S.H.I.E.L.D. is a fictional espionage and law-enforcement agency in the Marvel Comics Universe. Created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby in Strange Tales #135 (Aug. 1965), it often deals with superhuman threats.

The acronym originally stood for Supreme Headquarters, International Espionage, Law-Enforcement Division. It was changed in 1991 to Strategic Hazard Intervention Espionage Logistics Directorate.

Within the various films set within the Marvel Cinematic Universe, as well as in the animated series The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes, the acronym stands for Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division.^[1]

Publication history

S.H.I.E.L.D.'s introduction in the Strange Tales feature "Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D." occurred during a trend for action series about secret international intelligence agencies with catchy acronyms, such as television's The Man from U.N.C.L.E. and James Bond's adversary SPECTRE. Colonel Fury (initially the lead character of Marvel Comics' World War II series Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos) was reimagined as a slightly older character with an eyepatch (which he lacked in his wartime adventures) and appointed head of the organization. Some characters from the Sgt. Fury series reappeared as agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., most notably Timothy "Dum-Dum" Dugan, Fury's bowler hat-wearing aide-de-camp.^[2]

Its most persistent enemy is HYDRA, a criminal organization founded (after some retcon) by Baron Wolfgang von Strucker. Despite that name's capitalization per Marvel's official spelling, HYDRA is not an acronym but a reference to the mythical monster, symbolizing the organization's claim of growing stronger the more it is wounded.

S.H.I.E.L.D. was presented as an extant, full-blown entity in its first appearance and much was revealed over the years to fill in its labyrinthine organizational history. Stan Lee wrote each story, abetted by artist Kirby's co-plotting or full plotting, through Strange Tales #152 (Jan. 1967), except for two issues, one scripted by Kirby himself (#148) and one by Dennis O'Neil (#149). Following an issue scripted by Roy Thomas (#153), and one co-written by Thomas and new series artist Jim Steranko, came the sole-writer debut of soon-to-become industry legend Steranko—who had begun on the feature as a penciller-inker of Kirby layouts in #151 (Dec. 1966), taken over the every-other-issue "Nick Fury" cover art with #153 two months later, and full writing with #155 (April 1967).

Steranko quickly established the feature as one of comics history's most groundbreaking, innovative and acclaimed.^[3] The 12-page feature ran through Strange Tales #168 (sharing that "split book" with the occult feature "Doctor Strange" each issue), after which it was spun off onto its own series of the same title, running 15 issues (June 1968–Nov. 1969), followed by three all-reprint issues beginning a year later (Nov. 1970–March 1971). Steranko wrote and drew issues #1–3 and #5, and drew the covers of #1–7.

New S.H.I.E.L.D. stories would not appear for nearly two decades after the first solo title. A six-issue miniseries, Nick Fury vs. S.H.I.E.L.D. (June–Nov. 1988) was followed by Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. (vol. 2). This second series lasted 47 issues (Sept. 1989–May 1993); its pivotal story arc was "the Deltite Affair", in which many S.H.I.E.L.D. agents were replaced with Life Model Decoy androids in a takeover attempt.

A year after that series ended, the one-shot Fury (May 1994) retconned the events of those previous two series, recasting them as a series of staged events designed to distract Fury from the resurrection plans of HYDRA head von Strucker. The following year, writer Howard Chaykin and penciler Corky Lehmkuhl produced the four-issue miniseries Fury of S.H.I.E.L.D. (April–July 1995). Various publications have additionally focused on Nick Fury's solo adventures, such as the graphic novels and one-shots Wolverine—Nick Fury: The Scorpio Connection (1989), Wolverine/Nick Fury: Scorpio Rising (Oct. 1994), Fury/Black Widow: Death Duty and Captain America/Nick Fury: Blood Truce (both Feb. 1995), and Captain America/Nick Fury: The Otherworld War (Oct. 2001).

Fictional history

S.H.I.E.L.D. was created by Nicholas Joseph Fury after the end of World War II, but Fury abandoned the idea and left the draft that he created for the agency locked away, feeling the U.S. government wouldn't approve the formation of such an agency. At some unspecified point around this time, however, a United Nations-based international group dusted off the idea without Fury's knowledge. His recruitment to the post of executive director (the agency's second) marked his first knowledge of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s existence.

Usually led by Nick Fury as executive director (although he reports to a twelve-member council, whose identities even he does not know), this organization often operates as much as a covert agency as a quasi-military one, initially depicted as affiliated with the United States government. Later, S.H.I.E.L.D. was depicted as under the jurisdiction of the United Nations, with vast technological resources at its disposal, with U.N. General Assembly Resolutions and legislation passed in signatory nations aiding many of their operations.^[4][5] However, S.H.I.E.L.D. has been inconsistently portrayed as under U.S., rather than U.N., control, possibly by writers unaware of the agency's fictional history. For instance, in Astonishing X-Men #3, Nick Fury explains S.H.I.E.L.D.'s inaction during an incident of genocide by stating that it did not occur on American soil.^[6]

During the time that Godzilla roamed the United States, S.H.I.E.L.D. formed a subunit, the "Godzilla Squad" to hunt the creature down, until it disappeared into the Atlantic sea. This unit, led by Dum Dum Dugan, employed such weapons as a giant robot called Red Ronin and a smaller version of the Helicarrier, known as The Behemoth.

One of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s unique technological innovations, the LMD (Life Model Decoy)—an extremely lifelike android used to replace people in imminent danger of being killed—was the basis for two major upheavals. First, the supervillain Scorpio stole the technology and used it to create the second team of villains called the Zodiac. Later, some LMDs known as the Deltites achieved sentience and infiltrated S.H.I.E.L.D., replacing key members, until Fury defeated them. This led to the disbanding of the original organization and its replacement by a new task force with the same acronym under the control of the U.N.

In the wake of a disastrous unauthorized mission in Latveria, Fury effectively resigned as executive director, with international warrants out for his arrest. His first successor was not one of his closer associates but a relatively unknown newcomer to the S.H.I.E.L.D. hierarchy, Maria Hill. A transcript of a conversation between Hill and the President of the United States^[7] revealed she was chosen for the post by United Nations consensus to keep Fury loyalists out of the job and to keep relations with the superhero community to a minimum. The President also expected Hill — an American — to be loyal first to the U.S., despite S.H.I.E.L.D. being a U.N.-chartered organization.

The passage of the United States' Superhuman Registration Act and the subsequent superhero "Civil War" created an additional political and ethical irritant between S.H.I.E.L.D. and the superhuman community, with S.H.I.E.L.D. tasked to lead enforcement and to take on registered superheroes as operatives.^[8]

Toward the end of the conflict, Hill concluded she had been made director with the intent that she fail at the job, and she proposes to Tony Stark that he assume the post himself, with her as deputy. Stark accepts the appointment as director upon the conclusion of the superhuman Civil War, and undertakes a series of initiatives, including the construction of a new gold-and-red Helicarrier in the motif of his Iron Man armor designs, the introduction of a daycare center in the Helicarrier, and an employee suggestion-box. While accused of treating S.H.I.E.L.D. as a Stark Industries subsidiary, he succeeded in streamlining the organization and raising morale.^[9] S.H.I.E.L.D. fought a wave of global superhuman terrorism and was manipulated into two international incidents that almost saw Director Stark arrested, until they revealed the Mandarin to be behind it and stopped him from committing genocide with an Extremis pathogen.

At the start of the Secret Invasion by the extraterrestrial shape-shifting race the Skrulls, the Helicarrier is disabled by a Skrull virus and left floating and disabled in the Bermuda Triangle.^[10] The Skrulls by this point have already replaced a large number of S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, including the high-ranking Timothy "Dum-Dum" Dugan.^[11] After the invasion is repelled, the President of the United States decides to dissolve S.H.I.E.L.D.,^[12] and has it, the Fifty State Initiative, and the Avengers replaced by the Thunderbolts Initiative, which is placed under the supervision of Norman Osborn.^[13]

Osborn uses the opportunity to transform S.H.I.E.L.D. into a new organization called "H.A.M.M.E.R.", formed by loyal agents of the Thunderbolts Initiative as well as former agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. as well as HYDRA.^[14] The Thunderbolts are officially disbanded in the process as well and turned into a black-ops force that answers only to Osborn. Meanwhile, H.A.M.M.E.R. also operates alongside the newest, and only government-sponsored Avengers team, the Dark Avengers.^[15]

After the Invasion, Nick Fury discovers that S.H.I.E.L.D. itself had been under the control of the terrorist organization HYDRA ostensibly from its very beginning.^[12]

After the conclusion of the Secret Warriors ongoing series, S.H.I.E.L.D. was reformed with Nick Fury leaving it under the control of its new Director Daisy Johnson (codenamed Quake).^[16] The new S.H.I.E.L.D. subsequently saved US Army Ranger Marcus Johnson from mercenaries hired by the Leviathan. When he discovered that he was the son of Nick Fury, Marcus and his army friend Phil Coulson joined the storied security agency.^[17]

As part of the Marvel NOW! event, Maria Hill and the rest of S.H.I.E.L.D. were able to form their incarnation of the Secret Avengers after a mysterious traveler from the future attacked a battalion of S.H.I.E.L.D. Agents before he was killed.^[18]

Organizational structure and procedure

Over the decades, various writers have depicted S.H.I.E.L.D.'s organizational structure in several different ways. The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe (first edition) describes an eight-level ranking structure (technician, administrator, field agent, regional officer, special officer, regional director, special director, executive director), although providing almost no detail on other aspects of the Directorate's internal makeup. Years later, the miniseries Agents of Atlas mentioned a position of "sub director," and seemed to indicate that the administrative department of S.H.I.E.L.D. it itself referred to simply as "Directorate.".

Most of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s agents are normal humans. At one point the organization attempted to set up a team of superhuman agents, composed of Marvel Man (the future Quasar), Texas Twister, Blue Streak and the Vamp but the latter two were secretly agents of the criminal organization The Corporation, and the team broke apart before it had its first official mission. A second team organized years later also lasted only a short while.

S.H.I.E.L.D. does employ some superhumans, including in its Psi-Division, composed of telepathic agents who deal with like menaces. S.H.I.E.L.D. also obtains help from independent heroes when their special abilities are needed. It has also accepted some superheroes and supervillains as members, but not in a separate unit. (See "Membership")

Its headquarters is the Helicarrier, a massive flying aircraft carrier kept airborne at all times and, among other things, containing a squadron of jet fighters and housing an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM). In addition, S.H.I.E.L.D. maintains strong ties to the superhero community, especially Captain America, the Avengers, and the Fantastic Four, and often calls upon that community for aid on particular missions.

In the 2000s, depictions of S.H.I.E.L.D. imply a hierarchy of security clearance levels used either in place of, or alongside, the previously described rank structure. The security-clearance hierarchy operates on a scale ranging from "Level One", the lowest, to "Level Ten", described by Maria Hill, executive director at the time, as the highest security clearance anyone of any government can have. Hill's own clearance, cited in the New Avengers ongoing series, was Level Nine.

The first story arc in the series New Avengers "Breakout", revealed an additional ranking, "Champion Status", that effectively removes them from the traditional S.H.I.E.L.D. hierarchy and, as Captain America comments, gives status-holders such as himself the right to assemble any team to carry out any mission he believes necessary.^{[volume & issue needed]} In addition, Nick Fury is the only "33rd-degree" S.H.I.E.L.D officer, meaning he is the only member of S.H.I.E.L.D, present or past, to know the full existence of 28 emergency, covert, back-up bases scattered across the globe.^{[volume & issue needed]}

Equipment

S.H.I.E.L.D. has used a wide variety of advanced vehicles, weapons and other equipment.

The S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier is the agency's signature capital ship and headquarters.

The S.H.I.E.L.D. Flying Car is the standard issue S.H.I.E.L.D. vehicle.

The S.H.I.E.L.D. regulation issue sidearm was originally a .30-caliber rapid-fire machine pistol, later replaced by an advanced plasma-beam pistol. Nick Fury often carried his personal sidearm, the NF3000, a .15 caliber handgun, a weapon that fired explosive flechettes.

Prominent members

Throughout its existence, S.H.I.E.L.D. has been most prominently led by Nick Fury, with Maria Hill succeeding him in mid-2000s stories. She voluntarily stepped down in a 2007 story, becoming deputy director to Tony Stark. Other historically prominent members, who have appeared from the earliest stories to the modern day, include Thaddeus "Dum Dum" Dugan and Gabriel "Gabe" Jones, both veterans of Fury's World War II Howling Commandos, though their youthful longevity has not, unlike Fury's, been explained in Marvel continuity; Contessa Valentina Allegra di Fontaine;^[19] Clay Quartermain (Agent 9); Jacob Strzeszewski (Agent 10); Jasper Sitwell (Agent 12); and Sharon Carter (Agent 13), all introduced in the 1960s; and Jimmy Woo, introduced in the 1950s comic Yellow Claw and reintroduced in the ' 60s.

Prior to the events of the Civil War, Captain America estimated there to be 3,000 agents on active duty.^[20]

Bases of operation

Although the various Helicarriers built over the years have long been considered S.H.I.E.L.D.'s primary mobile home base, the Directorate also maintains a number of land bases throughout the world, most notably "S.H.I.E.L.D. Central" in New York City. While some of these bases are publicly accessible on a limited basis, most are not publicly disclosed for reasons of planetary security. There are several fully equipped S.H.I.E.L.D. fall-out shelters scattered around the world, with twenty-eight of these being known only to Nick Fury. During the events of Civil War, Nick Fury was hiding in an American based shelter. He also divulged the location of one to Captain America, so the Resistance to the Superhuman Registration Act could use it as a safe house.

Related organizations

A.R.M.O.R.

A.R.M.O.R. (Altered-Reality Monitoring and Operational Response) is a sister agency to S.H.I.E.L.D. that monitors alternate reality incursions into Earth-616. It was introduced in the Marvel Zombies 3 limited series, written by Fred Van Lente. Van Lente stated that A.R.M.O.R. "has existed with them this whole time, but it's been so incredibly secret that no one at Marvel knew about it".^[21] In the comics it is stated that A.R.M.O.R. is so secret that it 'makes S.W.O.R.D. look like S.H.I.E.L.D., and S.H.I.E.L.D. look like the Post Office'.^[22] During Dark Reign, A.R.M.O.R. operates under the oversight of H.A.M.M.E.R. but Osborn wanted to fully absorb A.R.M.O.R. into H.A.M.M.E.R. They were able to keep out of Osborn's clutches when their newest agent, Lyra downloaded incriminating evidence against him.^[23]

H.A.M.M.E.R.

H.A.M.M.E.R. replaces S.H.I.E.L.D. after it is dissolved when Norman Osborn is appointed the new head following the conclusion of the Skrull attack.^[15] It was not established what H.A.M.M.E.R. stands for; in Dark Avengers #1, Osborn told Victoria Hand, the new Deputy Director, that it does stand for something, and when she asked what it stands for, he told her, "Get to work on it for me. That is one of the many things on your 'To Do' list".^[15] Former S.H.I.E.L.D. agents and members of HYDRA are hired as agents. H.A.M.M.E.R. promotes Osborn's personal team of Avengers, a group composed mostly of former Thunderbolts members and former members of the Mighty Avengers. Osborn also eliminates all of Tony Stark's influence on S.H.I.E.L.D., including the Cape-Killer Armor and the Red and Gold Helicarrier. He also replaces all agents loyal to Nick Fury, Captain America, or Iron Man with agents loyal to himself. Also, in the Captain America: Reborn Prelude, when Sin, who is captured by H.A.M.M.E.R, asks what it stands for, the agent present says that it's classified and she does not have a security clearance.^[24]

S.T.R.I.K.E.

S.T.R.I.K.E. (Special Tactical Response for International Key Emergencies) was a British agency, unrelated to but run along similar lines to S.H.I.E.L.D.. Disbanded after being infiltrated and taken over by a criminal organization, one of its members was the future X-Man Psylocke. It was introduced in Marvel UK's Captain Britain #17 (Feb. 2, 1977).

EuroM.I.N.D.

EuroM.I.N.D. (European Monitoring Investigation and Enforcement Division) is a European subdivision of S.H.I.E.L.D. that later fell under the control of the S.H.A.P.E. (Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe) council. EuroM.I.N.D.'s director is François Borillon.^[25] Its agents include the science reconnaissance group Eurolab and the combat specialist Task Force group, who both then merged into one group known as Euroforce.

S.W.O.R.D.

S.W.O.R.D. (Sentient World Observation and Response Department), works with S.H.I.E.L.D. but specializes in extraterrestrial threats. It is first introduced in Astonishing X-Men (vol. 3) #6 (Dec. 2004), written by Joss Whedon. Dialogue in the stories depicting both organizations has been ambiguous on whether S.W.O.R.D. is a branch of S.H.I.E.L.D. or a sister agency.

Agent Abigail Brand, the S.W.O.R.D. agent the X-Men encountered, has green hair, a trait typical of agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s archenemy, HYDRA. This unusual characteristic did not go unremarked; Wolverine referred to her as "HYDRA-Hair" in Astonishing X-Men (vol. 3) #6.

A similar group as S.W.O.R.D., likewise affiliated with the U.N., is Starcore, which has worked with S.H.I.E.L.D. on several projects of joint interest, including establishing and maintaining a crewed facility on Earth's Moon.

Titles

S.H.I.E.L.D.
S.H.I.E.L.D. #1 (June 2010) Cover art by Gerald Parel.
Publication information
Publisher	Marvel Comics
Schedule	Monthly
Genre	Spy, superhero
Publication date	April 2010 – February 2012
No. of issues	11
Main character(s)	Brotherhood of Shield: Archimedes Galileo Galilei Jābir ibn Hayyān Zhang Heng Imhotep Isaac Newton Nostradamus Nathaniel Richards Howard Stark Leonardo Da Vinci Leonid
Creative team
Written by	Jonathan Hickman
Artist(s)	Dustin Weaver
Letterer(s)	Todd Klein
Colorist(s)	Christina Strain
Editor(s)	Daniel Ketchum Irene Lee Nick Lowe

S.H.I.E.L.D. (2010)

S.H.I.E.L.D. is a 2010 comic book series that is currently on hiatus published by Marvel Comics, premiering with a first issue cover dated June 2010. It details the secret history of the occult organization S.H.I.E.L.D. The series is written by Jonathan Hickman and drawn by Dustin Weaver.^[26][27][28]

Plot

The series details the secret history of an occult organization called the Brotherhood of the Shield, with a history extending back to ancient Egypt.

The main story of the first issue is set in 1953 shortly after the death of Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin, during the height of the Cold War. Shield agents Nathaniel Richards and Howard Stark enlist a young man named Leonid with unspecified superpowers into the organization, taking him to Shield's High Council in the Immortal City under Rome. The High Council reveals that they know "the final fate of Man", and their mission is to ensure nothing threatens the world before this occurs. They have chosen Leonid because he has a destiny. Flashbacks reveal that the Shield was founded by Imhotep following a battle (alongside Apocalypse and the original Moon Knight) against the Brood, and that previous agents include Zhang Heng (who tricked a Celestial into using the sun to give birth to its child instead of destroying the Earth or the Moon to do so), Galileo Galilei (who fought against Galactus) and Leonardo Da Vinci (who is shown with a mysterious device, flying off in an ornithopter).^[29]

Leonid spends three years working with the Shield before being visited by his father, a superhuman named the Night Machine who has encountered the Shield before, and apparently been killed by them.^{[volume & issue needed]} The Night Machine gives Leonid the key to a secret area of the headquarters, saying his destiny cannot be dictated by others.^{[volume & issue needed]} The issue ends with Leonid meeting Da Vinci, who has apparently traveled through time to use his device to save the world.^{[volume & issue needed]} Da Vinci's return was met with resistance from Isaac Newton who saw it as a threat to his reign as leader of the organization.^{[volume & issue needed]} This eventually leads to a great schism that divides the Shield into two factions; one led by Da Vinci and one led by Newton. Meanwhile, the child of a Celestial, the Star Child, is picked up by Da Vinci from the sun. ^[30]

Also connected to the story are Renaissance man Michelangelo who as The Forever Man has amazing superhuman powers of time and space manipulation and Nostradamus who was tortured by Newton to tell the future for centuries. It is later discovered that The Night Machine is really Nikola Tesla who received his cybernetic implants from Michelangelo.^[31] Tesla is also discovered to be Leonid's adoptive father and that his biological father was Newton. The reader learns that Newton murdered Galileo Galilei and a host of others to meet his needs.^[32]

Night Machine, Stark, and Richards return to the City, and put a stop to the conflict by deciding to put the decision to Leonid on how is right, he chooses Da Vinci. Newton escapes to the future^[33] The second volume ends at issue 4, with the last two series not being published.

Other versions

Mutant X

S.H.I.E.L.D. was mentioned briefly in the Mutant X alternate universe series as a murderous anti-mutant group. S.H.I.E.L.D. stood for Saviours of Humanity by Intervention in the Evolution of Life-form Deviants.^[34] Their story is elaborated on later as one of their own gains powers.^[35]

S.A.F.E.

Introduced in Marvel's line of novels in the mid-1990s, S.A.F.E. (Strategic Action For Emergencies) is the United States' answer to S.H.I.E.L.D. It first appeared in Spider-Man & the Incredible Hulk: Rampage (Doom's Day Book 1), and may not be part of comics canon, although the novels it appears in have been referred to several times in Marvel's Handbooks. Whereas S.H.I.E.L.D. is a U.N.-chartered organization dealing with international incidents, S.A.F.E. is tasked with similar duties inside America's borders. It is run by Colonel Sean Morgan. A prominently featured agent is Joshua Ballard, who, among other things, survived an encounter with Doctor Doom and later Baron Zemo.

In the novel Secret of the Sinister Six, S.A.F.E. agent Clyde Fury (no relation to Nick Fury) distinguishes between espionage agencies (such as S.H.I.E.L.D.) and strategic action specialists such as S.A.F.E.

H.A.T.E.

H.A.T.E. stands for the Highest Anti Terrorism Effort. It is a parody of S.H.I.E.L.D. created for Marvel Comics' 12-issue series Nextwave by comics author Warren Ellis. The leader of H.A.T.E., General Dirk Anger is a parody of Nick Fury. This series depicts H.A.T.E. as being a secretive organization with suspect motives led by the madman, Anger, who has self-control and sexual issues.

House of M

In an alternate reality where mutants rule over humans, S.H.I.E.L.D. was staffed completely with mutants, all serving the House of Magnus on Genosha. Sebastian Shaw is the Executive Director of S.H.I.E.L.D., Wolverine is in charge of the House of Magnus' Red Guard (Agents Rogue, Jessica Drew, Kurt Wagner, Mortimer Toynbee, and Raven Darkholme) and the Marauders are S.H.I.E.L.D.'s black ops unit.^{[volume & issue needed]}

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

S.H.I.E.L.D. in the Ultimate Marvel parallel universe was first led by General "Thunderbolt" Ross. During the Gulf War, the Weapon X Project, headed by Colonel John Wraith, was sanctioned by S.H.I.E.L.D. and resulted in the creation of Wolverine.

After Ross' apparent death, Nick Fury was then selected as the organization's executive director. His first actions were to shut down Weapon X and resurrect the Super Soldier program, commissioning Dr. Bruce Banner to try to recreate the formula that made Captain America. This failed and resulted in the creation of the Hulk when Banner injected his serum into himself. It was later revealed that the chemical called Oz, which turned Norman Osborn into the Green Goblin, was also created in hopes of recreating the Super Soldier formula. Spider-Man was also a product of the Oz formula. Also, the creation of the supervillains Sandman and Electro are due to Hammer Industries attempting to recreate the Super Soldier formula for S.H.I.E.L.D.. S.H.I.E.L.D. created its own superhero team, the Ultimates. Later still, it brought the X-Men and Spider-Man under S.H.I.E.L.D. jurisdiction. In Ultimate X-Men #65 (Jan. 2006), S.H.I.E.L.D. severed ties with the X-Men. After the events of Ultimate Power, S.H.I.E.L.D. is under the directorship of Carol Danvers, as Nick Fury was temporarily stranded in the Supreme Power Universe. After "Ultimatum", Nick Fury becomes head of the Black-Ops division in Ultimate Comics: Avengers. It is also revealed he is plotting to take back his position as director.^[36]

In the Ultimate Marvel universe, S.H.I.E.L.D. is controlled entirely by the United States, but maintains ties with the European Defense Initiative and the British-operated S.T.R.I.K.E..

Members

Divisions

• Psi
• Black-Ops
• Eye

In other media

• S.H.I.E.L.D.'s first television appearance was in the Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends episode "Mission: Save the Guardstar."
• S.H.I.E.L.D. made several appearances in the 90's Spider-Man animated series, beginning in the first season episode "Day of the Chameleon". Nick Fury, voiced by Phillip Abbott in his first appearance, and Jack Angel in all subsequent episodes, appeared in all of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s appearances. Agent 1 (later renamed Agent X) was the only other identified agent; she was portrayed by Rachel Davies.
• S.H.I.E.L.D. helicarrier is the headquarters for The Super Hero Squad Show animated series, which began airing in 2009.
• Nick Fury and agent Phil Coulson appear in Ultimate Spider-Man.^[37] The series itself revolves around a S.H.I.E.L.D. training program for young superheroes consisting of Spider-Man, White Tiger, Power Man, Iron Fist and Nova.
• In 1998, there was a Nick Fury: Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. TV movie starring David Hasselhoff.
• S.H.I.E.L.D. appears in several films set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It is referenced in Iron Man, when Agent Phil Coulson attempts to talk with Tony Stark about his escape from captivity.
  • S.H.I.E.L.D. is featured in the 2012 film The Avengers.^[38] Nick Fury, Phil Coulson, Natasha Romanoff and Clint Barton appear^[39] as well as S.H.I.E.L.D. Deputy Director Maria Hill (Cobie Smulders).^[40] A substantial part of the film takes place within the S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier.
• S.H.I.E.L.D. has a prominent role in Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2.
• A S.H.I.E.L.D. television series was greenlit by ABC in 2012.^[41]

Depictions in translation

S.H.I.E.L.D. stories have been translated into several other languages, including French, Finnish and Italian. Occasionally, these translations will show S.H.I.E.L.D. with an altered name.

In the case of selected French editions, the name of the agency was depicted as S.E.R.V.O., which sounds like "brain" (cerveau) in French.

In Finnish the name that applies to S.H.I.E.L.D. in mainstream Marvel continuity is Y.P.K.V.V. (Ylimmäisen Päämajan Kansainvälisen Vakoilun Vastustamisjaos), a direct translation of the original English. In translations of the Ultimate Marvel comics, the name is K.I.L.P.I., with "kilpi" being the translation for the word (as opposed to the acronym) "shield".

In Greek, the organization name is Α.Σ.Π.Ι.Δ.Α. (pronounced ASPIDA, meaning "shield" in Greek). The initials stand for Supreme Military and Political Foundation of International Counter-espionage (Ανώτατο Στρατιωτικό Πολιτικό Ίδρυμα Διεθνούς Αντικατασκοπέιας)

In Portuguese, the name S.H.I.E.L.D. remains, but it is translated as "Superintendência Humana de Intervenção, Espionagem, Logística e Dissuasão", i. e., Human Superintendence for Intervention, Espionage, Logistics and Dissuasion.

In Dutch the name S.C.H.I.L.D. (schild = shield) has been used by the publisher Williams, but was dropped by Junior Press in favor of S.H.I.E.L.D.

In Mexico, it was translated by La Prensa and later Novedades, as C.I.D.E.L., Centro Internacional De Espionaje Legal (International Center Of Legal Espionage), but later Novedades changed the acronym to C.S.E.I., Cuartel Supremo de Espionaje e Inteligencia (Supreme Headquarters of Espionage and Intelligence)

In Spain, initial publisher Vértice translated S.H.I.E.L.D. as "Escudo" (always without a determinant), but never showed the meaning. Later publisher Planeta DeAgostini used the name S.H.I.E.L.D., but translating the acronym as "Organización Internacional para la Ejecución y el Cumplimiento de la Ley" (international organisation for implementation and fulfillment of law). It has been suggested, as a joke, that the acronym does not correspond to the meaning because the acronym itself is undercover. Now, Panini translates the acronym as "Servicio Homologado de Inteligencia, Espionaje, Logística y Defensa" (Accredited Service of Intelligence, Espionage, Logistics, and Defense) to keep the original acronym.

In Danish, S.H.I.E.L.D. was originally known as S.K.J.O.L.D., "Skjold" being the Danish word for a shield, though the meaning of the abbreviation would differ.

In Russian, S.H.I.E.L.D. is named Щ.И.Т. (pronounced SCHIT; "shield" in Russian) or З.А.Щ.И.Т.А. (ZASCHITA, meaning "protection"). This name often describes as Sixth Intervention Logistics Agency (Шестая Интервенционная Тактико-оперативная логистическая служба).