The secret organization, Leviathan, plants agents deep inside the United States government and the menace of their anonymity outweighs what is known about them.
A Betrayal
Vasili Dassaiev and Viktor Uvarov, former KGB officers, join the Great Wheel of Zodiac, a group of the best intelligence agents from around the world. Some of their allies include Wolfgang von Strucker, AKA Baron Strucker, Daniel Whitehall, Shoji Soma, Nicholas Joseph Fury, Sr., AKA Nick Fury, Dum Dum Dugan, and John Garrett. Though, Vasili and Viktor team up and betray the group by stealing their technology, including a Brood power source. With the power source, they create superhumans and co-create Leviathan, a covert Soviet spy organization led by Viktor. They change themselves into superhumans, Vasili becoming Magadan, and Viktor only begins the process to become Orion. Though the other Zodiac members attacked, severely wounding Viktor mid-change. They stole back their power source, and Leviathan remains silent for years.
Leviathan’s Leaders
The Soviet spy organization Leviathan maintains its secrecy through leaders Vasili Dassaiev, AKA Magadan, and Viktor Uvarov, AKA Orion. Together, they use the Brood power cell and stasis pods to enhance themselves and ultimately create a superhuman army until their allies in the Zodiac interrupt their nefarious plans, and mortally wound Orion. Magadan waits in the shadows, planning a comeback for years, and gains an ally in Valentina Allegra de Fontaine, AKA Madame Hydra, who works as a double-agent within Hydra and dates S.H.I.E.L.D.’s Nick Fury. She helps Magadan recover the ability to create superhumans and revive the fallen Orion, who then assumes command against their foes Hydra and S.H.I.E.L.D.
Sworn Enemies
When Magadan and Orion betray the Great Wheel of Zodiac and create their organization Leviathan, their Zodiac allies go on to form S.H.I.E.L.D., the Howling Commandos, the Secret Warriors, Hydra, the ninja order known as the Hand, and the criminal organization, the Zodiac Cartel. Leviathan ultimately ends up in an all-out war with Hydra up until a temporary cease-fire. On Fury’s order, Dum Dum Dugan assassinates Leviathan’s leader Orion but frames Hydra.
Trusted Few
Those within Leviathan only trust each other: the two founders, Magadan and Orion, their manufactured superhuman army, and Madame Hydra.
A History of Lying in Wait
When Baron Strucker discovered the shape-shifting alien Skrulls infiltrated Hydra, he destroyed Hydra’s underwater Ichor base, killing thousands of Hydra soldiers but purging the organization of Skrulls. To assist him in rebuilding, Strucker enlisted the nihilist Viper, the Kraken, Valentina Allegra de Fontaine (secretly a mole for Leviathan), and the parasitic Hive; he also had the mutant swordsman Tomi Shishido, AKA Gorgon, resurrected by Hand mystics.
When the Secret Warriors robbed a Hydra-controlled bank, one of their number, JT James, AKA Hellfire, took some of the money; Hydra tracked him down and recruited him as their agent inside Fury’s organization. Madame Hydra subsequently betrayed Hydra for her true allies in Leviathan, seemingly killing Viper and stealing the Brood power cell, which they used to reawaken Orion, who had remained in cryostasis for 14 years, and their hidden army. The Hive revived Viper as the mutated Madame Hydra, but Leviathan destroyed Hydra’s financial hub in Kyoto, precipitating an all-out war between the two organizations.
The Howling Commandos and one of Fury’s teams attacked and destroyed Hydra’s Chinese base Hell’s Heaven. Still, Hydra counterattacked, killing most of the Howling Commandos, including long-time members Gabe Jones and Eric Koenig. Meanwhile, the Hydra-Leviathan war continued apace; Hydra lost several bases, including their Nemesis shipyards. They called a brief cease-fire, but Fury sabotaged it by assassinating Magadan and framing Hydra for it.
While Magadan and Madame Hydra regrouped with their army at a newly constructed Leviathan base in Perestroika, their superhuman army began exploding into goop. Madame Hydra turned herself into S.H.I.E.L.D. to have a face-to-face with Fury. In doing so, she discovered that when Magadan attempted to resurrect the Leviathan soldiers, he did not realize that S.H.I..E.L.D. controlled the system and fed more energy into it to make the soldiers’ lives burn brighter and shorter.
Later, Strucker restores Orion to life by using the life-giving Infinity serum in Fury’s blood. Orion enacts Leviathan’s plans to destroy S.H.I.E.L.D., but Fury’s son Marcus Johnson stops him with the help of Agent Phil Coulson and the Avengers and Orion along with his Leviathan horde are seemingly killed.
