Gideon Malick

"You don't know my name, but I think you've been trying to get my attention." "I've been wondering when I'd hear from you. You're the one all the others were afraid of, before me." "Not everyone fears you."

- Gideon Malick and Grant Ward

Gideon Malick is one of the heads of HYDRA. Originally one of HYDRA's infiltrators in the World Security Council, he broke ties with that organization after it became defunct. Six months after the fall of Wolfgang von Strucker's HYDRA cell, Malick was contacted by Strucker's son Werner, who was recently recruited to work for Grant Ward's HYDRA cell.

World Security Council
"This is out of line, Director. You’re dealing with forces you can’t control." "You ever been in a war, Councilman? In a firefight? Did you feel an over abundance of control?"

- Gideon Malick and Nick Fury

Gideon Malick was a member of the World Security Council, the advisory body who supervised S.H.I.E.L.D. and Director Nick Fury in times of world threatening crisis. However, he was also secretly one of the heads of HYDRA, the terrorist organization thought to be disbanded at the end of World War II. In 2001 Malick met Rosalind Price, a high ranking spy whose trust he gained, advising her on many key missions.

War for Earth
"You let him take it and the war criminal, Loki, who should be answering for his crime." "Oh, I think he will be."

- Gideon Malick and Nick Fury

Nick Fury informed the council of an attack on S.H.I.E.L.D. from the Asgardian Prince Loki which had resulted in the Destruction of Project P.E.G.A.S.U.S., the loss of the Tesseract, and Agent Hawkeye becoming a mind-controlled slave to Loki. Fury informed them that although Loki's brother Thor was believed to not be hostile, they needed to bring together the Avengers to counter the attack, although Malick and Hawley expressed their reservations on the idea as they viewed the Avengers as a team of super-powered freaks, noting that they should move forward with Phase 2. During the Battle of New York, Malick, along with the other council members, ordered Fury to drop a nuclear bomb on New York City to contain the Chitauri invasion. Fury argued against the command as he refused to bomb a civilian population while the Avengers continued to try to control the situation. Malick and the other members of the Council ordered the missile to be fired regardless, but Fury went so far as firing upon one of his jets on the Helicarrier. The command was followed by another pilot who deployed the missile; it was ultimately stopped by Iron Man. The battle was eventually won by the Avengers and Loki was taken into custody; Malick listened as Fury explained that Thor was taking Loki and the Tesseract back to Asgard to keep it from their reach. When Malick noted that that was not a decision he should have made, Fury assured him he had not made it, just had not argued when the God of Thunder did. Despite Malick's reservations, Fury informed them that he was no longer tracking the location of the Avengers as he had allowed them to disperse due to a promise he had made.

Problems with Grant Ward
"The correct question is, what I can offer you? The answer, in case you're wondering, is redemption." "Oh, no, thanks. I don't need redeeming." "Oh, I think you do. You've made some mistakes in your gameplay."

- Gideon Malick and Grant Ward

Following the dissolution of the World Security Council during the HYDRA Uprising, Malick rejoined HYDRA's ranks, eventually becoming the only modern HYDRA leader that all other heads feared. Despite the fall of most of HYDRA's cells during the War on HYDRA and the abrupt end of many of HYDRA's operations, Malick remained in his public position undetected, still incredibly powerful. Six months after the fall of Baron Wolfgang von Strucker's HYDRA cell and the Baron's subsequent death at the hands of Ultron, Malick was contacted by Strucker's son Werner, who had recently been recruited into Grant Ward's HYDRA cell. Strucker informed Malick that Ward intended to kill him for failing to complete a mission and begged for Malick's help. Malick explained that he and Baron Strucker would have never allowed an untrained agent to be sent on such a major mission and called Ward foolish and vowed to take care of the situation. However Malick felt that Ward was a more valuable ally than von Strucker and decided to side with Ward. To make the situation clear, Malick contacted Grant Ward and offered him redemption for his mistakes, such as making von Strucker a pawn on the chessboard before schedule, leading to Strucker now being a worthless player in the game. Ward arrogantly replied that he did not need redemption but Malick insisted that he did before offering to hand over von Strucker's location to him. When Ward questioned why he would do this, Malick told him that he had chosen a side in the rebirth of HYDRA.

Meeting Grant Ward
"I gave you what you asked for. I'm just not sure you're asking for the right things. Revenge only provides a temporary pleasure." "But a pleasure nonetheless." "You should think on a grander scale."

- Gideon Malick and Grant Ward

Malick arranged to meet with President Matthew Ellis at NORAD to discuss the future of Inhumans. He ordered Rosalind Price to bring Phil Coulson there so he could meet him. This arrangement failed when Coulson chose to stop Lash. Instead, Malick met with Grant Ward to discuss Werner von Strucker, who had survived the assassination attempt and had fallen into a coma. Malick asked if Ward only wanted revenge, but Ward insisted that his end goal was to kill Coulson and destroy S.H.I.E.L.D. Malick received a call from Price, who apologized for failing to bring Coulson to him. Malick had a dinner of Octopus served up for the pair of them and explained why the Octopus was HYDRA's symbol, describing it as smart and the ultimate killer. Malick continued to press Ward for a request and they discussed how HYDRA's leadership had been destroyed due in part of Ward, Malick made it clear that he knew Ward was looking for Baron Wolfgang von Strucker's secret vault, which was said to contain HYDRA's greatest weapon, but Malick insisted did not exist, however Ward argued that Malick had killed Werner to become soul owner of it. Ward suggested that they use the weapon inside it to good use for HYDRA.

Seeing Ward as more of a threat to HYDRA's overall plans, Malick was called away by Giyera and explained that he felt that Ward's plan of revenge against S.H.I.E.L.D. was not something he wanted to get involved with. Ward insisted that he would find Wolfgang von Strucker's vault with or without Malick's help, but Malick informed him that although he was a fine predator, he was not top of the food chain as he left, ordering a team of assassins to murder Ward.

Meeting Lash
"It strikes me that no ones asked if you even want treatment. They haven't even asked your opinion on the subject at all have they?" "No. But then all they see is a killer."

- Gideon Malick and Andrew Garner

Malick went to see Andrew Garner, who was being kept in a Containment Module to keep him from transforming into his Inhuman form of Lash. Malick claimed to be working with Matthew Ellis and S.H.I.E.L.D. to help Garner, but when he questioned if they were looking for a cure, Malick questioned if Garner really wanted to be cured. Malick went on to explain that S.H.I.E.L.D had known about the Inhuman Outbreak for quite some time and had not protected him. Malick then asked him what other secrets S.H.I.E.L.D. had been hiding.

Explaining HYDRA's History
"I know you're all about rebooting HYDRA and all that, but do you know much about our history, our origin?" "Yeh, World War II, Red Skull used Nazi funding to build his whole empire." "No no, Red Skull was following the principal that HYDRA was built upon."

- Gideon Malick and Grant Ward

Malick travelled to Zepkow, Germany to find Wolfgang von Strucker's secret vault. Within minutes, Grant Ward also arrived. Malick explained that he was very impressed by Ward, and was rarely impressed, he even suggested that he should make Ward the second head of HYDRA next to him. However Ward told him he desired to kill him, leading to Malick promising to tell him the true history of HYDRA and offered him a drink.

Ward told Malick he was aware that HYDRA was founded during World War II by Red Skull using Nazi funding, but Malick explained that their history went far older than that. He opened Strucker's safe and pulled out a piece of the Monolith, explaining that the stones had been passed down from hundreds of generations and had the power to teleport users to another world. He explained how an Inhuman was born thousands of years ago, so power he was banished from Earth, and HYDRA aimed to bring him back and they were using the ATCU to build It an army. Malick vowed to help Ward destroy S.H.I.E.L.D. in exchange for learning how they brought Jemma Simmons back from the Monolith planet.

Allies

 * HYDRA
 * Wolfgang von Strucker †
 * Werner von Strucker
 * Grant Ward - 2nd in command
 * Kebo †
 * Giyera

Enemies

 * Rosalind Price - Former Ally turned Enemy
 * S.H.I.E.L.D.
 * Nick Fury - Former Subordinate turned Enemy
 * Maria Hill - Former Subordinate turned Enemy
 * World Security Council
 * Hawley - Former Fellow Councilor
 * Loki
 * Chitauri
 * Andrew Garner

Appearances
In chronological order:
 * ''The Avengers
 * Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
 * Season Three
 * Among Us Hide...
 * Chaos Theory
 * Many Heads, One Tale
 * Closure

Behind the Scenes

 * This character was unnamed in The Avengers; he was given the name Gideon Malick for Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.. When Powers Boothe's appearance in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. was announced, his character was presented as "a notorious man whose current loyalties remain a mystery". Jeph Loeb said about him: "Gideon is incredibly menacing and in him we have a character that even the stone-cold Grant Ward would fear."