wwi. there are several redacted reports written about american soldiers that are joined by an unknown "wonder woman." a small company of less than a dozen men, led by steve trevor, go on to accomplish many heroic acts throughout the war. as time goes on, the existence of this warrior woman is chalked up to superstition and war time beliefs.
september, 1939. howard stark launches stark industries.
wwii. steve rogers is recruited by german scientist, erskine for project: rebirth, funded by the ssr. it is believed the super soldier programme will change the face of the war for the allies.
september, 1945. wwii ends with an allied victory
may, 1947. peggy carter leaves the ssr to co-manage the newly created shield with howard stark. they are joined by war veterans zinda blake and steve trevor. shield is meant to be an american intelligence agency that researches and protects the public from such things as unknown substances (antimatter), extraterrestrials, metahumans, advanced technology, the occult--essentially anything the general public is not quite ready to understand yet.
june, 1952. shield discovers the first naturally born metahuman. they are dubbed "mutant". shield uses their research to begin classifying these metahumans.
march, 1954. the soviet union founds the kgb. hidden within the funding for the kgb is a secondary organisation known as the "red room", an offshoot programme in which they train highly specialised spies. the overall goal is to create a metahuman, not unlike wonder woman or captain america of previous wars.
august, 1956. a small island off the coast of madagascar, genosha, is an island whose primary economy thrives of mutant oppression, often enslaving them or selling them to world governments as scientific experiments.
july, 1959. the us government fears it is falling behind in the cold war arms race no longer having the super soldier serum that created captain america. the government forms a science division team known as cadmus. their goal is to recreate the super soldier serum; they do so by experimenting illegally on black men. it is the first of many morally grey government experimentations undertaken during the cold war.
october, 1963. when shield research turns up more proof of the existence of metahumans than they originally anticipated, they create a subdivision to keep an eye on the activities of these metahumans, known formally as project: index
january, 1969. during the cadmus super soldier experiments, they discover the existence of mutants. from their research cadmus creates a sister program, weapon x, to focus on metahumans. this is done in secret without reports to the government.
april, 1972. a team of mutants who have banded together for their own safety learn of genosha. the team, lead by erik lehnsherr and charles xavier, liberate genosha. from there, they found it as a mutant safe haven. even though the solution seems idyllic, there is tension. erik lehnsherr, aka magneto, wants to track down the associates of genosha for retribution. xavier insists upon a more pacifistic route. despite their differences, the two work with other mutants to keep the island hidden, believing it to be the safest option.
september, 1972. charles xavier leaves genosha and founds xavier's institute for gifted youngers in new haven to create a safe environment for children who are unable to travel to genosha due to their young age, or those who do not wish to leave their families/lives.
june, 1980. rumours of an alien spaceship entering earth's atmosphere are largely dismissed, covered only by conspiracy magazines. only certain shield agents know that there was a small extraterrestrial ship that crash landed in smallville, kansas.
early 1996 first sightings of a bat vigilante in gotham. at first, it is dismissed merely as superstitious criminals. it takes about three years for the media to confirm the existence of the batman.
mid 2000. playboy billionaire oliver queen is declared missing after an accident at sea.
early 2003. due to the increased activity of vigilantes, prisons all over the united states are over capacity and severely under prepared for the holding of metahuman prisons. two contracts are pushed through the government quickly without proper over sight: belle reve prison and a second maximum security prison designed specifically for metahumans known as "the vault".
august, 2006. eli bradley, the grandson of the sole survivor of the cadmus super solider experiments, begins operating as an underaged vigilante within new york.
october, 2007. there is an accident at star labs in central city. ultimately, the damage is minimal, leaving only one man in a coma.
2008. following the demonstration of the jericho missile system outside of kabul, afghanistan, the military convoy escorting tony is attacked; he is wounded and captured. after the ordeal upon returning to the us, tony is deeply affected by his experience. he pulls stark industries out of the weapons business, terminating all military contracts. hammer industries manoeuvres itself to pick up new contracts.
2009. eli bradley approaches young heroes and vigilantes, forming a 'team' of young superheroes. they call themselves legacy. legacy operates with the grace and permission of their elders, believing it would be good for teens to have peers their own age.
2010. just seven years after the opening of belle reve and the vault, they are at maximum capacity. amanda waller, who headed both contracts, approaches the united states government about using the inmates as part of a task force. ultimately, the proposal is denied.
2011. with the upswing of vigilantes and metahumans, cadmus is given higher funding from the american government. they begin research into metahumans and aliens, chasing the idea that it may be possible to create a metahuman army--not unlike the old super serum attempts.
january, 2012. general zod, one of the few remaining kryptonians and his battalion ally themselves with an alien race known as the chitauri. zod believes he can use the chitauri as foot soldiers in upcoming conflicts, saving the precious remaining lives of his very small kryptonian crew. what is promised to the chitauri in return for their alliance, is unknown.
may, 2012. the battle of new york. first wide scale contact is made with extraterrestrials. the chitauri begin what is considered the widest, most devastating part of the attack in new york; meanwhile, their kryptonian allies begin a second wave against nearby city, metropolis. ultimately, both arms of the attack are overcome by a series a metahumans. the devastation remains long after the threat passes.
december, 2012. in the wake of the destruction, world governments are looking for an explanation. people are scared, panicked, and looking for someone to blame. both the un and american government turn to shield, accusing them of militarising their assets against council orders, despite the fact it was the avengers who were a key part of stopping the chitauri/kryptonian invasion. the schism between the world governments and shield deepens. their solution? spyral. an intelligence agency meant to counter the behemoth shield has become, accountable to the governments and the people in a way shield is not.
early 2013. bruce wayne invests heavily in redevelopment programs across metropolis and new york, going as far as to set up a fund for those who lost family members in the battle of new york.
mid 2013. lex luthor begins to invest his own time and resources into the research of metahumans. rumours also start about a potential presidential campaign after he publicly slams the government's poor response to the battle of new york.
mid 2013. tony stark transfers the title of ceo of stark industries to pepper potts.
early 2014. an explosion occurs at the collector's private museum of rare and dangerous artefacts, causing many of them to go missing. one such item is known only as the orb. the orb ends up in the hands of a kree extremist known as ronan the accuser.
july, 2014 ronan the accuser attempts to shatter several alliances and peace treaties, hoping to start a war fueled by the destructive power of the orb.
august, 2014 ronan is ultimately stopped and the orb is put back into stasis by a combined effort of the nova corps, the green lantern corps, and a small independant party made up of wanted criminals who call themselves the guardians of the galaxy
october, 2014. the orb goes missing from custody within the nova corps, a worthless replica put in its place. rumours spread of the orb winding up within the god garden.
early 2015. legacy has grown exponentially as more and more young heroes join the fight. legacy is now split into legacy east and west, each one with two leaders.
september, 2015. as an agency spyral realises they cannot keep up with shield nor pose any serious threat to the organisation if they do not have information. they approach the un for information, with little success. no one knows the depths of shield's resources or intelligence. they must search elsewhere.
november, 2015. spyral approaches amanda waller about her task force x proposal. she is given the go ahead to use criminals incarcerated within belle reve and the vault by the un government, as long as the task force is overseen by spyral.
february, 2016. the god garden is broken into by an unknown assailant. many advanced technologies go missing.
march, 2016. since september of the previous year, it has become increasingly obvious to spyral that the only way to be on equal footing with shield is to steal information from them; shield is the only organisation that knows what lies within its walls. across the world spyral creates organised chaos: across the world they orchestrate events to cause shield's resources to be stretched thin. the release of a cadmus genetic experiment in gotham and metropolis, the winter soldier attacks on washington, the attempted destruction of sokovia, an explosion on the island of genosha. shield agents, avengers and vigilantes across the nations are scattered thin enough to allow spyral an opportunity to steal shield's database. spyral keeps their involvement in these events secret from the un.
april, 2016. after the series of catastrophes, the world is looking for someone to blame. it all falls to nick fury who is forced to step down from his position of director of shield. the us government appoints maria hill, in attempts to keep american control of an increasingly independent organisation.
april, 2016 word spreads of the god garden break in. those that witnessed the destruction of the orb first hand, or who know of the dangers of a collection like that, head to earth to warn and aid them.
may, 2016. the stolen god garden tech is starting to surface in black markets, if unchecked, the results could be deadly.
may, 2016. genosha approaches the un over the attack on its island. there is much unrest among the residents, including those who would have revenge for the attack. the brotherhood of mutants, a terrorist organisation, is formed.
june, 2016. in the wake of the spyral crisis, rumours of a new metahuman team forming is on the lips of every military official.
