The name was inspired by Ian Fleming’s character James Bond, who famously prefers his martinis “shaken, not stirred”. STIR having existed already, the creators of SHAKEN “tortured the English language until [they] came up with an acronym.”

Maria Hill: Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement, and Logistics Division. And what does that mean to you?

Ward: It means someone really wanted our initials to spell S.H.I.E.L.D.