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

*"The principle S.H.I.E.L.D. was founded upon was pure.""Protection.""Protection. One word. Sometimes, to protect one man against himself. Other times, to protect the planet against an alien invasion from another universe. It's a broad job description."*
―Nick Fury and Melinda May[src]
The **Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement, and Logistics Division**, better known by its acronym **S.H.I.E.L.D.**, is an American extra-governmental military counter-terrorism and intelligence agency, tasked with maintaining both national and global security.

Founded in the wake of the Allied victory over the Axis powers and HYDRA in World War II, S.H.I.E.L.D. was organized to protect the United States from all possible threats. With its advanced weapons and extraordinary agents, S.H.I.E.L.D. was maybe the greatest military power on Earth. Following his encounter with Captain Marvel, S.H.I.E.L.D. was run by Nick Fury and the World Security Council in the modern age, S.H.I.E.L.D. had to deal with the significant rise in enhanced individuals, dangerous advanced technology, and alien contact. But all the problems S.H.I.E.L.D. had to solve eventually led to the formation of the Avengers, a response team that was recruited to save the world during the alien invasion of Earth in 2012. The agency became publicly known after the Battle of New York, partially because of the Rising Tide website.

In 2014, through the actions of Black Widow and Nick Fury, the world became aware of the fact that S.H.I.E.L.D. was infiltrated and largely controlled by HYDRA. After the battle in which S.H.I.E.L.D.'s primary headquarters, the Triskelion, was heavily damaged, all of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s classified files were dumped on the Internet, and the agency was disavowed by the United States government and labeled a terrorist organization. Many S.H.I.E.L.D. officials were taken into custody and subjected to rigorous questioning. However, despite the massive manhunt on S.H.I.E.L.D.'s agents, a few operatives scattered across the world in most secret bases remained loyal to their oath, saving the most necessary paraphernalia for future use. But the team most responsible for the survival of S.H.I.E.L.D. was the team of Agent Phil Coulson, who valiantly led his teammates against the forces of HYDRA led by the traitors John Garrett and Grant Ward, winning the battle in which Garrett's plan ultimately failed. After that battle, Fury appointed Phil Coulson the new director of S.H.I.E.L.D. and tasked him with rebuilding the agency from scratch.

Now working from the shadows and hunted by almost every army in the world, Coulson used his old team as the core of S.H.I.E.L.D. and recruited mercenaries, former agents, and others to help fill the organization's ranks, while simultaneously continuing the fight against HYDRA. At the same time, another faction of S.H.I.E.L.D. arose, this one led by Robert Gonzales, who refused to accept Coulson's authority, believing his faction to be the only "real S.H.I.E.L.D.". After the Battle for the Kree City, Gonzales' faction revealed its existence, attacking and capturing Coulson's base, the Playground. This ignited an open conflict between the two S.H.I.E.L.D. factions. However, after successfully working together to attack and destroy the Arctic HYDRA Research Facility, Coulson successfully proposed a merger of the two factions which occurred in mid-2015. But the peace did not last long, as the Inhumans, a super-powered humanoid race led by Jiaying, declared war on S.H.I.E.L.D. The fight was short and S.H.I.E.L.D. was able to prevent any further damage. After the war, Coulson started a new program of recruiting and training Inhumans for a team to deal with various threats.

The Inhuman Outbreak soon followed, and S.H.I.E.L.D. had to stand against the implications it caused. Following the exposure and the abrupt end of HYDRA's infiltration of the ATCU, S.H.I.E.L.D. was semi-legalized as the black ops division of Matthew Ellis' administration, with the ATCU serving as S.H.I.E.L.D.'s public face. With HYDRA suffering a crippling blow, S.H.I.E.L.D. became aware of the dark Inhuman, Hive, and soon had to fight against his Inhuman army, which intended to transform all humanity into Inhumans. As the war with Hive reached its end, Lincoln Campbell sacrificed his life to destroy Hive in a nuclear explosion in space.

In the aftermath of Hive's defeat, S.H.I.E.L.D. was once again legalized following the signing of the Sokovia Accords, but under a new Director, Jeffrey Mace. Daisy Johnson abandoned S.H.I.E.L.D. and became a vigilante known as Quake. At the same time, they had to deal with new threats, Eli Morrow, who with the knowledge of the mysterious book called the Darkhold, managed to gain incredible powers. In order to defeat him, S.H.I.E.L.D. worked together with Johnson and Ghost Rider. After the victory over Morrow, Johnson rejoined the organization. The revelation that Mace was not an Inhuman caused Coulson to return to the possession as the Director de facto. Following Holden Radcliffe's betrayal for the Watchdogs and the replacement of almost every key agent by an LMD by him, Agents Johnson and Jemma Simmons entered the Framework in order to rescue their missing friends. Despite the operation's success, they soon had to deal with Aida, who became an Inhuman seeking to destroy S.H.I.E.L.D. With the help of Ghost Rider, they killed her, but it caused the organization's shutdown, as Aida and the Superior managed to frame Johnson for the attempted assassination of Glenn Talbot.

A short time after that, Enoch sent the team, with the exception of Leo Fitz, to the year 2091 in order to fulfill a prophecy. They found themselves in the Lighthouse bunker, which was populated with the remaining of the human race, following a catastrophic event that caused Earth's destruction. For the team to survive there, they had to blend in among the humans and fight the Kree who ruled the place under Kasius' orders, while also finding a way back to the present. They eventually managed to return, joining with agents rallied by Deathlok and started a race against time to prevent the Destruction of Earth. After fighting against HYDRA led by Hale, the Confederacy, and Glenn Talbot, S.H.I.E.L.D changed the course of history and saved Earth. However, Fitz died in the process. Since Coulson was dying, he and Melinda May left S.H.I.E.L.D. to spend time together until his death and Mackenzie took over the mantle of Director. The remaining S.H.I.E.L.D. agents then took off on a mission to find the present version of Fitz who was frozen in suspended animation in deep space.

One year later, Mackenzie managed to rebuild S.H.I.E.L.D., recruiting more agents. After searching for signals of paranormal activities, S.H.I.E.L.D. found themselves in conflict with a mysterious group, lead by someone who looked exactly like Coulson named Sarge. Meanwhile, Simmons and Johnson were still on their deep-space search for Fitz, finding themselves at odds with the Chronicoms, who also wanted to find Fitz to save their planet. After rescuing Deke Shaw from Sarge's Squad, May was captured by them, where she learned about Sarge's mission to eliminate the Shrike and their creator. May was able to get free and brought Sarge to the Lighthouse. Back in space, Simmons reunited with Fitz while the rest of the team returned to Earth. Fitz and Simmons were brought back home with the help of Izel, who turned out to be who Sarge was hunting. After an uneasy alliance with Sarge, S.H.I.E.L.D. fought against Izel, while the Lighthouse fell under attack by the Chronicoms. They were able to defeat Izel and Sarge, but they lost the Lighthouse. When the Chronicoms traveled back in time to attack S.H.I.E.L.D.'s history, S.H.I.E.L.D. worked with Enoch to stop this threat, building an advanced Life-Model Decoy of Phil Coulson to help them.

In the War Against the Chronicoms, S.H.I.E.L.D. began their time-travel quest to stop the Chronicoms from killing Wilfred Malick, a HYDRA operative from the 1930s who delivered an ingredient of the Super Soldier Serum to the Red Skull. They then traveled to 1955, where they met Agent Daniel Sousa while stopping Sibyl and the Chronicoms from activating Helius ― and in turn ― saving Sousa from HYDRA. Later in the 1970s, S.H.I.E.L.D. stopped the past S.H.I.E.L.D. from activating Project Insight and lost the Coulson LMD in the process of destroying the main Chronicom time ship underneath the Lighthouse. After regrouping in the 1980s, the Inhuman sanctuary Afterlife was attacked by Nathaniel Malick, who allied himself with the destructive Inhuman Kora to conquer Afterlife and cause anarchy. The S.H.I.E.L.D. team were then trapped in a time storm, forcing Daisy Johnson and the Coulson LMD to relive time-loops while trying to stop it before Enoch gave up his life which allowed the team to repair the Time Drive and escape the storm. Once they escaped, S.H.I.E.L.D. proceeded to rescue the trapped Inhumans at Afterlife from Nathaniel Malick's Crew. Malick, on the other hand, killed Jiaying and kidnapped Simmons to use her to find Fitz. After witnessing the Destruction of S.H.I.E.L.D. Facilities, S.H.I.E.L.D. set out to defeat the Chronicoms in a final battle that resulted in S.H.I.E.L.D. returning to the main timeline and defeating the Chronicoms. Deke Shaw stayed behind in the alternate 1983 to help the team return ― thus allowing Alphonso Mackenzie to continue S.H.I.E.L.D. as the Director in the main timeline and Shaw became the Director in the alternate timeline.