The Shield

From TeeVeePedia, the Internet TV Encyclopedia.

The Shield is a dramatic television series on FX, based on the classic Archie Comics superhero.

Michael Chiklis stars as Joe Higgins, a corrupt L.A. cop who discovers a formula for super-strength and invulnerability while investigating the murder of his scientist father, Tom. After drinking the formula, Joe gains incredible super-powers, and adopts a guise as the patriotic superhero The Shield to conceal his continuing rampage of murder, extortion, and theft throughout the gangs of Los Angeles. Throughout the series, Joe is locked in a constant battle of wits with Det. Count Zongarr (Forrest Whittaker), a dogged investigator from Internal Affairs who attempts to expose Joe's corruption, and secretly moonlights as The Shield's sinister arch-nemesis.

The Shield has generated controversy for its morally ambiguous protagonist and its frequent scenes of unflinching violence, including a harrowing sequence in season 2 where The Shield holds Zortokk the Berzerker's face to a flaming barbecue grill in an attempt to extract the location of the ten grand in drug cash Zortokk has been concealing from Joe and his men.