Chester Phillips

Strategic Scientific Reserve

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

*"General Patton has said that wars are fought with weapons, but they are won by men. We are going to win this war because we have the best men. And because they are going to get better. Much better. The Strategic Scientific Reserve is an Allied effort made up of the best minds in the free world. Our goal is to create the best army in history. But every army starts with one man. At the end of this week, we will choose that man. He will be the first in a new breed of super-soldiers. And they will personally escort Adolf Hitler to the gates of Hell."*
―Chester Phillips
Colonel **Chester Phillips** was an officer of the United States Army, the first and only director of the Strategic Scientific Reserve, Steve Rogers' commanding officer, and one of the founding members of S.H.I.E.L.D. During World War II, Philips was a key factor in the creation of the world's first Super Soldier and the defeat of HYDRA.

## Biography:

### World War II:

Phillips was the officer in command of the secret project in the Strategic Scientific Reserve aimed to create a series of super soldiers for the United States Army. He was the chief of the Camp Lehigh in which the candidates were trained. Arriving at the camp, Phillips found Peggy Carter was already hitting one of the recruits for stepping out of line. Phillips gave a speech of the candidates about how they would create the best soldier to defeat HYDRA.

Eventually, Abraham Erskine presented Steve Rogers as a potential candidate for the Project, but Rogers' frail physique led Phillips to view him as unsuitable, suggesting Gilmore Hodge, a physically superior soldier but also a bully. To prove his own theory correct, Phillips threw a fake grenade at the soldiers, but Rogers was the one who attempted to shield the blast while the other soldiers ran for cover. Phillips then reluctantly acquiesced.

Phillips traveled to Brooklyn in New York City to witness Project Rebirth, while there he spoke to Brandt and was introduced to a man who introduced himself as Fred Clemson. Taking their seats, Phillips and the other attendees listened as Abraham Erskine gave a speech while Steve Rogers took his place within the Vita-Ray Chamber. Rogers was then and was injected with the Super Soldier Serum and his body absorbed the Vita Radiation. As Phillips watched, Rogers was transformed successfully by Erskine's serum, causing much celebration between the witnesses including Phillips. But Erskine was assassinated by Kruger who was sent by HYDRA. Kruger was caught by Rogers but committed suicide with a cyanide pill before he could be questioned.

While Howard Stark experimented on Kruger's submersible vehicle and Peggy Carter took the last drops of the Super Soldier Serum from Rogers' blood, Phillips decided to leave the untrained Rogers behind and to continue the war without him. Rogers tried to argue his case, but Phillips made it clear that he had wanted an army from Erskine's work and was disappointed that only one super soldier was created, claiming Rogers was not good enough.

#### On the Front Lines:

Months later, several companies of men from in the 107th Infantry disappeared behind enemy lines, while Steve Rogers was in the area as part of his own USO tour. Upon discovering that one of the missing soldiers was Bucky Barnes, Rogers pleaded with Phillips to stage a rescue attempt. Phillips, though regretful for his soldiers' fate, refused, planning to bomb the facility instead of risking more lives. A frustrated Rogers defied Phillips' order and went on the mission with the help of Peggy Carter and Howard Stark.

When Phillips received a new report that the HYDRA base had been destroyed and no survivors had yet been found, he wrote a letter to Washington, D.C. telling them that Rogers was believed to be killed in action. Furious at this outcome, Phillips took his frustration out on Agent Carter, noting that he could not blame his incident on Stark as he was too rich to be held accountable, but Carter insisted that her faith in Rogers was what made her decision.

Before he could punish Carter for her part in the mission, they were interrupted when Rogers returned successfully in rescuing the men alone. While all the soldiers in the camp happily greeted Rogers along with the rescued Barnes, Dum Dum Dugan and hundreds of others, many of whom needed medical attention, Phillips allowed him to work in the field rather than court martialing him, and entrusted him with a special elite commando force, to take onto the front lines in order to take the fight to Red Skull's forces.

#### Commander:

With this new knowledge of HYDRA, learned from the rescue mission inside the base, Captain America was able to provide Phillips and the rest of the United States Army with important information on the whereabouts of key HYDRA bases. When Rogers choose to remain working rather than collect a medal from Brandt, Philips joked that Rogers deserved a medal just for humiliating Brandt. When Rogers expressed his intention on going back to war, Phillips said they were putting together a team of the best men, but Rogers was already putting together his own team.

#### Questioning Arnim Zola:

During one of his Howling Commandos missions, Captain America was able to capture Arnim Zola, at the loss of Bucky Barnes. Philips went to interrogate him and decided to confuse him by offering him a steak dinner, which was refused; when Zola said it was because he was a vegetarian, Phillips poked fun at how Zola is the only member of HYDRA not to commit suicide. Philips had, however, sent a radio message claiming Zola had given the HYDRA secrets to SSR, the plan being that HYDRA would decode the message and view Zola as a traitor.

Seeing he needed protection from any retribution, Zola revealed that Red Skull had the power to destroy the world due to a new weapon known as the Tesseract, and that he planned on targeting everywhere on earth, beginning with the United States. With this new information, Phillips briefed Rogers and his team of Howling Commandos as well as Peggy Carter and Howard Stark, who noted that Schmidt's threats were very real. With few options, Rogers volunteered to allow himself to be captured and act as a distraction for them.

#### Attack on HYDRA Headquarters:

Phillips interrogation of Arnim Zola was successful and with his help the Strategic Scientific Reserve located Johann Schmidt last secret HYDRA base. While Captain America distracted the enemy, Phillips himself led the assault on the base, defeating a large number of HYDRA agents. Going in first, Phillips found a HYDRA soldier giving the HYDRA salute and shot him in the chest mid-sentence before moving forward.

Eventually, Phillips helped Rogers in reaching the *Valkyrie* riding Schmidt's special car. As they caught up to the plane, Rogers was pulled back by Peggy Carter who gave him a kiss goodbye, leading to Phillips making it clear that he would not be kissing him. Phillips managed to get Rogers onto the plane before ending on the edge of a ravine and seeing the plane flying away with Rogers and the Skull on board to have a final fight.

Later on, when Rogers relayed the news to Carter over the radio from *Valkyrie* that he was going to sacrifice himself to destroy Schmidt's weapons by crashing into the Arctic. When he saw the seriousness of the situation, he ordered Jim Morita out of the room to leave Carter to speak to Rogers alone. Phillips listened to Rogers' final words. When the radio went blank, Phillips, visibly saddened at his friend and comrade's apparent demise, walked away. After the war was won and the SSR files were being packed away, Phillips handed Rogers' file to Carter.

### Founding of S.H.I.E.L.D.:

#### The first Director:

Phillips and Howard Stark chose Peggy Carter to run S.H.I.E.L.D. after her successful completion of the Zodiac assignment. He remained one of the most important and valued members of S.H.I.E.L.D. and is known as one of the founders of the organization. Years after his eventual death around 1970, a picture of Phillips was hung in the Camp Lehigh base which was now being used by S.H.I.E.L.D.