- "The file came from these coordinates."
"So did I." - ―Natasha Romanoff and Steve Rogers[src]
Wheaton is a town in the U.S. state of New Jersey.
History[]
Project Rebirth[]
- "When you brought a ninety-pound asthmatic onto my army base, I let it slide. I thought, what the hell? Maybe he'll be useful to you, like a gerbil. I never thought you'd pick him."
- ―Chester Phillips to Abraham Erskine[src]
In 1914, Camp Lehigh was established in Wheaton to be used by the Strategic Scientific Reserve as a military training facility for the candidates sent by Abraham Erskine and Chester Phillips for Project Rebirth.[1]
Erskine pressured himself to find a perfect candidate, as his Super Soldier Serum brought out the inner qualities of the individual. The forced use of the serum on Johann Schmidt haunted Erskine, but he would not let pressure force his decision. Erskine reminded Phillips that he never wrote down the actual formula of the serum so Schmidt had no choice but to keep him alive, so now it was Erskine's choice to find a suitable candidate.[2]
Eventually, Erskine found a young Steve Rogers, who was brought to the camp as Erskine's primary candidate, although everyone realized that he didn't match with the rest of the candidates. Agent Peggy Carter introduced herself as the overseer of every operation carried out by the Strategic Scientific Reserve, and rapidly established her authority when questioned for being both English and a woman.
Colonel Phillips gave a motivational speech to the men, being distraught by Rogers' sickly and frail appearance, and explained the purpose of the Strategic Scientific Reserve and of Project Rebirth, trying to create an army of Super-Soldiers to personally escort Adolf Hitler to Hell.
The candidates, including Phillis' personal favorite Gilmore Hodge, began a hard week of training under the supervision of sergeant Michael Duffy, with Rogers being constantly obstructed by his colleagues. However, Rogers impressed everyone with his different approach to situations, such as when he managed to retrieve Camp Lehigh's flag from a pole for the first time in history by simply letting the pole fall instead of climbing it.
Phillips, disagreeing with Erskine's choice of Rogers as his primary candidate, tried to make him change his mind, and choose Hodges as the best soldier, but Erskine dismissed him, describing Hodges as a bully. To prove that Rogers was not a suitable candidate as he lacked bravery needed for a soldier, Phillips threw a fake grenade among the candidates during a training exercise. Rogers used his body as a shield to protect everyone from the possible explosion while Hodges hid himself, causing Phillips to acquiesce to Erskine's decision for Rogers' inclusion.
Erskine visited Rogers the night before the project's start-up, and Rogers wondered why he was chosen. Erskine told Rogers how the Nazis managed to seize political power in Germany, and how Hitler found about him and his work. Hitler coerced Erskine sending HYDRA's leader, Johann Schmidt, and how he was the first test subject for Erskine's formula, that, at the time, was not finished. As the serum amplified the inner characteristics of the individual, Rogers' strong morals and values made him the most suitable candidate.
Erskine then tried to drink a toast with Rogers, before realizing that Rogers could not drink alcohol before being administered with the serum, so Erskine ended up drinking both sips after making Rogers promise that he would be a good man whatever happened during the procedure.[1]
S.H.I.E.L.D. Office[]
- "This is S.H.I.E.L.D."
"Maybe where it started." - ―Natasha Romanoff and Steve Rogers[src]
Following World War II, Camp Lehigh in Wheaton was transformed into one of the first S.H.I.E.L.D. facilities, with a main office disguised as an ammunition bunker. One of the rooms displayed framed portraits of the organization's founders: Howard Stark, Peggy Carter and Chester Phillips.[3]
Brain of Arnim Zola[]
- "You are standing in my brain."
"How did you get here?"
"Invited." - ―Arnim Zola and Steve Rogers[src]
Arnim Zola, recruited into S.H.I.E.L.D. during Operation Paperclip, was diagnosed with a terminal disease in 1972. In order to preserve his mind and serving the purposes of HYDRA, Zola devised a method to save his mind in a series of computers, establishing a large room underneath the S.H.I.E.L.D. bunker at Camp Lehigh.
Zola transferred his mind to two hundred thousand feet of data banks, and the room become essentially his brain. From this room, he designed an algorithm to be used as the targeting software for Project Insight, that was later transferred to the Lemurian Star.[3]
Destruction of Camp Lehigh[]
- "This is a dead end. Zero heat signature, zero waves, not even radio."
- ―Natasha Romanoff to Steve Rogers[src]
Steve Rogers and Natasha Romanoff arrived at Camp Lehigh, the source of the files contained retrieved in the Lemurian Star, and Rogers revealed it was the military base where he was trained during World War II. Rogers had flashbacks of his time there while wandering through the base, nostalgically remembering how he trained as hard as he could before being administered the Super Soldier Serum.
Romanoff found no traces of heat signatures or signals that could reveal the exact source of the data, and guessed that whoever wrote the file must had used a router to hide his signal. However, Rogers noticed a building that should not have been there, an ammunition bunker located near the barracks against army regulations.
As they entered the bunker and turned on the lights, Rogers and Romanoff noticed it was actually a S.H.I.E.L.D. office, and wandered inside finding a room displaying portraits of Howard Stark, Peggy Carter and Chester Phillips. Romanoff recognized Stark, but asked who Carter was, something Rogers did not reply.
Rogers approached a suspicious bookshelf, feeling the wind was blowing behind it, and wondered what was the need to hide a elevator in an already secret office as he moved the bookshelf and revealed an elevator. In the basement, the two entered a room with a large amount of old computers, with Romanoff guessing the technology was too old to be the source of the files.
However, Romanoff suddenly noticed a small flash drive port, and placed the flash drive in it, activating the central computer. Suddenly, the system started to speak, pointing a camera to them and calling both Rogers and Romanoff by their real names and revealing their years of birth. Romanoff wondered if it was some kind of a recording, but the system said it was not, and revealed his actual identity as that of Arnim Zola.
Rogers revealed who Zola was, a German scientist who worked for Red Skull, but who had died years before. However, Zola corrected him, first by acknowledging that he was a Swiss citizen, and that now he was more alive than ever. Zola explained how his mind was transferred to the computers as he received a terminal diagnosis in 1972, and how he was recruited by S.H.I.E.L.D. during Operation Paperclip.
Zola also explained how he used his position within S.H.I.E.L.D. to rebuild HYDRA inside the organization, and fulfilled its original belief, world domination while removing the freedom of humanity. However, as World War II taught them that they would resist if freedom was taken by force, HYDRA fed crisis and war in the world in order to make humanity willingly surrender its own freedom, shaping history and changing it.
Romanoff could not believe that S.H.I.E.L.D. had been unable to stop them, and Zola admitted they resorted to eliminate all threats to HYDRA, such as Howard Stark or Nick Fury, whose assassinations were organized by HYDRA.
Zola continued his speech by saying that the world was finally so chaotic that humanity was to sacrifice its freedom to gain its security, and HYDRA will purify the world to establish a new world order.
Rogers angrily asked about the contents of the flash drive from the Lemurian Star, and Zola answered it was an algorithm to provide the insight needed for Project Insight, acknowledging it was fascinating, though they would be dead by the time he explained it.
Suddenly, the doors of the room started to close, and though Rogers tries to stop them by throwing his shield in between, he was too late. Romanoff detected a short-range missile thrown by S.H.I.E.L.D., and Zola revealed he had been stalling them.
Romanoff quickly retrieved the flash drive out of the port and Rogers managed to locate a small opening on the ground, where he entered with Romanoff and protected her with his shield from the explosion. Both survived the explosion, and Rogers cleared a path out of the debris to escape the facility as a group of STRIKE agents led by Brock Rumlow arrived to retrieve them.
As Rumlow saw a footprint indicating they managed to survive and escape, he contacted HYDRA in order to call in their asset.[3]
New Jersey AvengerCon[]
To be added[4]
Alternate Universes[]
Steve Rogers' Candidacy[]
- "Our goal is to create the finest army in history."
- ―Chester Phillips[src]
In an alternate universe, Steve Rogers, Gilmore Hodges, and several other soldiers were selected as potential candidates for Project Rebirth and brought to Camp Lehigh in Wheaton. The soldiers signed last will and testament documents and were introduced to Chester Phillips, Peggy Carter, and Abraham Erskine. The soldiers did training exercises, including an obstacle course. However, during the training, Hodges placed further obstacles in Rogers' way, impeding his efforts to finish the course. This led Hodges to be dismissed as a candidate for Rebirth, and Erskine to choose Rogers. Phillips tried to prove that Hodges was better by throwing a dummy grenade toward the candidates, but when Rogers responded by jumping on top of it, it became clear that Rogers was the best choice. The rest of the soldiers were then sent home as Rogers was told that he would be injected with a Super Soldier Serum. That night, Erskine explained to Rogers that he was chosen because he was a good person.[5]
Time Heist[]
In 2023, the Avengers used the Quantum Realm to travel back in time in order to retrieve the six Infinity Stones. After failing to acquire the Tesseract in an alternate 2012, Steve Rogers and Tony Stark traveled to Camp Lehigh on April 7, 1970 in order to steal the Tesseract, along with more Pym Particles, arriving in an alternate 1970 in the process. After stealing the cube, Stark encountered his father. While trying to escape the camp's guards, Rogers accidentally entered Peggy Carter's office and noticed her on the other side of a window. Rogers and Stark then met up with each other and left.[6]
Zombie Apocalypse[]
- "That location look familiar, Agent Carter?"
"It's Camp Lehigh in New Jersey. S.H.I.E.L.D.'s first base of operations." - ―Bucky Barnes and Sharon Carter[src]
To be added
Appearances[]
In chronological order:
- Captain America: The First Avenger
- Avengers: Endgame (alternate 1970)
- Avengers: Endgame (mentioned; alternate 2012)
- Captain America: The Winter Soldier
- What If...?
- Season One
- What If... Ultron Won? (mentioned; alternate universe)
- What If... Zombies?! (alternate universe)
- Season One
- The Falcon and The Winter Soldier
- Season One
- New World Order (screen)
- One World, One People (screen)
- Season One
- Ms. Marvel
Trivia[]
- Wheaton was the first fully fictional town in the Marvel Cinematic Universe that has appeared more than once.
- Wheaton may be based on the real-life town of Wrightstown, a small town located just outside Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst in New Jersey.
