system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
[MCU] Did the people of New York ever learn that the nuclear strike that almost destroyed their city was ordered by the World Security Council? What happened to the pilots that tried to carry the strike out?

At the end of the first Avengers film, the World Security Council decides to nuke the entire island of Manhattan rather than risk the chance that the Avengers will fail. Fury refuses to carry out their order, so they go over his head and give the order directly to two SHIELD pilots instead. Fury manages to stop one while he’s still on the helicarrier, but the other one takes off and launches the missile. Thankfully, Iron Man is able to intercept it and direct it through the wormhole instead, saving the day.


So what was the fallout of this decision? I’m pretty sure those same WSC people still had their jobs come Winter Soldier, so was their no massive backlash by the people of New York and the rest of the world? And what about the pilots that tried to commit the nuking? Did they just go back to work at SHIELD with no repercussions?
gpt
Most likely the public story is that a cruise missile was fired at the portal in an effort to close it.  Using a nuclear device is a huge violation of multiple arms agreements. Arguing alien invasion is pretty easy to say after the fact but you'd still have agitator nations that would object to not being told prior to it's use.  In the interest of protecting world peace and keeping a large portion of the United States placated they'd hide if not outright deny the use of nuclear weapons to keep people from living in fear of random nukes everytime a hero is losing a fight.  The pilots would be held under a nondisclosure agreement that may carry a harsh punishment should they speak and everyone else like Tony Stark would see the benefit of not admitting that NYC was nearly a radioactive crater.