An oral tale of the Sokovia Accords

The Sokovia Accords, ratified by 117 member nations of the United Nations, have changed our world forever. Proposed and passed as a result of the significant collateral damage resulting from many of the Avengers missions, many felt it was time to reign the Avengers in and curtail their vigilantism for good.

Everyone in the world has been impacted by the Accords in some way and everyone has a story about them.

*Author’s Note: The following interviews have been edited for grammar, and condensed for space.

Building towards the Accords

Adam Mannix: Owner Adam’s Diner NYC

Image Courtesy Marvel Studios for Captain America: Civil War

I’ll never forget that day for as long as I live man. How could I? I mean, honest to goodness aliens and superheroes duked in out on the streets of New York City and I was right here to witness it live and in person.

If you ask anyone my mom’s age where they were when Kennedy was assassinated, or when we landed on the moon, they could tell you in a heartbeat. The Incident is like that and not just for New Yorkers either.

Ask anyone where they were when that brilliant blue light emanated from the Stark Tower, and they’ll be able to tell you in a second.

Me? I was right where I am now, manning the kitchen at Adams.

It was a terrible time, man. Manhattan was absolutely wrecked. Thousands died, it was an absolute mess. It’s taken us years to clean up and it still isn’t done. Billions upon billions of dollars worth of damage. And you know what? It wasn’t all about the aliens either.

The Hulk crashed through the original Adam’s for no reason. I get it he’s fighting aliens and saving our lives, but couldn’t he have jumped over my diner? It took almost 2 years for me to see any money from Damage Control or my insurance company.

Sure, I’m doing well now, but it’s no thanks to the Avengers.

Akhani Johnson: Spokesperson South African Government Archived Footage

“The criminal known as Bruce Banner must stand trial for his crimes. The true extent of the damage he caused won’t be known for some months yet, but we demand that the Avengers turn Banner over at once.”

Fashula Babutende: Mayor of Lagos, Nigeria

Image Courtesy Marvel Studios for Avengers: Age of Ultron

We all know it was the events of the Avengers “mission” in Lagos that directly led to the Sokovia Accords. Yes, yes they were being prepared before, but it was these events that spurned the action forward.

The Wakandan King is the one who made the Sokovia Accords happen. It wasn’t because the Avengers lazy nature resulted in the deaths of dozens of Nigerians, no it was because a handful of Wakandans were killed.

That Witch killed dozens of people through her incompetence and the Sokovia Accords would have allowed her to remain free. Now she is on the run like the common criminal she is, but if you ask me, the Sokovia Accords did not go far enough.

Nikita Kruschev: Student University of Sokovia

The Sokovia Accords bear my countries name, but they were not created to ease our pain.

Sokovia was devastated because of evil Tony Stark technology, this is normal for us. As you Americans say “must be Tuesday”. This time Stark helped clean up mess, but that does not absolve him of blame.

We Sokovians have always hated Tony Stark. His weapons devastated our families. Ask anyone and they’ll tell you how he killed their mother, their brother, their sister, their child, so we were not surprised when it was his technology that came to attack us.

The Avengers saved many lives yes, but how many did they kill? Too many innocent people died for Tony Stark’s ego, too many people were lost for his foolishness.

Tony Stark is a criminal and he should be rotting in a Sokovian prison! Ask any Sokovian and they’ll tell you these Accords are a joke. The Avengers should have been controlled long ago.

Ask any Sokovian and they will tell you these Accords, what should be our Accords, aren’t worth a thing.

The Fall of S.H.I.E.L.D.

Ben Hanse: President Hanse Optimal Business Consulting Washington D.C.

The legitimacy of S.H.I.E.L.D. following the Battle of New York impacted Washington D.C. the most. That’s where their headquarters was located and that’s who paid the price for their fall.

HYDRA’s infiltration of S.H.I.E.L.D. has to be one of the greatest achievement in the history of espionage. A Nazi death cult and terrorist organization successfully infiltrated the highest levels of the most secretive agency in the world. Absolutely incredible and terrible.

S.H.I.E.L.D.’s fall contributed immensely to the Sokovia Accords. Without S.H.I.E.L.D.’s guidance, the Avengers were left to operate without oversight and any organization left without oversight suffers.

We see it all the time, the employees develop a culture that lacks accountability, without accountability there’s no drive to improve and without that drive, the results suffer.

The Avengers may be a group of enhanced humans and whatever Vision is, but they still fell victim to the same problems as the rest of us.

Lorelei Adoma: Reporter Washington Times

The Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division, or as they’re more commonly referred to, S.H.I.E.L.D. wasn’t on the mind of the average citizen before the revelation that it had been infiltrated at the highest level by HYDRA.

Make no mistake, most people knew of their existence, thanks to that hacktivist site, Rising Tide, it was something like that at least, but it wasn’t a big part of our daily consciousness. People were generally only vaguely aware of their existence. Most just assumed they worked for the Avengers.

So, allow me to fill in some of the blanks. S.H.I.E.L.D. was created, loosely, during World War 2. They operated in secret for decades protecting the Earth from various threats. They built up a formidable collection of resources and technology. It’s much more complicated than that of course, but I don’t want to step on the release of my book.

Of course, they’d also been infiltrated by the terrorist organization HYDRA, at every level. HYDRA’s infiltration and it’s exposure by Captain America and Black Widow, destroyed S.H.I.E.L.D.

The world’s governments disavowed S.H.I.E.L.D. and declared it a terrorist agency, it’s remaining leaders came under scrutiny and perhaps the most dire consequence, the Avengers were left to operate on their own accord.

*Authors Note: Lorelei Adoma’s book The Rise and Fall of S.H.I.E.L.D. will be available this January.

The Accords

Tammi Lauren: Contributor Wolf News

Image Courtesy Marvel Studios for Captain America: The Winter Soldier

The United Nations is a disgrace and our spineless lurch of a President agreeing to their Sokovia Accords is an even bigger one.

The majority of the Avengers, at least before these heinous Accords, were American citizens. let me ask you, since when do we let the United Nations dictate the actions of the United States of America, let alone the actions of private citizens operating from within this great nation?!

The only real issue the Avengers had was the illegal alien known as Scarlett Witch, she didn’t belong here in the first place, but our all-knowing Government decided to let her stay because their friend Tony Stark vouched for her.

She’s the one that caused the incident in Lagos to get out of hand. Lagos by the way, where the Avengers were operating because of the failings of the Nigerian government to apprehend the terrorist known as Crossbones.

Utter insanity!

And now on top of everything else our gutless government has cast out a real American man and an unimpeachable hero Captain America. This is a shameful disgrace to a true patriot who simply fought for what he believed in.

Steve Rogers, wherever you are, you are a hero who deserves a medal for standing up for the rights of Americans against our sniveling Presidents groveling to the United Nations.

Artemis Hertz: Spokesperson United States Department of Defense

Mr. Stark and the rest of the compliant Avengers made the decision on their own to take responsibility for their actions and sign the Accords. We felt the Avengers needed supervision and to be held accountable for their mistakes and they obviously agreed.

These Accords will only help them. Our oversight will ensure that their tactics and missions are reviewed, which will lead to more efficiency. We also felt that in light of S.H.I.E.L.D.’s fall, it was necessary to increase the transparency of how the Avengers Operate.

We’ve heard the criticisms that the Avengers are largely private US citizens acting to save the world and that the United Nations had no right to legislate their behaviors.

The Avengers operated far outside of the United States, their actions resulted in civilian casualties outside of the United States and their leader (Tony Stark) has famously failed to cooperate with the Government of the United States in the past.

We felt that the Sokovia Accords presented the best opportunity to reign in the Avengers, as well as to preserve their effectiveness.

Sandra Shapiro: White House Press Secretary

There’s been a lot of shouting and hollering about what the Sokovia Accords actually do and why the United States agreed to them. All of it is just noise.

First, let me explain what exactly the Sokovia Accords will and won’t do. The Sokovia Accords bring the Avengers under the control of a United Nations panel and the United States is a leading and vocal member of this panel.

The Accords also require the submission of DNA of any enhanced individuals who sign them, which the Administration encourages any and all enhanced individuals to do by the way, in order to predict any health concerns which could result from their enhancement.

Additionally, all signees of the Accords will be required to obtain permission from any country they attempt to operate in.

Finally, any signee of the Accords who violate them will be subject to penalties.

The Avengers needed to be reigned in and if the United States took control of them it would have been a bad, bad look.

Tell me, would China allow Iron Man enter their nation to save lives if they were worried he was operating as an agent of the United States? Absolutely not!

Simply put, the Sokovia Accords were and are needed to save lives, and the United States was happy to sign them.

Lasting Effects

Tim Abernathy: Author Rogers: The Life and Times of Captain America

You know, what’s interesting to me is that nobody will talk about what really happened as a result of the Sokovia Accords.

America lost one of her cherished icons. Steve Rogers was and still is depending on who you ask, one of America’s greatest heroes. People traded cards with his face on them for decades after he sacrificed himself to save us during World War 2. His sudden reemergence during the Battle of New York only bolstered his status.

Steve Roger’s fall from American hero and simple of patriotism, and to a lesser extent the Avengers who sided with him, is the true, lasting impact of the Sokovia Accords.

The Avengers lost invaluable members of their team and that will make them less effective than they were before and Americans lost a role model unlike any other.

Jonas Rossi: Spokesperson United Nation

The Sokovia Accords will only benefit our world and even the Avengers themselves. Too long they were allowed to operate freely and without consequence but no longer.

The Sokovia Accords will usher our world into a lasting era of lasting peace and prosperity, while maintaining our defense needs.

The Sokovia Accords are a win for the United Nations and they are a win for the world.

Dewitt Hoffman: Owner Hoffman’s Newsstand

The Sokovia Accords are a collection of useless pieces of paper and meaningless garbage.

Seriously, New York City alone has a bunch of vigilantes that at least appear to have super powers. You probably only know about the Spider-Man, but there are others. Sure they deal with mostly low-level stuff, but aren’t the Sokovia Accords supposed to regulate this type of stuff?

Man, I love Cap and now he’s some sort of criminal just because he wouldn’t sign some paper saying he couldn’t fight bad guys anymore. What was the point of that if they’re gonna let these vigilantes do the same thing in NYC?

Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate these superheroes looking out for the little guy like me, but the governments gotta stop this hypocrisy.

Gabriella Serrano: Professor of International Affairs, Harvard University

Image Courtesy Marvel Studios for Spiderman: Homecoming

We never hear anyone talking about the true impact of the Sokovia Accords. 117 nations came together and enacted, actual binding legislation on a collection of private citizens, they fundamentally changed the way the Avengers operated and they changed the way that enhanced citizens are treated in our society.

All very true and important points, but like I said, the true impact of the Sokovia Accords are missed.

What the Sokovia Accords truly represent, however, is the coming of a new age of intergovernmental cooperation and action.

The nations of our world saw a problem and came together as one, well largely as one, to fix it. Hopefully, this is a sign of things to come and represents a positive change for our planet. Like I said before, I believe the Sokovia Accords represent a new way forward, one where ideally the promise of the United Nations is realized.

The preceding was a work of fiction, intended only for entertainment purposes. Any similarities to existing people or events are coincidental and unintended.