U.S. Government agency, currently led by Sasha Bordeaux. They act as support to the United States' super-human individuals (including the Justice League), undertake government research, oversee U.S. responsibilities involving super-humans, and respond to small-scale metahuman threats.[1]
A.R.G.U.S. is aHistory
Unofficial Past
In one form or another, A.R.G.U.S. has existed since the earliest days of the American Revolution, when it was known as the "Armed Revolutionaries Governing Under Secrecy", spying on the British forces to aid military action. After independence, they changed again, becoming the "Anonymous Ranger Group of the United States". They fought in the American Civil War, tracked outlaws, and with some notable failings, defended the lives of the U.S. Presidents.
During this period, their greatest enemies were the Crimson Men, servants of a cult that believed in an imminent apocalypse, to be heralded by crimson skies. The Crimson Men recruited the wealthy and powerful to their side, and over the 20th century A.R.G.U.S. and the Crimson Men fought a shadow war, to the latter's defeat. A.R.G.U.S. went dormant, waiting to change again to suit the times.
The Official Story
In the wake of Darkseid's attack on Earth, and the reformation of the Justice League, the American government created an agency called the Advanced Research Group Uniting Superhumans, to handle all of the spillover from Justice League missions, and handle the debris afterwards. The agency's first head was Steve Trevor, for his military record and his history with Wonder Woman. He accepted, and A.R.G.U.S. officially came into existence the next day.
Subsequently, A.R.G.U.S. served honourably, liaising with the Justice League to build and supply The Watchtower, taking control of the Red Room and the Black Room, overseeing the creation of the Circus in Detroit (full of interdimensional visitors through the hole left by Darkseid's arrival) and Belle Reve, the nation's supervillain prison. Trevor recruited from his former squadmates in Team 7, hiring Amanda Waller and John Lynch.
However, during the aftermath of the David Graves incident, A.R.G.U.S. got a new director in Amanda Waller, the head of Task Force X. This resulted in a more aggressive stance against threats such as superhuman trafficking, Basilisk, and the Secret Society, seeding agents into enemy ranks. These tactics proved useless in the face of the Secret Society's conspiracy, however, and the agency was crippled by an attack from the Crime Syndicate and Secret Society.
In the aftermath of the Crime Syndicate's attack, Steve Trevor was the highest-ranking field agent again, and vowed to change it into something cleaner. Some time later, Trevor stepped down as head of A.R.G.U.S. and Sasha Bordeaux took his place.
Later, ARGUS largely collapsed following the Event Leviathan and Leviathan's multi-pronged attack on the world's intelligence agencies. Some of its resources were then incorporated into a rebuilt Checkmate under Steve Trevor.
Notes
- The name of A.R.G.U.S. come from the greek-roman mythologic character Argos, a thousand-eyed monster whose mission is to keep the nymph Io, the A.R.G.U.S. has this name because of its mission to watchover the entire world as if it has billions of eyes.
See Also
- 154 Appearances of A.R.G.U.S. (Prime Earth)
- 3 Images that include A.R.G.U.S. (Prime Earth)
- Organization Gallery: A.R.G.U.S. (Prime Earth)