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

S.H.I.E.L.D. is a fictional government spy agency featured in comic books published by Marvel Comics. Originally the acronym stood for Supreme Headquarters International Espionage Law-Enforcement Division, but later iterations of the organization saw the name changed to Strategic Homeland Intervention Enforcement and Logistics Division. S.H.I.E.L.D. first appeared in 1965 in the first story in issue #135 of Strange Tales, which is the same issue that brought Nick Fury into the modern era as the new director S.H.I.E.L.D.

S.H.I.E.L.D. had a recurring presence in the shared continuity of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, which included notable films such as Iron Man in 2008, Iron Man 2 in 2010, Captain America: The First Avenger and Thor, both in 2011 and The Avengers in 2012. S.H.I.E.L.D. took the high road in 2013 with it's own TV series Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. on ABC, which was a spin-off of the previous Marvel licensed films.

Origins
S.H.I.E.L.D. was the predominant super-spy agency of the United States. It evolved from the Strategic Scientific Reserve, which served the nation's interests during World War II. The Strategic Scientific Reserve, or SSR, was a top-secret Federal law-enforcement agency founded by Chester Phillips during World War II. It operated in support of the Allied Nations during the war and was headquartered in Washington, D.C. in the United States. One of the S.S.R.'s most dangerous adversaries at this time was the German subversive organization known as HYDRA. In addition to employing trained military officers to serve as front-line agents such as Peggy Carter, the Strategic Scientific Reserve also recruited civilian specialists such as millionaire industrialist and weapons designer Howard Stark. S.H.I.E.L.D. was not an autonomous entity however and was answerable to the authority of the World Security Council.

Due to the traumatic loss of Captain America, S.H.I.E.L.D. directors sought to duplicate the processes that would give them powerful enhanced super-soldiers. Dozens of scientific research programs were instituted to accomplish this goal, all of which fed into a long-term plan classified as The Avengers Initiative.

Infiltration
Virtually from its inception, HYDRA began planting the seeds of corruption within the ranks of S.H.I.E.L.D. They maintained agents at the highest positions of power, but were careful to keep their activities hidden from the upper administration such as Stark and Carter.

Members

 * Alexander Pierce
 * Hank Pym
 * Howard Stark
 * Jasper Sitwell
 * Maria Hill
 * Nick Fury
 * Peggy Carter
 * Phil Coulson

Units

 * The Avengers
 * S.T.R.I.K.E.