Team Cap may have lost the fight in Captain America: Civil War, but it is Team Iron Man who had the most tragic fate in the MCU. While the movie version of Civil War was not as big and long-lasting as the 2006 comic book arc, the clash between Captain America and Iron Man had both immediate and long-term consequences for the MCU. Eventually, the Avengers all reunited to fight Thanos – but the fact they were split at the beginning of Avengers: Infinity War is one of the reasons why Thanos managed to collect all the six Infinity Stones and perform the snap.
For being a Captain America movie, Civil War would naturally have to frame Iron Man and those who sided with him as the antagonist – at least during the first two acts of the movie. Similar to the comic book arc, the main reason for the fallout of the Avengers was the governmental project for the registration of superpowered heroes, which in the MCU was represented by the Sokovia Accords. As following MCU movies and shows did not dive into how the Sokovia Accords impacted the world, the major consequence of Civil War was how it split up the Avengers right as Thanos was heading to Earth – with team Captain America either having to turn themselves in or living as fugitives.
Despite the initial aftermath of Civil War being worse for Team Cap, the future ended up being harsher for team Iron Man. War Machine had to spend years recovering from his injury, the original Vision died in Infinity War, Avengers: Endgame saw the deaths of Black Widow and Iron Man, Peter Parker was erased from everyone’s memories after Spider-Man: No Way Home, and audiences will most likely learn about T’Challa’s death in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever as Marvel decided not to recast the role after the passing of Chadwick Boseman. As much as all of those characters’ deaths and personal sacrifices helped in a heroic way, it cannot be denied that the future was worse for those who joined Team Iron Man than it was for team Captain America.
In comparison, Team Cap’s Scott Lang, Clint Barton, Bucky Barnes, and Sam Wilson are all still active heroes – with Sam now being the new Captain America. The current status of Steve Rogers remains a mystery, but the character at least got to live through his lost years after returning the Infinity Stones at the end of Endgame. The only member of Team Captain America who found a tragic future was Wanda Maximoff, who would go on to lose Vision and then become a villain in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. Still, when compared to Team Iron Man, Team Cap was much closer to having a happy ending.
The fallout of the Avengers in Captain America: Civil War was not too definitive, but the choices made by each character in that movie set up what their future in the MCU would be. Whether it was an intentional decision or not, those who technically won the MCU Civil War were all about to be at the center of tragedies and sacrifice. Fortunately, none of that was enough for either Zemo or Thanos to succeed in defeating the Avengers.
