S.H.I.E.L.D.

"This isn't freedom. This is fear." "S.H.I.E.L.D. takes the world as it is, not as we'd like it to be."

- Captain America and Nick Fury

The Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division, better known by its acronym S.H.I.E.L.D., was a United States extra-governmental military counter-terrorism and intelligence agency. With its advanced weapons and extraordinary agents, S.H.I.E.L.D. is maybe the greatest military power on Earth. Run by Nick Fury and the World Security Council in the modern age, S.H.I.E.L.D. has to deal with all kinds of superhumans, demigods, and extraterrestrials. The agency became publicly known after the battle of New York, partially because of the Rising Tide website. After it was revealed that S.H.I.E.L.D. had been infiltrated by HYDRA, the Triskelion was destroyed, and all of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s classified files were dumped on the internet, the organization's status is unknown.

Foundation
"After the war, S.H.I.E.L.D. was founded, and I was recruited. The new HYDRA grew, a beautiful parasite, inside S.H.I.E.L.D."

- Arnim Zola to Captain America and Black Widow

The exact date of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s foundation is unknown, but it was formed shortly after World War II as a successor agency to the Strategic Scientific Reserve (SSR), an Allied deep science agency which fought against the Nazi sponsored special weapons division HYDRA during the war.

Howard Stark, an industrialist of great wealth and one of the most prominent members of the SSR along with Chester Phillips were among the founders of the new agency. One of the first agents of the new agency was Margaret "Peggy" Carter, the former partner of the American war hero Steve Rogers, better known as Captain America. The SSR continued as the scientific division of S.H.I.E.L.D. and continued to work on researching the advanced weapons captured from HYDRA as well as the mysterious Tesseract.

Shortly after the war, as part of Operation Paperclip, S.H.I.E.L.D. recruited the scientists of Nazi Germany as a think tank for the newborn agency. The infamous Arnim Zola was among the recruited scientists, but he used his new position to secretly rebuild HYDRA within S.H.I.E.L.D. Over the next decades, HYDRA's top agent in S.H.I.E.L.D., Alexander Pierce, became one of the agency's leaders.

Pierce met Colonel Nick Fury, a distinguished officer of the United States Armed Forces and espionage veteran of the Cold War, and persuaded him to join the agency.

0-8-4
In 1991, the entire population of a small village in Hunan Province, China, were killed defending a small infant. Designated as an 0-8-4 by S.H.I.E.L.D., a team was sent in to investigate. After losing contact with the main team, the back-end team, consisting of Richard Lumley, Linda Avery, and three other agents, investigated only to find the infant sleeping in the arms of the dead lead agent. The rest of the main team were dead. After returning to the United States, the other members of the team started to be eliminated. To ensure her safety, the infant was dropped off by Avery at the St. Agnes orphanage and arrangements were made for her to be moved to different foster homes to keep her safe.

New Leadership
Pierce gave up his position of the agency's director to become a member of the World Security Council. Pierce's successor was Nick Fury himself. Under his leadership, the agency recruited some of the best marksmen and spies in the world, including Clint Barton and Natasha Romanoff. At that time, agent Phil Coulson served as Fury's right hand man, though the actual deputy director of the agency was Maria Hill.

The birth of Iron Man
"I can be in Afghanistan by sunrise, Director Fury." "You can. But you won't. We're the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division. Note the word "Homeland". We're not currently authorized for foreign ops."

- Phil Coulson and Nick Fury

In 2009, Tony Stark, the son of Howard Stark and CEO of Stark Industries, was kidnapped by the terrorist group Ten Rings in Afghanistan. After he escaped from captivity, Fury suspected that he was actually released because he made a deal with the Ten Rings. He was even more suspicious when Stark announced that his company is shutting down their weapons developing program. Fury then sent Agent Phil Coulson who repeatedly attempted to talk to Stark, but without success. When they discovered that Stark actually made an armored suit and used it not just to escape but also to repay to his kidnappers, they thought better of him. Later, they investigated Stark's business partner Obadiah Stane and found out that he sold the Stark Industries weapons to the terrorists. Fury sent Coulson to arrest Stane. When they arrived to Stark Industries, Coulson, his colleagues, and Stark's secretary Pepper Potts were attacked by Stane, who developed his own armored suit. Thanks to Stark, Stane was defeated, and Fury finally began to look at Stark as a good guy.

The same night, Coulson finally met Stark, who was accompanied by his friend James Rhodes, an officer of the U.S. Air Force. He took them both to a secret S.H.I.E.L.D. base where he told Stark that despite his high tech suit, he still needs to learn to fight like a warrior. Rhodes gladly offered to serve as Tony's instructor. A day later, Coulson came up with a cover story for what happened at Stark Industries during Iron Man and Iron Monger's fight, but Stark refused to use it and publicly proclaimed that he is Iron Man. A few hours later, Fury visited Stark in his Malibu home and informed him of the Avengers Initiative. Stark refused to join Fury's "superhero boy band".

Protecting Mankind
"What is all this?" "S.H.I.E.L.D. Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division. Your tax dollars at work. Hard work. We keep our fingers on America's pulse, and believe me, America has veins in every section of the world."

- Tony Stark and Phil Coulson

In the following year, S.H.I.E.L.D agents Phil Coulson, and Natasha Romanoff, alongside Fury watched over Stark. Stark later learned that his father was a founding member.

General Thaddeus Ross used the S.H.I.E.L.D. servers to help him track the e-mails from the fugitive Bruce Banner. Fury personally confronted Banner in one bar, and witnessed his transformation into the Hulk.

The Big Week
"One thing I know for sure: Nobody is better suited to protect this world than me and my people."

- Nick Fury to the World Security Council

The World Security Council ordered S.H.I.E.L.D. to send an agent to ask General Thaddeus Ross to release Emil Blonsky into their custody. They see him as a war hero and a perfect addition to Fury’s Avenger Initiative, and blame his fight in New York City with Bruce Banner on Banner. At Sitwell's urging, Coulson reluctantly sends the consultant: Tony Stark to annoy the General so that Blonsky will remain in prison. The next day, Sitwell informs Coulson that their plan worked and the Abomination would remained locked away. S.H.I.E.L.D. investigated the discovery of Thor's hammer on Earth. When Thor broke into the S.H.I.E.L.D. compound to recover his hammer, he was thwarted by the hammer's power to refuse him and was then captured and interrogated. After releasing the Asgardian, S.H.I.E.L.D. agents then moved to investigate a series of arcane rings carved into the earth not far from the compound. They were interrupted from their investigation by the arrival of the Destroyer, a colossal sentinel sent by Loki to eliminate Thor. The Destroyer, having swept the S.H.I.E.L.D. personnel aside effortlessly, was soon beaten by Thor who then announced that S.H.I.E.L.D. could count him as an ally.

Dr. Erik Selvig was taken to a S.H.I.E.L.D. facility where he met Nick Fury. Fury asked Selvig to study the recently-discovered Tesseract, an object of limitless power. Selvig agreed while Loki watched. A year later, S.H.I.E.L.D. operatives in the Arctic uncovered Captain America's body in the Red Skull's airship from WWII. Rogers awoke in a room designed to appear as if it were still the early 1940s. Deducing the truth and escaping to Times Square, Rogers learned from S.H.I.E.L.D. leader Nick Fury that he had been asleep for nearly 70 years, and they had wanted to acclimate his reentry into modern times.

War for Earth
When Loki stole the Tesseract and escaped along with several enslaved S.H.I.E.L.D. personnel, Director Fury reactivated the Avengers Initiative to counter the threat. Agent Romanoff was sent to bring in Dr. Banner, Agent Coulson was sent to retrieve Tony Stark, and Fury himself approached Steve Rogers, all in the hope that together these individuals might combine their respective talents to help with the problem of Loki and the missing Tesseract.

S.H.I.E.L.D. assisted Rogers in his capture of Loki, and then provided a prison on the Helicarrier once Loki had been apprehended. It transpired that Loki had intended to be captured however, a ruse to sow the seeds of discord throughout the ranks of the forces assembled against him. His mind-controlled agents later attacked the Helicarrier to free him, heavily damaging it in the process. The attack became a bitter defeat for S.H.I.E.L.D, although Fury turned one of its defining losses into the motivational push that Stark and Rogers needed. In short order the remaining heroes set off in pursuit of Loki, and began referring to themselves as the Avengers.

During the Chitauri invasion in Manhattan, the World Security Council ordered the deployment of nuclear missile to the city in the hope of stopping the invasion. Nick Fury was able to stop a jet carrying a nuke from taking off, but was unable to prevent another. With Fury's help, Iron Man was able to prevent the other missile from detonating over New York City.

New Actions
"We're the line between the world and a much weirder world."

- Grant Ward

After the Avengers' victory and departure, S.H.I.E.L.D. was given more resources than they ever had before in order to make sure that if a threat similar to the Chitauri attacks Earth, they would be prepared.

Revival of Coulson
Days after the death of Phil Coulson at the hands of Loki, Nick Fury ordered extreme measures be taken to save him. He was taken to a former World War II bunker called the Guest House. S.H.I.E.L.D. medical staff used a experimental drug to repair the wounded organs in a cellular level. After at least seven operations, Fury's doctors were actually able to bring Coulson back to life days after he had been killed. The process was extremely, inhumanly agonizing for Coulson, who begged the doctors to let him die.

During the process, they altered some of his memories with a robotic-assisted neural micro-surgery, to make him believe that he was revived in Tahiti, in order to cope with the pain he felt and to make him less suicidal, as he wanted to die due to the intense agony he was experiencing. S.H.I.E.L.D. Doctor Streiten maintained that the methods used to restore Coulson to life were unethical and felt that they should have let him die. The details of his revival are only available for agents with Clearance Level 10 or above.

Dr. Streiten was reluctant to release him back into active duty given the horrific nature of his recovery and was astonished to realize that Coulson was unaware of the truth of his survival. Agent Maria Hill told Streiten that Coulson could never know the truth.

Item 47
When two bank robbers, Claire Wise and Benjamin Pollack, come into possession of a Chitauri weapon, Felix Blake sent Jasper Sitwell to kill them and retrieve the weapon. Sitwell tracked them to a motel and stayed in the room next to theirs. He disturbed them with loud music and Benny went to investigate. Sitwell attacked Benny, who warned Claire of the ambush. Claire then attacked Sitwell with the Chitauri weapon. During the struggle, the gun destroyed most of the room, but was broken in the process. Sitwell then tied up Benny and Claire, but decided not to kill them when he discovered that the gun was working because Benny, who was a scientist, had repaired it. Seeing a great potential in the couple, Sitwell recruited Benny and Claire in S.H.I.E.L.D. as special agents, much to Blake's disappointment.

Coulson's Team
Some time after the battle of New York, Melinda May assembled a team of agents to keep an eye on Phil Coulson's recovery for Nick Fury. Coulson however believes he has set up the small, highly trained team of agents to tackle the cases that haven’t been classified yet. The team originally consists of Phil Coulson, Melinda May, Grant Ward, Leo Fitz and Jemma Simmons. They later recruited Skye to the team and took part in missions in Los Angeles and Peru.

The Asset
In 2013 S.H.I.E.L.D. searched for one of its assets, Dr. Franklin Hall, who was kidnapped by his former research partner and CEO of Quinn Worldwide named Ian Quinn. His soldiers used a gravity device on the S.H.I.E.L.D. convoy that was transporting him. Quinn wanted to use Hall to take control of the planet's gravity by building a giant gravitonium generator. Coulson's and his team headed to Malta and Skye volunteered to infiltrate Quinn's mansion during his party so that Coulson and Ward could rescue Hall. Skye tricked Quinn into believing she is betraying S.H.I.E.L.D. for Rising Tide to get his guard down. However, Coulson discovered that Hall perpetrated his own escape and wanted to destroy the massive device as believed he is in the right. Coulson warned him that doing so would end up killing millions. There is a violent disagreement which lead to Coulson being forced to leave Hall to die as he fell into the middle of the generator. Coulson ordered that the gravitonium be placed under high security and off the books in the Fridge.

S.H.I.E.L.D. however did not notice that Hall is still alive but trapped within the gravitonium.

Centipede Group
The Centipede Group first came to the attention of Coulson's team in Los Angeles but the rest of S.H.I.E.L.D. learnt about them when Index-registered pyrokinetic Chan Ho Yin was kidnapped from his Hong Kong apartment by a woman named Raina, who worked for the Centipede Group. Chan was brought to a nearby lab where Debbie managed to harvest the fire-resistant platelets in Chan's blood. The platelets allowed the Extremis element of the Centipede process to be stabilized without the explosive after-effects. Having gotten what they needed from him, Debbie ordered Chan be drained, killing him.

But before that could happen, Chan was released by a S.H.I.E.L.D. extraction team led by Phil Coulson and agent Kwan Chen. Unfortunately, Chan (Now going by the name "Scorch"), was tired of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s interference in his life, and killed Kwan. Chan then confronted Debbie and Raina. Raina abandoned Debbie, leaving her to be incinerated by Chan. Raina escaped, but the lab was destroyed when Chan detonated from an Extremis over-dose.

Before the destruction of the lab, S.H.I.E.L.D. consultant Skye managed to extract a few files from the building's mainframe, enough to give S.H.I.E.L.D some new leads on their activities.

Battle of Greenwich
S.H.I.E.L.D. were not present for the Battle of Greenwich but were present for cleanup after the event. The pieces of Dark Elf technology left behind after the battle were collected by S.H.I.E.L.D., and the damage was cleaned up overnight. The Jotunheim Beast continued to run freely through London, and it is unknown what became of it afterward.

Kidnapping of Coulson
Edison Po was broken out of Havenworth Federal Penitentiary by a squadron of Centipede powered soldiers. They took him to the new Centipede lab in Oakland, California, where Raina updated him on the project's status. Po determined that S.H.I.E.L.D. presented a threat that needed to be taken care of. He set a trap for S.H.I.E.L.D. with three Centipede-powered soldiers laying in wait.

However S.H.I.E.L.D. had recruited the Centipede-powered Michael Peterson. Peterson's presence turned the tide against the Centipede soldiers, but it also gave Po and Raina the inspiration for a plan of action. Raina kidnapped Michael's son Ace and threatened to have him killed if Peterson didn't obey her instructions. Believing that Centipede wanted to exchange Peterson for his son, Coulson accompanied Peterson to the exchange site in Long Beach, California. Seeing no other way to save his son, Peterson betrayed Coulson to Raina. After seeing to his son's safety, Peterson tried to make up for his actions by returning to rescue Coulson, but he was seemingly killed in an explosion.

Raina escaped the scene with Coulson by way of helicopter. Upon leaving the scene, Raina explained to Coulson that their true interest was in the nature of Coulson's mysterious revival after his "death" before the battle of New York, as this is seemingly the key to "Stage Three" of the Group's unknown plans.

Operation: Insight
"This is Project Insight. Three next generation Helicarriers linked to a network of targeting satellites." "Launched from the Lemurian Star." "Once we get them in the air they never need to come down."

- Nick Fury to Captain America

With more funds to invest in homeland security, the leaders of S.H.I.E.L.D. started "Project Insight", a security network formed by three heavily-armed Helicarriers to protect the Earth. In S.H.I.E.L.D.'s plans, the Helicarriers would proactively strike out against potential threats before they actually happened. However, HYDRA's undercover operatives in S.H.I.E.L.D. intended to use the Helicarriers to exterminate any person that would pose a threat to HYDRA's plans of world domination. Soon, the crews of all three Helicarriers were composed entirely of HYDRA's undercover agents.

The Final Battle
"S.H.I.E.L.D. is not what we thought it was. It's been taken over by HYDRA."

- Captain America

After Captain America and Black Widow found Arnim Zola in a S.H.I.E.L.D. facility now in a computer body, it is revealed that HYDRA grew inside S.H.I.E.L.D. with the intention of bringing order to the world by killing millions of innocent people. Captain America met up with Maria Hill and Nick Fury, infiltrating the Triskelion and exposing the truth.

The Big Revelation
After a fight inside the Triskelion, and the reveal that the organization was filled with traitors, S.H.I.E.L.D. sent out an encrypted message saying "OUT OF THE SHADOWS AND INTO THE LIGHT" and the word "HYDRA". This revealed the infiltration to many loyal S.H.I.E.L.D. agents around the world.

It is unknown at present S.H.I.E.L.D. was dissolved as its status was still being decided by various government committees.

Facilities

 * The Triskelion (Primary HQ)
 * S.H.I.E.L.D. Headquarters
 * The Hub (Operational planning and support)
 * The Slingshot (Study and disposal of dangerous technology)
 * The Fridge (High-security detainment and storage facility)
 * The Sandbox (Study and disposal of hazardous or contagious material)
 * S.H.I.E.L.D. Academy
 * S.H.I.E.L.D. Academy of Science and Technology
 * S.H.I.E.L.D. Trauma Zentrum (Medical facility)
 * S.H.I.E.L.D. Training Facility
 * Maria Hill's Field Office
 * Joint Dark Energy Mission Facility
 * The Guest House (formerly)
 * The Coventry (formerly)
 * Shangri-La (formerly)

There is a Wall of Valor located at every S.H.I.E.L.D. facility.

Paraphernalia
S.H.I.E.L.D. personnel have access to an extensive array of cutting edge technology at their disposal.

Weapons
Regular S.H.I.E.L.D. field agents are usually equipped with a 9mm pistol. A military branch used for heavy security has access to military grade personal armaments. A few selected elite agents carry less conventional armaments, such as explosives, or bows. The S.H.I.E.L.D. project titled, "Phase 2", was dedicated to advancing alien technology weapons and reverse-engineer them into laser weapons.
 * Destroyer Armor Prototype Gun
 * Night-Night Gun and Pistol
 * Sonic Staff
 * I.C.E.R.s

Vehicles
S.H.I.E.L.D. maintains a fleet of Acura vehicles for the regular deployment of field agents and scientists. S.H.I.E.L.D. editions of the Acura MDX, Acura TL, and the Acura ZDX are painted in black and equipped with sophisticated surveillance technology. The military arm of S.H.I.E.L.D. uses a range of surface vehicles suitable for urban security, and aircraft with combat capabilities extending to fighter jets and helicopters. This branch also has access to previously unknown aircraft types.
 * Helicarrier - Airborne aircraft carrier
 * Quinjet - Armed VTOL transport
 * CXD 23 Airborne Mobile Command Station - Airborne command unit
 * Modified 1962 Corvette  - Flying car
 * S.H.I.E.L.D. Railbike
 * S.H.I.E.L.D. Motorcycle
 * S.H.I.E.L.D. SUV

Misc.
S.H.I.E.L.D. scientists work tirelessly both in the lab and in the field to develop new equipment, technologies  and compounds on the fly.

Codes

 * 0-8-4, an object of unknown origin.
 * Clearance Level, the level of a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent.
 * The Index, a short-list of people with special powers.

Projects

 * Avengers Initiative (2009-present)
 * Phase 2 (2009-2011)
 * Project P.E.G.A.S.U.S. (2010-2011)
 * Project Mr. Blue (2010-present)
 * Project Insight (2012 - 2014)

Missions
See for the mission list: List of S.H.I.E.L.D. Missions

Known members
See for more information: List of S.H.I.E.L.D. Members.

Famous agents:
 * Nick Fury, director, cl 10, director
 * Maria Hill, cl 9, deputy director
 * Victoria Hand, cl 8
 * Phil Coulson, cl 8, field officer
 * Anne Weaver, cl 8, academy director
 * Steve Rogers (Captain America), cl 8, specialist and leader of the Avengers
 * Felix Blake, cl 7
 * Clint Barton (Hawkeye), cl 7, specialist
 * Sharon Carter (Agent 13), specialist
 * John Garrett, cl 7, field officer
 * Melinda May (The Cavalry), cl 7, specialist
 * Natasha Romanoff (Black Widow), cl 7, specialist
 * Antoine Triplett, specialist
 * Grant Ward, cl 7, specialist
 * Erik Selvig
 * Jemma Simmons, cl 5, bio-chemist
 * Dr. Streiten
 * Leo Fitz, cl 5, engineer
 * Tony Stark (Iron Man), consultant
 * Skye, cl 1

Allies

 * Avengers
 * Thor
 * Bruce Banner (Hulk)
 * Sif
 * Jane Foster
 * Darcy Lewis
 * Thaddeus Ross
 * Pepper Potts
 * James Rhodes (Iron Patriot)

Enemies

 * Obadiah Stane (Iron Monger) †
 * Samuel Sterns (Leader) (imprisoned and being studied for Project Mr. Blue)
 * Ivan Vanko (Whiplash) †
 * Justin Hammer (imprisoned)


 * Hammer Drones (destroyed)
 * Emil Blonsky (Abomination) (imprisoned)
 * Georgi Luchkov
 * Destroyer (confiscated)
 * Sofia †
 * Loki
 * Chitauri
 * Vanchat (imprisoned)
 * Rising Tide
 * Centipede Project
 * Clairvoyant
 * Debbie †
 * Raina (imprisoned)
 * Scorch †
 * Edison Po †
 * Camilla Reyes (imprisoned)
 * Ian Quinn (imprisoned)
 * Franklin Hall (imprisoned)
 * Norse Paganists
 * Jakob Nystrom (imprisoned)
 * Petra Larsen (imprisoned)
 * Lorelei

Video game only

 * A.I.M.
 * Kearson DeWitt
 * Crimson Dynamo

Trivia

 * A S.H.I.E.L.D. film was planned but it was eventually scrapped and turned into Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D..