Mitchell Carson

"Mitchell Carson, ex Head of Defense at S.H.I.E.L.D., currently in the business of taking down governments."

- Hank Pym to Scott Lang

Mitchell Carson worked as Head of Defense at S.H.I.E.L.D., but was also a spy for HYDRA. After S.H.I.E.L.D.'s collapse, he continued his work with HYDRA in business cooperation with Darren Cross. Carson attempted to buy Cross' Yellowjacket Suit for HYDRA but the deal was disrupted by Ant-Man.

Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.
Mitchell Carson joined S.H.I.E.L.D. prior to 1989 and was appointed as Head of Defense. Secretly, he was also a part of HYDRA, which had infiltrated S.H.I.E.L.D. since the beginning of the organization's existence. By 1989, Mitchell Carson collaborated with Howard Stark in an attempt at replicating the Pym Particles created by Hank Pym in an attempt to create a version that could be used by S.H.I.E.L.D..

Hank Pym's Resignation
Discovering that S.H.I.E.L.D. was trying to replicate the Pym Particles from the Ant-Man technology, Hank Pym confronted Carson, Peggy Carter and Howard Stark inside the Triskelion. Carson insulted Pym, implying his lack of fervor was partly responsible for Janet van Dyne's apparent death, to which Pym responded by punching him in the face and warning him about ever mentioning his wife again. Pym proceeded to resign from S.H.I.E.L.D., taking his technology with him and vowing to never allow anyone to ever use it again.

Fall of S.H.I.E.L.D.
The fall of S.H.I.E.L.D. caused Carson's allegiance to HYDRA to be uncovered, and he became known for attempting to "[take] down governments". Multiple images placed him at conflict sites holding weapons.

Yellowjacket Suit
In 2015, Carson attempted to make a deal with the then CEO of Pym Technologies, Darren Cross, in order to obtain the Yellowjacket Suit's shrinking technology that he wanted from Hank Pym decades before. Cross, deranged due to the imperfect shrinking technology, made a deal with Carson and his HYDRA agents, where they would kill Pym and pay Cross double for the suit. This was interrupted by Hope van Dyne and the new Ant-Man, Scott Lang. During the confusion, Carson escaped with the imitation Pym Particles, while being accosted by Ants.

Allies

 * HYDRA
 * Darren Cross † - Business Partner

Enemies

 * S.H.I.E.L.D. (First Incarnation) - Former Allies
 * Peggy Carter
 * Howard Stark †
 * Hank Pym - Former S.H.I.E.L.D. Colleague turned Enemy
 * Scott Lang/Ant-Man
 * Hope van Dyne

Trivia

 * In the comics, Mitch Carson was a serial killer that managed to become an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D., and was supposed to be the wearer of the Ant-Man Suit that Hank Pym created for the agency. He used a discarded suit to capture and torture Eric O'Grady before being arrested by Iron Man.

Behind the Scenes

 * Ant-Man director Peyton Reed has revealed that the film originally ended with Carson being apprehended by Ant-Man: "At the end of the movie he gets away and has these Cross particles, and there was a sequence where Ant-Man has an encounter with him. But then for a couple reasons, it felt like maybe we should leave those particles out there. In that original thing, he took Martin Donovan out and got the particles."