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Over the years, the British Government has formed a number of organizations dedicated to dealing with paranormal occurrences, including Special Tactical Reserve for International Key Emergencies (S.T.R.I.K.E.), the Resources Control Executive (RCX), the Weird Happenings Organization (W.H.O.), and Black Air - all of which eventually collapsed. Black Air, attempted a coup in alliance with the British Hellfire Club, which was thwarted by European team Excalibur. The British intelligence community, acting on information received from Excalibur, had Black Air closed down, forcing it underground. In the aftermath, the Government decided to take all of its previous paranormal organizations and fold them into a single Department, with Alistaire Stuart, formerly of the Weird Happenings Organization, as the Department's head.
MI6 - Military Intelligence 6, the department of British Intelligence which dealt with matters abroad, wanted to bring paranormal matters under their wing. When an interdimensional capsule from another universe, the abortive advance guard for an
inter-dimensional Martian invasion, appeared in Wapping, Alistaire led the operation investigating it. MI-6 arrived on the scene, and persuaded Alistaire that only MI-6 had the resources to fight threats like the craft's makers. Alistaire attempted to close the Department down that day, but Pete Wisdom and Sir Mortimer Grimsdale, chairman of the Joint Intelligence Committee, prevented him. Alistaire left the Department to head up an intelligence team in MI-6, while Wisdom was appointed as the Department's senior officer, reporting only to Grimsdale. Sometime during Wisdom's tenure, the Department was renamed MI13.
Military
Intelligence, Section 13) (MI-13), is the United Kingdom's (fictional) agency set up to deal with paranormal occurrences and is part of its intelligence machinery alongside MI5,
MI6,
GCHQ, and DI. MI13 is directed by the JIC (Joint Intelligence Committee). The service is directed to protect Britain from mystical, extra-terrestrial and superhuman threats.
All superheroes native to the British Isles are considered part of MI-13, meaning they can be called by the government at any time. Paul Cornell said, "One of the great things about [Captain Britain and MI13] is that, because all British superheroes are de facto part of MI-13, we can visit disparate parts of the Marvel UK scene without it being a big deal."
Heroes such as The Black Knight, Captain Britain, Union Jack and Spitfire have been shown/stated to work on behalf of MI-13. When the superhero team (New) Excalibur was revived, it was also funded by MI-13. its members included Captain Britain and MI-13 spy and field team leader Pete Wisdom along with Juggernaut, Sage, Dazzler and Nocturne.
Vampire hunter Blade joined MI-13 in Captain Britain and MI13 #5, while Faiza Hussain, a new character first introduced in that series, joined after the Secret Invasion tie-in issues. Motormouth and Killpower were shown to be reservist of MI-13 in Captain Britain and MI13 #11, and later so were Dark Angel, Digitek, Death's Head II, and Tangerine in #15.
MI-13, sometimes written MI13 or MI: 13, is a fictional British intelligence agency appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. MI-13 is depicted as operating out of Portwell House in Whitehall. It was introduced in Excalibur #101, by Warren Ellis under the call sign "The Department" for ten years until New Excalibur #1 explicitly mentioned the term "MI13"; although invariably referred to as such, the agency's official name is the Extraordinary Intelligence Service (EIS).
The department is closely associated with Marvel characters Alistaire Stuart and Pete Wisdom, and, after being named MI-13, it would subsequently appear in Wisdom, and most recently, the ongoing Captain Britain and MI13; both written by Paul Cornell.
It was originally overseen by Sir Mortimer Grimsdale, the Joint Intelligence Committee Chair in the Marvel Universe. After he was revealed to have been replaced by a Skrull, MI-13 became far more autonomous; he was replaced as JIC Chair by Lance Hunter. Other intelligence chiefs shown as Sir Clive Reston KBE, Director of MI6; and Annabel Warner, newly appointed Director of MI5.
FICTIONAL TEAM HISTORY
MI-13 is the latest in a long line of fictional British intelligence agencies dealing with "weird happenings" within the United Kingdom. It followed the likes of Special Tactical Reserve for International Key Emergencies (S.T.R.I.K.E.), Resource Control Executive (R.C.X.), Department of Unknown and Covert Knowledge (D.U.C.K.), and the Weird Happenings Organisation (W.H.O.). It evolved from the remnants of W.H.O. when Alistaire Stuart was asked by the government in Excalibur #101 (September 1996) to take the old W.H.O., Black Air (a corrupt department that had usurped W.H.O.'s and others' mandate), and all other related paranormal organisations and rationalise them into a single department.
This department was next seen in X-Force #115 (June 2001) with Stuart standing alongside Pete Wisdom. However, it went unnamed until 2006 when Wisdom revealed himself to be an agent of MI-13 in New Excalibur #1 (January 2006). In the New Excalibur series, M-13 funded the reforming of Excalibur superhero team.
Later that year, MI-13 were later explored in Paul Cornell's Marvel MAX limited series Wisdom in which the department became involved in a military operation against Otherworld before signing a peace treaty, which includes a mutual defense pact, and facing an invasion of other dimensional Martians. The series also highlighted the clashes MI-13 have with other intelligence agencies, including MI6 who wish to have jurisdiction over "weird happenings" and believe all the specialist groups like MI-13 are doomed to fail. MI6 had convinced Stuart leave MI-13 to work for them as scientific adviser, leaving Pete Wisdom as the only senior officer reporting directly to the Chair of the Joint Intelligence Committee.
Most recently in the first story arc of Paul Cornell's Captain Britain and MI13 (July 2008) series, Britain is attacked by a Skrull armada and a wave of empowered Super Skrulls during the Secret Invasion crossover event. The JIC Chair, Sir Mortimer Grimsdale, is revealed to be a Skrull, leaving Wisdom in command of MI-13, with the Prime Minister stating the all British superheroes are now members of the agency "like it or not". While other superheroes face the Skrull onslaught on London, Spitfire and Captain Britain are dispatched, along with John the Skrull (a turncoat loyal to MI-13) and Wisdom, to link up with the forces of Avalon and protect Earth's magic from Skrull attack. In order for the mission to succeed, Pete Wisdom had to release the dark magic and demons imprisoned in Avalon; while this led to the dark forces, headed by Satannish, creating an anti-Skrull barrier around the United Kingdom, it also meant demonic forces would now be trying to conquer the nation. John does not survive the mission.
MI-13 was restructured to support a semi-autonomous and public superhero team, headed by Captain Britain, while keeping the precise nature of the supernatural threat hidden from the public. The intention is to be both effective while ensuring the superheroes feel uncompromised (a frequent problem with the American Superhero Registration Act).
When Dracula moved to conquer the United Kingdom, he opened with a pre-emptive strike on MI:13's superhero team. The agency swiftly regrouped along with MI5 and MI6, and began the elimination of all vampire agents within the British intelligence agencies. However they were (seemingly) unwittingly manipulated into leading
Dracula to the location of Quincy Harker's remains, which were enchanted to ensure vampires needed to be invited (individually) into the country.
Dracula was now able to lead his full army to the country and magically seal it off from the rest of the world. Unknown to Dracula, Pete Wisdom had deliberately led Dracula to fake remains and MI-13 then used the captive demon Dr. Plokta to trap the vampire in his own victorious fantasies, both to gain intelligence on him and to ensure he couldn't send in advance troops and find out the protection spell was still active. With the help of this, direct strikes, and actions by undercover agents, MI-13 ensured that Dracula was unaware until his forces entered UK airspace and were mostly wiped out. They then invaded his fortress, backed up by their reserves and the Special Air Service, and comprehensively destroyed Dracula's assets, his army, and the count himself.
Members of MI-13 later attend an official reception in America presided over by Steve Rogers, given in their honor for being the first country in the world to get rid of the Skrulls.
MI-13 would move its offices to the Shard.
When Mys-Tech tried to send Britain to Hell, MI-13 were left out of the loop and the British government had S.H.I.E.L.D. (who had greater resources) deal with the cleanup; years later, Pete Wisdom was furious to learn the incident had been completely covered up even from him and with the approval of Lance Hunter. S.H.I.E.L.D. Europe's boss (at the time possessed Msy-Tech's Psycho-Wraith Prime) would remark that S.H.I.E.L.D. simply wanted to reverse-engineer the villain's technology and didn't care about the British heroes, "forcing MI-13" to deal with them instead. Wisdom and MI-13 worked to hold off Prime's planned invasion from Hell, with Wisdom snarking "here come the Yanks, just in time to save us all" when S.H.I.E.L.D. arrived at the end of the battle.
COMIC
BRITISH SUPER HEROES - A TO Z
Black
Knight, Dane Whitman (British, American, Ebony Blade Cursed Sword
Strong, Marvel)
Blade, Eric Brooks (Vampire Hunter Born Soho, London MI-13* [Wesley Snipes] British SuperHero,
Marvel)
Captain Avalon, Brian Braddock (Protects mystical Omniverse, Britain Corps,
Excalibur, Marvel)
Captain Midlands,
'Rambling' Sid Ridley (British Army Super Soldier Program MI-13*)
Dark
Angel, Shevaun Haldane (Psylocke, British Superhero Darkmoor, England,
Marvel Comics)
Dr Druid, Anthony Ludgate (Raised England, studied magic Harvard Medical Degree,
British Superhero)
Dr. Faiza Hussain (England, London - Sword Of Arthur
Excalibur Stone [Marvel Disney])
Elsa
Bloodstone, Monster Hunter (Marvel Comics)
Elizabeth 'Betsy' Braddock (Super heroine Captain Britain, mutant Psylocke Amulet of Right
Excalibur Knights)
John
Storm - Storm Force, ex army captain, soldier turned mercenary with
cybernetic arm 1987 Eagle comics
Ka-Zar,
Lord Kevin Plunder (British Royal Heritage England [Tarzan] Raised By Mutant Sabretooth Tiger
Zabu)
Motormouth and Killpower Harley Davis & Julius Mullarkey, Marvel UK Stories British Super Heroes
Mys-Tech Organization
Pete Wisdom (British Secret Agent Mutant Mi-13*
Excalibur X-Force S.T.R.I.K.E.)
Spider-Woman, Jessica Drew (London, England - Avengers Hydra
S.H.I.E.LD British
Superhero, Marvel)
Spitfire, Lady Jacqueline Falsworth Crichton (Vampiric Speedster Marvel Comics,
Immortal MI-13*)
Union Jack, Joseph 'Joey' Chapman (Patriotic Legacy Hero World War One [Liverpool, England] Marvel)
MARVEL
COMICS US SUPERHEROES - A TO Z
Ant
Man,
Captain
America,
Doctor
Strange,
Hulk,
Iron
Man,
Spider-Man,
Thor, and
Wolverine,
HISTORICAL LEGENDS
Saint George is based on a soldier in the Roman army who was martyred in 303 CE (Patron saint of knights)
Sir Galahad - Knight of the Round Table 12-15th century CE literature (King
Arthur legend)
Siegfried - Brunhilde & King Gunter (Kriemhild, Burgundian [Nibelung] princess) c. 1200 CE
RECORDED HISTORICAL KNIGHTS
Robert
Guiscard - 'The Crafty' (c. 1015-1085 CE) [Norman]
Rodrigo
Díaz de Vivar - 'El Cid' (1043-1099 CE)
Godfrey
of Bouillon (circa 1060-1100)
Sir William Marshal - 'The Greatest Knight that Ever Lived' (c. 1146-1219
CE)
Richard I - 'The Lionhearted' (1157-1199 CE) King of England from 1189 to
1199 CE
Sir William Wallace (c. 1270-1305 CE)
Sir James Douglas - 'The Black Douglas' (c. 1286-1330 CE)
Bertrand du Guesclin - 'The Eagle of Brittany' (c. 1320-1380 CE)
Edward
of Woodstock - 'The Black Prince [of Wales]' (1330-1376 CE)
Sir
Henry Percy - 'Hotspur' (1364-1403 CE)
John
Storm is a hybrid character. A new breed of modern Knight, fighting to protect the
natural world and the archaeology that defines man's development, from
Tanzania, to the Moon and beyond. Storm's ace in the hole is the Elizabeth
Swann, the onboard
AI, Hal, and his enhanced performance via a brain implant and genetic
modification. Thus, just about keeping pace with what the market expects in
a modern world: A technological super secret agent. In this case, for Blue
Shield & UNESCO.
John
Storm is a new breed of British super hero, a modern Knight. Seen here with Dan Hawk, at the helm of the Elizabeth
Swann. The formidable high tech duo discover they have
no way to make it in the book or film world, but discover that they make
excellent comic characters, ideal for publication as graphic novels. George
Franks, mentor, is held to be a descendant of King Arthur, a knight of the
fabled Round Table. The Swann's onboard weapons early warning and targeting system
is called: Merlin. The laser cannon: Excalibur. And the tazer anti-piracy
boarding system: Pendragon.
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