Alexander Pierce

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

- Alexander Pierce

Alexander Pierce was HYDRA's top undercover agent 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, the Falcon, Black Widow, and Maria Hill in the Battle at the Triskelion, and he was killed by Nick Fury.

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. He was also a "mutual" friend of John Garrett.

The episode in Bogota caused a shift in Pierce's attitudes toward diplomacy, and soon after he was recruited by HYDRA. In 1989 he 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.

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

- Alexander Pierce

After becoming Secretary to the World Security Council, Pierce used 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 loyalist John Garrett as Project Insight developed.

After discovering the hijacking of the Lemurian Star by Georges Batroc 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. Following Fury's apparent demise, Pierce had a meeting with Captain America, and realized that Rogers was hiding something from him. Pierce deployed corrupt STRIKE agents to capture Rogers, who escaped and went undercover along with Black Widow.

Pierce then gave the Winter Soldier the assignment to kill Rogers and Natasha Romanoff. 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. After the mission to kill Rogers was a failure, Pierce met with the Winter Soldier at a secure location for a mission report; 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
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." "You don't think we wiped your clearance from the system?" "I know you erased my password, maybe deleted my retinal scan, but if you want to stay ahead of me, Mr. Secretary... ...you need to keep BOTH eyes open."

- 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 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 used the threat of the bomb on Black Widow's clothes to force Fury to let him go. Using a Taser Disk, Black Widow shorted out the bomb, giving Fury the opportunity to shoot Pierce twice on the chest, slowly killing him. Pierce's last words were "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.

Family

 * Father
 * Daughter
 * Niece

Allies

 * HYDRA
 * Arnim Zola †
 * Jasper Sitwell † - Subordinate
 * STRIKE - Subordinates
 * Brock Rumlow
 * Jack Rollins
 * John Garrett †
 * Werner Reinhardt †
 * Hauer

Enemies

 * S.H.I.E.L.D.  (First Incarnation) - Allies turned Enemies
 * Nick Fury
 * Melinda May
 * World Security Council
 * Councilwoman Hawley
 * Counciman Yen †
 * Councilman Singh †
 * Councilman Rockwell †
 * Captain America - Ally turned Enemy
 * Black Widow - Ally turned Enemy

Trivia

 * In the comics, Alexander Pierce is a young field agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. Alexander Pierce's character in the movie is an amalgamation of characters Alexander Pierce and Aleksander Lukin, the handler of the Winter Soldier.