This article relies largely or entirely on a single source. (October 2023) |
U.N.C.L.E. is an acronym for the fictional United Network Command for Law and Enforcement, a secret international intelligence agency from the 1960s American television series The Man from U.N.C.L.E. and The Girl from U.N.C.L.E. The stars of the original series were Robert Vaughn (as Napoleon Solo), David McCallum (as Illya Kuryakin), and Leo G. Carroll (as Alexander Waverly). The series included 105 episodes from 1964 to its cancellation in 1968.[1] In 2015, a movie adaptation of the same name was released.
Responsible for "maintaining political and legal order anywhere in the world," U.N.C.L.E. was characterized as multinational in its composition and international in scope, protecting and defending nations regardless of size or political persuasion. Within the series, U.N.C.L.E. operates in both communist and Third World countries, as well as in Western nations. In the episode entitled "The Shark Affair," an enforcement agent of U.N.C.L.E., Napoleon Solo, reveals that the fictional U.N.C.L.E. is sponsored by major nations such as the United States, the Soviet Union, and the United Kingdom. Its primary opponent is the independent international criminal organization THRUSH (Technological Hierarchy for the Removal of Undesirables and the Subjugation of Humanity).