Marvel's and Iron Man would not have won.
The story of Civil War is well-known by Marvel fans by now: a disastrous battle involving the New Warriors superhero team leads to the Superhuman Registration Act, a document that requires all super-powered vigilantes to reveal their secret identities to the United States government. While Iron Man s the act, Captain America believes it infringes on freedoms promised to all individuals (super or otherwise) and goes underground with his ers. The superhero community is split down the middle, and fights ensue between the two sides; Captain America and Iron Man eventually fight one-on-one, with disastrous results.
Captain America initially gains the upper hand by discreetly placing a scrambler device on Iron Man's suit of armor while shaking his former friend's hand. This is a relatively underhanded tactic (especially for Steve Rogers), but in What If...Civil War #1, he notably chooses not to use the bug. He does this because Iron Man chooses to confide in Rogers; he isn't sure he's doing the right thing and wants Steve to give him an honest opinion. This makes Captain America deactivate the device and actually begin a conversation.
The two heroes fight the clone Thor (who is released anyway due to a misunderstanding) and a new peace is achieved. There are many What If? possibilities regarding Civil War, as so much of the conflict was seemingly forced by heroes acting out of sorts (the infamous Speedball becoming Penance is only one example). Captain America even says that the New Warriors had no fault in the opening disaster, and it was Nitro - a supervillain - who was the real culprit. This sentiment echoed what many fans were already thinking while reading the event. Oddly enough, this What If? scenario has Captain America acting more in-character than his 616 counterpart at the time.
Almost fifteen years have ed since the events portrayed in Civil War, yet the event still resonates within the Marvel Universe (and within fans circles as well). The fact that Captain America was desperate enough to resort to surreptitiously disabling Iron Man's armor through a concealed device proves the volatility of the situation. Nevertheless, if Captain America ever learned that his tactic led to the end of his friendship with Iron Man (and Captain America's own death), he would never forgive himself.
