The rivalry between Captain America and Iron Man hit its all-time peak in the Marvel Comics crossover event Civil War, but even though the two heroes literally came to blows, Captain America was eventually able to forgive Iron Man for his actions. The events of Civil War was something both heroes wound up regretting in the long run after looking back and realizing that, with all the evil in the world, they should not have been fighting each other. However, Tony’s regret for Civil War carried with it some potentially dangerous ramifications. Iron Man was able to neutralize the threat of his own creation, and that moment of heroic sacrifice was enough to earn him Captain America’s forgiveness.
Beginning in Invincible Iron Man #9 which sparked the storyline “World’s Most Wanted” by Matt Fraction and Salvador Larroca, Tony Stark is still dealing with the fallout of Civil War, and the information on the identities of superheroes gathered under the Superhuman Registration Act, the law that sparked the whole Civil War event. At the time of the issue, Norman Osborn aka Green Goblin is the director of S.H.I.E.L.D. and he is after the superhuman registration list for his own nefarious purposes. Iron Man believes it best to store that list where no one but him can access it, his own mind. Safely stored in his brain, Iron Man became the sole protector of the identities of countless heroes but even that wasn’t enough to ensure their safety, so Iron Man decided to delete the file permanently, killing himself in the process.
The deletion of the superhuman registration list led to Iron Man’s apparent death, but the hero didn’t stay dead. Instead, Iron Man’s brain was merely rebooted to a point before the Civil War event, effectively rebooting the character with his heroism intact and all the borderline villainous actions he took during Civil War deleted from his past. While Iron Man himself didn’t die, the version of him that was at odds with Captain America was basically dead, leaving only the heroic version of Tony that Steve initially partnered with upon his inclusion with the Avengers. Because Iron Man was willing to sacrifice his own life for the safety of others, and the version of him that remained afterwards wasn’t the same man as his enemy in Civil War, Captain America was able to forgive Iron Man and the two quickly became superhero partners once again.
While Iron Man proving his heroism then having his character refreshed was the main reason behind Captain America’s forgiveness, it certainly wasn’t the only one. At the end of Civil War, Captain America was seemingly assassinated, though fans soon realized that his consciousness was just sent spiraling through time, reliving some of his greatest conflicts. During his time travel adventures, Captain America was thrown head first into the most evil and sinister threats he had ever faced including Red Skull and literal Nazi soldiers. When Cap finally caught up to his current body and was effectively brought back to life, he had a much better perspective as to who his enemies really are, and who are not.
Captain America gained perspective after Civil War and realized Iron Man isn’t his enemy moving forward. Plus, Iron Man’s self-sacrifice proved he was repentant and was worthy of the fresh start he received. Captain America was able to eventually forgive Iron Man for the events of Civil War after intense introspection and upon seeing how Iron Man was quite literally a changed man.
