Escape from the Raft

Escape from the Raft
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Next	Robbery of the Queens Community Bank Collapse of the Edison Bridge Infiltration into the Needle Base
War	Avengers Civil War
Date	July 2016
Location	Raft
Result (Outcome)	Steve Rogers and Natasha Romanoff free Sam Wilson, Clint Barton, Wanda Maximoff, and Scott Lang.
Combatants
Steve Rogers Natasha Romanoff Sam Wilson Clint Barton Wanda Maximoff Scott Lang
United States Marshals Service
Commanders
Steve Rogers Natasha Romanoff
Thaddeus Ross
Casualties
-
-

"My faith is in people, I guess. Individuals. And I’m happy to say for the most part, they haven’t let me down. Which is why I can’t let them down either. Locks can be replaced, but... maybe they shouldn’t."

―Steve Rogers^[src]

The Escape from the Raft was a liberation of former members of the Avengers from the underwater prison known as the Raft executed by Steve Rogers and Natasha Romanoff.

Background

"You knew they'd put us somewhere, Tony."
"Yeah, but not some Supermax floating ocean pokey."

―Clint Barton and Tony Stark^[src]

Falcon, Hawkeye, Scarlet Witch and Ant-Man were captured in the aftermath of the Clash of the Avengers, and imprisoned in the Raft, while Captain America and Winter Soldier headed to Siberia to track down Helmut Zemo. Iron Man visited the Raft to find out from Wilson where Rogers and Barnes had gone.

Stark battled Rogers and Barnes, and while Zemo was taken into custody by Black Panther, Rogers was forced to leave his shield behind, convinced by Stark that he did not deserve it as he and Barnes walked away. Meanwhile, Natasha Romanoff went on the run and reunited with Yelena Belova, and the two decided to take down the Red Room. They reunited with Alexei Shostakov and Melina Vostokoff to do it, and Romanoff decided to help Rogers and Barnes with the escape.

Escape

"I'm gonna go break a few of them out of prison."

―Natasha Romanoff to Rick Mason^[src]

Steve Rogers helping his friends

Steve Rogers flying a Quinjet, broke into the Raft, where they managed to neutralize the United States Marshals Service and set Sam Wilson, Clint Barton, Wanda Maximoff, and Scott Lang free. Meanwhile, Natasha Romanoff distracted Everett Ross at the Joint Counter Terrorist Centre Building, pretending to be getting interrogated and retrieving information from him about the Needle. Ross allowed Romanoff to escape once Rogers was done.

Aftermath

Tony Stark reading Steve Rogers' letter

"Where's Clint?"
"After the whole Accords situation, he and Scott took a deal. It was too tough on their families, they're on house arrest."

―Bruce Banner and Natasha Romanoff^[src]

Steve Rogers, Natasha Romanoff, Sam Wilson, and Wanda Maximoff continued to be on the run as fugitives. Thaddeus Ross contacted Tony Stark for aid in recapturing them, although Stark chose to pretend to be preoccupied. Clint Barton and Scott Lang, however, made a deal with Ross wherein they would turn themselves in and be given house arrest, as they found being on the run too tough on their families. Maximoff went to live with Vision, where they would take trips to Europe for brief moments together, doing so for about two years.

Rogers and Bucky Barnes then made their way to Wakanda, where T'Challa granted Barnes amnesty, who chose to remain in cryogenic stasis until his mind could be cleansed of the mental programming. Using the information gathered from Everett Ross, Rogers, Romanoff, and Wilson attacked a Needle base and destroyed the bomb they were planning to use to destabilize the Middle East. They later went to Syria and Lebanon to stop terrorists who were using Chitauri technology for committing mass destruction, without attracting any public attention. They were there for much of 2017.

News regarding Rogers' actions during the Avengers Civil War had him publicly declared as a war criminal.