Maria Hill

"Most of the intelligence community would like to drop me into a dark hole, but even they can't mess with Tony's army of lawyers. So for now, we're privatizing global security."

- Maria Hill

Maria Hill is the former Deputy Director of S.H.I.E.L.D., and also held the title of "Commander". She enjoys a well-deserved reputation as tough-minded and by the book. Her clearheaded pragmatism is a valued source of reason during the critical discourse surrounding the Avengers Initiative. After Nick Fury faked his death, she worked with him and was a part of the assault team that took down the Helicarriers from Project Insight. She joined Stark Industries in the immediate aftermath to help protect herself from being put in prison.

Early Life
Maria Hill joined S.H.I.E.L.D. and rose through it's ranks becoming one of the organization's best agents. By the time of the War for Earth, Hill had already caught the eye of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s director Nick Fury and was appointed Deputy Director.

Loki's Arrival
Maria Hill and Nick Fury arrived at the main facility of Project P.E.G.A.S.U.S. to check out the strange amount of energy that the Tesseract was emitting. When they arrived, Loki was teleported there via the Tesseract. He mind-controlled several S.H.I.E.L.D. agents while killing others. He escaped on a S.H.I.E.L.D. truck and Hill went in pursuit. The Tesseract created a powerful surge of energy that collapsed all the area around it. Agent Hill got stuck under a collapsed bridge, but survived. She radioed Fury, informing him of what had happened and asked him what should they do.

Battle of New York
"You put those people together, you can't expect what's going to happen..."

- Maria Hill

She went on the Helicarrier, and was present during Loki's escape. She informed Nick Fury that a pilot went rogue and was going to bomb New York City. She last appeared on the Helicarrier with Nick Fury, agreeing that the Avengers would come back when they need to.

Resurrection of Phil Coulson
Maria Hill was aware that Director Nick Fury used Project T.A.H.I.T.I. to bring Agent Phil Coulson back to life. She aided Fury in keeping the truth hidden from Coulson. She was aware of Agent Melinda May's true purpose on the team.

Creating Coulson's Team
After the successful recovery of a Chitauri Neural Link that international criminal Vanchat was housing in Paris, Hill interviewed and evaluated Agent Grant Ward, during his unofficial promotion to Clearance Level 7 and assignment to Agent Coulson's newly created team.

She also oversaw the team's first mission, to investigate the Rising Tide and the Hooded Hero. During this time, both she and Dr. Streiten showed concern about Phil Coulson's status after his recovery in Tahiti after his death and his lack of awareness of the truth of the circumstances that surrounded his death.

Agent Coulson later reported directly to her after Mike Peterson was successfully sedated in Los Angeles.

When Coulson was abducted by the Centipede Project, Hill wanted constant updates on the situation of the rescue mission coordinated by Agent Victoria Hand.

S.H.I.E.L.D. Civil War
Prior to the launch of Project Insight, Nick Fury called Hill to Washington, D.C. following his discovery of suspicious information about S.H.I.E.L.D.'s intentions for Project Insight.

After Nick Fury's apparent death at the hands of the Winter Soldier, Hill took Fury to a secret location so that he could heal and they could gather information about the truth about what was going on at S.H.I.E.L.D.. She then returned to the Triskelion and met with Jasper Sitwell telling that she was absent because she was arranging Fury's funeral. Sitwell showed Hill footage of Captain America and Black Widow on the run and questioned her about it. She said that Captain America tends to inspire loyalty. Sitwell replied saying that Alexander Pierce was moving her off the case. After Captain America and Black Widow discovered HYDRA's infiltration of the spy organization, Hill coordinated them in their attempt to disable and destroy Project Insight.

Working at Stark Industries
"S.H.I.E.L.D. implodes and everyone wants answers. The CIA, NSA, NRO, them I can handle, but Congress, Congress is like kindergarten."

- Maria Hill

After the battle at the Triskelion left S.H.I.E.L.D. in shambles, Hill visited the Human Resources department of Stark Industries, and was interviewed for a job. This was a move to protect herself from prison (the protection coming from Stark Industries' lawyers rather than Tony himself) as well as to allow her to continue maintaining global security.

While working for Stark Industries she was interviewed and questioned by various intelligence agencies from around the world including the CIA, the NSA, and the NRO. She was also interviewed by Congress, which to her were the most stressful meetings because in her view they acted like children. Despite working for Stark, she was still constantly under high-level surveillance by multiple agencies including an unknown Russian agency.

One night in Washington, D.C., while complaining to Pepper Potts about the hearings, Hill noticed the many poorly-concealed (in Hill's mind) agents tailing her had been knocked out. She was generally unsurprised to meet Melinda May shortly thereafter. May revealed Phil Coulson's location and asked Hill to look in on him; she also didn't believe Hill's insistence that Nick Fury was dead. Their conversation was cut short when the FBI showed up, at which point Hill berated them for taking more than three minutes to locate her, something she would never have tolerated in her own agents.

Hill subsequently reported the location of Providence base to the United States Armed Forces in the hopes that its capture could be used to prevent Coulson and his team being sent to prison. Upon arriving and discovering that Grant Ward was HYDRA, however, Hill helped Coulson fight off Colonel Glenn Talbot and his men, before she and Coulson's team escaped. Hill, in a S.H.I.E.L.D. Jump Jet, confronted Ward in Los Angeles, who taunted her that Fury should've made Black Widow the Deputy Director if he wanted eye candy. Hill didn't take the bait and continued distracting Ward long enough to allow Coulson to rescue Skye. Later that night, Hill implored Coulson and his team to at least come work for Tony Stark instead of going off on their own, but Coulson declined.

Abilities
Hill has been shown to be incredibly skilled with firearms. Alongside Fury, Hill was able to defend the Helicarrier from Loki’s brainwashed agents using only a pistol. She also engaged and attempted to stop Agent Barton, who had fallen under Loki’s spell, in a high speed firefight as the brainwashed agent tried to aid Loki in his escape with the Tesseract.

Hill also has experience in hand to hand combat as shown when she single handedly fought and defeated two of Colonel Talbot’s highly trained soldiers unarmed after they had captured Coulson's team in Providence. During this altercation Hill displayed incredible skill in martial arts, and had the upper hand throughout the fight.

Friends and Family

 * S.H.I.E.L.D.
 * Nick Fury - Friend and Former S.H.I.E.L.D. Director
 * Natasha Romanoff - Former S.H.I.E.L.D. subordinate
 * Clint Barton - Former S.H.I.E.L.D. subordinate
 * Victoria Hand † - Former S.H.I.E.L.D. subordinate
 * Felix Blake - Former S.H.I.E.L.D. Subordinate
 * Coulson's Team
 * Phil Coulson - Former S.H.I.E.L.D. subordinate and friend
 * Melinda May - Former S.H.I.E.L.D. subordinate
 * Leo Fitz - Former S.H.I.E.L.D. subordinate
 * Jemma Simmons - Former S.H.I.E.L.D. subordinate
 * Skye - Former S.H.I.E.L.D. subordinate
 * Antoine Triplett - Former S.H.I.E.L.D. subordinate
 * Avengers
 * Steve Rogers/Captain America - Ally
 * Tony Stark/Iron Man - Ally and Stark Industries employer
 * Bruce Banner/Hulk - Ally
 * Thor - Ally
 * Stark Industries
 * Pepper Potts - Friend and Boss
 * Deathlok - Enemy while under HYDRA coercion (former)

Enemies

 * Loki
 * Chitauri
 * Vanchat
 * Ultron
 * HYDRA
 * Alexander Pierce † - Former S.H.I.E.L.D. superior
 * Jasper Sitwell † - Former S.H.I.E.L.D. subordinate
 * Grant Ward - Former S.H.I.E.L.D. subordinate
 * John Garrett † - Former S.H.I.E.L.D. subordinate

Appearances

 * The Avengers
 * Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
 * Pilot
 * The Magical Place (mentioned)
 * Providence (mentioned)
 * The Only Light in the Darkness (mentioned)
 * Nothing Personal
 * Captain America: The Winter Soldier
 * Avengers: Age of Ultron