The complicated history between Citadel and Manticore in the Citadel universe

Major spoilers ahead of Citadel season 1

Citadel, the Prime Video original spy thriller, is expanding its universe with Citadel: Diana and Citadel: Honey Bunny making their debuts this fall on the streamer. Season 2 of the flagship is also underway so now is the prime time to get a refresher on the messy intricacies of the rival spy agencies that populate this shared universe--Citadel and Manticore.

When the flagship starts, the agents of its namesake are under the impression that they are the only elite global spy organization in the world. The rest pale in comparison and are considered to be child's play. However, while on a mission in Italy, the agency's top operatives Mason Kane and Nadia Sinh are ambushed by a group they've never heard of before. Manticore is an infant compared to its predecessors but a lethal one.

How did it come to be? Well, first we have to begin with Citadel's origins.

Who started Citadel?

Over a 100 years before the start of the series, this spy organization was formed by a group of spies from France. They recruited operatives from around the world for one purpose. They wanted to found an agency that wasn't beholden to any one country or government. Not having to be loyal to a single person or nation allowed them to focus on the safety and security of all the world's people. As such, they took part in shaping all of the major events that have happened in this universe's history since their creation for good. Or so Bernard Orlick told Kyle Conroy aka Mason Kane with backstop-induced amnesia.

However, later in the season, UK Ambassador and Manticore agent Dahlia Archer painted a very different picture of Citadel. 30 years prior, there'd been a terrorist attack in Serbia that was reported to be caused by two car bombs. Dahlia lost her husband Thomas in the bombing and her grief from his passing resulted in her walking out of their son's life when he was 5 years old. In a twist, it turns out that son is Mason.

When she revealed to him, eight years prior to the show's present, that she'd learned from a drunken diplomat that it was actual the spy organization that launched a missile attack, it was the catalyst for Citadel's destruction. The agency had covered up their mistake. They'd gotten the wrong coordinates which is why a building with UN workers and their families inside was hit instead of the terror cell they were aiming to take out. The cover up included Citadel blackmailing NATO, the CIA, and the UN to keep them quiet about the 157 men, women, children, and infants they accidentally killed.

Likely realizing that Mason was already teetering on the edge of betraying Citadel because they wouldn't tell him where his lost love Nadia was, Dahlia used what she told her son to get him to give her the agency's secrets. She said that it was so she could take it to the UK's high court but what Mason didn't know was that his mother had no interest in getting justice through the legal system. What she wanted was revenge and that's where Manticore came in.

Manticore's origins

At the time of this article's writing, the rival spy network's founding is still unknown. Their history will likely be divulged in Citadel: Diana but we do know that unlike Citadel, Manticore wasn't started by a group of spies but rather eight of the world's wealthiest families. Bernard said they built their network of operatives in order to manipulate world events to their favor and increase their wealth and power.

Diana's story, which takes place in Milan eight years after Citadel's fall, will give us our first experience with one of the Manticore families. The Zanis were name dropped in the flagship but nothing was said about them. They head the Italian branch of the organization and they're led by Ettore Zani who is grooming his son Edo to follow in his footsteps. What Ettore may not know is that Edo is about to become Diana's ally as she works to escape from her undercover mission before anyone realizes there's been a Citadel spy among their ranks for years.

Throughout the flagship, it's very clear that Manticore is very exacting and ruthless. They killed thousands of Citadel spies when they "emerged." So as Dahlia worked to get the X-case, the pressure was on. She mentioned that failure has consequences and, when she couldn't deliver what they wanted, she faked her death in order to get out from under their thumb.

Citadel likes to complicate the definition of what makes someone a good or bad person, so as we get a better understanding of the organization that Diana has infiltrated, we're likely to learn how they see themselves in the world.

Stay tuned to Americans Undercover for coverage. Follow us on social media for more content (Facebook/X). All episodes of Citadel are streaming on Prime Video. Citadel: Diana premieres on Thursday, Oct. 10 with all six episodes.