Ian Quinn

"I have a message for you; The Clairvoyant told me to say hello."

- Ian Quinn to Phil Coulson.

Ian Quinn is an American-born scientist and industrialist who became a naturalized citizen of the Republic of Malta.

Early Life
"Do you remember, in all our talks on Orchard Street, the part where it's very, very dangerous?" "Everything powerful is dangerous."

- Franklin Hall and Ian Quinn.

Quinn attended Cambridge with Franklin Hall, and the two became friends through their mutual belief that ideas belong to no one and that knowledge should be free to any who could use it. It was during this time, that Quinn saw the potential of Hall's then theoretical element Gravitonium, despite Hall's fear of the danger posed by it.

Quinn Worldwide
"We've always agreed that information should be free." "It's amazing how much money you've made off of 'free' information."

- Ian Quinn and Franklin Hall.

Quinn later practiced this belief, using Hall's and others ideas and turning them into Quinn Worldwide, a huge multi-national conglomerate. Outwardly a generous and benevolent philanthropist with charitable donations exceeding more than eight billion dollars, in truth he was ruthless in his business practices, shunning regulation and oversight to the detriment of the environment and local populations. During this time, he began a 20-year search for the near-mythic Gravitonium.

Seeking to avoid regulation and legal blowback, Quinn moved his operation to Malta, where he obtained citizenship and could operate free from legal persecution from other nations. It was during this time, after twenty years and twelve mines on six continents, that he finally discovered a large deposit of Gravitonium.

Gravitonium
"You found it?" "Twenty years, twelve mines, six continents, but yes, I finally found it. And now, we get to play with it."

- Franklin Hall and Ian Quinn

Quinn, wishing to have the expertise of his old friend Hall, and believing that Hall would want to be a part of the experiments, arranged to have Hall kidnapped from his position as a S.H.I.E.L.D. asset, and brought to Malta. What Quinn didn't anticipate was that it was Hall himself that leaked the information necessary to enable his own kidnapping. Hall had heard of Quinn's discovery and sought to destroy the Gravitonium for the safety of the world.

When Hall activated the gravitation generator to overload, Quinn saw the effects and realized that Hall was trying to destroy the Gravitonium and kill Quinn in the process. He ordered the evacuation of his compound and escaped by way of his private helicopter.

Hall's attempt to destroy the Gravitonium was stopped by a S.H.I.E.L.D. extraction team led by agent Phil Coulson, who feared for the lives that would be lost if the Gravitonium were destroyed in this manner and deactivated the generator, seemingly sacrificing Hall in the process. The Gravitonium was confiscated by S.H.I.E.L.D. and stored in an unmarked vault at The Fridge, a S.H.I.E.L.D. storage facility.

Given Quinn's status as a citizen of Malta, he did not face any legal reprecussions from his kidnapping of Hall or his assault of S.H.I.E.L.D. agents in the kidnapping attempt.

Further Dealings
"I don't want hear excuses why it didn't work. I have people who do that for me."

- Ian Quinn to Seth Dormer.

Some time later, he attempted to buy Donnie Gill's freezing device, and his request for a demonstration lead to the formation of an icy 'superstorm' over the S.H.I.E.L.D. Academy of Science and Technology.

After S.H.I.E.L.D.'s investigation of this incident, Agent Coulson made a call to Quinn's personal phone to warn him against his malicious dealings. Quinn retaliates with a cryptic mention from "the Clairvoyant", revealing that he has had some form of dealings with the enigmatic figure.

Later on when investigating the disappearance of Mike Peterson, Skye infiltrated Quinn's Italian Compound and discovered the Deathlok program. Upon finding Skye, Quinn shot her twice in the abdomen, and left her for dead. He was subsequently captured by Coulson's Team and taken to the Bus. Agent John Garrett arrived on the plane with agent Antoine Triplett to take Quinn into custody. As Agents Grant Ward and Triplett fought due to conflicting orders concerning Quinn, Coulson stopped the fight and convinced Garrett to leave Quinn in his custody until Skye could recover, if she could recover, from her gunshot wounds. Upon finding a means to that recovery in the secret Guest House facility, Coulson's Team turned Quinn over to Garrett, who took him to the Fridge.

S.H.I.E.L.D. Civil War
Quinn was then freed after HYDRA revealed its existence inside of S.H.I.E.L.D.. He was then brought to Havana, Cuba, to the "Clairvoyant", who was really John Garrett. There, he was brought to HYDRA's secret headquarters. At first, he was angry that Garrett had no real powers. However, Quinn's qualms about him were set aside when Garrett gave him his Gravitonium back.

After Quinn got his hair cut by Ernesto, he left for Washington, D.C. and met with representatives of the United States Armed Forces. He explained that, with S.H.I.E.L.D. now defunct, he could sell to them a thousand Deathlok Soldiers for the war on terror after they took a tour of the new facility he had in Miami.

While giving a tour of the Cybertek Manufacturing Facility to the United States Armed Forces, Coulson's Team attacked. Quinn told the officers that it was a drill and everything was fine. Garrett and Grant Ward interrupted the tour and Garrett began to argue with General Jacobs, ultimately, killing him.

Quinn and Raina decided to take the Gravitonium and left.

Trivia

 * Ian Quinn has been, albeit indirectly, responsible for the Powers and Abilites of all the superpowered villain characters derived from the comics whose powers were acquired during the events shown in the first season of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.. As such, Lorelei and Blackout are exceptions, as they acquired their powers before the events of the first season.
 * Quinn kidnapped Franklin Hall, found the Gravitonium and constructed the Gravity Field Generator into which he fell.
 * Quinn was the potential buyer of Donnie Gill's Atmospheric Moisture Freezing Device, which gave him cryogenic abilities after an accident.
 * Quinn bought and procured Michael Peterson's Cybertek Prosthetic Leg to allow him to follow his orders as a Centipede operative.