The Advanced Threat Containment Unit (ATCU) is a fictional organization featured on the ABC super-spy series Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. by Marvel Entertainment. They first appeared in season three of the series, beginning with the season premiere, "Laws of Nature".
The Advanced Threat Containment Unit was created by President Matthew Ellis as a response to the growing rise of superhuman activity that began developing following the release of the alien chemical Terrigen into the ecosystem. The ATCU was headed up by a woman named Rosalind Price. Following Price's assassination by Grant Ward, control of the ATCU went to S.H.I.E.L.D. director Phil Coulson, who used the ATCU as the legitimized face to S.H.I.E.L.D.'s covert actions.
The ATCU began taking action prior to President Ellis' official announcement of their formation. They apprehended several Terrigen-enhanced beings, or "Inhumans" in the Washington, D.C. area. One of the first was a young man named Jose "Joey" Gutierrez, who possessed the ability to melt metal with his mind. He would have been captured by them but for the timely intervention of S.H.I.E.L.D. agents Alphonso Mackenzie and Daisy Johnson. Mack and Daisy brought Joey back to the S.H.I.E.L.D. flying fortress, Zephyr One.
Coulson had his team investigate Rosalind Price and found that she had been involved with numerous intelligence agencies over the years including MI6 and Russian counterintelligence. They scoped out her pattern of movements and plotted to intercept her, but Price caught wind of these tactics and prepared for an altercation.
Price and Coulson first encountered one another on an elevated train in Washington. Coulson brought Lance Hunter as support while Price had her number one commando, Luther Banks, with her as back-up. Both sides drew arms on one another, but the situation was resolved peacefully when they each learned that a third party had also taken an interest in the Inhumans - a violent monstrous creature known as Lash.
Members[]
- Rosalind Price
- Luther Banks
Notes[]
- Actor Jude B. Lanston played an ATCU soldier in the group's first appearance in "Laws of Nature".