"Avengers: Standoff!" is a 2016 comic book storyline in Marvel Comics that was created by Nick Spencer, Mark Bagley, and Jesus Saiz.
Premise
This storyline depicts the Avengers investigating the mysterious gated community of Pleasant Hill, trying to determine the nature of its involvement with S.H.I.E.L.D.
Plot
Upon being alerted of a catastrophic event, Winter Soldier returns to Earth. Winter Soldier traces the source of the catastrophic event to a S.H.I.E.L.D. facility where he ends up fighting off the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents there. In the middle of the woods, a young man awakens with amnesia. After being brought to the gated community of Pleasant Hill, he is examined by Dr. Erik Selvig and other doctors. Overhearing some suspicious conversations, the young man starts to run away only to be knocked out. When he woke up, he was told by a resident named Dorothy Bixby to accommodate the town. The young man discovered that Pleasant Hill is surrounded by a forcefield that is visible through touch. 19 days later, a young man named Jim becomes a member of the Pleasant Hill community. While walking through the park, Jim encountered an eerie girl who was taken away when she brought a bird back to life. 36 days later, Jim encountered an arsonist in a house he entered who told him that Pleasant Hill was a lie and requested a meet-up in case Jim wanted to learn the truth. On Day 40, Jim met the mysterious mechanic named Phil who created a device that enabled people to return to their true selves. Phil also stole a training video where Mayor Maria Hill gave a video tour of Pleasant Hill describing it to the S.H.I.E.L.D. cadets watching as the future of supervillain incarceration, where they are turned into mild-mannered civilians using reality-warping technology derived from the Cosmic Cube called "Kobik". A demonstration was shown when Graviton was turned into a Pleasant Hill chef named Howie Howardson. As Phil uses the device on himself and Jim to restore their true selves, it is revealed that Phil is actually Fixer and Jim is actually Baron Helmut Zemo. Both of them vow to use the device on the other brainwashed supervillain prisoners and reduce Pleasant Hill to dust.
At the S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier, Commander Steve Rogers followed the trail of Winter Soldier and found a message on a napkin that he used. Meanwhile, Captain America has defeated Green Skull and is contacted by Whisperer. At Bev's Diner, Steve Rogers meets with Winter Soldier, while Captain America meets the Whisperer (an alias of Rick Jones). Both of them learn that S.H.I.E.L.D. never discarded the Kobik project as they believed, which Whisperer made public. Steve Rogers and Captain America follow a lead to a town in Connecticut. After the meetings, they are both picked up by S.H.I.E.L.D. agents. Now learning about Kobik's continued existence, Steve Rogers confronts Maria Hill upon being brought to Pleasant Hill. Maria Hill presented the inhabitants of Pleasant Hill to Steve Rogers where she mentions that the citizens are reformed supervillains. When Steve Rogers demanded to know where the fragments of the Cosmic Cube used for Kobik were, she directed him to the eerie little girl who was actually the fragments of the Cosmic Cube having taken the form of a near-omnipotent child. Maria Hill and Steve Rogers don't know it yet, but some of the inhabitants consisting of Absorbing Man (who was transformed into an ice cream vendor named Harold), Atlas (who was transformed into a mailman), Glob, Klaw, Mentallo, Mister Hyde, Moonstone, Nitro, Orrgo, Scorcher (who was transformed into a firefighter), Shockwave, Tiger Shark (who was transformed into an actual tiger shark), and Trapster (who was transformed into a groundskeeper named Willie) have regained their memories thanks to Fixer. Baron Zemo leads them into a coordinated assault on the S.H.I.E.L.D. outpost that served as the Pleasant Hill City Hall.
Phil Coulson's group learns about Pleasant Hill and Rick Jones' involvement. Deathlok, Daisy Johnson, and Jemma Simmons investigated Rick Jones' house and discovered a hidden escape route. They follow Rick Jones through the Morlock Tunnels and apprehend him. During an interrogation at the S.H.I.E.L.D. Battlecarrier, the New Avengers arrived to retrieve Rick Jones from S.H.I.E.L.D.
Answering Commander Steve Rogers' call, the Avengers Unity Division arrive in Connecticut where they discover Wrecker trying to escape in an SUV with Maria Hill. The Avengers Unity Division helps Wrecker and Maria Hill avoid the S.H.I.E.L.D. forces. While on their way to Pleasant Hill, the Avengers Unity Division is attacked by another Maria Hill who is on a Quinjet with the Avengers.