SPIDER
CONFESSIONS OF A TRAITOR
Harrison Cartwright

❝  I was a S.H.I.E.L.D agent. I was a part of the Nicholson Institute. I helped in the fight against Thanos — and, somewhere along the way, I became known as a traitor to the free world. I built up a web of secrets, made from people that owed me debts, and used those secrets to buy bigger ones. At one point, I had entire agencies in my pocket.

This is the story of how I did it. ❞

♛

Written from inside his prison cell in the Raft, "SPIDER" details convicted terrorist Harrison Cartwright's involvement with S.H.I.E.L.D, the formation of the Web, and the events leading up to his 2025 conviction for espionage and arms trafficking. An autobiographical account of how a young, hopeful agent with his entire future ahead of him slipped off the tracks and joined the traitors, "SPIDER" attracted controversy, with many questioning the morality in publishing the account of Cartwright, as well as the security implications regarding releasing the details of Cartwright's years within S.H.I.E.L.D.

After a lengthy legal battle, S.H.I.E.L.D and the Nicholson Institute have agreed to allow this book to be published, with the inclusion of a foreword written by senior S.H.I.E.L.D agent Carol-Anne Harper.

All proceeds from this publication go directly to the Nicholson Foundation, who aim to provide support for families affected by the Blip.

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INTRODUCTORY COMMENTS
by Carol-Anne Harper
Senior Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D, and former
classmate of Harrison Cartwright.

In 2025, Harrison Cartwright was convicted of espionage and arms trafficking. Throughout the highly publicised investigation and trial, Cartwright was accused of a multitude of crimes, including stealing and selling on S.H.I.E.L.D weaponry and technology, selling governmental secrets, and creating and running a large scale OCG. He was sentenced to seven consecutive life sentences in the Raft — a large, high security prison typically used for the incarceration of Enhanced individuals. This tradition was evidentially broken for Cartwright.

In 2007, he was my classmate in the S.H.I.E.L.D Academy of Operations.

That's all I say, whenever anyone asks me about Cartwright and my relationship to him. He was my classmate. It isn't a lie. We did attend the Academy at the same time. We had classes together, and trained within the same halls. For so many years, I have left my comments there — I've adopted the mantra my grandmother had often spouted ("never complain, never explain"), and have offered no more information than simply that fact. He was my classmate.

But the truth is, he was so much more than that.

When I first heard that Cartwright was writing this account, it would be a lie to claim that I never felt apprehensive. The legal battle between him and the various organisations that are undoubtedly going to be effected by his words has been well publicised. For a significant amount of time, S.H.I.E.L.D, the Nicholson Institute, and S.W.O.R.D have fought against the publication of his autobiography. I feel no shame in saying I was one of the people who raised concerns. He had, after all, already shown a capability and a willingness to share confidential information with little consideration to the wider ramifications — who were we to believe that he wouldn't do the exact same thing within this autobiography, if given half the chance?

     While I cannot speak on behalf of S.W.O.R.D or the Nicholson Institute, on behalf of S.H.I.E.L.D I would like to say simply this: we do not have the right to take Cartwright's voice from him, but we do have a responsibility to ensure that the security of our country will not be put at risk by his words. As such, his autobiography was read carefully by our corporate communications department, in order to ensure that nothing he said was likely to harm our ongoing and future businesses. There is, after all, a difference between embarrassment and improvidence — and while Cartwright's account is embarrassing for the S.H.I.E.L.D we both once knew, the damage it is likely to cause the organisation I now work for has been somewhat limited.

Since his incarceration, I have had just one conversation with the man I had once called my friend. It was several months before writing this — several months before the conclusion of the legal battle regarding this publication. I went into that conversation with my mind fiercely made up that Cartwright was an example of why S.H.I.E.L.D failed. Here was a man — a gifted man, who would have been a gifted agent — and instead of using his skill set to better the world around him, he grew bitter and angry and used it to cause harm. How could an organisation ever sustain itself when men like that crept along its path? How could we ever have expected our organisation to last, when lies like his were rotting away our foundations? It was men like him that meant S.H.I.E.L.D was always going to fail.

I left that conversation with a changed mind. Cartwright was never an example of why S.H.I.E.L.D failed.

He was an example of the failings of S.H.I.E.L.D.

If we had done so many things differently, he would never have felt forced into becoming what he did. If we had given him the support he had asked for, if we had listened when he had asked for help, if we had cared for someone who had spent so long caring for others, perhaps he wouldn't have taken the path he had. Perhaps we could have saved him. Perhaps Cartwright's story would have a different ending.

I can't speak for the Nicholson Institute — I may share their name, but the organisation itself has little to do with me — but on behalf of S.H.I.E.L.D, I wish to extend my sincere apologies. What I learned from Cartwright that day doesn't excuse his actions, but it does go a long way in explaining them.

There is a reason, after all, that I say S.H.I.E.L.D will leave this book embarrassed.

Harrison Cartwright is not a man I consider to be a friend — but he was, once. He was a great man — perhaps the greatest pain I feel comes from how he had never been truly given the opportunity to be a good one.

Cartwright is no longer my friend, but that doesn't mean he shouldn't be given the chance to tell his story.

So this is his story. It's the story of how a man became a villain, hiding behind the mask of a hero. It's the story of how one man nearly brought every intelligence agency to their knees. It's the story of how S.H.I.E.L.D fell.

It's the story of how S.H.I.E.L.D failed.

This is Harrison Cartwright's story.

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