| For alternate versions of the Attack on the Helicarrier, see the Attack on the Helicarrier's Event Hub |
- "Your heroes are scattered; your floating fortress falls from the sky. Where is my disadvantage?"
- ―Loki to Phil Coulson[src]
The Attack on the Helicarrier was a successful attempt by the captive Loki to escape from S.H.I.E.L.D. custody. His plan involved possessing a rogue team of agents led by a mind-controlled Hawkeye to disable the Helicarrier's engines mid-air, inciting chaos among those on board. Loki was able to scatter the heroes, killing Phil Coulson in the process, and fled on a Quinjet to New York City, where he would continue carrying out his plan to subjugate Earth.
Background[]
- "I wanna know why Loki let us take him. He's not leading an army from here."
- ―Captain America[src]
Hawkeye, with the permission of Nick Fury, tested the security of the Helicarrier in a faux hostile insertion. He was able to infiltrate the ship and get through many of its checkpoints. He advised Fury of the ship's flaws that he was able to exploit.[4]
In the Destruction of Project P.E.G.A.S.U.S., Loki had returned to Earth to conquer it. After destroying the Joint Dark Energy Mission Facility and stealing the Tesseract, Loki traveled to Stuttgart, Germany to steal Iridium. Captain America and Black Widow traveled to Stuttgart in a Quinjet to confront him. Loki got the upper hand on Rogers until Iron Man arrived and Loki surrendered. They took Loki into S.H.I.E.L.D. custody aboard the Helicarrier, where he was placed in a confinement capsule designed to hold Hulk. Loki taunted Nick Fury about his attempts to control the Tesseract and his gathering of misfits to defend Earth.
Loki's mere presence was enough to provide a disruptive element that would fragment the only group of heroes that had any hope of stopping him.[3]
Attack[]
- "We got a perimeter breach! Hostiles are in S.H.I.E.L.D. gear."
- ―Jasper Sitwell[src]
Hawkeye initiates the first attack
When Black Widow arrived to speak with Loki, apparently to offer a deal in exchange for Hawkeye's freedom, he subjected her to a play of wits where he ferreted out her deeper misgivings, commenting on those lives she had taken, including Dreykov and his daughter Antonia, but was completely caught off-guard when she tricked him into revealing that there was already a monster among them on the carrier. From this, she concluded that the monster was Bruce Banner and that he had planned to use Hulk to destroy the ship and the heroes as well.
However, Loki's plan to use Hulk was only one aspect of his real intentions. Unbeknownst to S.H.I.E.L.D., another Quinjet carrying Barton and the rogue agents came to his aide, following a signal transmitting from the Scepter. Barton used an explosive arrow to destroy one of the rotors and landed on the Helicarrier. The explosion knocked Romanoff and Banner to a lower level, where the wounded Banner transformed into Hulk. Banner chased Romanoff until Thor intervened and began fighting Banner.
Hulk violently attacking a S.H.I.E.L.D. jet
Barton and the mercenary team headed to the bridge where S.H.I.E.L.D. agents led by Nick Fury and Maria Hill engaged them. The mercenaries were killed, but Barton used a special arrow to hack the computers and sabotage a second rotor. Fury ordered an F-35 Lightning II to fire on Banner while he was engaging Thor. The attack was futile, as it only angered Banner, who jumped on the jet and tore it apart. Banner plummeted to the ground below and crashed through the roof of a large building, after the pilot managed to eject and parachute to safety.
Iron Man repairs one of the damaged engines
While everyone else was fighting the perpetrators, Iron Man and Captain America fixed the rotor that the attackers destroyed. After getting the rotor moving, Stark got trapped inside until Rogers defeated two mercenaries and pulled the lever to slow the rotor, saving Stark from being shredded. Romanoff intercepted Barton on his way back to the Quinjet. The two fought for a while until Romanoff hit Barton in the head hard enough to break his brainwashing.
Nick Fury witnesses Phil Coulson's death
Loki then used illusions of himself to trick Thor into entering the cell. Agent Phil Coulson arrived but Loki used another illusion to fool him and stabbed Coulson in the back with the Scepter, and ejected Thor's cell from the Helicarrier. Before Loki could leave, Coulson shot him with the Destroyer Armor Prototype Gun. Loki escaped on the Quinjet while Fury and the medics got to Coulson, but it was too late. Thor used Mjølnir to break the glass and escape the cell before it collided with the ground.[3]
Aftermath[]
Phil Coulson in surgery after the attack
- "You were dead for... days."
"That's impossible."
"It should be, but Director Fury moved heaven and Earth." - ―J. Streiten and Phil Coulson[src]
Enraged by Phil Coulson's death, the Avengers assembled to stop the war Loki had started, just as he opened the portal in New York City and unleased Chitauri on Earth. The Avengers fought together and managed to close the portal, defeating the Chitauri army, after which Thor returned both Loki and the Tesseract to Asgard.[3]
Unbeknownst to the Avengers, Nick Fury initiated the Project T.A.H.I.T.I., aimed at resurrecting a fallen Avenger, to bring Coulson back to life. S.H.I.E.L.D. scientists used the experimental GH.325 drug, created out of a Kree blood and managed to resurrect Coulson, although his mind had to be erased to avoid the side effect.[5] Coulson would later initiate the Theta Protocol to rebuild the decommissioned Helicarrier, which was used by Fury during Ultron's attack on Sokovia.[6]