Eric Koenig

"The NSA. You want to hack the NSA? That's a bad idea, Skye. That's a terrible idea. The NSA's already got S.H.I.E.L.D. on its watch list. Why poke the bear - the big, scary, waterboarding bear?"

- Eric Koenig to Skye

Eric Koenig was a Level 6 S.H.I.E.L.D. operative that Nick Fury entrusted with some of his greatest secrets. He was killed by HYDRA infiltrator Grant Ward while he was assigned to the Providence facility.

Biography
Eric Koenig was stationed in Providence, a secret safe house belonging to Nick Fury, after the battle of New York. Agent Koenig named the place himself and even decorated it over the two years that he had been there in total isolation.

When Agent Phil Coulson brought his team to Providence, Agent Koenig greeted him enthusiastically. He let Coulson know that Nick Fury survived his assassination attempt, but threatened Coulson to keep it secret, as only a select few (Captain America, Maria Hill, and few others) knew the truth.

When Coulson wanted to take some of his team after Fridge escapees, Marcus Daniels in particular, Agent Koenig objected and it was decided that Coulson's team needed to pass the Lie Detector before they could go. While conducting the tests, Koenig became suspicious of Grant Ward as a HYDRA sleeper, but Ward eventually passed the tests.

In hopes of discovering the whereabouts of the escapees, Skye and Koenig worked together on hacking NSA satellites and reviewing the data. This development was not beneficial to Ward because he would have been discovered as a HYDRA agent. To keep his secret, Ward killed Koenig and hid his body in a closet.

Eventually, Skye used the tracker that Koenig owned to know the locations of the other agents and found Koenig's body, realizing that Ward was a member of HYDRA.

When half of Coulson's team returned from Portland, they discovered the other half was gone. Jemma Simmons decided to make pancakes to calm everyone. While in the closet, she found Koenig's body and, after an autopsy, confirmed that "Ward is HYDRA" as written on the message left by Skye.

After the Battle at Cybertek, Coulson's team went to the Playground and met Billy Koenig, Eric's twin brother. At first, they were stunned, thinking that he was Eric. However, Billy responded by telling them his name and that he knew that Eric was dead.

Relationships

 * S.H.I.E.L.D.
 * Nick Fury - Former S.H.I.E.L.D. Director
 * Billy Koenig - Brother and Fellow Agent
 * Coulson's Team
 * Phil Coulson - Superior
 * Melinda May - Fellow Agent
 * Jemma Simmons - Fellow Agent
 * Leo Fitz - Fellow Agent
 * Skye - Fellow Agent
 * Antoine Triplett - Fellow Agent
 * HYDRA - Enemies
 * Grant Ward - Fellow Agent turned killer

Appearances

 * Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
 * Providence
 * The Only Light in the Darkness
 * Nothing Personal (mentioned)
 * Beginning of the End (mentioned)

Trivia

 * In the Comics, Eric Koenig was a former member of the Howling Commandos, who joined Nick Fury when he formed S.H.I.E.L.D..
 * Patton Oswalt on being offered the part--"When they first told me the character’s name, I’ll admit the first thing I did is I went on Wikipedia and looked up the M.O.D.O.K. character to see if Koenig was maybe his name before he became M.O.D.O.K., but it wasn't,” Oswalt told Marvel.com, laughing. “They keep on talking about the Clairvoyant in the show and I’m like, ‘is that M.O.D.O.K.? Am I M.O.D.O.K.?”