Photostatic Veil

The Photostatic Veil is a device used by S.H.I.E.L.D. and HYDRA agents to imitate the face and voice of another person.

S.H.I.E.L.D. Civil War
When the World Security Council was planning to launch Project Insight with Alexander Pierce, Black Widow used the Photostatic Veil, given her by Nick Fury, to infiltrate the gathering by pretending to be Council member Hawley. As Hawley, she held Pierce at gun point before deactivating the veil to show her true identity.

HYDRA versus S.H.I.E.L.D.
Sunil Bakshi used the photostatic veil to pretend to be Glenn Talbot in order to obtain a 500 year old painting that had the Words of Creation inscribed upon its back. In disguise, Bakshi took the painting to his hotel room in Florida and later attended a fund raiser for the rebuilding of Santa Maria de las Flores, the church that housed the painting until its fire.

Bakshi, using the veil as Talbot, confronted Phil Coulson and Melinda May to learn their motives for obtaining the painting. When May went into Bakshi's hotel room and found Agent 33 working for HYDRA, she attacked her, but Bakshi, as Talbot, confused May long enough for Agent 33 to render her unconscious.

Agent 33 then used the veil to pretend to be Melinda May. As May, Agent 33 entered the Bus, planted a virus in its systems and lured Coulson to accompany her to Bakshi's hotel room. En route, Coulson suspected that May was not with him. When Agent 33 failed Coulson's test, they began to fight. This fight distracted Bakshi long enough for May to escape him.

As Bakshi ran with the painting and Coulson gave chase, May challenged Agent 33 who was still wearing the veil. After a long fight, Melinda May knocked out Agent 33 before HYDRA soldiers arrived. They found Agent 33's body with Melinda May's face.

Later, at the Playground, Coulson and May let the real Glenn Talbot know that a HYDRA agent was impersonating him.

Agent 33's Photostatic Veil was severely damaged, and she was unable to remove it, being forced to maintain an appearance similar to that of Melinda May, with a facial scar and a dysfunctional voice simulator.

Phil Coulson explained to Billy Koenig that Agent 33 looked like a disfigured Melinda May because of the burnt "nano-mask." Billy and Sam Koenig told Antoine Triplett about Agent 33, teasing that her voice sounded robotic.

Upon seeing her face, Grant Ward asked Agent 33 what happened. All she revealed was that it happened in service to Daniel Whitehall.

Capabilities
In order to imitate the face and voice of a person, a DNA and voice sample are needed. These are scanned by a special case which calibrates the mask to imitate the desired person.

The Photostatic Veil has voice-altering technology based on the vocal sample taken. Natasha Romanoff and Sunil Bakshi mimicked the voices of Councilman Hawley and Glenn Talbot, respectively, so well that people who knew them did not suspect the replacement. However, when the Veil of Agent 33 was damaged, it caused a computerized sound to be emitted as she spoke.

Trivia

 * Sunil Bakshi did not need to wear a wig when he impersonated Glenn Talbot, as the veil is able to visually recreate the entire head instead of just the face. Black Widow had to wear a wig while impersonating Councilwoman Hawley, and Agent 33's hair was similar to that of Melinda May.

Behind the Scenes

 * The production team of the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. episode Face My Enemy dubbed the Photostatic Veil as a "Nano Mask".