What Is the History of S.H.I.E.L.D. in Marvel Comics?

The Marvel universe is filled with so many characters and organizations that it is easy to get lost. When we factor in the differences between the comics and the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the order of events can become almost mind-boggling! One of my readers left this comment in an earlier post: “I’ve often heard of S.H.I.E.L.D. but have no idea what it stands for.” This is understandable. Often titles like this are just complacently used, and it is expected that we should know what it means. An example of this is the TV show NCIS starring Mark Harmon. The show premiered on April 22, 2003. NCIS is an acronym for Naval Criminal Investigative Service. I was 45 years old when this show began, and I had never heard of NCIS. I always thought it was interesting when the NCIS agents would question someone and say, “I’m agent DiNozzo with NCIS” or yell, “Stop! NCIS!” If they had been questioning me, I would have said, “NC what?” But the people in the show just nodded knowingly. How many were like me that didn’t have any idea who NCIS was?

But I digress. This post is about S.H.I.E.L.D. In the MCU, S.H.I.E.L.D. is a backronym for Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division. That’s a mouthful! In the 2008 film Iron Man, a conversation between Pepper Potts and S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Phil Coulson went like this:

“I’m Agent Phil Coulson with the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division.”
“That’s quite a mouthful.”
“I know. We’re working on it.”
“You know, we’ve been approached already by the DOD, the FBI, the CIA…”
“We’re a separate division with a more specific focus.”

Later, when Pepper tries to repeat the entire title, Coulson interrupts and says, “S.H.I.E.L.D.”

This secret organization became an integral part of the super heroes’ story, so it is time we take a look at how it started. As with the stories of the characters, S.H.I.E.L.D. finds its beginning in the comics. So the comics will be the focus today as we answer the question: What is the history of S.H.I.E.L.D. in Marvel Comics?

S.H.I.E.L.D. was first introduced in a long-running anthology series

Just like many of the super heroes’ in Marvel Comics, S.H.I.E.L.D. was introduced in Strange Tales. The issue was #135 (August 1965) and was created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. This issue was titled “Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.” and came out during a trend for action series about secret international intelligence agencies with catchy acronyms. In a 2014 interview, Stan Lee stated that the television series “The Man from U.N.C.L.E.” was the basis for him to create the Marvel organization. Colonel Fury was first introduced in Marvel’s World War II series Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos in a cover dated May 1963. In this new series, he is re-imagined as slightly older with an eye patch (which he didn’t have in WW II) and appointed head of the organization. Some characters from the Sgt. Fury series were now introduced as agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., most notably Timothy “Dum-Dum” Dugan, Fury’s aide-de-camp.

Their main adversary was Hydra which was ultimately revealed to have been formed by recurring villain Baron Wolfgang von Strucker. Strucker would be killed off shortly after appearing in the strip, but the character would be brought back to life in the 1989 Nick Fury series decades later. Other adversaries that made an appearance were AIM (a mad scientist guild that was part of Hydra before splintering off), and mercenary spies such as the Fixer and Mentallo. Stories were serialized, lasting several issues each.

From it is very first introduction in Strange Tales, the organization was presented as a full-blown entity with Tony Stark in charge of special weaponry, and Fury seeing “some of the most famous joes from every nation” at a meeting of the Supreme International Council (Strange Tales, #135, The Man for the Job). As we will see, much was revealed over the years about the organization’s history.

Stan Lee himself wrote each story with plotting expertise of Jack Kirby through Strange Tales #152, except for two issues, one scripted by Kirby (#148) and one by Dennis O’Neil (#149). Issue #153 was written by Roy Thomas and #154 was co-written by Thomas and new series artist Jim Steranko. Then came the sole-writer debut of Jim Steranko, who quickly established the feature as of comics history’s most groundbreaking, innovative and acclaimed. Steranko took Jack Kirby s dynamics and embedded them with the graphic influences of Peter Max, Op Art, and Andy Warhol. He designed the pages as a whole, not just a series of panels, making each page crisp and overflowing with drama. The series won 1967 and 1968 Alley Awards and was inducted in 1968 to the awards’ Hall of Fame. Steranko was inducted into the Comic Book Hall of Fame in 2006.

Nick Fury received his own series in 1968

Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. continued in Strange Tales up through issue #168. During that time, it shared a “split book with the occult feature Dr. Strange. After issue #168, it was spun off into its own series of the same name. This series would only last for fifteen issues (June 1968 – November 1969), and Steranko would only write and draw issues #1-3 and #5 and draw the covers of #1-7. He was not able to keep to the deadlines for a 20-page issue.

It would be nearly two decades after the first solo issue before new stories would appear. Next up would be a six-issue miniseries Nick Fury vs. S.H.I.E.L.D. (June – November 1968), followed by Nick Fury: Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. (vol 2), which lasted for 47 issues (September 1989 – May 1993).

The organization is mentioned in other Marvel story lines, but below is a list of other series that are primarily focused on S.H.I.E.L.D.:

Fury of S.H.I.E.L.D. – premiered in 1995

Kitty Pryde, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. – premiered in 1997.

S.H.I.E.L.D.– two series. The first published June 2010, details the secret history of the occult organization S.H.I.E.L.D. aka “The Brotherhood of the Shield.” The second series premiered with first issue cover dated December 2014 and was loosely based on the TV series “Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” It was superseded by Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

Howling Commandos of S.H.I.E.L.D. – premiered in 2015.

Nick Fury was not the first director – early history of S.H.I.E.L.D.

When the secret organization first began, the backronym stood for Supreme Headquarters, International Espionage and Law-Enforcement Division. It started off as a top-secret international organization, proposed by American business and weapons manufacturer Howard Stark, a member and agent of the Brotherhood of the Shield. He proposed the idea to a group of U.S. government officials who decided to officially start Project: S.H.I.E.L.D. At that time, they even considered C.I.A. agent Nick Fury for the position of Executive Director. Stark’s organization was then formed, being sponsored by the U.S. government, the United Nations and Stark Industries. Its first director was Rick Stoner, former head of the C.I.A. The very existence of S.H.I.E.L.D. was made public when Stoner was apparently killed by Hydra operatives, prompting the President of the United States to recommend Nick Fury to take the role. Up to this point, Fury had been unaware of S.H.I.E.L.D. while he was in the C.I.A. Later on in Nick Fury vs. S.H.I.E.L.D.#1 (June 1988), it was revealed that the ultimate authority of S.H.I.E.L.D. was a cabal of 12 mysterious men and women who gave Fury his orders and operational structure, while leaving Fury to manage the actual implementation of the orders.

The first dismantling of S.H.I.E.L.D. occurred after an infiltration of the agency by LMDs (Life Model Decoys) that had attained sentience. The decoys had infiltrated both S.H.I.E.L.D. and Hydra, replacing key leaders before being defeated by Fury and his allies. The reorganized agency was backed by the United Nations, with the backronym now standing for Strategic Hazard Intervention, Espionage and Logistics Directorate. This new S.H.I.E.L.D. was designed to be more streamlined so Fury could personally oversee it, but it would soon become large again.

The spy agency had distinctive equipment

The writers’s imaginations were the limit when it came to giving the agency its iconic equipment. They were equipped with flying fortresses known as Helicarriers which served as mobile headquarters for the organization. Other vehicles included hover filers, flying cars and tunneling vehicles. 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, jet packs, cigars laced with various chemical compounds, and other tools of the spy trade insured that S.H.I.E.L.D. agents were prepared with the right equipment. The LMDs (mentioned above) were actually an invention of S.H.I.E.L.D. designed to emulate the behavior of an individual and were usually used to replace someone in danger of being killed. During the Cold War, the agency also maintained a large headquarters in New York City, as well as in every major city in the Western world, and hidden outposts in many communist countries.

This is just the tip of the iceberg (so to speak)

How can we really exhaust the information about such a huge organization and years of storytelling in just one blog post? I have only touched on a small framework as we looked at the history of S.H.I.E.L.D. I hope this gives you a bit of an understanding of the agency. Maybe it will leave you wanting more. I know there is so much more we can uncover. Who were the agents? How does the comics version differ from the MCU?

Thank you for reading. Leave your comments below and suggest other post ideas with questions you would like to have uncovered. Be sure to check out my other posts!