SHRA

Short for ´Superhero Registration act´. Interest in the concept of the act was revived in various Marvel comic books in 2006. In Amazing Spider-Man #529-531 (April-June 2006), following the events of "Decimation" and the sudden dramatic fall in the Mutant population, the U.S. government again considers a Superhuman Registration Act and Spider-Man and Iron Man travel to Washington D.C. to discuss the issue. In those issues Iron Man is shown to be initially opposed to the idea, while Spider-Man is unsure of his opinion. In The New Avengers Special: the Illuminati (May, 2006), Iron Man attempts to persuade his Illuminati colleagues to support the SRA, in order to diffuse it. Iron Man predicts that some superhuman or group of superhumans will eventually make a mistake that will cost hundreds of lives (he specifically mentions the Young Avengers and the Runaways as candidates for causing such a catastrophe). After such an event, he went on to predict, the government would inevitably rush to make an example of someone, or everyone, in the superhuman community by passing legislation that would be even more restrictive or persecutory towards them than the proposed SRA. By supporting the Act before it is passed, he suggests, he and his fellow Illuminati might be able to help avert such possible future tragedies and also, by becoming a part of the process, help moderate the legislation so that it would have the minimum possible negative effect on the superhuman community. However, most of the Illuminati members flatly reject Stark's proposal, leading to the disbandment of the group. In the same issue the first part of Iron Man's prediction are shown to be accurate when a conflict between the New Warriors and a group of supervillains ends with a massive explosion which kills hundreds of children attending a nearby school. As depicted in the Civil War crossover and series, the public outcry that follows this event leads the government (with the support of Iron Man and other Illuminati such as Reed Richards) to quickly enact the Superhuman Registration Act (SHRA), 6 U.S.C. S. 558, which required registration of those with naturally-occurring superhuman abilities, super abilities acquired through science or magic (including extraterrestrials and gods), and even non-super powered humans using exotic technology, such as Iron Man. Enactment of the law on the federal level led to various revisions to state criminal codes (such as Chapter 40, Article 120, Section 120 of the New York Penal Code and Section 245(d) of the California Penal Code) in order to allow state and federal coordination in enforcing the law. 7 This leads to a major schism and conflict among the superheroes, with the anti-SRA side led by Captain America and the pro-SRA side led by Iron Man. Eventually, Iron Man's side wins the conflict and a "Fifty-State Initiative" is established with superhero teams placed in every state of the union.