinity War, a wholly different story arc.

[The Romulan Republic]

I appreciate it when the films don't follow the comics. I'd rather have something new and good than a doomed effort to follow the absurd continuity of the comic books.

[Gaidin]

I can see the Civil War being caused by the registration act but nothing more. The Registration Act, Captain America, and Iron Man and that's where the similarity stops. Remember how damn epic, broad, far ranging, and how many characters that story had in the comics. Now...movies? Not if they want sanity. They really have to cut that down. They can do Registration Act. But, it's really going to be a helluva lot more personal. And in that sense, it's going to be a helluva lot shorter and a helluva lot better I think.

[Havok]

You have to keep in mind now that there is no SHIELD too. No guidance from Fury. It is going to be the regular government agencies calling for this if they go that route.

However, like I said there is no one to register and they all already work for SHIELD. This is going to be about something different. It has to be because the whole "Work for SHIELD? Expose my identity?! NEVAR!" Angle makes absolutely zero sense in the MCU the way it has unfolded.