SHIELD as an entity (spoilers for SHIELD and Winter Soldier)

[Gen. Chris]

Recently watched Winter Soldier and caught up on Agents of SHIELD. Something I have noticed...

In the earlier movies, it seems as if SHIELD is a much more clandestine organization, that very few people have heard about. Hell, Tony Stark had never heard of it and his father was a member of it.

Fast forward to now, and you have several academies that train new agents, as well as massive buildings and the capability of building not just one helicarrier but a fleet of them along with large amounts of tactical teams and more.

I get it...Recent events have seen them rise to be more involved. But that does not really explain the academy, which has obviously been around for a long time.

Maybe it's just me. But it just seemed like the organization known as SHIELD was much more out of the public eye in the early movies. Now it is everywhere, and the recent events alone don't explain that in my opinion.

[garhkal]

Plus in several eps, we see 'local' PD reacting to shield credentials like they would someone the FBI.. with immediate knowledge of who and what shield is.. So it can't be that clandestine.

[Mrja84]

If you recall in Iron Man, when Coulson first shows up he doesn't say SHIELD he actually says the words that make up SHIELD.

When told by Pepper that it was a mouthful, he said they were "working on it". So it seemed to me they were just starting up or just starting to have a public face.

We all know about the NSA and CIA even though they are secret intelligence organizations. Their existence is public knowledge. I image the same became true of SHIELD after some point.

[P-90_177]

It probably was a much more clandestine operation at some stage. Perhaps just about to become more public around the time of Iron Man but that doesn't preclude the idea of academies either. It is possible that shield initially recruits young people under the guise of the CIA or NSA then once they are in they're sat down and told the truth.

[Mrja84]

It probably was a much more clandestine operation at some stage. Perhaps just about to become more public around the time of Iron Man but that doesn't preclude the idea of academies either. It is possible that shield initially recruits young people under the guise of the CIA or NSA then once they are in they're sat down and told the truth.

Not to mention the academies are secret as well. I just do have a problem with students building highly advanced technology like they are experienced enough to know the proper procedures.

[garhkal]

One wonders where they get their funding from?

[garhkal]

One wonders where they get their funding from?

[P-90_177]

One wonders where they get their funding from?

Selling Captain America memorabilia clearly.

But really I'd imagine that beyond the governmental backing they probably make more by using their strong R&D base to sell on new technologies and innovations.

[mr_kennedy]

selling captain america memorabilia clearly.

hail hydra