In 1982, Baron Zemo was building up political and personal power, when he drew up his final plan for world domination and the elimination of S.H.I.E.L.D and it's heroes. He would bring together super-villains as a team in order to achieve his goal of world control. This plan, however, was thwarted by Nick Fury and his agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Though, the idea of reforming supervillains in the conquest of a greater goal stuck in Fury's mind. He took the idea to the planning stages and eventually gathered enough Villains through blackmail, bribery, or numerous other methods in order to perform the tasks that other superhero groups such as the Avengers, or the Annihilators, could not do for fear of social outcry or a massive downturn in the heroes approval ratings. These new 'heroes' would participate in Espionage, Wetwork, Anti-Terrorist, and numerous Black Bag Operations. This group would have to remain underground, however. The public was not to know of their existence, and so they were housed within an advanced Submarine - originally designed by Howard Stark and later begrudgingly redesigned by his son, Tony Stark, which remains constantly underwater or in a secure holding bay. From this location, the Thunderbolt Strike Team are able to plan and prepare for oncoming missions.