Why was Carol Danvers never an Agent of SHIELD?

[Corey W]

I think being air force gives her more diversity than just another SHIELD agent. At the very least it gives her uniqueness. She can still have covert skills and work with SHIELD the Arm Forces have spooks too.

I love the fact that she is not associated closely with Shield. Carol is all Air Force in my mind.

[Harbinger of Apocalypse]

The S.W.O.R.D thing that the cartoon did with its Carol worked better than S.H.I.E.L.D. would.

If she's to be part of some agency, it should be that one.

Indeed, I really love that. And not that Carol should be some desk jockey or leader of S.W.O.R.D. They have Brand in charge and thats fine but Carol as an agent? That was just awesome and makes so much sense. So, if anything, that should be the case instead of S.H.I.E.L.D. which already has gotten a lot of exposition. In fact, the new Secret Avengers work for S.H.I.E.L.D., don't they?

[jackolover]

I can see your point, but also Carol not being a part of SHIELD adds a bit more diversity to the character. She certainly seems to fulfill all the qualifications for an agent, and should she appear in a MU movie, will most likely be grafted into SHIELD, but (only) being air force is perfectly fine. I can see something like this happening:
Character 1: I'm a trained SHIELD agent.
Carol: I'm sorry, wouldn't the air force take you?

I hear you buddy. I was rejected by the Air Force. Those guys have their own clique, and will only hire straight up zombies.

[jackolover]

She used to be part of SHIELD in her last run. She had Sleepwalker, Anya and Machine Man under her direction.

Didn't she also head up SHIELD's Operation: Lightning Storm taskforce during the whole registration kerfluffle?

I covered that. It was a side arm of Mighty Avengers, but she didn't report to Maria Hill, she just got harassed by Maria.

[jackolover]

S.H.I.E.L.D. is only relevant now because of the movies and Ultimates.

I still don't know why the Avengers couldn't have been formed like the comics.

Funnily enough, that didn't bother me, and I'm a traditionalist, but I would have liked the Avengers Movie to have followed the books, more than the Ultimates. That way the Avengers could have given the finger to SHIELD and told them they were independent. And when the portal opened, they could have got the call from Cap, and then the action starts, not with the Avengers being told to go from the Helicarrier.

[jackolover]

Indeed, I really love that. And not that Carol should be some desk jockey or leader of S.W.O.R.D. They have Brand in charge and thats fine but Carol as an agent? That was just awesome and makes so much sense. So, if anything, that should be the case instead of S.H.I.E.L.D. which already has gotten a lot of exposition. In fact, the new Secret Avengers work for S.H.I.E.L.D., don't they?

I thought the Secret Avengers were independently part of the Avengers groups, and only cooperate with SHIELD as a tactical thing, like in the attack on Utopia at the start of AVX.

[jackolover]

A bit on Carol's background:Carol graduated from high school first in her class and took a sales job. She turned 18 just a few months later, and the following day she turned her back on her father and joined the Air Force, intending to be a pilot and to get a college degree via the military.

She quickly rose to the top of her Air Force class and was recruited into military intelligence (Special Operations) and trained as a spy. On a first-year mission she was teamed with Colonel Nick Fury of the CIA. She accomplished many different missions and worked with other figures such as Logan (later Wolverine) and Benjamin Grimm (later the Thing), while oppressing others such as Victor Creed (later Sabertooth), and Natalia Shostakova (later the Black Widow).

NASA eventually requested her for an open position as head of security which she accepted, resigning from the Air Force bumping her to full Colonel at retirement. Becoming the youngest security captain in NASA's history, she became embroiled in the schemes of the interstellar alien Kree Empire.



She then gained her Ms. Marvel powers. So Carol definitely has a background as a spy, and she worked with Nick Fury, Wolverine, and Michael Rossi as a spy. But she wasn't an actual SHIELD agent when doing this.

Yes, I think Carol is supremely qualified as a SHIELD agent, but I just don't get why the Air Force links may be why she isn't SHIELD?

[JaggedFel]

Indeed, I really love that. And not that Carol should be some desk jockey or leader of S.W.O.R.D. They have Brand in charge and thats fine but Carol as an agent? That was just awesome and makes so much sense. So, if anything, that should be the case instead of S.H.I.E.L.D. which already has gotten a lot of exposition. In fact, the new Secret Avengers work for S.H.I.E.L.D., don't they?

I think Secret Avengers working for SHEILD makes perfect sense

As for Carol yes she should be an agent of SWORD, I could go for a cosmic avenger book especially since it keeps Avengers out of GOTG.

[Red Mask]

She-Hulk was an agent dressed in a SHIELD uniform, so was Kitty Pryde and Wolverine, so why not Carol Danvers? I know she had a break off group from her Mighty Avengers, called Lightening Strikes or some such, ( which was a forerunner to Caps Secret Avengers and Ross's new TBolts), using a mini carrier, but she never attained any rank like Natasha Romanoff or Spider-Woman Jessicca Drew. Is it because Carol is Air Firce, and they didn't want their man involved with SHIELD?

I think Wolverine once hallucinated Carol being dressed as a SHIELD agent. They never really delved into her spy days that much. Was she C.I.A, SHIELD, or Airforce Intelligence? It was only in the last Ms. Marvel series did they clarify that she officially was Airforce Intelligence working jointly with other groups.