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S.H.I.E.L.D. is much more than a spy network and has been in operation for years, teaming with history’s greatest minds to protect the world.
The spy agency known as S.H.I.E.L.D. has recruited some of the greatest minds in the history of the Marvel Universe. The secret agency has worked with such genius inventors as Tony Stark and Reed Richards, as well as both of their fathers. However, the roots of S.H.I.E.L.D. stretch back much further than most could imagine, and among their most noteworthy members is the pioneer of modern electricity, Nikola Tesla.
The group’s origins can be traced back to ancient times, and over the millennia, several of the world’s greatest inventors were part of the Brotherhood of the Shield, as it was originally known. While many are familiar with S.H.I.E.L.D.’s modern-day incarnation as a spy agency under the leadership of Nick Fury, the history of the organization is far more complex.
The group’s earliest known appearance was in ancient Egypt in 2620 BCE, as was revealed in S.H.I.E.L.D. #1 by Jonathan Hickman, Dustin Weaver, Christina Strain and Todd Klein. An invasion force of alien Brood killed the Pharaoh Khasekhemwy Khasekhemui, and in response, the legendary mystic Imhotep led the Pharoah’s armies against the extraterrestrials, slaughtering the Brood Queen. Imhotep fought alongside the mutant Apocalypse and the Moon Knight of his time. He brandished a round shield emblazoned with the image of a spread-winged falcon, representing the god Horus, symbols that would be part of the Brotherhood of the Shield into the present day.
Many different historical figures played major roles in the organization over the years. The Greek engineer and astronomer Archimedes built the Colossus of Rhodes (one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World) to battle against a massive Kree war mech. The Brotherhood’s leader in the 8th Century, Jabir ibn Hayyan, failed in an experiment that was directly responsible for creating the Dark Ages. By contrast, many of the Renaissance’s greatest minds were directly involved with the Brotherhood, such as Galileo, who successfully repelled Galactus.
Over the millennia, the leaders of S.H.I.E.L.D. operated with a single philosophy, repeating a line that Imhotep had first spoken as he led Pharaoh’s armies against the Brood: “This is not how the world ends.” But there were schisms within the Brotherhood. Sir Isaac Newton abandoned all ethical considerations during his megalomaniacal power grab. He took the prophet Nostradamus prisoner, keeping the mystic alive by injecting him with the Elixir of Life. He also had a child with a Deviant woman, who was named Leonid. Newton took the order down a dark path, abandoning the original credo.
Fortunately, there were others in the Brotherhood working for good. Leonardo da Vinci used his inventions to build a wondrous metropolis beneath the Vatican called the Immortal City. Michelangelo transformed himself into a time-traveling entity known as the Forever Man. And then there was the famous electrical engineer, Nikola Tesla, who resisted the Brotherhood after Newton had corrupted it. Tesla adopted Newton’s son Leonid, raising the boy as his own. At one point, Howard Stark and Nathaniel Richards (the fathers of Tony Stark and Reed Richards) were sent by Newton to kill Tesla, but the electrical genius put himself back together, and (like Michelangelo) transcended his humanity by becoming the Night Machine.
The revelations of S.H.I.E.L.D.’s secret history help explain how Earth fit into the cosmic scope of events within the Marvel Universe. Although Galactus and the Kree were originally created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby and first appeared in early issues of Fantastic Four, it does not make sense that all of the Marvel Universe’s many cosmic beings and alien invaders would ignore Earth for millennia, only to all show up in the mid-20th Century. The Brotherhood of the Shield protected humanity from such threats long before the modern age of superheroes. While the organization succumbed to the same political squabbling and corruption of most secret societies, it successfully saved the world time and time again, serving as a shining light to take humanity out of the darkness of ages’ past into a future filled with infinite possibilities.
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