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 was 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
"A lot of us lost respect for Fury when he picked you as his second. If he wanted eye-candy around, he could have at least picked Romanoff."

- Grant Ward to Maria Hill

Maria Hill joined S.H.I.E.L.D. and rose through its ranks, at one point working in Madripoor and 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 had been appointed Deputy Director.

Loki's Arrival
Maria Hill and Nick Fury visited at the main facility of Project P.E.G.A.S.U.S. to monitor the strange amount of energy that the Tesseract was emitting. Upon hearing that the Tesseract was unstable, Fury ordered her to ensure that the Phase 2 prototypes were shipped out. During their visit, Loki was transported to Earth through the power of the Tesseract. He enthralled several S.H.I.E.L.D. agents while killing others. After obtaining the Tesseract, Loki used two enthralled agents, Clint Barton and Erik Selvig to escape on a S.H.I.E.L.D. truck. Seeing this, Hill pursued them, engaging in a firefight in the facility's tunnel system but failed to stop Loki. The portal that Loki had arrived in began to collapse and created a powerful surge of energy that collapsed all the area around it. Hill was trapped by rubble, but survived. She radioed Nick Fury, informing him of what had happened and asked him what should they do. He told her that they were now at war.

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

- Maria Hill

After the destruction of the Joint Dark Energy Facility, Hill reported back to the Helicarrier and aided in the administration of events. She was present when Fury brought together the Avengers, she was immediately uneasy about the alliance of the heroes. When Tony Stark arrived and began talking in great detail about how Erik Selvig could use the Tesseract, Hill asked when he became an expert in thermonuclear astrophysics and Stark replied that he did last night. Hill also did not see Tony Stark planting a device on the Helicarrier's computer to download all of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s files. Maria Hill and Phil Coulson watched on a monitor as Nick Fury and the Avengers argued while under the influence of Loki's scepter. However this was interrupted when Clint Barton used as explosive arrow which made the Helicarrier malfunction and start losing altitude. Maria Hill quickly realized that the engine was down and ordered someone to get the engine going again. Tony Stark agreed to repair the engine, with the assistance of Steve Rogers. Hill and Nick Fury stayed in the control room and ensured that the invading forces did not take control of the Helicarrier. After the attack, she was informed that Agent Phil Coulson had been killed by Loki. She was present when Nick Fury gave a speech to Steve Rogers and Tony Stark, explaining his intentions with the Tesseract and the reasons for forming the Avengers. She approached Fury a little while later and explained how she knew that Coulson's vintage trading cards Fury had shown Captain Rogers were not in Coulson's jacket as he claimed, but in his locker, meaning he had lied to the team. This action however was successful in causing the Avengers to unite and attack Loki. Hill monitored the Battle of New York, and informed Fury that the World Security Council had taken control of a S.H.I.E.L.D. plane, for the purpose of bombing New York City to stop the Chitauri Invasion. Despite the best efforts of Hill and Nick Fury, the plane took off and fired a missile at New York City. Hill watched the monitors as Iron Man successfully flew the missile into the worm hole and stopped Loki's invasion, although it appeared that Stark had been killed in the mission, he was able to be revived by the Avengers. After the Avengers stopped the invasion she discussed whether or not the Avengers would stay together with Director Fury. Fury told her that they would, because they'll need them too, with this Hill walked back to the center of the Helicarrier and resumed her work.

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
"...I vetted Ward."

- Maria Hill, after discovering Ward's betrayal

Hill interviewed and evaluated Agent Grant Ward after he successfully recovered a Chitauri Neural Link that international criminal Vanchat was housing in Paris. Having previously evaluated Ward, she assigned him to Agent Coulson's newly created team as he was promoted to Clearance Level 7. 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 talked about their concern over Phil Coulson's status after his recovery in Tahiti following his death and also about his lack of awareness over the true 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.

Random Assessment
Maria Hill gave a random psychological assessment to Agent Mark Smith on his day off from working field missions. She found him unfit for assignment and sent him to S.H.I.E.L.D. S.T.A.T.I.O.N..

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. Fury ordered her to come to DC within the next few hours, a few seconds after the phone call ended, Nick Fury was attacked by HYDRA.

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 him 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, Black Widow and the Falcon discovered HYDRA's infiltration of the organization and were captured during a battle with the Winter Soldier, Hill managed to attack a HYDRA guard and take his uniform, she snuck onto the vehicle carrying Captain Rogers, Romanoff and Wilson and used a taser rod to knock out the other guard. She freed them and escaped with the help of a Mouse Hole device. She brought them to Nick Fury's location and got medical assistance for Romanoff who had been shot. There, she revealed to the three that Fury was not dead, and that they had developed a way to stop Project Insight but needed the group's help. They explained their plan to board the Helicarriers and change the chips inside to cause the Helicarriers' weapons to target each other rather than innocent people. Rogers explained his intentions to destroy both S.H.I.E.L.D. and HYDRA, as he believed that although HYDRA was the enemy, S.H.I.E.L.D. was a broken system, Hill agreed with Rogers and helped convince Fury that it was the right thing to do. Hill broke into the Triskelion with Captain America and Falcon and coordinated them in their attempt to disable and destroy Project Insight. While Rogers and Wilson disabled the Helicarriers, Romanoff infiltrated the main conference room to capture Alexander Pierce with the help of Nick Fury. Hill stayed in the command centre, ordering and tracking the team during the mission, she defended herself several times from attacking HYDRA Agents. During the battle Rogers became trapped onboard the Helicarrier, he ordered Hill to make the Helicarriers fire at each other with him still aboard, despite her protests she did and the Project Insight Helicarriers were destroyed. Rogers survived the crash, and Pierce was killed by Nick Fury. Romanoff leaked all of S.H.I.E.L.D. and HYDRA's files onto the internet, effectively destroying S.H.I.E.L.D..

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 Stark 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 did not 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 Nick Fury's top secret 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. Colonel Glenn Talbot and his men arrived first, causing a stand-off between him and Coulson's team, who had been hiding out in the base. Coulson demanded to know how Talbot found the base, at which point Hill arrived and revealed she had told him that she was the one who had informed Talbot. Upon arriving at the base, Talbot questioned Coulson's Team while Hill had a meeting with Coulson and tried in vain to get him to surrender the base to Talbot and his men; she told him to hand over some small pieces of intel about S.H.I.E.L.D., which just annoyed Coulson even more. Coulson refused and told her that their priority should be tracking down the traitor John Garrett and Grant Ward, who had been revealed to be an operative of HYDRA, was responsible for the murders of Eric Koenig and Victoria Hand, and had recently kidnapped Agent Skye. Hill made her choice and helped Coulson fight off Colonel Glenn Talbot and his men, before she and Coulson's team escaped. Coulson's team were able to track down Grant Ward who was attempting to escape with Skye and Deathlok in the Bus. Hill, in a S.H.I.E.L.D. Jump Jet, confronted Ward in Los Angeles and ordered him to surrender. Ward taunted her that Fury should have made Black Widow the Deputy Director if he wanted eye candy. Hill did not take the bait and threatened to shoot Ward out of the sky if he tried to escape, Ward however made it clear that he knew it was an empty threat as Coulson would never allow Skye to be sacrificed. Hill continued distracting Ward long enough to allow Coulson to sneak aboard the plane. Ward took off unaware of Coulson's presence, Coulson was successful and escaped the plane with Skye. Later that night, Coulson took rooms in a small motel for him and his team, he asked Hill to set up tactical back-up for him as he prepared to attack John Garrett, Hill told him that there really was no S.H.I.E.L.D. anymore. Hill implored Coulson and his team to end their accisation with S.H.I.E.L.D. once Garrett had been stopped, she asked Coulson to at least come work for Tony Stark instead of going off on their own, but Coulson declined. He asked her to say hello to Stark for him, but changed his mind when he remembered that Stark still believed he was dead. Hill then left without saying goodbye. Hill was present at a party thrown by Tony Stark at the new Avengers Tower. At the party she sat with fellow S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Clint Barton while many of the Avengers attempted to lift Thor's hammer Mjølnir without success. They were interrupted by Ultron; when he appeared to be a threat, Hill loaded her gun.

Abilities

 * Expert Marksman: Hill is incredibly skilled with firearms. Alongside Nick Fury, Hill was able to defend the Helicarrier from Loki’s brainwashed agents using only a sidearm. She also engaged and attempted to stop Agent Clint 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. As two HYDRA operatives attempted to remove her from the Project Insight command center, Hill killed them before they could fire a shot.NP 159 fight.png
 * Expert Martial Artist: Hill is a highly-trained combatant and hand-to-hand fighter, capable of engaging and defeating several of Colonel Glenn 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 maintained the upper hand throughout the fight.

Weapons

 * : The Glock 19 was used by Maria Hill as her sidearm while serving S.H.I.E.L.D., using it when she tried to prevent Loki and Clint Barton from escaping the Joint Dark Energy Mission Facility with the Tesseract, and when she infiltrated the Triskelion with Captain America and Falcon, using it to threaten the agents stationed at the communications room and killing two HYDRA operatives who wanted to enter the room.
 * : Hill carried the compact version of the Smith & Wesson M&P pistol to protect herself following S.H.I.E.L.D.'s collapse, taking it when she realized the people tasked with her surveillance had been knocked unconscious.
 * Taser Rod: Hill used one of the rods when posing as a member of STRIKE, knocking unconscious the other guard inside the van transporting Steve Rogers, Natasha Romanoff and Sam Wilson.

Allies

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

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
 * John Garrett † - Former S.H.I.E.L.D. Subordinate
 * Grant Ward - Former S.H.I.E.L.D. Subordinate

Video Game Only

 * R.A.I.D.
 * Sin
 * Taskmaster
 * Shockwave
 * Serpent Society
 * King Cobra
 * Puff Adder
 * U.L.T.I.M.A.T.U.M.