Commission on Superhuman Activities (Earth-616)

The Commission on Superhuman Activities is a group formed to act on superhuman affairs, with representatives from governmental organizations, such as the National Security Council, U.S. Army, and the F.B.I..

Freedom Force[]

When Mystique offered her Brotherhood of Evil Mutants to the U.S. government as operatives in exchange for criminal pardons, the deal was negotiated through Valerie Cooper.^[1] Val acted as liaison to the group and often coordinated their activities through the C.S.A..

In addition to mutant-related activities, Freedom Force also acted on behalf of the Commission against other superhumans. After a "whistle blower" claimed the Avengers were involved in criminal activities against the government, Freedom Force was deployed against the East and West Coast branches, and brought them into custody. The Commission held a mock trial hearing at the Vault where they reviewed the allegations against the Avengers.^[2]

After Freedom Force imploded, Val Cooper created a new government-sponsored mutant agency called X-Factor. X-Factor did not appear to be as directly connected to the C.S.A. as Freedom Force, perhaps because of the influence of Charles Xavier in its inception.^[3]

Captain America[]

The Commission on Superhuman Activities was also responsible for "firing" Steve Rogers as Captain America. The Commission asserted that the U.S. government held the legal rights to the name, costume, and shield of Captain America, and used this to attempt to force Steve Rogers into working for them. Instead, Rogers quit and turned in his costume and shield, leading the Commission to search for a new Captain America.^[4]

A costumed showman called the Super-Patriot, John F. Walker of Georgia, was recruited by the C.S.A. to be the new Captain America. Unfortunately, Walker suffered a number of personal setbacks during his time as Cap, including his identity being publicly revealed by former associates out for revenge, and his parents murdered by the Watchdogs. It was eventually revealed that the entire ordeal was orchestrated by the Red Skull, who had agents in the C.S.A., Watchdogs, and other groups. Steve Rogers returned and reclaimed his identity from the embarrassed C.S.A..^[5]

John Walker was apparently assassinated by Scourge of the Underworld while turning the job back over to Rogers.^[6] In reality, the C.S.A. put him undercover as Jack Daniels, the U.S.Agent, using the red-white-and-black costume Rogers used during his forced retirement.^[7] The U.S.Agent was then forced onto the West Coast branch of the Avengers by the C.S.A. as a condition to the group keeping their special security status.^[8]

The U.S.Agent later lost his special privileges on the team when the Avengers reorganized under the United Nations' venue, and was kicked off the team entirely after a brawl with Hawkeye.^[9]

Spider-Woman[]

Julia Carpenter was a college friend of Val Cooper's who volunteered for a government experiment that gave her super-powers as the second Spider-Woman. Julia was initially recruited into Freedom Force, but betrayed the group to help the Avengers escape from the Vault.^[2] Iron Man helped Julia supposedly clear her name with the government, but instead the Commission assigned her an unscrupulous handler named Mike Clemson. Clemson kept Spider-Woman officially a fugitive to use her services as a black ops agent.^[10][11]

After Spider-Woman began associating with the Avengers West, Clemson called up the recently fired U.S.Agent. He claimed to represent the C.S.A. and ordered U.S.Agent to terminate Spider-Woman as a rogue agent and enemy of the state. Walker nearly did so, but stopped at the last minute. Clemson was uncovered as a dirty agent in the C.S.A., and U.S.Agent and Spider-Woman joined Avengers West full time.^[12] Clemson was later killed during his dirty dealings with the Manipulator and Deathweb.^[13]

Maximum Security[]

U.S.Agent was recruited by the C.S.A. to head up STARS, the superhuman arm of the US Department of Corrections.^[14]

Civil War[]

During the Civil War, the C.S.A. had not the resources and men to hand the Registration Act application. Also, Norman Osborn, field-leader of the Thunderbolts joined the Commission.^[15]

After the incident in Omaha, the Commission ruled that Gadget was killed by Graviton, deferring Paragon's matter for internal review.^[16]

At the United Nations General Assembly meeting, the Commission decided to charge Anthony Stark, Maria Hill, and Timothy Dugan for terrorism, but the trial was halted by S.H.I.E.L.D.. The charges were dropped as soon as Iron Man defeated the Mandarin.^[17]