Victoria Hand

"No single agent is that important." "Coulson is."

- Victoria Hand and Grant Ward Victoria Hand was a high-ranking Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. with Clearance Level 8. Hand was well-known to lower ranking agents and had a reputation for brusqueness and expecting promptness from agents under her. During the S.H.I.E.L.D. Civil War she was killed by HYDRA infiltrator Grant Ward.

Early life and first actions
After Victoria Hand joined S.H.I.E.L.D., she was able to rise through its ranks, eventually becoming one of the highest-ranked agents in the organization, and being assigned to The Hub. Sometime before that, Hand and Agent John Garrett were stationed together in Lisbon, Portugal.

Operation Overkill
"You need to trust the system, Agent Coulson."

- Victoria Hand Hand oversaw an operation from the Hub to destroy an enemy weapon called the Overkill Device and neutralize the South Ossetian rebels that built it.

To this end, she assigned agents Grant Ward and Leo Fitz with the task of neutralizing the weapon before launching the attack. Ward and Fitz were successful, and the attack commenced.

Despite not having an extraction plan for Ward and Fitz, Hand was confident that their team-leader, Agent Phil Coulson would secure his team's safe return.

Centipede
"Mr. Vanchat. We were hoping you could help us find a friend."

- Victoria Hand

Hand coordinated an effort to find abducted Agent Phil Coulson and to take down Centipede. She led a S.H.I.E.L.D. team to take custody of the notorious criminal Vanchat, who had had dealings with Centipede in the past, during a transaction to sell Chitauri metal to a buyer named Emily Deville.

Leading many teams across the globe from The Bus, Agent Hand got rid of the consultant Skye, apparently with the approval of Agent Melinda May, while one of her best men was trying to interrogate Vanchat. When Agent Grant Ward successfully obtained information about Vanchat's transactions, Agent Hand led many strike teams running raids on every known buyer of Chitauri metals around the globe, some of them being Centipede safe houses, but not before questioning Agent Ward's attitude after Skye's disappearance from the plane and Ward's very own interrogation methods. She also noted that both Director Nick Fury and Commander Maria Hill wanted constant updates on the situation of the rescue mission.

When the helicopter used in Coulson's kidnapping appeared in a laboratory near the Mojave Desert, Agent Hand personally led a strike team to investigate the activities at the lab.

After Agent Coulson was rescued by his own team, Hand informed Coulson that Director Fury was very relieved after hearing of Coulson's successful rescue mission, and updated him on the success of the take down of multiple Centipede operations. After that, she returned to S.H.I.E.L.D.'s Headquarters, commenting that The Bus wasn't really her style.

Hunt for the Clairvoyant
"When that plane touches down, take out everyone on board, except Agent Coulson, he's mine"

- Victoria Hand

Agent Hand was called to the Bus by Coulson from the Helicarrier along with agents Jasper Sitwell and Felix Blake. After the Bus' takeoff she was briefed on the mission, by Coulson, John Garrett, and Antoine Triplett. She expressed her doubts about the true abilities of the Clairvoyant to no avail. She left the plane after the briefing to return to the Hub to run back-end support for the mission. After Agent Blake was critically injured by Deathlok, and the team returned to the Hub, she again expressed her disapproval to Coulson. She ordered agents Jemma Simmons and Antoine Triplett to work within the Hub as consultants on Deathlok's capabilities. Hand watched the team's battle with Deathlok and the confrontation with Thomas Nash.

HYDRA Infiltration
Later, she rerouted the Bus to the Hub and informed her agents that once the Bus landed she wanted everyone except Coulson killed. Hand also ordered two UAVs to take out John Garrett's plane. This order ultimately failed however after Coulson aided Garrett on the Bus by taking out the UAVs. Hand was under the impression that Garrett, Coulson and his team were members of HYDRA.

Hand made a personal stand-off with Simmons and Triplett in the Hub and posed as a HYDRA agent herself, she ordered them to pledge full loyalty to HYDRA or face a fate similar to Director Fury. The pair passed Hand's "test", however when Triplett swore to take one with them if Hand's men opened fire. Hand argued however that Coulson was indeed a member of HYDRA, justifying her suspicions with the belief that Coulson has hid vital information from S.H.I.E.L.D. and disobeyed multiple direct orders.

When the “fugitives” had successfully infiltrated the Hub, Coulson, Garret, May and Fitz were soon surrounded by Hand’s men. Unbeknownst to Hand however, two of the guards were HYDRA agents who then took out their former colleagues with the order of Garrett: a HYDRA agent and the Clairvoyant. This revelation was soon known by Hand with thanks to a bug, who then personally led a second team to arrest Garrett. Hand now believed that Coulson and his team were not agents of HYDRA.

With the Clairvoyant and HYDRA threat on the Hub neutralized, Hand confirmed to Coulson that Captain America had successfully ended the Helicarrier threat at the Triskelion. Hand also noted that the pair may be the only Level 8 agents who are not loyal to HYDRA or dead. Upon giving Coulson a secure communication device to ensure the pair could keep in contact, Hand left the Hub to transport Garrett to the Fridge.

Death
Shortly after the attack on The Hub, Hand led the transport plane taking Garrett to the Fridge with the help of Agent Ward and two other S.H.I.E.L.D agents. Although the Fridge would ensure Garrett could not be let loose again to the outside world, Hand believed that he deserved to die after all he had done, offering Ward the chance to kill the “real” Clairvoyant. This ultimately became Hand’s demise as Ward shot both the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents guarding Garrett and Victoria Hand; he shot her twice again to ensure she had died.

Relationships

 * S.H.I.E.L.D.
 * Nick Fury - S.H.I.E.L.D. Director
 * Maria Hill - S.H.I.E.L.D. Deputy Director
 * Felix Blake - S.H.I.E.L.D. colleague
 * Anne Weaver - S.H.I.E.L.D colleague
 * Antoine Triplett - S.H.I.E.L.D. colleague
 * Coulson's Team
 * Phil Coulson - S.H.I.E.L.D. colleague
 * Melinda May - S.H.I.E.L.D. colleague
 * Leo Fitz - S.H.I.E.L.D. colleague
 * Jemma Simmons - S.H.I.E.L.D. colleague
 * Skye - S.H.I.E.L.D. colleague
 * HYDRA
 * Jasper Sitwell - S.H.I.E.L.D. colleague turned enemy
 * John Garrett - S.H.I.E.L.D. colleague turned enemy
 * Grant Ward - S.H.I.E.L.D. colleague turned enemy and killer
 * Vanchat - enemy
 * Emily Deville - enemy
 * Raina - enemy

Trivia

 * Victoria was a major character in the comics. Originally a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent vocal in her opposition to Nick Fury's policies, she acted as a liason to Norman Osborn during his time as director of H.A.M.M.E.R., an organization that temporarily replaced S.H.I.E.L.D. after the Secret Invasion. She was later a liason to Captain America and one of the teams of Avengers. After considerable doubt as to her true loyalties, she was eventually revealed to have been working for Captain America all along. She was killed in the line of duty and there is a statue honoring her on the lawn of Avengers Mansion.
 * In the comics, Hand is a lesbian. Had this been addressed on the show, she would've been the first confirmed non-heterosexual character in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.