No, that's the thing. SHIELD use to stand for several things, including Supreme Headquarters, International Espionage, Law-Enforcement Division and Strategic Hazard Intervention Espionage Logistics Directorate. The movies added the word homeland, which I think is highly suggestive.
It's clear that Fury doesn't answer to the council, though they have significant political oversight. I think it's most probable that's treaty-related oversight. An agency whose grasp is as global as SHIELD would need channels for working on a multinational/transnational level. I don't think that changes how Amero-centric the institution is. It looks, works like, and appears to be a US government agency.
SHIELD was a well-oiled machine before the first Iron Man movie. I don't think superheroes have been their thing until very recently.
That's my point! Superhero supervision isn't a field you just decide to get into. It takes a lot of coordination and a lot of thought to build an organization capable of smoothly working with superhero problems, and SHIELD is that organization even though we have next to zero evidence of any superhero oversight they did before Iron Man. And here's the big smoking gun on this: If SHIELD had actually had pre-Iron Man superheroes, why wouldn't they incorporate them in the Avenger initiative? World-threatening alien strike and you don't bring out the superheroes who have the most experience working with you, who already trust you?
I understand the HYDRA point, though as a Jew with Holocaust sensitivities everything about HYDRA makes my skin crawl. The idea that the comic book writers needed something even more vicious than the SS... I appreciate their threat, but surely the US Army was tasked with fighting HYDRA's weapons? Why do you need a new agency? Both the Hulk and Captain America, as parts of the Super Soldier project, were developed by the Army, not by SHIELD. That is clear in canon.
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Date: 2012-05-30 06:33 pm (UTC)It's clear that Fury doesn't answer to the council, though they have significant political oversight. I think it's most probable that's treaty-related oversight. An agency whose grasp is as global as SHIELD would need channels for working on a multinational/transnational level. I don't think that changes how Amero-centric the institution is. It looks, works like, and appears to be a US government agency.
SHIELD was a well-oiled machine before the first Iron Man movie. I don't think superheroes have been their thing until very recently.
That's my point! Superhero supervision isn't a field you just decide to get into. It takes a lot of coordination and a lot of thought to build an organization capable of smoothly working with superhero problems, and SHIELD is that organization even though we have next to zero evidence of any superhero oversight they did before Iron Man. And here's the big smoking gun on this: If SHIELD had actually had pre-Iron Man superheroes, why wouldn't they incorporate them in the Avenger initiative? World-threatening alien strike and you don't bring out the superheroes who have the most experience working with you, who already trust you?
I understand the HYDRA point, though as a Jew with Holocaust sensitivities everything about HYDRA makes my skin crawl. The idea that the comic book writers needed something even more vicious than the SS... I appreciate their threat, but surely the US Army was tasked with fighting HYDRA's weapons? Why do you need a new agency? Both the Hulk and Captain America, as parts of the Super Soldier project, were developed by the Army, not by SHIELD. That is clear in canon.