Marvel Knowleged

[ficwize]

Someone with more SHIELD (and hopefully SWORD) knowledge, I need some help.

I am trying to figure out some general facts about Brand, plus a timeline for her employment with SHIELD/SWORD, promotion to director of SWORD, etc.

Facts I know from the internets:

1. Brand is the commanding officer of SWORD at the time of Secret Invasion.
2. She is 28 years old at the time of Secret Invasion.
3. She doesn't much like Nick Fury, but Maria Hill (SHIELD successor director?) considers Brand a Fury loyalist.
4. Brand also doesn't much like Maria Hill.

There is basically nothing known about Brand's past except that her father was an alien.

If anyone knows of any other canon background info, it would be greatly appreciated. There may or may not be fic involved. *shifty eyes*

Comments

[ficwize.livejournal.com]

Thank you, thank you! I was rereading my stash last night and couldn't figure out why wikipedia thinks Brand doesn't like Fury. Granted, she's not very cowed by him, but she doesn't seem to dislike him. And she doesn't seem to bother much with hiding who she dislikes.

Also, I did not realize that Gifted took place before House of M. When did House of M take place in Astonishing canon, because there is absolutely no mention of it, but it's a very interesting factor to consider alongside the mutant cure story line?

Re her age - so she was director of SWORD by 28? Possibly longer. I'm fascinated, because that is EXTREMELY young. Especially in light of Fury's comment about how much rests on her shoulders.

Also, since you know, and I hope you don't mind me picking your brain, but is she still the director of SWORD? I haven't seen her interact with Osborne at all, but that doesn't mean I didn't just miss it.

[selenak.livejournal.com]

I have no idea why Wiki thinks that, either. As you say, she doesn't hide her dislikes. My own fanon is that she probably went through some training by him as a girl/young woman (depending on when she started), because SWORD as an independent agency is pretty new (nobody ever mentions a director before Brand), and presumably she started out as a SHIELD agent before it was decided that off world business was worth a seperate institution. But that's my speculation.

Age: yes. The Secret Invasion flashback is really explicit in this regard. We hear she just got appointed to the job and this is the celebration ceremony (also, this is the first and last time so far we see her in a dress), and the Skrull she gets introduced to says something like "we've been following your career with some interest; director at 28, that's impressive".

AXM and the general Marvel timeline is a headache. Gifted started to get published before House of M was, hence the school being full of mutant kids and hundreds of mutants overrunning Benetech wanting the "cure" in the climactic scene in #6 that convinces Hank Logan was right. But because of all the delays, the "Dangerous" arc hadn't even started before House of M had taken place, and I rather suspect this is why we never hear about the cure again - with the mutant population now drastically reduced, it became a redundant storyline. Gifted worked before the background of a lot of mutants all over the world.

Dangerous is dated by the Brand and Hill scene as being post-Secret War (because Nick Fury lost his job after that one) and pre-end of Civil War (because Hill got demoted from director of SHIELD to Tony's subdirector at the end of Civil War). Of course, when you read it, Dangerous seems to take place only days after Gifted, so make of that what you will.

Torn: no indication when it happens in the Marvelverse at large.

Unstoppable: definitely post-Civil War, because at the end Spider-man quips he hasn't seen that many superheroes in a spot "since we stopped civil warring".

The Warren Ellis AXMs all take place before Secret Invasion.

Is Brand still director? I wanted to know as well, especially since the Peak (SWORD HQ) got blown to kingdom come in Secret Invasion and it could have been possible SWORD ceased to exist altogether, and at long last harmonyangel and likeadeuce were able to tell me. Because apparantly in October we'll get an issue devoted to her, and yes, SWORD still exists and she's still director. How this squares with Osborn I have no idea, but we probably won't find out before October!

[ficwize.livejournal.com]

FANTASTIC.

You are my new hero. ♥

Thanks so much for all the help. This makes things much more interesting.

[ficwize.livejournal.com]

Age: yes. The Secret Invasion flashback is really explicit in this regard. We hear she just got appointed to the job and this is the celebration ceremony (also, this is the first and last time so far we see her in a dress), and the Skrull she gets introduced to says something like "we've been following your career with some interest; director at 28, that's impressive".

Do you recall which comic this was in? I've scanned through all 8 issues of Secret Invasion and didn't see it. I can look harder, but it's not jumping out at me...

[selenak.livejournal.com]

It was not in the eight main ones but one of the addendums, a story by Mike Carey. I'll look up the title later.

TITLE

[selenak.livejournal.com]

Looked it up. Here are the useful data for you:

Name of volume: Secret Invasion: Whom do you trust?
Name of story: Agent Brand: In Plain Sight.
Writer: Mike Carey

Someone wants to make us VERY HAPPY

[selenak.livejournal.com]

Many Questions Answered...soon!