Diviner

"Not everything we dug out of the ground was an antique, my friend. Some of it was quite advanced." "Is this the reason these men...? Hmm?" "Ja. The Red Skull said it may hold the answer... the answer to death itself."

- Reinhardt and HYDRA Officer

The Obelisk is an alien artifact that was procured in World War II by HYDRA before being confiscated by the Strategic Scientific Reserve.

World War II
The Obelisk was a highly potent artifact, possibly of alien origin, that was discovered in World War II amongst a cache of objects that included the corpse of an alien organism. The Obelisk killed anyone who touched it by sending powerful electric currents through the body, instantly numbing and incinerating the victim from the afflicted area through the rest of the body. The Obelisk, along with the rest of the objects in the cache, was recovered by the Strategic Scientific Reserve, and kept in storage by S.H.I.E.L.D. for the following decades. The Obelisk came to be known as the first 0-8-4.

Retrieving the Artifact
"I can't let go!"

- Isabelle Hartley

After the dissolution of S.H.I.E.L.D., the Obelisk was stored by the United States Government in a facility supervised by Glenn Talbot. Daniel Whitehall, the HYDRA agent who originally discovered the Obelisk in 1945, hired Carl Creel to retrieve it for him. However, a small group of former S.H.I.E.L.D. operatives discovered it first, resulting in a scuffle with Creel. During the altercation, Agent Isabelle Hartley grabbed the Obelisk and succumbed to its effects, forcing Agent Lance Hunter to amputate her hand to keep it from killing her. She died anyway, though, when Creel attacked their SUV and then made off with the Obelisk.