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

S.H.I.E.L.D. (Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division) was an international peacekeeping, law enforcement, and counter-terrorism agency sanctioned by the United Nations. They are led by a director who reports to the World Security Council made up of members from various nations. Founded to combat technologically advanced threats on world security (specifically the menace of Hydra), they remained throughout the years on the front lines, fighting terrorism, supernatural threats and extraterrestrial menaces as an international intelligence agency.
In 1960, American business and weapons manufacturer Howard Stark, a member and agent of the Brotherhood of the Shield, started elaborating the idea of a secret counter-terrorism espionage organization devoted to protect the world from several worldwide threats, recording his own thoughts and purposes to leave them as a legacy to his adopted son Anthony.
The very existence of S.H.I.E.L.D. was made public in 1965 when its Director, Rick Stoner, was apparently killed by some Hydra operatives, resulting in the selection of a replacement. Nick Fury was then nominated as the agency's public Executive Director, reporting only to S.H.I.E.L.D.'s Executive Council, composed by politicians and businessman from several states and countries.
As director, Colonel Fury took a very active hand in S.H.I.E.L.D. operations, often going into the field himself on their most important missions. Supporting him, aside from the thousands of rank-and-file S.H.I.E.L.D. agents working around the world, were a core group of capable officers. Fury's aide-de-camp was the man who had filled the same function for his Howling Commandos in World War II, the boisterous Timothy 'Dum Dum' Dugan. Another ex-Howler joined S.H.I.E.L.D. in the person of Gabe Jones, whose presence had made the Howlers the Army's first racially integrated unit. There was also the by-the-books Jasper Sitwell, who balanced and sometimes clashed with the more emotional members of the command staff. The brilliant Sidney 'The Gaffer' Levine acted as head of Research & Development, designing many high-tech specialty gadgets to supplement the weapons and vehicles provided by Stark Enterprises. Later, Laura Brown, the daughter of the Imperial Hydra, defected from Hydra to join S.H.I.E.L.D.. Jimmy Woo, hero of clashes with the villainous Yellow Claw, served as S.H.I.E.L.D.'s FBI liaison agent. Clay Quartermain was a resident 'pretty boy' super-agent. La Contessa Valentina Allegra de Fontaine ('Val' to her friends), a member of the European jet-set, proved to be equally skilled, as well as one of Fury's lovers. Another prominent member was Sharon Carter (Agent 13), a frequent partner and eventual lover of Captain America.
The equipment of S.H.I.E.L.D. has always been at least as distinctive as its membership. A series of flying fortresses invariably known as the S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier served as the mobile headquarters of the organization. Other vehicles such as hoverfliers, flying cars and tunneling vehicles rounded out S.H.I.E.L.D.'s vehicle complement. Agents carried a variety of personal gear as well. Fury's weapon of choice was a 300-round .15 caliber pistol specially designed to fire explosive-tipped needles. Tear gas boutonnieres, explosive shirts, rear-view periscope hats, camera-phone watches, jetpacks, cigars laced with various chemical compounds (including flash bombs), and other tools of the spy trade insured that S.H.I.E.L.D. agents always had access to the right equipment. One of the most distinctive inventions of The Gaffer was the Life-Model Decoy (LMD), an extremely lifelike android designed to emulate the behavior of a specific individual, usually used to replace someone in danger of being killed. During the Cold War S.H.I.E.L.D. also maintained a large headquarters in New York City, as well as other bases in every major city in the Western world, and hidden outposts in many Communist countries.
Various specialized teams of agents have been utilized, such as the Psi Division and Super Agents. At one time, S.H.I.E.L.D. had command over an incarnation of the Hulkbusters. Throughout the years, S.H.I.E.L.D. agents have left the service to perform acts both heroic and villainous. Some went rogue, such as Mentallo, becoming threats to society. Others, like Quasar, joined the superhero community. Since the early days, S.H.I.E.L.D., through Fury, has maintained close ties to groups like the Avengers and Fantastic Four, and with individuals like Captain America, Black Widow (Natasha Romanoff), and Wolverine, ensuring that a capable and varied pool of special operatives were readily available. That said, S.H.I.E.L.D. often came into conflict with members of the superhero community who worked through less than legal means or against government aims. Fury's friendships with many superheroes conflicted with his duties in these cases.

Director of SHIELD Colonel Nick Fury	Head of SHIELD Maria Hill	Agent Phil Coulson	Agent Melinda May	Agent Sum

Agent Val Cooper	Agent Alloysus Dugan	Agent Clay Quartermain	Agent Eric Koenig	Agent Jasper Sitwell

Agent Jimmy Woo	Agent Marcus Johnson	Agent 13 Sharon Cooper	Agent Victoria Hand	Agent Shin Mikage

Super-Agents

Black Widow Natasha Romanov	Captain America Steve Rogers	Hawkeye Clint Barton	Mockingbird Bobbi Morse	Quake Daisy Johnson

Scorpion Carmilla Black	Spider-Woman Jessica Drew	White Widow Yelena Belova	Portal

S.W.O.R.D.

S.W.O.R.D. (an acronym for Sentient World Observation and Response Department) was a counter terrorism and intelligence agency which dealt with extraterrestrial threats to world security. S.W.O.R.D. was a subdivision of S.H.I.E.L.D. but appeared to be largely autonomous of its parent organization. Since the departure of Nick Fury as director of S.H.I.E.L.D., relations between the two organizations became strained.
The head of S.W.O.R.D was Special Agent Abigail Brand. Its primary command-and-control HQ was aboard the orbital space station known as the Peak. S.W.O.R.D. was known to have at least one undercover operative in the X-Mansion: Shadowcat's pet dragon, Lockheed.

Director of SWORD Abigail Brand	Head of Science Beast	Agent Lockheed	Agent Death's Head

International Operations

International Operations (I.O.) was originally a branch of the CIA but became its own agency after director Miles Craven took control of it. I.O. is responsible for Team 1, Team 7, Deathblow, Gen13, DV8 and many other Image and Wildstorm groups and characters. The most well known agent of the organization is John Lynch.
International Operations was later renamed Internal Operations.

Director of I.O. Ivana Baiul	Sideways Bob

Black Razors

The Black Razors are an elite branch of security officers for International operations (I.O.). They are tasked with executing covert operations deemed to difficult or dirty for other government organizations. Once led by Ben Santini, under director John Lynch, the team disbanded after director Lynch when rogue and Santini was promoted to the new director of I.O. Black Razors wear TRV suits, light cybernetic armor that protects them and enhances their strength to peak human levels without compromising agility.

Black Razor Tyler Evans	Black Razor Blake Coleman	Black Razor Ben Santini	Black Razor Jessica Fallon	Black Razor Bolton

Black Razor Alex Walker	Black Razor Max Cash	Black Razor Flynn	Black Razor Magnus	Black Razor Skvarla

DV8

Rather than saving the world, they use their powers for other demoralizing reasons: to please themselves and indulge in any fancy that comes their way, uncaring about anybody else, just to forget that they are all just pawns to Ivana, expendable to her needs and desires. The members don't like each other, but are soon banding together for survival. This is what stands this book apart from most other superhero teams: they are not nice people, don't even like each other and can't even save themselves, let alone the world.

Verge	Edge	Bliss Nicole Callahan	Evo Michael Heller	Copycat Gem Antonelli

Pareidolia Yukishiro Naoe	Raitei Hanako Orochiha	Reflection Shinji Kagami

Office of National Emergency

The ONE has employed a new program called the Sentinel Squad, employing revamped versions of the once mutant-hunting robots. These new Sentinels are not fully automated, and require a human pilot in order to run.

At one time, General Lazer was the leader. However, when General Lazer started to use a mutant capable of psionics to frame other mutants to make ONE seem more active than it is, he was dishonorably discharged and replaced by Valerie Cooper.

Valerie Cooper gave a proposal for a new type of Sentinel that would be piloted. She cited that the government can not rely on the Fantastic Four or the Avengers, much less the X-Men during a crisis and thus needed its own sanctioned superhero team. The new models were developed by Tony Stark. James Rhodes was selected as Direct Command Officer and instructor. Various candidates were selected to be part of this new Sentinel Squad.

They were pushed hard, with initial 'training simulations' against the likes of Galactus and the Silver Surfer. Their initial mission was to protect a senator targeted by Hydra due to his anti-terror legislation. They apprehended agents, who then triggered explosives and unleashed the Growing Man. Slayton was injured and the mission failed.

The teams were sent to the Savage Land to stop a plot by the Savage Land Mutates altering dinosaurs. Most of the squads were lost due to attacking head-on. Lexington's team managed to escape, also freeing Rhodes.

The team then went to Ecuador to exterminate the Sentinels created by Cassandra Nova.

ONE Members

Valerie Cooper	General Demetrius Lazer	General Miguel Reyes	General Robert Callahan	Meld

Sentinels

Advanced androids designed to hunt down and eliminate mutants. Dr. Bolivar Trask was concerned with the emergence of the species 'MUTANT', that their genetic abilities, combined with their ever-increasing numbers would lead to Homo Sapiens being subjugated by them. That was the motivation that spurred him to create his "Master Mold", a servitor/controller that would command the many 'Sentinels' that Trask would create later. Unfortunately the A.I. it had been given, began to grow exponentially and Master Mold became sentient, and made sure his progeny acquired this ability also. Ironically, unbeknownst to Trask he had fathered two children who would grow up to become mutants: Tanya (and Lawrence) who had the ability of time travel and due to the instability of her power became lost in the timestream.

Sentinel Mark I	Sentinel Mark II	Sentinel Mark III	Sentinel Mark IV	Sentinel Mark V

Sentinel Mark VI	Sentinel Mark VII	Sentinel Mark VIII	Sentinel Mark X	Sentinel Mark XI

Sentinel Mark XII	Sentinel Mark XIII	Sentinel Hadron-Class	Sentinel 0101	ONE Sentinel Squad Armor

Unique Sentinels

Master Mold	Master Meld Cameron Hodge	Nimrod	Wild Sentinel	Tri-Sentinel

Bio-Sentinels

Bastion Nimrod	Ahab Dr. Roderick Campbell	Bio-Sentinel Graydon Creed	Omega Sentinel Karima Shapandar	Omega Sentinel Colton Hendry

Prime Sentinel Daria	Prime Sentinel Ginny Mahoney	Prime Sentinel Gryaznova

Trivia

There's a bit of overlap among mutants and government agents. Some of them are allies, some of them have national security at heart, over mutant/social concerns, but generally, Nick Fury can be counted on to follow through with the greater good, even if the greater good is not the best for particular mutants. Magneto, Dazzler and Wolverine have been used in the past as SHIELD agents.

X-Men Government Agencies

Contents