The Helicarrier is depicted as the crucial mobile command center, forward operations platform, and signaturecapital ship of the fictional intelligence/defense agency S.H.I.E.L.D. It has survived multiple redesigns while rarely straying from its originally depicted role as a mobile headquarters of S.H.I.E.L.D. until recent years.
Fictional history
In the Marvel Universe context of the various Nick Fury/S.H.I.E.L.D. series, the original design is attributed to a co-operative effort by Tony Stark, the mutant inventor Forge, and Reed Richards. According to one account in Amazing Fantasy vol. 2, #10, the first Helicarrier was proposed by Stark Industries as a political compromise among the signatories of the treaty in response to fears that any nation hosting the Directorate's main headquarters would be subject to attack by organizations such as HYDRA, with domestic political fallout sure to follow immediately thereafter.
Over twenty Helicarriers have been built over the decades, and at least two have been in simultaneous service in the last decade on several occasions. The following have been identified by name thus far in various Marvel Universe publications:
Luxor – Not yet seen. A class prototype.
Hermes – Allegedly scuttled after being hijacked by the Red Skull.
Argus – A Luxor-class Helicarrier.
Behemoth – Specially designed Helicarrier commanded by Dum Dum Dugan for use against Godzilla in the 24-issue comic series Godzilla, King of the Monsters. First appearance was in issue #6 (January 1978). Destroyed by S.H.I.E.L.D. in an attempt to neutralize an attack by Amadeus Cho in Incredible Hercules #115.
Black Hawk – Destroyed in action against a HYDRA-Hand alliance of forces in Wolverine: Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. Further details on these events are depicted in The Irredeemable Ant-Man #1-2. Dark Reign: Elektra #1-5 gives more details, such as it having landed on a small Arkansas town.
Alpha – First mentioned by name in New Avengers #4. Also shown in the video game Marvel: Ultimate Alliance as S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier UNN Alpha.
Iliad – First shown in Secret Warriors #4. Named in Secret Warriors #17. Another Helicarrier of a different design is operating under that name as of Secret Avengers v.2 # 1.
Argonaut – First shown in Secret Warriors #4. Named in Secret Warriors #17.
Tempest – Named and destroyed shortly after launch with two thousand crew aboard by the Electric Ghost in Winter Soldier v.1 # 17.
Hercules – Capable of operating in submarine mode. Described as Constellation-class. First shown and named in Wolverine v.5 # 5–6.
Constellation – Class namesake. Existence implied by dialogue in Wolverine v.5 # 6.
Odyssey – First shown and named in Captain America: Living Legend # 1.
Pericles – First shown and named in X-Force v.4 # 7. Already decommissioned and abandoned by S.H.I.E.L.D. under unrevealed circumstances in its first appearance, and taken over as a base by X-Force. The name has since been transferred to a "Battlecarrier", which first appeared in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. # 1.
Douglass – First named in U.S.Avengers # 2. May be named for Frederick Douglass.
After Iron Man replaced Maria Hill as Director of S.H.I.E.L.D., he designed a new class of Helicarrier whose red and gold design resembles the Iron Man Armor. Hill called it Helicarrier Gold, but Stark considered it The Helicarrier. This helicarrier was severely damaged and crashed by the Red Hulk, and subsequently commandeered by the Intelligencia (the covert operation of evil super-geniuses that employed the Red Hulk), who renamed it the "Hellcarrier".
The main S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier is subsequently disabled by a computer virus unleashed by a Skrull agent posing as Edwin Jarvis, as part of the Secret Invasion. It lands in the Bermuda Triangle. Most of the staff are revealed to be Skrulls. The craft is destroyed by Maria Hill.[4]
It is not yet known what criteria S.H.I.E.L.D. uses to name its Helicarriers.
S.H.I.E.L.D.'s replacement agency, H.A.M.M.E.R., has decommissioned the surviving Helicarriers,[5] with three of them — including the Iliad and the Argonaut — being stolen by Nick Fury.[6] H.A.M.M.E.R. subsequently commissioned at least one new carrier to Norman Osborn's specifications, which was destroyed over Broxton, Oklahoma, during the Siege of Asgard.
According to intel gathered by Livewires, 5 Helicarriers are known to have been wrecked,[7] though this data is out of date as several more have been lost since.
In the pages of Avengers Undercover, it is shown that the S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier Circe has employed some necromancers as part of its personnel as seen when they jam Nico Minoru's spells.[8]
Reception
Critical response
Jamie Lovett of ComicBook.com referred to the Helicarrier as one of "Mavel's most iconic vehicles."[9] George Marston of Newsarama included the Helicarrier in their "Best Superhero Headquarters And Hideouts Of All Time" list, calling it one of the "very coolest, most iconic, and ultimate best superhero headquarters in comic books."[10] Sam Scott of Looper included the Helicarrier in their "Coolest Superhero Hideouts In Marvel History" list, writing, "Jack Kirby came up with more wild ideas in his career than most of us could in 12 lifetimes, and if there was one thing he loved dreaming up, it was huge, outlandish vehicles. None of them were huger, more outlandish, or more iconic than the S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier."[11] Brad Hill of Sportskeeda included the Helicarrier in their "10 Best Vehicles In Comic Books" list, saying, "Another iconic vehicle within the Marvel universe, which became even more iconic after the first Avengers movie, is the Helicarrier."[12]
Comic Book Resources ranked the Helicarrier 3rd in their "10 Coolest Vehicles In Marvel Comics" list,[13] 6th in their "10 Best Vehicles In The Marvel Universe" list,[14] 7th in their "10 Most Important Vehicles In The Marvel Universe" list,[15] and 10th in their "10 Most Iconic Superhero Hideouts In Marvel Comics" list.[16] Casey Haney of Screen Rant ranked the Helicarrier 7th in their "16 Best Superhero Vehicles" list.[17]
Other versions
Marvel NOW
An alternate version of the Helicarrier appears in the epilogue of issue #25 of New Avengers, circa the year 1968. Howard Stark (father of Tony Stark, aka Iron Man), is seen giving Colonel Nick Fury of S.H.I.E.L.D. the hard sell of his newly designed Helicarrier.[18]
Ultimate Marvel
Alternate versions of the Helicarrier appear in the Ultimate Universe. Whereas on Marvel's Earth-616 is implied that S.H.I.E.L.D. (a United Nations Task Force) only has a handful of Helicarriers in operation, in the Ultimate Universe, S.H.I.E.L.D. is depicted as a United States-operated military organization and is shown to have dozens of carriers, some even replacing retired conventional aircraft carriers like the USS Constellation. The engines that keep the carrier aloft were designed by Tony Stark and were modular enough to be used in a space shuttle by the Ultimate Fantastic Four. These "Ultimate Universe" Helicarriers generally seem to be smaller than the Earth-616 versions, and have a more conventional aircraft carrier shape, but are far more plentiful. In Ultimate Avengers Vs New Ultimates #4, Nick Fury reveals that Hank Pym was the one who conceived and designed the Helicarriers.[19]
The S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier also appears in Spider-Man: The Animated Series. Besides being the S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters, it also served as a prison for high-risk individuals, such as the Chameleon. It was eventually destroyed by Electro.
The S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier appears in the X-Men: Evolution episode "Ascension".
A version of the Helicarrier appears in The Super Hero Squad Show, and serves as the base of operations for the Super Hero Squad. It is usually piloted by S.H.I.E.L.D. leader Ms. Marvel, who reluctantly allowed the Squad to move in.
The Helicarrier appears in the Iron Man: Armored Adventures episode "Technovore". This version is propelled by jet engines designed by Howard Stark.
The Helicarrier appears in Ultimate Spider-Man.[20] In the first season, it serves as a headquarters and home for Spider-Man's team, as well as a prison, before being destroyed by the Green Goblin in the season finale "Rise of the Goblin". In the second season episode "The Man-Wolf", the Helicarrier is rebuilt as the more versatile Tri-Carrier which can divide into three different ships: the central Strato-Carrier, the space-based Astro-Carrier, and the water-based Aqua-Carrier. In the second season finale, "Ultimate," Green Goblin salvages and repairs the Helicarrier as the "Hell-Carrier" as part of his plot to use Goblin Gas to turn everyone into Goblins, ultimately self-destructing it to escape the Tricarrier's tractor beam. In the fourth season, Swarm converts the Tri-Carrier into Hydra Island, which is eventually destroyed by the Scarlet Spider.
The Helicarrier from Marvel's The Avengers (2012) makes a flashback appearance in the episode "Scars" in the second season of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.. After being alluded to throughout the season as "Theta Protocol", the episode reveals that Phil Coulson and Fury discovered that the ship had survived HYDRA's attack and secretly used Coulson's position and resources as Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. to repair and maintain the Helicarrier for use in a grave world emergency as it later is in Sokovia during the events of Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015). Additionally, portions of the Helicarrier battle from Captain America: The Winter Soldier appeared in a newscast Coulson was watching in a season two episode. The Helicarrier makes a cameo appearance during the series finale, "What We're Fighting For."
In the Marvel Cinematic Universe live-action series Loki (2021), an alternate version of the Helicarrier appears in the episode, "Journey into Mystery". This version is located in the Void at the End of Time and bears a HYDRA logo.
Film
The Helicarrier as depicted in Marvel's The Avengers
Several of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s Helicarriers appear in the animated film Ultimate Avengers. They are destroyed by a trio of Chitauri vessels.
The Helicarrier appears in films of the Marvel Cinematic Universe specifically based on the Ultimate Marvel version in terms of appearance, which appears to be a standard seagoing aircraft carrier retrofitted with four huge rotors.[21]
In Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014), Hydra, which had secretly embedded itself within S.H.I.E.L.D. from its founding, plans to initiate Project Insight, in which three next-generation Helicarriers linked to spy satellites will be poised to kill all people it deems to be threats. These Helicarriers feature several improvements from the one seen in Marvel's The Avengers, most notably the addition of battleship-sized guns and repulsor engines designed by Tony Stark. All three are destroyed when Captain America, Falcon, and Maria Hill reprogram their targeting systems to fire on each other, one of which slams into the Triskelion before exploding and sinking into the Potomac River.[26]
In Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015), S.H.I.E.L.D. uses the original Helicarrier to evacuate Sokovia. Fury states that he "pulled her out of mothballs," which is later elaborated on in the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. television series where Phil Coulson and his new iteration of S.H.I.E.L.D. repaired the Helicarrier under the project name "Theta Protocol."
In Deadpool (2016), produced by 20th Century Fox, a decommissioned Helicarrier, found in a scrapyard, is used as a setting for the final battle. It is not identified onscreen by that name however due to rights issues with Disney/Marvel Studios which at the time had not bought out most of Fox's film and TV assets, including the X-Men, Fantastic Four and Deadpool.[27][28]
Video games
The Helicarrier is one of the main locations in the game Marvel: Ultimate Alliance.[29] The Helicarrier featured is referenced in the opening cinematic by Nick Fury as "S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier UNN Alpha." After the Alpha is damaged from the Masters of Evil's attack, Fury uses Stark Tower as a base for his superhero allies that were recruited to stop Doctor Doom's Masters of Evil. This version also has jet engines replacing propellers.
The Helicarrier appears in the game Ultimate Spider-Man. It appears after Venom is unlocked, and when the player causes enough havoc in free roam to merit flying S.H.I.E.L.D. troopers.
A Helicarrier appears in the game Spider-Man: Web of Shadows. It is destroyed at the end of the game following the Venom monster's defeat. In the PSP and PS2 version, Spider-Man ends up on the Helicarrier after his fight with the Tinkerer and discovers that the Helicarrier is infested with Symbiotes. After Spider-Man defeats Jackal, the Helicarrier crashes to the ground.
The Helicarrier appears in Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions. In the last Ultimate segment, Carnage successfully infects the Hellicarrier with his spawn and causes it to crash land towards Spider-Man's location, who must get to safety before he gets crushed.
The Helicarrier appears in the game Iron Man 2. The preview video for the game reveals that Tony Stark was the one who built it. It is shown as the S.H.I.E.L.D. base throughout the game, but also as a weapon. At one point, it is attacked by A.I.M. forces. However, they are defeated by the combined forces of Iron Man and War Machine. At the end of the game, it is destroyed on purpose when it crashes into the giant Ultimo.
Helicarriers appear in Marvel Strike Force as battlegrounds for alliance-versus-alliance battles. Each alliance, comprising numerous players, reserves defense squads to protect its own Helicarrier while sending others to attack the rival Helicarrier.[31]
The Helicarrier appears in the beginning of the action-adventure game Marvel's Avengers. This version is known as the Chimaera.[32][33]
The Helicarrier appears in Iron Man VR. This version was created by Stark Industries and was the last project Tony Stark sold to S.H.I.E.L.D. before his company stopped manufacturing weapons. During the game's story, the Helicarrier comes under attack two times: once by Ghost and her drones, and a second time by the Living Laser, both of whom are thwarted by Iron Man.
The 1998 Iron Man graphic novel Crash, which takes place in the future, introduces a S.H.I.E.L.D. "Levicarrier," which is held aloft by some form of anti-gravity mechanism.
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