Patti's Comments: I loved the film, we need Heroes! But love this discussion of the law as it relates to SHIELD even more. Geeks of the World Unite!
Excerpt from Law and the Multiverse: (click for entire article)
Last weekend, Marvel’s blockbuster for 2012 came out in North America. The Avengers appears to be on track to shatter box office records both domestically and internationally, and with good reason: it’s an awesome movie.
In the next few posts, we’re going to discuss some of the legal background of various aspects of the movie. We’re going to start with how exactly S.H.I.E.L.D. could work, but there will be more to come in successive posts. There are spoilers to follow, though if you haven’t seen the movie by now, what are you waiting for? We discussed the basics of S.H.I.E.L.D. and international law over a year ago, so it might be worth taking a look at that before jumping in here.
There are two basic questions. First, what exactly is S.H.I.E.L.D.? In the comics the acronym has stood for a variety of things, and over time it’s been portrayed as both a national and an international force. In the Marvel Cinematic Universe— the continuity formed by Thor, Captain America: The First Avenger, Iron Man, Iron Man 2, and now The Avengers, it stands for “Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division,” which Agent Phil Coulson admits is a terrible name and is quickly abandoned from common use in favor of the acronym itself. The implication in the movies leading up to The Avengers is that S.H.I.E.L.D. is some kind of U.S. paramilitary force. The word “Homeland” suggests some connection with the Department of Homeland Security, and it would be somewhat weird for an international organization to have that word in title.


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