S.H.I.E.L.D. is a fictional espionage and secret military law-enforcement agency in the Marvel Comics Universe. Created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby in Strange Tales #135 (Aug. 1965), it often deals with superhuman threats.

The acronym originally stood for Supreme Headquarters, International Espionage, Law-Enforcement Division. It was changed in 1991 to Strategic Hazard Intervention Espionage Logistics Directorate.

Within the various films set within the Marvel Cinematic Universe, as well as in the animated series The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes, the acronym stands for Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division.^[1]

Publication history[link]

S.H.I.E.L.D.'s introduction in the originally launched Strange Tales feature "Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D." occurred during a trend for action series about secret international intelligence agencies with catchy acronyms, such as television's The Man from U.N.C.L.E. and James Bond's SPECTRE.^{[citation needed]} Colonel Fury (initially the lead character of Marvel Comics' World War II series Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos) was reimagined as a slightly older character with an eyepatch (which he lacked in his wartime adventures) and appointed head of the organization. Some characters from the Sgt. Fury series reappeared as agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., most notably Timothy "Dum-Dum" Dugan, Fury's bowler hat-wearing aide-de-camp.^[2]

Its most persistent enemy is HYDRA, a criminal organization founded (after some retcon) by Baron Wolfgang von Strucker. Despite that name's capitalization per Marvel's official spelling, HYDRA is not an acronym but a reference to the mythical monster, symbolizing the organization's claim of growing stronger the more it is wounded.

S.H.I.E.L.D. was presented as an extant, full-blown entity in its first appearance and much was revealed over the years to fill in its labyrinthine organizational history. Stan Lee wrote each story, abetted by artist Kirby's co-plotting or full plotting, through Strange Tales #152 (Jan. 1967), except for two issues, one scripted by Kirby himself (#148) and one by Dennis O'Neil (#149). Following an issue scripted by Roy Thomas (#153), and one co-written by Thomas and new series artist Jim Steranko, came the sole-writer debut of soon-to-become industry legend Steranko—who had begun on the feature as a penciller-inker of Kirby layouts in #151 (Dec. 1966), taken over the every-other-issue "Nick Fury" cover art with #153 two months later, and full writing with #155 (April 1967).

Steranko quickly established the feature as one of comics history's most groundbreaking, innovative and acclaimed.^[3] The 12-page feature ran through Strange Tales #168 (sharing that "split book" with the occult feature "Doctor Strange" each issue), after which it was spun off onto its own series of the same title, running 15 issues (June 1968–Nov. 1969), followed by three all-reprint issues beginning a year later (Nov. 1970–March 1971). Steranko wrote and drew issues #1–3 and #5, and drew the covers of #1–7.

New S.H.I.E.L.D. stories would not appear for nearly two decades after the first solo title. A six-issue miniseries, Nick Fury vs. S.H.I.E.L.D. (June–Nov. 1988) was followed by Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. (vol. 2). This second series lasted 47 issues (Sept. 1989–May 1993); its pivotal story arc was "the Deltite Affair", in which many S.H.I.E.L.D. agents were replaced with Life Model Decoy androids in a takeover attempt.

A year after that series ended, the one-shot Fury (May 1994) retconned the events of those previous two series, recasting them as a series of staged events designed to distract Fury from the resurrection plans of HYDRA head von Strucker. The following year, writer Howard Chaykin and penciler Corky Lehmkuhl produced the four-issue miniseries Fury of S.H.I.E.L.D. (April–July 1995). Various publications have additionally focused on Nick Fury's solo adventures, such as the graphic novels and one-shots Wolverine—Nick Fury: The Scorpio Connection (1989), Wolverine/Nick Fury: Scorpio Rising (Oct. 1994), Fury/Black Widow: Death Duty and Captain America/Nick Fury: Blood Truce (both Feb. 1995), and Captain America/Nick Fury: The Otherworld War (Oct. 2001).

Fictional history[link]

S.H.I.E.L.D. was created by Nicholas Joseph Fury after the end of World War II, but Fury abandoned the idea and left the draft that he created for the agency locked away, feeling the U.S. government wouldn't approve the formation of such an agency. At some unspecified point around this time, however, a United Nations-based international group dusted off the idea without Fury's knowledge.^{[citation needed]} His recruitment to the post of executive director (the agency's second) marked his first knowledge of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s existence.

Usually led by Nick Fury as executive director (although he reports to a twelve-member council, whose identities even he does not know), this organization often operates as much as a covert agency as a quasi-military one, initially depicted as affiliated with the United States government. Later, S.H.I.E.L.D. was depicted as under the jurisdiction of the United Nations, with vast technological resources at its disposal, with U.N. General Assembly Resolutions and legislation passed in signatory nations aiding many of their operations.^[4][5] However, S.H.I.E.L.D. has been inconsistently portrayed as under U.S., rather than U.N., control, possibly by writers unaware of the agency's fictional history. For instance, in Astonishing X-Men #3, Nick Fury explains S.H.I.E.L.D.'s inaction during an incident of genocide by stating that it did not occur on American soil.^[6]

During the time that Godzilla roamed the United States, S.H.I.E.L.D. formed a subunit, the "Godzilla Squad" to hunt the creature down, until it disappeared into the Atlantic sea. This unit, led by Dum Dum Dugan, employed such weapons as a giant robot called Red Ronin and a smaller version of the Helicarrier, known as The Behemoth.

One of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s unique technological innovations, the LMD (Life Model Decoy)—an extremely lifelike android used to replace people in imminent danger of being killed—was the basis for two major upheavals. First, the supervillain Scorpio stole the technology and used it to create the second team of villains called the Zodiac. Later, some LMDs known as the Deltites achieved sentience and infiltrated S.H.I.E.L.D., replacing key members, until Fury defeated them. This led to the disbanding of the original organization and its replacement by a new taskforce with the same acronym.

In the wake of a disastrous unauthorized mission in Latveria, in the Secret War mini-series, Fury effectively resigned as executive director, with international warrants out for his arrest. His first successor was not one of his closer associates but a relatively unknown newcomer to the S.H.I.E.L.D. hierarchy, Maria Hill. A transcript of a conversation between Hill and the President of the United States^[7] revealed she was chosen for the post by United Nations consensus to keep Fury loyalists out of the job and to keep relations with the superhero community to a minimum. The President also expected Hill—an American—to be loyal first to U.S., despite S.H.I.E.L.D. being a U.N.-chartered organization.

The passage of the United States' Superhuman Registration Act and the subsequent superhero "Civil War" created an additional political and ethical irritant between S.H.I.E.L.D. and the superhuman community, with S.H.I.E.L.D. tasked to lead enforcement and to take on registered superheroes as operatives.^[8]

Toward the end of the conflict, Hill concluded she had been made director with the intent that she fail at the job, and she proposes to Tony Stark that he assume the post himself, with her as deputy. Stark accepts the appointment as director upon the conclusion of the superhuman Civil War, and undertakes a series of initiatives, including the construction of a new gold-and-red Helicarrier in the motif of his Iron Man armor designs, the introduction of a daycare center in the Helicarrier, and an employee suggestion-box. While accused of treating S.H.I.E.L.D. as a Stark Industries subsidiary, he succeeded in streamlining the organization and raising morale.^[9] S.H.I.E.L.D. fought a wave of global superhuman terrorism and was manipulated into two international incidents that almost saw Director Stark arrested, until they revealed the Mandarin to be behind it and stopped him from committing genocide with an Extremis pathogen.

At the start of the Secret Invasion by the extraterrestrial shape-shifting race the Skrulls, the Helicarrier is disabled by a Skrull virus and left floating and disabled in the Bermuda Triangle.^[10] The Skrulls by this point have already replaced a large number of S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, including the high-ranking Timothy "Dum-Dum" Dugan.^[11] After the invasion is repelled, the President of the United States decides to dissolve S.H.I.E.L.D.,^[12] and has it, the Fifty State Initiative, and the Avengers replaced by the Thunderbolts Initiative, which is placed under the supervision of Norman Osborn.^[13]

Osborn uses the opportunity to transform S.H.I.E.L.D. into a new organization called "H.A.M.M.E.R.", formed by loyal agents of the Thunderbolts Initiative as well as former agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. as well as HYDRA.^[14] The Thunderbolts are officially disbanded in the process as well. He then turns the Thunderbolts into a black-ops force that answers only to him. Meanwhile, H.A.M.M.E.R. also operates alongside the newest, and only, government-sponsored Avengers team, the Dark Avengers.^[15]

After the Invasion, Nick Fury discovers that S.H.I.E.L.D. itself had been under the control of the terrorist organization HYDRA ostensibly from its very beginning.^[12]

After the conclusion of the Secret Warriors ongoing series, S.H.I.E.L.D. was reformed, with Nick Fury leaving it under the control of its new Director, Daisy Johnson, codenamed Quake.^{[citation needed]}

Organizational structure and procedure[link]

Over the decades, various writers have depicted S.H.I.E.L.D.'s organizational structure in several different ways. The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe (first edition) describes an eight-level ranking structure (technician, administrator, field agent, regional officer, special officer, regional director, special director, executive director), although providing almost no detail on other aspects of the Directorate's internal makeup. Years later, the miniseries Agents of Atlas mentioned a position of "sub director," and seemed to indicate that the administrative department of S.H.I.E.L.D. it itself referred to simply as "Directorate."

Most of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s agents are normal humans. At one point the organization attempted to set up a team of superhuman agents, composed of Marvel Man (the future Quasar), Texas Twister, Blue Streak and the Vamp but the latter two were secretly agents of the criminal organization The Corporation, and the team broke apart before it had its first official mission.^{[citation needed]} A second team organized years later also lasted only a short while.^{[citation needed]}

S.H.I.E.L.D. does employ some superhumans, including in its Psi-Division, composed of telepathic agents who deal with like menaces. S.H.I.E.L.D. also obtains help from independent heroes when their special abilities are needed. It has also accepted some superheroes and supervillains as members, but not in a separate unit. (See "Membership")

Its headquarters is the Helicarrier, a massive flying aircraft carrier kept airborne at all times and, among other things, containing a squadron of jet fighters and housing an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM). In addition, S.H.I.E.L.D. maintains strong ties to the superhero community, especially Captain America, the Avengers, and the Fantastic Four, and often calls upon that community for aid on particular missions.

In the 2000s, depictions of S.H.I.E.L.D. imply a hierarchy of security clearance levels used either in place of, or alongside, the previously described rank structure. The security-clearance hierarchy operates on a scale ranging from "Level One", the lowest, to "Level Ten", described by Maria Hill, executive director at the time, as the highest security clearance anyone of any government can have. Hill's own clearance, cited in the New Avengers ongoing series, was Level Nine.

The first story arc in the series New Avengers "Breakout", revealed an additional ranking, "Champion Status", that effectively removes them from the traditional S.H.I.E.L.D. hierarchy and, as Captain America comments, gives status-holders such as himself the right to assemble any team to carry out any mission he believes necessary.^{[volume & issue needed]} In addition, Nick Fury is the only "33rd-degree" S.H.I.E.L.D officer, meaning he is the only member of S.H.I.E.L.D, present or past, to know the full existence of 28 emergencies, covert, back-up bases scattered across the globe.^{[volume & issue needed]}

Equipment[link]

S.H.I.E.L.D. has used a wide variety of advanced vehicles, weapons and other equipment.

The S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier is the agency's signature capital ship and headquarters.

The S.H.I.E.L.D. Flying Car is the standard issue S.H.I.E.L.D. vehicle.

The S.H.I.E.L.D. regulation issue sidearm was originally a .30-caliber rapid-fire machine pistol, later replaced by an advanced plasma-beam pistol. Nick Fury often carried his personal sidearm, the NF3000, a .15 caliber handgun, a weapon that fired explosive flechettes.

Prominent members[link]

Throughout its existence, S.H.I.E.L.D. has been most prominently led by Nick Fury, with Maria Hill succeeding him in mid-2000s stories. She voluntarily stepped down in a 2007 story, becoming deputy director to Tony Stark. Other historically prominent members, who have appeared from the earliest stories to the modern day, include Timothy "Dum Dum" Dugan and Gabriel "Gabe" Jones, both veterans of Fury's World War II Howling Commandos, though their youthful longevity has not, unlike Fury's, been explained in Marvel continuity; Contessa Valentina Allegra di Fontaine;^[16] Clay Quartermain (Agent 9); Jacob Strzeszewski (Agent 10); Jasper Sitwell (Agent 12); and Sharon Carter (Agent 13), all introduced in the 1960s; and Jimmy Woo, introduced in the 1950s comic Yellow Claw and reintroduced in the ' 60s.

Prior to the events of the Civil War, Captain America estimated there to be 3,000 agents on active duty.^[17]

Bases of operation[link]

Although the various Helicarriers built over the years have long been considered S.H.I.E.L.D.'s primary mobile home base, the Directorate also maintains a number of land bases throughout the world, most notably "S.H.I.E.L.D. Central" in New York City. While some of these bases are publicly accessible on a limited basis, most are not publicly disclosed for reasons of planetary security. There are several fully equipped S.H.I.E.L.D. fall-out shelters scattered around the world, with twenty-eight of these being known only to Nick Fury. During the events of Civil War, Nick Fury was hiding in an American based shelter. He also divulged the location of one to Captain America, so the Resistance to the Superhuman Registration Act could use it as a safe house.

Related organizations[link]

A.R.M.O.R.[link]

A.R.M.O.R. (Altered-Reality Monitoring and Operational Response) is a sister agency to S.H.I.E.L.D. that monitors alternate reality incursions into Earth-616. It was introduced in the Marvel Zombies 3 limited series, written by Fred Van Lente. Van Lente stated that A.R.M.O.R. "has existed with them this whole time, but it's been so incredibly secret that no one at Marvel knew about it".^[18] In the comics it is stated that A.R.M.O.R. is so secret that it 'makes S.W.O.R.D. look like S.H.I.E.L.D., and S.H.I.E.L.D. look like the Post Office'.^[19] During Dark Reign, A.R.M.O.R. operates under the oversight of H.A.M.M.E.R. but Osborn wanted to fully absorb A.R.M.O.R. into H.A.M.M.E.R. They were able to keep out of Osborn's clutches when their newest agent, Lyra downloaded incriminating evidence against him.^[20]

H.A.M.M.E.R.[link]

H.A.M.M.E.R. replaces S.H.I.E.L.D. after it is dissolved when Norman Osborn is appointed the new head following the conclusion of the Skrull attack.^[15] It was not established what H.A.M.M.E.R. stands for; in Dark Avengers #1, Osborn told Victoria Hand, the new Deputy Director, that it does stand for something, and when she asked what it stands for, he told her, "Get to work on it for me. That is one of the many things on your 'To Do' list".^[15] Former S.H.I.E.L.D. agents and members of HYDRA are hired as agents. H.A.M.M.E.R. promotes Osborn's personal team of Avengers, a group composed mostly of former Thunderbolts members and former members of the Mighty Avengers. Osborn also eliminates all of Tony Stark's influence on S.H.I.E.L.D., including the Cape-Killer Armor and the Red and Gold Helicarrier. He also replaces all agents loyal to Nick Fury, Captain America, or Iron Man with agents loyal to himself. Also, in the Captain America: Reborn Prelude, when Sin, who is captured by H.A.M.M.E.R, asks what it stands for, the agent present says that it's classified and she does not have a security clearance.^[21]

S.T.R.I.K.E.[link]

S.T.R.I.K.E. (Special Tactical Response for International Key Emergencies) was a British agency, unrelated to but run along similar lines to S.H.I.E.L.D.. Disbanded after being infiltrated and taken over by a criminal organization, one of its members was the future X-Man Psylocke. It was introduced in Marvel UK's Captain Britain #17 (Feb. 2, 1977).

A European subdivision of S.H.I.E.L.D., called Euromind, was introduced in the Marvel Italia series Europa.

S.W.O.R.D.[link]

S.W.O.R.D. (Sentient World Observation and Response Department), works with S.H.I.E.L.D. but specializes in extraterrestrial threats. It is first introduced in Astonishing X-Men (vol. 3) #6 (Dec. 2004), written by Joss Whedon. Dialogue in the stories depicting both organizations has been ambiguous on whether S.W.O.R.D. is a branch of S.H.I.E.L.D. or a sister agency.

Agent Abigail Brand, the S.W.O.R.D. agent the X-Men encountered, has green hair, a trait typical of agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s archenemy, HYDRA. This unusual characteristic did not go unremarked; Wolverine referred to her as "HYDRA-Hair" in Astonishing X-Men (vol. 3) #6.

A similar group as S.W.O.R.D., likewise affiliated with the U.N., is Starcore, which has worked with S.H.I.E.L.D. on several projects of joint interest, including establishing and maintaining a crewed facility on Earth's Moon.

Titles[link]

[edit] S.H.I.E.L.D. (2010)

S.H.I.E.L.D. is 2010 comic book ongoing series published by Marvel Comics, premiering with a first issue cover dated June 2010. It details the secret history of the occult organization the Shield. The series is written by Jonathan Hickman and drawn by Dustin Weaver.^[22][23][24]

Plot[link]

The series details the secret history of an occult organization called the Brotherhood of the Shield, with a history extending back to ancient Egypt. The main story of the first issue is set in 1953, when Shield agents Nathaniel Richards and Howard Stark enlist a young man named Leonid with unspecified superpowers into the organization, taking him to Shield's High Council in the Immortal City under Rome. The High Council reveals that they know "the final fate of Man", and their mission is to ensure nothing threatens the world before this occurs. They have chosen Leonid because he has a destiny.^{[volume & issue needed]}

Flashbacks reveal that the Shield was founded by Imhotep following a battle (alongside Apocalypse and the original Moon Knight) against the Brood, and that previous agents include Zhang Heng (who tricked a Celestial into using the sun to give birth to its child instead of destroying the Earth or the Moon to do so), Galileo Galilei (who fought against Galactus) and Leonardo Da Vinci (who is shown with a mysterious device, flying off in an ornithopter).^{[volume & issue needed]}

Leonid spends three years working with the Shield before being visited by his father, a superhuman named the Night Machine who has encountered the Shield before, and apparently been killed by them. The Night Machine gives Leonid the key to a secret area of the headquarters, saying his destiny cannot be dictated by others. The issue ends with Leonid meeting Da Vinci, who has apparently travelled through time to use his device to save the world. Da Vinci's return was met with resistance from Issac Newton who saw it as threat to his reign as leader of the organization. This eventually leads to a great schism that divides the Shield into two factions one led by Da Vinci and one led by Newton.^{[volume & issue needed]}

Also connected to the story are Renaissance man Michelangelo who as The Forever Man has amazing superhuman powers of time and space manipulation and Nostradamus who was tortured by Newton to tell the future for centuries. It is later discovered that The Night Machine is really Nikola Tesla who received his cybernetic implants from Michelangelo. Tesla is also discovered to be Leonid's adoptive father and that his biological father was Newton. The reader learns that Newton murdered Galileo Galilei and a host of others to meet his needs.^{[volume & issue needed]}

Other versions[link]

Mutant X[link]

S.H.I.E.L.D. was mentioned briefly in the Mutant X alternate universe series as an anti-mutant group. S.H.I.E.L.D. stood for Saviours of Humanity by Intervention in the Evolution of Life-form Deviants.^[25]

S.A.F.E.[link]

Introduced in Marvel's line of novels in the mid-1990s, S.A.F.E. (Strategic Action For Emergencies) is the United States' answer to S.H.I.E.L.D. It first appeared in Spider-Man & the Incredible Hulk: Rampage (Doom's Day Book 1), and may not be part of comics canon, although the novels it appears in have been referred to several times in Marvel's Handbooks. Whereas S.H.I.E.L.D. is a U.N.-chartered organization dealing with international incidents, S.A.F.E. is tasked with similar duties inside America's borders. It is run by Colonel Sean Morgan. A prominently featured agent is Joshua Ballard, who, among other things, survived an encounter with Doctor Doom and later Baron Zemo.

In the novel Secret of the Sinister Six, S.A.F.E. agent Clyde Fury (no relation to Nick Fury) distinguishes between espionage agencies (such as S.H.I.E.L.D.) and strategic action specialists such as S.A.F.E.

H.A.T.E.[link]

H.A.T.E. stands for the Highest Anti Terrorism Effort. It is a parody of S.H.I.E.L.D. created for Marvel Comics' 12-issue series Nextwave by comics author Warren Ellis. The leader of H.A.T.E., General Dirk Anger is a parody of Nick Fury. This series depicts H.A.T.E. as being a secretive organization with suspect motives led by the madman, Anger, who has self-control and sexual issues.

House of M[link]

In an alternate reality where mutants rule over the regular humans, S.H.I.E.L.D. was filled with mutants, all serving the House of Magnus on Genosha. Sebastian Shaw is the Executive Director of S.H.I.E.L.D., Wolverine is in charge of the House of Magnus Red Guard (Agents Rogue, Jessica Drew, Kurt Wagner, Mortimer Toynbee, and Raven Darkholme) and the Marauders are S.H.I.E.L.D.'s black ops unit.^{[volume & issue needed]}

Ultimate S.H.I.E.L.D.[link]

S.H.I.E.L.D. in the Ultimate Marvel parallel universe was first led by General "Thunderbolt" Ross. During the Gulf War, the Weapon X Project, headed by Colonel John Wraith, was sanctioned by S.H.I.E.L.D. and resulted in the creation of Wolverine.

After Ross' apparent death, Nick Fury was then selected as the organization's executive director. His first actions were to shut down Weapon X and resurrect the Super Soldier program, commissioning Dr. Bruce Banner to try to recreate the formula that made Captain America. This failed and resulted in the creation of the Hulk when Banner injected his serum into himself. It was later revealed that the chemical called Oz, which turned Norman Osborn into the Green Goblin, was also created in hopes of recreating the Super Soldier formula. Spider-Man was also a product of the Oz formula. As well, the creation of the Sandman and Electro are due to Hammer Industries attempting to recreate the Super Soldier formula for S.H.I.E.L.D. S.H.I.E.L.D. created its own superhero team, the Ultimates. Later still, it brought the X-Men and Spider-Man under S.H.I.E.L.D. jurisdiction. In Ultimate X-Men #65 (Jan. 2006), S.H.I.E.L.D. severed ties with the X-Men. After the events of Ultimate Power, S.H.I.E.L.D. is under the directorship of Carol Danvers, as Nick Fury was temporarily stranded in the Supreme Power Universe. After Ultimatum, Nick Fury becomes head of the Black-Ops division in Ultimate Comics: Avengers. It is also revealed he is plotting to take back his position as director.^[26]

In the Ultimate Marvel universe, S.H.I.E.L.D. is controlled entirely by the United States. It maintains ties to a sister organization in Europe, the European Defense Initiative as well as the British operated S.T.R.I.K.E.

Members[link]

Divisions[link]

• S.T.R.I.K.E., the British extension of S.H.I.E.L.D.
• Psi
• Black-Ops
• Eye

In other media[link]

Television[link]

• S.H.I.E.L.D.'s first television appearance was in the Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends episode "Mission: Save the Guardstar."
• S.H.I.E.L.D. appears in the second season of Iron Man. It showed Tony Stark working with Nick Fury and Dum Dum Dugan.
• S.H.I.E.L.D. appears in Spider-Man: The Animated Series. It featured Nick Fury and "Agent 1" (based on Sharon Carter) as its featured members.
• S.H.I.E.L.D. appears in The Incredible Hulk: The Animated Series. S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent Gabriel Jones is also shown as a member of the Hulkbusters.
• S.H.I.E.L.D. and Nick Fury made several appearances in the X-Men: Evolution animated series, including the episodes featuring Captain America and the debut of X-23, Wolverine's clone.
• S.H.I.E.L.D. first appears in the Wolverine and the X-Men episode "Wolverine Vs. The Hulk."
• In Iron Man: Armored Adventures, Pepper states that there is a S.H.I.E.L.D. booth at the school's job fair in Ready, A.I.M., Fire. S.H.I.E.L.D. appears in the episodes "Fun with Lasers", "Technovore" and "Designed Only For Chaos". As well as Nick Fury, S.H.I.E.L.D. agents in this series include Abigail Brand (who appeared in "Fun With Lasers") and Maria Hill (who appeared in "Technovore"). Other agents are named by Maria Hill in the episode "Extremis", (based on the story arc) when agent Mallen assualt fellow agents named "Dugan" and Coulson.
• S.H.I.E.L.D. helicarrier is the headquarters for The Super Hero Squad Show animated series, which began airing in 2009. Ms. Marvel is S.H.I.E.L.D. leader, Captain America is the Super Hero Squad boss, and the first season team consists of these regulars: Falcon, Hulk, Iron Man, Silver Surfer, Thor, Wolverine, and rookie "Squaddie" Reptil. This group of elite superheroes defends Super Hero City against villainous Doctor Doom and his followers: Abomination, Enchantress, MODOK, Mole Man.
• S.H.I.E.L.D. appears in The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes, where members Maria Hill, Clay Quartermain, Jimmy Woo and Nick Fury are named agents who also appear.^{[citation needed]}
• Nick Fury and agent Phil Coulson appear in Ultimate Spider-Man.^[27] The series itself revolves around a S.H.I.E.L.D. training program for young superheroes consisting of Spider-Man, White Tiger, Power Man, Iron Fist and Nova.

Films[link]

• In 1998, there was a Nick Fury: Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. TV movie starring David Hasselhoff.
• S.H.I.E.L.D. appeared in the animated movies Ultimate Avengers and Ultimate Avengers 2: Rise of the Panther, which are based on the comic book The Ultimates in the Ultimate Marvel Universe.

• S.H.I.E.L.D. appears in several films set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe:
  • In the 2008 Iron Man film, the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement, and Logistics Division is introduced as a U.S. government agency. Agent Phil Coulson (Clark Gregg) repeatedly attempts to debrief Tony Stark about Stark's escape from Afghanistan. Later on, Pepper Potts informs Agent Coulson of Obadiah Stane's armor. As a running gag, when Coulson attempts to speak with either Potts or Stark, he always says the agency's full name, only for them to comment on how the organization needed a shorter name. At the end, when Pepper goes to say the full name, Coulson interrupts her, saying to just call them "S.H.I.E.L.D." After the credits, S.H.I.E.L.D. Director Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) appears, informing Stark of the Avenger Initiative.
  • In the 2008 The Incredible Hulk film, S.H.I.E.L.D. again appears. During the opening credits, Nick Fury's name appears briefly on a government document, and General Thunderbolt Ross uses S.H.I.E.L.D. to help him track Bruce Banner's e-mails to Dr. Samuel Sterns aka "Mr. Blue". Tony Stark appears to talk with General Ross at the film's conclusion, commenting that they need to talk about a team "they're" putting together.
  • The 2010 Iron Man 2 film features S.H.I.E.L.D. agents Phil Coulson (Clark Gregg), and Natasha Romanoff (Scarlett Johansson) and Director General Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson). Stark pans the agency as running a "super secret boy band" and later learns that his father, Howard, was a founding member. In the epilogue, Agent Coulson is shown in the New Mexico desert, making a telephone call to report that Thor's hammer has been located.
  • In the 2011 film Thor, S.H.I.E.L.D. investigates the discovery of the titular character's hammer on Earth. Coulson interrogates Thor when the depowered Asgardian attacks a S.H.I.E.L.D. facility that has been erected around Thor's recently-discovered hammer. Although S.H.I.E.L.D. confiscates Jane Foster's research about the dimensional anomaly that brought Thor to Earth (later revealed as Bifrost), when Thor's powers are restored Agent Coulson agrees to return Jane's research to her. Thor also assures Coulson that they will be allies in the defence of Earth's innocents. Agents who appear in this film include Phil Coulson (Clark Gregg), Jasper Sitwell (Maximiliano Hernández), Clint Barton (Jeremy Renner), Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson), Agent Cale (Patrick O'Brien Demsey) and Agent Garrett (Dale Godboldo). After the credits, Nick Fury asks Erik Selvig if he could figure out how to use the Cosmic Cube.
  • In the 2011 film Captain America: The First Avenger, S.H.I.E.L.D. scientists in the Arctic uncover Captain America's body in the Red Skull's airship from WWII. Rogers awakens in a room designed to appear as if he were still in the early 1940s. Deducing the truth and escaping to Times Square, Rogers learns from S.H.I.E.L.D. leader Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) that he has been asleep for nearly 70 years, and they had wanted to acclimate his reentry into modern times. Agents who appear in this film include Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) and Amanda Righetti as an unnamed S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent.
  • S.H.I.E.L.D. is featured in the 2012 film The Avengers.^[28] Nick Fury, Phil Coulson, Natasha Romanoff and Clint Barton appear^[29] as well as S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Maria Hill (Cobie Smulders).^[30] A substantial part of the film takes place within the S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier.
  • Walt Disney Studios has confirmed that Nick Fury and S.H.I.E.L.D. will make an appearance in the 2014 sequel to Captain America: The First Avenger.^[31]

Video games[link]

• S.H.I.E.L.D. is featured in the cross-platform video game X-Men: Next Dimension. On the barbed wire outside the facility from which the Prime Sentinels recover the head of Bastion there is a sign which reads "NO TRESPASSING BY ORDER OF S.H.I.E.L.D."
• S.H.I.E.L.D. appeared in the 2005 video game The Punisher.^{[citation needed]}
• S.H.I.E.L.D. is featured in the cross-platform release Ultimate Spider-Man. Nick Fury and other S.H.I.E.L.D. agents were using Spider-Man as bait to apprehend Venom and track down the Green Goblin.^{[citation needed]}
• S.H.I.E.L.D. has a prominent role in Marvel: Ultimate Alliance, the game beginning with an attack on the Helicarrier and the characters investigating the possible defection of the Black Widow as the story progresses, along with discovering such controversial S.H.I.E.L.D. schemes as an attempt to create a new Super Soldier Serum and plans to reprogram and upgrade Ultron to work for them. Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. is a team bonus if you have Captain America, Nick Fury, Spider-Woman, and Wolverine on your team.^{[citation needed]} One of the agents has special dialogue with Deadpool.
• S.H.I.E.L.D. is featured in the video game Spider-Man: Friend or Foe. In the opening cutscene Nick Fury uses the hover carrier to rescue Spider-Man from the P.H.A.N.T.O.M.'s (Perpetual Holographic Avatar Nanotech Offensive Monsters). Spider-Man humorously pointed out that their secret base of operations is a giant flying hover carrier. The hovercarrier serves as the hub where the player can swap outside kicks, upgrade them, and go to the five crash sites. An original character for the game is a computer which briefed Spider-Man, often insulted Nick Fury, and made bad jokes about the super villains. At the end of the game in which Fury sent Spider-Man home and revealed he knows of his secret identity (apparently they followed him on spy satellites) after which Fury decided to study the Shards for military purposes and dubbed the project Project Carnage.
• S.H.I.E.L.D. is featured in the video game Spider-Man: Web of Shadows. S.H.I.E.L.D. forces under the command of the Black Widow quarantine Manhattan to keep the Symbiote invasion from expanding. In the PS2 and PSP versions, S.H.I.E.L.D. had attempted to find a way to use Venom as a weapon.^{[citation needed]}
• S.H.I.E.L.D. has a prominent role in Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2. Like in the comics Maria Hill is put in charge after Nick Fury is forced to go into hiding, and is put in charge of registering superheroes and aiding the pro-registration side. Some agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. quit after Captain America declares his opposition to the Act to work with him, the group calling themselves the 'White Star' in Captain America's honor When the nanite invasion starts S.H.I.E.L.D. is left powerless to do anything since most of its agents are infected. S.H.I.E.L.D. reorganizes once the nanites are defeated.
• S.H.I.E.L.D. has a prominent role in Iron Man 2. During the entire game they aid Iron Man and War Machine in their mission to stop Roxxon, A.I.M., Kearson DeWitt and finally Ultimo. However they also have a mission of their own assigned to them by Russia government this one being to stop General Shatalov.
• S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier is a stage in the fighting game Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds.
• Ultimate S.H.I.E.L.D. is featured as enemies in Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions. Here they have retrieved both a fragment of the Tablet of Chaos and Order and Carnage and brought them to the Triskelion. Chaos erupts when S.H.I.E.L.D. foolishly puts both Carnage and the fragment together to study the resulting combination. Carnage quickly kills off all the facilities guards and infuses them with symbiote material transforming them first into zombies and later into Carnage like creatures. It appears that Ultimate Nick Fury was mentioned before the attacks. During Spider-Man's fight with Carnage, S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent Wellings sends some special Slayer Robots that would recognize Spider-Man as an ally in the fight against Carnage.

Parodies/Homages[link]

• The Tick animated series featured a character named "Jim Rage, Agent of S.H.A.V.E." in an episode about a homicidal mustache. Similarly, the Tick comic series, Karma Tornado features a gruff government official named Nick Fitt who wears a nicotine patch over his eye and several more all over his body while smoking two to five cigarettes at once.^{[citation needed]}
• In Marvel's own Star Comics title Peter Porker, the Spectacular Spider-Ham, the character Nick Furry, Agent of S.H.E.E.P. can be seen.

Depictions in translation[link]

This unreferenced section requires citations to ensure verifiability.

S.H.I.E.L.D. stories have been translated into several other languages, including French, Finnish and Italian. Occasionally, these translations will show S.H.I.E.L.D. with an altered name.

In the case of selected French editions, the name of the agency was depicted as S.E.R.V.O., which sounds like "brain" (cerveau) in French.

In Finnish the name that applies to S.H.I.E.L.D. in mainstream Marvel continuity is Y.P.K.V.V. (Ylimmäisen Päämajan Kansainvälisen Vakoilun Vastustamisjaos), a direct translation of the original English. In translations of the Ultimate Marvel comics, the name is K.I.L.P.I., with "kilpi" being the translation for the word (as opposed to the acronym) "shield".

In Greek, the organization name is Α.Σ.Π.Ι.Δ.Α. (pronounced ASPIDA, meaning "shield" in Greek). The initials stand for Supreme Military and Political Foundation of International Counter-espionage (Ανώτατο Στρατιωτικό Πολιτικό Ίδρυμα Διεθνούς Αντικατασκοπέιας)

In Portuguese, the name S.H.I.E.L.D. remains, but it is translated as "Superintendência Humana de Intervenção, Espionagem, Logística e Dissuasão", i. e., Human Superintendence for Intervention, Espionage, Logistics and Dissuasion.

In Dutch the name S.C.H.I.L.D. (schild = shield) has been used by the publisher Williams, but was dropped by Junior Press in favor of S.H.I.E.L.D.

In Mexico, it was translated by La Prensa and later Novedades, as C.I.D.E.L., Centro Internacional De Espionaje Legal (International Center Of Legal Espionage), but later Novedades changed the acronym to C.S.E.I., Cuartel Supremo de Espionaje e Inteligencia (Supreme Headquarters of Espionage and Intelligence)

In Spain, initial publisher Vértice translated S.H.I.E.L.D. as "Escudo" (always without a determinant), but never showed the meaning. Later publisher Planeta DeAgostini used the name S.H.I.E.L.D., but translating the acronym as "Organización Internacional para la Ejecución y el Cumplimiento de la Ley" (international organisation for implementation and fulfillment of law). It has been suggested^{[citation needed]}, as a joke, that the acronym does not correspond to the meaning because the acronym itself is undercover. Now, Panini translates the acronym as "Servicio Homologado de Inteligencia, Espionaje, Logística y Defensa" (Accredited Service of Intelligence, Espionage, Logistics, and Defense) to keep the original acronym.

In Danish, S.H.I.E.L.D. was originally known as S.K.J.O.L.D., "Skjold" being the Danish word for a shield, though the meaning of the abbreviation would differ.

See also[link]

• List of government agencies in Marvel Comics

References[link]

External links[link]

• S.H.I.E.L.D. at the Marvel Universe wiki
• The Grand Comics Database
• S.H.I.E.L.D. at Marvel Appendix
• Marvel Directory: Nick Fury
• Don Markstein's Toonopedia: Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.
• Current Blog on S.H.I.E.L.D.

Leslie Roy Mills CNZM, MBE
36th Mayor of Auckland City
In office 1990–1998
Preceded by	Catherine Tizard
Succeeded by	Christine Fletcher
Personal details
Born	(1934-11-01) 1 November 1934 (age 77) New Zealand
Nationality	New Zealand

Leslie ("Les") Roy Mills CNZM, MBE, (born 1 November 1934 in Auckland) is a retired New Zealand athlete, who represented New Zealand at Olympic Games and Commonwealth Games over two decades. He competed in shot put, discus and weightlifting events. At the 1966 British Empire and Commonwealth Games he achieved his best result, a gold medal in discus.

After retiring from active competition, Mills became a gym owner in 1968 and a businessman. He was Mayor of Auckland, New Zealand's largest city, from 1990 to 1998. He gives his name to Les Mills International, a company founded by his son Phillip Mills.^[1]

Athletics career[link]

Medal record
Men's Athletics
Competitor for  New Zealand
Commonwealth Games
Gold	1966 Kingston	Discus
Silver	1958 Cardiff	Discus
Silver	1966 Kingston	Shot put
Silver	1970 Edinburgh	Discus
Bronze	1970 Edinburgh	Shot put

• 1952: Wins New Zealand Junior Shot and Discus
• 1958 British Empire and Commonwealth Games: Discus, Silver Medal
• 1960 Summer Olympics: Captain and Flagbearer for the New Zealand Team. Placed 11th in Shot Put, and 28th in Discus.
• 1962 British Empire and Commonwealth Games: 5th place Discus, 6th place Shot.
• 1964 Summer Olympics: 7th place Shot.
• 1966 British Empire and Commonwealth Games: Gold Medal Discus, Silver Medal Shot Put
• 1968 Summer Olympics: Competed injured, 11th place Shot
• 1970 British Commonwealth Games: Discus Silver Medal, Shot Put Bronze Medal.
• 1972 Summer Olympics: 14th place Discus, 23rd Shot Put.
• 1974–1976 National Sports Director of Papua New Guinea.
• 1977–1979 First Director of Coaching in Athletics for New Zealand.
• 1978 Commonwealth Games New Zealand Coach.

He also has trained New Zealand throwers, such as Beatrice Faumuina.

Personal bests[link]

Mills's personal best for the shot put was a New Zealand national record for 44 years, until 16-year-old Jacko Gill broke it on 23 April 2011 with a throw of 20.01 m^[2]

Mills is only one of two people to have the rare honour of twice being the New Zealand flag bearer at Olympic Games, the other being Arthur Porritt.^[3]

Mayor of Auckland City[link]

Mills served as the Mayor of Auckland City between 1990 and 1998.^[4] His Mayoral term commenced with a by-election in 1990 after the resignation of Dame Catherine Tizard, who had been appointed Governor-General. The new council had been formed following local body amalgamation in 1989 which saw many of the district borough councils merged into one larger city. Mills' first term oversaw the merger of these many district boroughs into one city. The Aotea Centre was also opened at the beginning of his term. Other initiatives which commenced on Mills' watch as Mayor included the introduction of the green "wheelie bins", metered user charges for water use, council assets like golf courses were leased to private management, and the city also quit some assets that no longer were of priority, like its abattoir.

Other major events during Mills' tenure included work commencing on the America's Cup Village at the Auckland viaduct, the commencement and opening of the Sky Tower and Casino complex that now dominates the Auckland skyline, the redevelopment of the Civic theatre, and refurbishment of the Auckland Town Hall.

During this period, the 1998 Auckland power crisis occurred, which shut down most of the inner city. Mills' Britomart Transport Centre plans also came under some criticism as being too focused on property development and not enough on transport. His successor Christine Fletcher led plans for a scaled down Britomart Station without the large property development plans.

Mills was defeated in a three way contest between himself, businessman Richard Holden and eventual winner Christine Fletcher in 1998. Mills himself was absent for most of the election campaign, leading the New Zealand team at the 1998 Commonwealth Games, and mentoring the gold medal winning discus thrower Beatrice Faumuina.

References[link]

External links[link]

• Les Mills Fitness Programs
• Les Mills International (USA) homepage
• Les Mills International (Australia) homepage
• Les Mills in the UK
• Les Mills International (China) homepage
• Profile at New Zealand Commonwealth Games website

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (January 2008)

The Crew-Cuts were a Canadian vocal quartet, that made a number of popular records that charted in the United States and worldwide. They named themselves after the then popular crew cut haircut, one of the first connections made between pop music and hairstyle.^{[citation needed]} They were most famous for their recording of a cover version of The Chords hit record, "Sh-Boom."

Band members[link]

The Crew-Cuts were:

• Rudi Maugeri (January 21, 1931 - May 7, 2004) (baritone)
• John Perkins (born August 28, 1931) (lead)
• Ray Perkins (born November 24, 1932) (bass) (John Perkins' brother)
• Pat Barrett (born September 15, 1933) (1st or high tenor)

Biography[link]

They all had been members of the St. Michael's Choir School in Toronto, which also spawned another famous quartet, The Four Lads. Maugeri, John Perkins, and two others (Bernard Toorish and Connie Codarini) who later were among the Four Lads first formed a group called The Jordonaires (not to be confused with a similarly named group, The Jordanaires, that was known for singing backup vocals on Elvis Presley's hits) and also The Otnorots ("Toronto" spelled backwards being "Otnorot"), but they split from the group to finish high school. When the Four Lads returned to Toronto for a homecoming concert, John Perkins and Maugeri ran into each other and decided that they could themselves have a musical future. They joined with Barrett and Ray Perkins in March 1952. The group was originally called The Four Tones (not to be confused with The Four Tunes, a group on the borderline between pop music and rhythm and blues).

A Toronto disk jockey, Barry Nesbitt, put them on his weekly teen show, whose audience gave the group a new name, The Canadaires. All four of the members were at the time working at jobs with the Ontario government, but quit their jobs to sing full-time. They worked clubs in the Niagara Falls, Ontario, and Niagara Falls, NY area, but saved up their money and drove to New York City, so they could appear on Arthur Godfrey's television and radio program, Talent Scouts, where they came in second to a comedian. While they did get a record with Thrillwood Records and recorded a song titled "Chip, Chip Sing A Song Little Sparrow", this led to no improvement in their fortune, however, and they continued playing minor night clubs.

In March 1953, they returned to Toronto and appeared as an opening act for Gisele MacKenzie at the Casino Theatre. She was impressed with them and commented favorably to her record label, but could not remember the group's name.

They were playing in a Sudbury, Ontario, night club in a sub-zero Canadian winter when they received notice that they had been invited to appear as a guest on a Cleveland television program. They drove 600 miles at -40° temperatures to appear on the Gene Carroll show, where they remained for three appearances and also, while in Cleveland, met local disk jockey Bill Randle. On his show, on Cleveland radio station WERE (1300 AM), he coined the name that would from that point on belong to the group. In addition, Randle arranged for them to audition with Mercury Records, who liked them enough to sign the quartet to a contract.

The name Crew Cuts refers to their short hair as opposed to long hair, which implied classical music at the time. It was a decade later that long hair came to be associated with the counter-culture movement.

Although their first hit, "Crazy 'Bout You, Baby," was written by Maugeri and Barrett themselves, they quickly became specialists in cover recordings of originally-R&B songs. Their first cover, "Sh-Boom" (of which the R&B original was recorded by The Chords) hit #1 on the charts in 1954. A number of other hits followed including "Earth Angel" which rose to the number 2 spot on the charts and had great success in England and in Australia.

Interestingly, many of the non-cover songs of theirs that became hits in Canada were unknown in the United States of America, while it was only their covers that had great success in the United States.

The group moved from Mercury to RCA Records in 1958 and eventually broke up in 1964, but they all moved to the U.S. and reunited in Nashville, Tennessee, in 1977. In the 1990s they were inducted into the Juno Hall of Fame. In recent years, the three remaining members have appeared on a PBS special filmed in Atlantic City's Trump's Taj Mahal. The program. "Magic Moments: The Best of '50s Pop" continues to air as part of the fund raising efforts for the Public Broadcasting System.

A remix of their version of the song "Sh-Boom" was featured in the credits of the video game Destroy All Humans!. The original recording of their song "Sh-Boom" can also be heard on one of the in-game radio stations in Mafia II .

Songs[link]

• "All I Wanna Do" (1954) (flip side of "The Barking Dog")
• "Angels In The Sky" (1955) (flip side of "Mostly Martha")
• "The Barking Dog" (1954) (flip side of "All I Wanna Do")
• "Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen" (1956) (The best known version of this song was a much-earlier one by The Andrews Sisters.)
• "Be My Only Love" (1957)
• "Carmen's Boogie" (1955)
• "Chop Chop Boom" (1955) (flip side of "Don't Be Angry")
• "Crazy 'Bout You Baby" (1954)
• "Dance Mr. Snowman Dance" (1954)
• "Don't Be Angry" (1955) (flip side of "Chop Chop Boom")
• "Earth Angel" (1955) (flip side of "Ko Ko Mo")
• "Gum Drop" (1955) (written by Rudy Toombs)
• "Halls Of Ivy" (1956) (This song was used as theme music for a television program of the same name.)
• "Hey, You Face" (1957) (flip side of "Susie Q")
• "Forever, My Darling" (a song most of whose other versions were titled "Pledging My Love") (1958) (flip side of "Hey! Stella")
• "Hey! Stella" (1958) (flip side of "Forever, My Darling")
• "I Like It Like That" (1957)
• "I Sit In The Window" (1957)
• "Ko Ko Mo (I Love You So)" (1955) (flip side of "Earth Angel")
• "Legend Of Gunga Din" (1959)
• "Love In A Home" (1956)
• "Mostly Martha" (1955) (flip side of "Angels In The Sky")
• "Oop-Shoop" (1954)
• "Over The Mountain" (1959)
• "Seven Days" (1956)
• "Sh-Boom" (1954)
• "Slam Bam" (1955)
• "A Story Untold" (1955)
• "Susie Q" (1957)
• "Tell Me Why" (1956) (This song was also recorded by Gale Storm).
• Twinkle Toes (1953) (with David Carroll and His Orchestra)
• "Unchained Melody" (1955) (This song was better known in versions by Al Hibbler and Les Baxter).
• "Whatever, Whenever, Whoever" (1957)
• "The Whippenpoof Song" (1955)
• "Young Love" (1957) (This song was better known in versions by Sonny James and Tab Hunter).

See also[link]

• Music of Canada
• Canadian rock
• Canadian Music Hall of Fame

References[link]

External links[link]

• Crew-Cuts page on Doo Wop World
• Crew-Cuts page on Black Cat

Ray William Johnson (born 1981-1982) is an American actor and comedian best known for his YouTube series Equals Three, in which he provides commentary on viral videos.^[2][3] Many of the videos featured on Equals Three are noted to have received an additional boost of popularity.^{[4][5][6][7][8]} As of May 2012, the RayWilliamJohnson channel is the most subscribed channel on YouTube,^[9][10] with over 5.4 million subscribers, and over 1.7 billion video views.^[11] In February 2011, one industry publication noted that Johnson currently had six of the top twenty most watched videos of the month.^[12]

Background[link]

Johnson graduated from Norman North High School in Oklahoma, in 1999,^[1] however Johnson's Youtube profile states he was born and raised in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.^[13] In an interview with Wall Street Journal, Johnson says that he studied at Columbia University, as a history major,^[1] while his profile adds he was preparing to study law.^[13] While at Columbia, Johnson started his first formatted show, Equals Three, as a way to combine two popular video styles, watching viral videos and video bloggers.^[2]

Current projects[link]

[edit] Equals Three

Equals Three
Title card
Genre	Comedy
Created by	Ray William Johnson
Written by	Phil Haney Steve Greene Marvin Silbermintz Erin Schmalfeld Ilana Cohn Brandon Perna "Big Rob" Lance Patrick Ray William Johnson
Presented by	Ray William Johnson
Country of origin	United States
Language(s)	English Spanish (Igual a Tres)
No. of episodes	265 (as of March 3, 2012)
Production
Executive producer(s)	Ray William Johnson
Producer(s)	Erin Schmalfeld
Editor(s)	Brandon Perna
Broadcast
Original channel	RayWilliamJohnson
Original run	2008 (2008) – present
Chronology
Related shows	Breaking Your Favorite Martian Igual a Tres YFMTS
External links
Website

In Equals Three (stylized as "=3"), Ray William Johnson reviews, criticizes, and adds commentary to some of the internet's latest viral videos.^[3] Equals Three episodes are usually uploaded to his channel every Tuesday and Friday. In these episodes, Johnson interacts with his audience by posting a viewer-submitted "comment question of the day", then features five of his favorite comments in the preceding episode. Equals Three is on the most subscribed channel on YouTube, having over 5 million subscribers to date, and has been recognized by Guinness World Records.^[2][14][15] Because of his popularity, Equals Three episodes can consistently obtain several million views within a week. Johnson has been able to leverage his popularity to secure several celebrity guests on Equals Three, including Robin Williams,^[16] Gabriel Iglesias,^[17] Kal Penn,^[18] Margaret Cho,^[19] Bobby Lee,^[20] T.J. Miller,^[21] Garfunkel and Oates,^[22] John Cho,^[18] Jason Biggs,^[23] Andy Milonakis^[24] and Traphik.^[25]

Your Favorite Martian[link]

In January 2011, Johnson launched a collaborative YouTube channel called "YourFavoriteMartian", which features animated music videos.^{[26][27][dead link]} The songs are performed by a virtual band of four fictional cartoon characters: PuffPuff Humbert (vocals, voiced by Johnson), DeeJay (turntables), Axel Chains (drums), and Benatar (vocals, guitar/keytar).^[28] Johnson writes lyrics, raps, sings, composes beats, and sometimes collaborates with other musicians to produce the songs.^[29] The following is a list of music videos that have been released so far:

To date, Johnson has released 30 original songs, 1 remix, and 3 covers through the channel. As of May 2012, the channel has over 1.8 million subscribers, making it one of the most subscribed channels on YouTube, and over 372 million video views.^[30][31] Due to the rapid growth of popularity of the channel and the music videos getting more views than the Equals Three episodes, Johnson has commented in his Breaking Los Angeles video blog that he at some point hopes to have the music videos released weekly instead of bi-weekly.^[32]

[edit] Breaking

BreakingNYC is a former daily video blog or vlog that Johnson started in December 2009 while living in New York City. He made the vlogs almost daily until June 2010. After nearly a year-long hiatus, Johnson resumed contributing to the video blog channel, creating a new higher quality series with a similar format. The new series titled, Breaking Los Angeles and the Adventures of Puff Puff, was released every Friday and is filmed in Los Angeles. Johnson often featured notable guests in his new series, including rappers Wax, Hoodie Allen and Dumbfoundead, slam poet George Watsky, comedian Gabriel Iglesias, and actor/director Bobcat Goldthwait. After Johnson took a three-month hiatus from making videos for the channel, a third season of Breaking Los Angeles (retitled to Breaking: Season 3), premiered on December 14, 2011.

References[link]

External links[link]

Internet portal

• Official Site