Helicarrier


The Helicarrier is a fictional flying aircraft carrier appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. It is depicted as the crucial mobile command center, forward operations platform, and signature capital ship of the fictional intelligence/defense agency S.H.I.E.L.D.
Originally designed by Jack Kirby for the Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. serial in Strange Tales #135, the Helicarrier concept 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:
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, 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.
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, with three of them — including the Iliad and the Argonaut — being stolen by Nick Fury. 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, 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.

Other versions

Marvel NOW

In the epilogue of issue #25 of New Avengers, circa the year 1968, Howard Stark, is seen giving Colonel Nick Fury of S.H.I.E.L.D. the hard sell of his newly designed Hellicarrier.

Ultimate Marvel

The Ultimate Universe deals with Helicarriers differently. Whereas on Marvel's Earth-616 is implied that S.H.I.E.L.D. 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.

In other media

Television