- "You seriously think I'm gonna listen to you after that fiasco in Leipzig? You're lucky you're not in one of these cells."
- ―Thaddeus Ross to Tony Stark[src]
The Flughafen Leipzig-Halle is an international airport in Schkeuditz, Saxony. The Clash of the Avengers took place in the airport following its evacuation, which resulted in a physical brawl between Iron Man's faction and Captain America's faction. The conflict caused millions of dollars in property damage to the airport as well as leading to the incarceration of Falcon, Scarlet Witch, Ant-Man and Hawkeye as well as the permanent paralysis suffered by War Machine.
History
Arriving at the Flughafen Leipzig-Halle
After enlisting Clint Barton to rescue Wanda Maximoff and recruit Scott Lang, who had been recommended by Wilson, Rogers and his team made their way to Flughafen Leipzig-Halle, where a Quinjet was waiting to take them to Siberia.[1]
Iron Man evacuated the airport, alerting Captain America and his team to the heroes' presence. Captain America jogged out onto the runway towards a helicopter, which was then quickly disabled by Iron Man as he, War Machine, Black Panther and Black Widow approached Captain America. Captain America attempted to convince them that Barnes was innocent, however Iron Man grew impatient and ordered Spider-Man, who has been recruited and filmed the confrontation,[2] to web Captain America's hands and steal his shield.
Falcon soon located the Quinjet and notified Captain America, who then gave the signal to Hawkeye. Hawkeye fired an arrow at the webbing, freeing Captain America as Ant-Man revealed himself to be hiding on Captain America's shield and managed to take Spider-Man by surprise, hitting him and retaking the shield. Stark turned around to the source of the arrow, locating Hawkeye and Scarlet Witch via scan as War Machine announced Falcon and Barnes' position and the battle began.[1]
Minor Destruction
Spider-Man smashed through the airport's terminal window, kicked Falcon down and effortlessly intercepted a punch from the Winter Soldier's Prosthetic Arm, revealing his superhuman strength. Spider-Man became distracted at the arm until he was tackled by an airborne Falcon, who carried him up into the air. Meanwhile, the fight between Captain America and Black Panther continued, Rogers struggling to hold back both Black Panther as well as War Machine, who took hold of his War Hammer to join in on the fight. Black Panther caused a notable claw mark on Captain America's shield using his vibranium claws. As this occurred, Iron Man caught up to Hawkeye and Scarlet Witch, firing missiles around them to force them to stop running. After a brief conversation, Hawkeye distracted Iron Man by purposefully missing arrow shots which allowed Scarlet Witch to drop cars from above on top of Iron Man, temporarily immobilizing him.
Back in the terminal, Spider-Man chased Falcon through the room before using his spider-sense to quickly dodge a heavy object thrown from behind him by the Winter Soldier, throwing it back in his direction. Falcon tackled Spider-Man a second time, but Spider-Man maneuvered above him and disabled his thrusters with web, causing him to fall to the ground and smash through a stand. Spider-Man quickly webbed Falcon's arms to a glass barrier before he could escape and went on to ask if Falcon's wings are made of carbon fiber. Falcon reminded him that you usually don't have conversations while fighting and Spider-Man responded by swinging towards him in an attempt to kick him in the chest. Barnes quickly ran in front of Falcon to absorb the hit, but both still fell through the glass barrier and onto the floor below before being webbed again by Spider-Man. Before Spider-Man can fully immobilize the two of them with more web, Falcon quietly ordered Redwing to grab his arm and throw him out of the window.
Outside the terminal, Captain America kicked War Machine, destroying his War Hammer. Ant-Man joined Captain America and gave him a shrunken down truck filled with fuel, telling him to throw it at one of his blue Pym Particles Disks. Ant-Man threw the disk in the air and Captain America did as he was instructed, the truck returned to its regular size, blowing up and slamming into War Machine shortly afterwards. The two ran off and regrouped with Hawkeye, Scarlet Witch, Falcon and Barnes as they sprinted to the Quinjet. Before they could reach it, Vision arrived at the airport and stopped them by firing a warning beam across the floor. Vision used this time to give Captain America one last chance to surrender, while also giving Iron Man's faction enough time to regroup as well. Captain America refused to surrender, and began to charge alongside his faction. Iron Man, also refusing to back down, did the same. The two sides slowly built up speed before they all clashed together in combat.
Captain America and Barnes regrouped, Barnes reminding Rogers that Zemo had likely entered Siberia at that point and that they needed to move quickly. Captain America offered to distract Vision as the Winter Soldier took the Quinjet and went alone, however, Falcon, currently being chased by War Machine, told Captain America that this wasn't the real fight and that he needed to be there for the real one. Hawkeye chimed in, telling Rogers that if they want to win, some of them would have to lose. Falcon explained that they'll need a big diversion if they want to be able to let both Captain America and Barnes escape in the Quinjet, to which Ant-Man responded a plan to run at his signal, as he jumped onto War Machine's leg and became Giant-Man, increasing his size to several stories high and capturing the attention of everyone.
Vision, after attacking Lang, became aware of Captain America and Barnes' escape, and decided to destroy the tower next to the Quinjet's hanger to block the entrance. Scarlet Witch quickly used her powers to slow down the fall of the debris, until War Machine used his Stark Sonic Cannon to knock her unconscious. Rogers and Barnes were forced to slide under the debris as it fell before being greeted by Black Widow as they finally reached the Quinjet. Black Widow came to terms with the fact that Rogers wasn't going to change his mind, and decided to help him by betraying her side by once again using her bite, this time on Black Panther, who had since ended his fight with Hawkeye and given chase, holding him back by firing Taser Disks.
As the rest of Iron Man's faction were still in the process of fighting Giant-Man, Spider-Man came up with the idea to lock his legs together. Lang, slowed down in Giant-Man form, was unable to respond to Spider-Man spinning around his legs tying him up with web as Iron Man and War Machine teamed up and punched Giant-Man in the head, knocking him down.
Piloting the Quinjet, Captain America finished shooting down the debris in the way of the hanger entrance before leaving, despite Black Panther's best efforts to stop him. Vision flew over to a recovering Scarlet Witch and they apologized to each other for fighting. War Machine and Iron Man began following the Quinjet, with Falcon not far behind. Falcon began peppering Rhodes with missiles and Rhodes responded by requesting Vision to disable Falcon's thrusters so he would be forced to safely glide down to the ground.The beam continued through the air and cut through War Machine's suit, destroying its Arc Reactor and completely disabling the suit. Rhodes, trapped inside the suit and unable to control it, began to plummet to the earth. Both Falcon and Iron Man stopped chasing the Quinjet and flew down in an effort to save Rhodes, but neither were fast enough and he slammed into the ground. Stark landed and tore off the helmet's mask, revealing Rhodes to be unconscious. F.R.I.D.A.Y. read his vitals and informed Stark that he was still alive. Stark, distraught, blasted Falcon in the chest, signalling the end of the conflict.[1]
Damage Report
Upon arriving at the Raft, Thaddeus Ross greeted Tony Stark who tried to immediately organize the hunt for Helmut Zemo in order to bring him to justice, however Ross noted that in the wake of the damages of the Leipzig-Halle airport, he would not be taking orders from Stark, claiming that Stark was lucky not and would have arrested after that incident.[1]
