Alexander Pierce

"To build a better world sometimes means tearing the old one down. And that makes enemies."

- Alexander Pierce

Alexander Pierce was one of HYDRA's leaders and its top undercover operative inside the United States Government, S.H.I.E.L.D., and the World Security Council. He commanded the HYDRA forces within S.H.I.E.L.D., working to create a world so chaotic, that its people would give up their own control of their lives. To that end, he created Project Insight, a project that would have given HYDRA absolute control over the world. His plan was stopped by Captain America, Black Widow, Falcon, Maria Hill, and Nick Fury in the Battle at the Triskelion, during which he was killed by the director.

S.H.I.E.L.D.
"This man declined a . He said peace wasn't an achievement, it was a responsibility. See, it's stuff like this that gives me trust issues."

- Nick Fury

Alexander Pierce is the son of an American soldier who fought in World War II as a member of the 101st Airborne Division. He joined S.H.I.E.L.D. early in his life. While working for the State Department, a hostage situation in Bogotá caused him to meet S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Nick Fury, who successfully saved the hostages, including Pierce's daughter. Pierce had hoped to win the situation through negotiation, but Fury disagreed. Disobeying direct orders, Fury ordered a military operation that rescued the hostages before they were to be killed. Impressed by Fury's actions, Pierce later made Fury the Director of S.H.I.E.L.D.

He also met Melinda May, one of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s best agents.

The episode in Bogota caused a shift in Pierce's attitudes toward diplomacy, and soon after he was recruited by HYDRA. In 1989, with the title of Undersecretary, Pierce ordered the release of Werner Reinhardt, an old HYDRA General who was sentenced to life imprisonment by Peggy Carter in 1945. Reinhardt was released from the Rat prison and moved by HYDRA's moles in S.H.I.E.L.D. to his old fortress in Austria. Gideon Malick saw the potential of Pierce, and considered having him as a partner on his quest to bring back It, but Malick considered Pierce to be too bloodthristy.

Project Insight
"I can bring order to the lives of 7 billion people by sacrificing 20 million."

- Alexander Pierce

Alexander Pierce became Secretary to the World Security Council, and started to use his influence and the database that housed the mind of Arnim Zola to develop Project Insight, outwardly an operation involving three heavily armed Helicarriers and network of targeting satellites that were allegedly supposed to form a security network to protect the Earth. In truth, HYDRA actually desired to use them to target and kill approximately 20 million people selected by Arnim Zola's algorithm, any individual which was deemed to pose a threat to HYDRA's new world order.

Pierce was in regular contact with decorated and respected S.H.I.E.L.D. agent and HYDRA operative John Garrett as Project Insight developed.

Attack on Nick Fury
"I work forty floors away and it takes a hijacking for you to visit?" "Well, a nuclear war would do it too."

- Alexander Pierce and Nick Fury

Pierce was called to a meeting with the World Security Council to discuss the correct response to the hijacking of the Lemurian Star by Georges Batroc. The meeting was interrupted by Nick Fury who privately asked Pierce to delay Project Insight due to Fury's need to ensure there was nothing wrong with the project; Pierce agreed as long as Fury promised to make Iron Man visit his niece's birthday party.

When Pierce learnt that the hijacking of the Lemurian Star was actually planned by Nick Fury in order to recover the confidential files related to the Project Insight, Pierce deployed the Winter Soldier to kill him with apparent success.

Hunting Captain America
"Captain Rogers has information regarding the death of Director Fury, he refused to share it. As difficult as this is to accept, Captain America is a fugitive from S.H.I.E.L.D."

- Alexander Pierce to his staff

Following Fury's apparent demise, Pierce had a meeting with Captain America, and revealed to Rogers how Fury was responsible for the hijacking of the Lemurian Star and that Fury had bugged Rogers' apartment. Pierce spoke to Rogers about his own history with Fury and how a mission in Bogota had lead to Fury's promotion. When Rogers refused to reveal why Fury had been in his apartment the night he died, Pierce realized that Rogers was hiding something from him. Pierce deployed corrupt STRIKE agents to capture Rogers, who overpowered the agents and escaped before going undercover along with Black Widow. As the attack on Rogers was seen by all of the S.H.I.E.L.D. Agents inside the Triskelion, Pierce called a meeting with the staff, many of whom were questioning why Rogers had become a target. Pierce revealed to the agents that Rogers was withholding information about Director Fury's death which made him an enemy of S.H.I.E.L.D. When Rogers and Romanoff's location was given away by the use of an encoded hard drive, Pierce sent the STRIKE team to capture them, only for them to fail. When Rogers and Romanoff were located again, this time at Camp Lehigh, Pierce made the call to destroy the base, with Rogers, Romanoff and the HYDRA computer program of Arnim Zola inside.

Using the Winter Soldier
"Your work has been a gift to mankind. You shaped the century. And I need you to do it one more time..."

- Alexander Pierce to the Winter Soldier

When Pierce learnt that Rogers and Romanoff had survived the explosion and escaped yet again, he gave the Winter Soldier the assignment to kill Rogers and Natasha Romanoff. During his conversation with the Winter Soldier, Pierce's housemaid Renata entered; knowing that no one could know about Pierce's relationship with the assassin, Pierce shot and killed Renata in cold blood.

Steve Rogers was able to capture HYDRA Agent Jasper Sitwell, who revealed all of Pierce's plans with Project Insight, so Pierce gave a second order for Sitwell to be killed as well. The Winter Soldier attacked Rogers and killed Sitwell. After a pitched battle on the streets of Washington, D.C., STRIKE teams manage to capture Rogers, Romanoff and their ally, Sam Wilson, but they were soon extracted from custody by an undercover Maria Hill. Pierce met with the Winter Soldier at one of his secure facilities to make him report the failures of his mission to kill Rogers; however the Winter Soldier was unstable and confused due to seemingly remembering Steve Rogers from a past life. When Pierce tried both beating and talking to the Winter Soldier to try to stable him and failed, he ordered the Winter Soldier's mind to be wiped to be ready for his next mission. He left as the Winter Soldier screamed in pain.

Battle at the Triskelion
"Let me ask you a question. What if Pakistan marched into Mumbai tomorrow, and you knew they were going to drag your daughter into a soccer stadium for execution, and you could stop it with a flick of the switch... wouldn't you? Wouldn't you all?" "Not if it was your switch."

- Alexander Pierce to Singh

Pierce proceeded with his plan, but as S.H.I.E.L.D. prepared to deploy the Helicarriers, Captain America infiltrated the Triskelion and revealed by loudspeaker the truth behind HYDRA's plans and Pierce's true loyalty, and prompted every clean agent to stand up against HYDRA. While Captain America and Falcon infiltrated the Helicarriers to modify their programming to change the targets from the people selected by Zola's algorithm to the Helicarriers themselves, Black Widow infiltrated the Triskelion by impersonating Councilwoman Hawley of the World Security Council by using a Photostatic Veil. Romanoff forced Pierce to help her and Nick Fury, who revealed his survival to Pierce, to unlock every single one of S.H.I.E.L.D./HYDRA's secrets and upload them to the Internet.

Death
"It's the next step, Nick, if you have the courage to take it." "No, I have the courage not to."

- Alexander Pierce and Nick Fury minutes before Pierce's death

With the Helicarriers destroyed, and all of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s and HYDRA's secrets released to the world, Pierce made a desperate attempt for freedom and killed all the members of the council, except for Black Widow, by detonating a miniature bomb that he had given to them disguised as an access chip. He then ordered Romanoff and Fury to lay down their weapons and allow him to escape to the helicopter. He used the threat of the bomb on Black Widow's clothes to force Nick Fury to let him go. As he was leaving, Fury informed him that he would have once taken a bullet for Pierce; in response, Pierce jokingly threatened that Fury would again. Refusing to allow such a dangerous enemy to escape, Black Widow used a Taser Disk to short out the bomb, giving Fury the opportunity to shoot Pierce twice in the chest, slowly killing him. As he lay in a pile of broken glass and his own blood, Pierce spoke his final words, "Hail HYDRA."

Aftermath
"Secretary Pierce was the man in charge, the only person Fury took orders from, and he was HYDRA."

- Melinda May

Melinda May confronted Maria Hill about who the leader of Project T.A.H.I.T.I. was, fearing it was Pierce since Nick Fury took orders from him. Hill reassured her that he was not.

Personality
"Our enemies are your enemies, Nick. Disorder. War. It's just a matter of time before a dirty bomb goes off in Moscow, or an EMP fries Chicago. Diplomacy? A holding action, Nick. A band-aid."

- Alexander Pierce to Nick Fury

As a high ranking member of S.H.I.E.L.D., Pierce was respected by many of his subordinate officers, including Nick Fury. That respect was gained by decades of service in S.H.I.E.L.D., fighting for and promoting international stability and world wide peace. However, beneath the exterior of a good man, Pierce was actually a loyal agent of HYDRA who was able to cleverly hide his true goals in order to gain the trust of others.

Always calm and collected during dangerous situations, Pierce showed no physical stamina or skill, but he was still one of HYDRA's most valuable operatives because of his extraordinary position within S.H.I.E.L.D., the United States Government, and the World Security Council. Maybe his greatest talent was his ability to present his actions as if they were for the good of the mankind, while he was actually pushing S.H.I.E.L.D.'s operations in the right direction to serve HYDRA's goals.

As a member of HYDRA, Pierce was a ruthless master manipulator who showed a complete lack of morality or remorse. To ensure HYDRA's global domination, he rallied S.H.I.E.L.D. into pursuing Captain America so he could trick the World Security Council into activating Project Insight undisturbed. He was no stranger to killing and could murder without batting an eye as he did with his housekeeper and nearly did with the World Security Council.

He appeared to be somewhat abusive towards his minions, slapping the Winter Soldier for failure to kill Captain America. However, he did have somewhat of a comical edge, asking if Nick Fury would arrange to have Iron Man attend his niece's birthday party, and offering milk when the Winter Soldier appeared in his house. Even in his final moments, Pierce pledged his loyalty with his final words being, "Hail HYDRA."

Equipment

 * Miniature Bombs: Alexander Pierce used these miniature explosives, disguised as security badges, to kill World Security Council members Singh, Yen, and Rockwell, and attempted to use it to kill Black Widow.
 * Glock 19: Alexander Pierce uses this pistol to threaten the members of the World Security Council.
 * SIG-Sauer P226: Pierce uses this pistol to shoot and kill his housemaid, Renata.

Family

 * Father
 * Daughter
 * Niece

Allies

 * HYDRA
 * Gideon Malick
 * Arnim Zola † - Advisor
 * Jasper Sitwell † - Subordinate
 * Russo † - Subordinate
 * STRIKE
 * Brock Rumlow - Subordinate
 * Jack Rollins - Subordinate
 * John Garrett †
 * Werner Reinhardt †
 * Hauer

Enemies

 * S.H.I.E.L.D. (First Incarnation) - Allies turned Enemies
 * Nick Fury - Killer
 * Maria Hill
 * Melinda May
 * World Security Council
 * Councilwoman Hawley
 * Counciman Yen †
 * Councilman Singh †
 * Councilman Rockwell †
 * Steve Rogers/Captain America - Ally turned Enemy
 * Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow - Ally turned Enemy
 * Sharon Carter - Ally turned Enemy
 * Renata † - Housemaid turned Victim
 * Bucky Barnes/Winter Soldier - Former Subordinate

Appearances
In chronological order:
 * Captain America: The Winter Soldier
 * Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
 * Season One
 * The Only Light in the Darkness (mentioned)
 * Nothing Personal (mentioned)
 * Season Two
 * The Things We Bury (mentioned)
 * Season Three
 * Closure (mentioned)

Trivia

 * In the comics, Alexander Pierce is a young S.H.I.E.L.D. field agent and the leader of one of the three teams of Caterpillars. Alexander Pierce's character in the movie is an amalgamation of characters Alexander Pierce and Aleksander Lukin, the handler of the Winter Soldier. The part of Pierce being the US Secretary of Defense is adapted from the comic book storyline where the Red Skull infiltrates the US Government under the guise of Dell Rusk and becomes the US Secretary of Defense with the intention to turn America into a fascist country.