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The S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarriers are advanced aircraft-submarine hybrids that are used by S.H.I.E.L.D. as command centers.

History[]

The Avengers[]

Fury brought Tony Stark, Bruce Banner, and Steve Rogers on board the Helicarrier, trying to form a team that could protect the Earth better than S.H.I.E.L.D. ever could. However, because of Loki's manipulations, all members of the team showed not even the slightest trace of unity and teamwork.

When the Helicarrier fell under attack from Loki's mind-controlled soldiers led by Clint Barton, it was heavily damaged and one of its colossal turbines was damaged. Knowing the the Helicarrier would fall from the air if they lost another one, Fury had the ship moved over the water. With the navigation system recalibrating, Fury ordered the crew to use the rising sun as their guide instead. During the assault, Barton scrambled the systems and Loki's soldiers attacked the bridge, but Fury and Hill were able to drive them off. Tony Stark and Steve Rogers managed to restart the damaged engine, but at the cost of Stark's Mark VI armor taking heavy damage. While Barton was subdued, breaking Loki's mind control and the other brainwashed soldiers eliminated, Loki was able to escape from the Helicarrier while both the Hulk and Thor were thrown off and Phil Coulson was killed.

When the Chitauri invaded New York City, the World Security Council ordered Fury to fire a nuclear missile at the city, but he refused. When one fighter plane tried to fly from the carrier, Fury stopped it with a rocket launcher. However, he was unable to stop the second plane which fired the missile. Thanks to Iron Man, the missile was redirected, destroying the Chitauri flagship, which effectively ended the invasion.

After the battle and a meeting with the World Security Council, Fury and Hill discuss the current status of the Avengers on the Helicarrier's bridge before Fury stands before the windows looking out.

Captain America: The Winter Soldier[]

Three heavily weaponized Helicarriers were being worked on when Fury spoke to Rogers about "getting with the program" and accepting modern homeland security. Fury also mentioned to Rogers that these carriers were significantly larger than the one he boarded during the Chitauri Invasion. Each of the vehicles was connected to Project Insight, a program initiated by the World Security Council to synchronize all three helicarriers to a satellite, creating a formidable defensive superweapon.

When Sam Wilson, Natasha Romanoff and Maria Hill joined Rogers to take down Insight, all three of the Helicarriers were operational, preparing to synchronize with the satellite's algorithm. Armed with false targeting chips, Rogers and Wilson managed to take out the first two but the Winter Soldier defiantly guarded the final Helicarrier's core, leading into an extended fight.

When the Winter Soldier was incapacitated, Rogers inserted the final false chip into the helicarrier's core, resulting in all of the helicarriers targeting each other. A gargantuan firefight began in the sky as the vehicles destroyed one another; Pierce looked on from the Triskelion in disappointment.

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.[]

"Love in the Time of HYDRA"[]

To be added

Avengers: Age of Ultron[]

During the Battle of Sokovia, the original Helicarrier unexpectedly arrives with Fury, Hill, some S.H.E.L.D. agents and War Machine to help. Fury tells the Avengers that he pulled the Helicarrier "out of mothballs" along with some friends as an explanation for its unexpected arrival. As the Avengers battle Ultron, the Helicarrier dispatches lifeboats to begin evacuating the citizens of Sokovia, trapped on the giant rock that their city has become. At the conclusion of the battle, Rogers and Barton escape on the last lifeboat with Pietro Maximoff's body while the Hulk jumps Romanoff to safety on the ship before escaping in a Quinjet himself. Thanks to the intervention of Fury and the Helicarrier, the surviving citizens of Sokovia are safely evacuated moments before Iron Man and Thor destroy the giant meteorite that the city had become.

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.[]

"Scars"[]

After the fall of S.H.I.E.L.D., Phil Coulson and a few loyal S.H.I.E.L.D. agents discovered that the original Helicarrier had survived HYDRA's attack. They were able to retrieve the Helicarrier and place it in the secret facility to undergo maintenance and damage repair which was dubbed the Theta Protocol.

After the Battle of Sokovia, Coulson explained to Robert Gonzalez and his board that "with the fall of S.H.I.E.L.D., Fury felt we needed a failsafe, something completely off the books, a break in case of emergency type of thing." After learning that the Helicarrier had survived HYDRA's attack and still had "that classified cargo" onboard along with the other events that have occurred, Coulson feels like he failed as Director and is able to use the events to reunite S.H.I.E.L.D's two factions. However, while Gonzalez agreed, he warned that there are other battles still to be won, including one closer to home that he feared the Helicarrier won't be able to solve.

"What We're Fighting For"[]

Under Alphonso Mackenzie's leadership, S.H.I.E.L.D. once again began using Helicarrier No. 64 in addition to their rebuilt headquarters. After finishing a virtual meeting with his old team, Mack ordered two agents with him to proceed with the operation that they were on as the Helicarrier prepared to get underway.

Loki[]

"Journey Into Mystery"[]

A Hellicarrier is present in the Void at the end of time with a huge red HYDRA logo emblazoned on it having been transported there from a branched timeline that was reset by the TVA.

Description[]

In The Avengers, the helicarrier resembles an aircraft carrier with two decks (the main one for taking off, the other a slanted deck for landing). It is lifted vertically by four colossal fans, and propelled forward by two large arrays of jet engines at its rear. It can also float in the water like a conventional aircraft carrier; in this mode, the jet engines and fans are concealed underwater. It serves as an airborne base for S.H.I.E.L.D., as well as a landing and takeoff platform for aircraft such as the F-35 Lightning II and Quinjets.

Three helicarriers make an appearance again in Captain America: The Winter Soldier, although with a slightly different design, and more visible weapons systems. They appear to use different means of propulsion lift (instead of fans), large repulsors. Unlike the first-generation hellicarrier, these don't seem capable of traversing in water.

In Avengers: Age of Ultron, the Helicarrier has been repaired and equipped with lifeboats to evacuate Sokovian citizens.

Trivia[]

  • 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. It is similar to the Ultimate version (Earth-1610) of the S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier.
  • In Deadpool, there is, what appears to be a decommissioned Hellicarrier in a scrapyard that is the setting for the final battle.

Gallery[]

The Avengers[]

Concept Art[]

Captain America: The Winter Soldier[]

Concept Art[]

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.[]

Avengers: Age of Ultron[]

Loki[]

"Journey Into Mystery"[]

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