- "The government's keeping secrets. Things we don't know until cities fall out of the sky. The Avengers? More like them every day. Protected. Hidden. Not anymore."
- ―Watchdog Alpha[src]
The Attack on the ATCU Headquarters was a successful attempt by the Watchdogs to make their presence known to the world.
Background
In 2014, Felix Blake was hospitalized after a fierce encounter with the cyborg known as Deathlok resulted in his spine being broken. Now rendered paraplegic, the S.H.I.E.L.D. operative spent several months recovering from his extensive injuries.[2]
It wasn't until after his release that Blake learned about the HYDRA Uprising, an event that resulted in S.H.I.E.L.D. being disavowed by the international community and labeled a terrorist organization.
The following year, Blake discovered a large group of individuals who formed negative opinions of the Inhumans and posted them on the Internet. Through unknown means, Blake assembled and radicalized these individuals, turning them into a group bent on exterminating the Inhumans.
Sometime later, Blake was approached by Giyera, a representative of high-ranking HYDRA operative Gideon Malick who promised to provide the Watchdogs with advanced weaponry on the condition that they steal a nuclear warhead from an Indiana facility operated by the Advanced Threat Containment Unit.
Blake agreed and supplied his men with a modified form of the volatile chemical compound Nitramene before sending them Watchdog Alpha and a small unit to Indiana.[3]
Attack
- "We want this information released. A list of who they are, where they are. Or you will have war on your hands. We are the Watchdogs. You will obey."
- ―Watchdog Alpha[src]
The destruction gets caught on camera
After arriving at the facility with his unit, Watchdog Alpha recorded a message to be sent to WZTM News in South Bend. In the message, Watchdog Alpha called out the federal government for keeping the Inhumans' existence a secret, using the Battle of Sokovia and the Inhuman Outbreak to justify his current actions.
Watchdog Alpha proceeded to demand the government release any information regarding the whereabouts of potential Inhumans before taking out a Nitramene-filled rifle and firing it at the facility. Moments after he and his fellow Watchdogs evacuated the premises, the Nitramene detonated, causing the facility to be destroyed by the blast and decimated in the subsequent implosion.[3]
Aftermath
- "If everything goes as planned, we'll all get what we want, Mr. Blake. Our common enemies will be dead and you'll have troops armed to the teeth at your command."
- ―Giyera[src]
References
- ↑ WHiH Newsfront May 3, 2016 places this before May 3, 2016. WHiH Newsfront May 3, 2016 LIVE places the Attack on the IFID Headquarters on May 3, 2016. In Captain America: Civil War, as Wanda Maximoff watches the news, it refers to the incident as "last month," and the Spider-Man: Homecoming Prelude says the Bombing of the Vienna International Centre was "one month later," meaning the rest of Captain America: Civil War is June 2016. Ascension is after Captain America: Civil War, so at the earliest it is June 2016. Bouncing Back shows that the events of Ascension are "3 months from now," putting that at the earliest in March 2016, and this event is a while after that. WHiH Newsfront April 28, 2016 places the Battle at the Transia Corporation Building before April 28, 2016, and this event is a while before that. Therefore it has to be March or April 2016.
- ↑ Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: 1.16: End of the Beginning
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: 3.14: Watchdogs