Miles Lydon

"Democratization of knowledge, 'the truth will set you free.' The truth sure as hell came out."
"I believe in all those things. I just don't know why they have to go hand in hand with barely scraping by."

―Skye and Miles Lydon^[src]

Miles Lydon is a highly skilled computer hacker and member of the Rising Tide.

Biography[]

This is an in-depth biography of Miles Lydon. For an abridged overview, see Marvel Database's article on the same character.

Rising Tide[]

Hacking Vladimir Putin[]

"You know him?"
"Every hacker in the world knows him."
"Not just the hacker world."

―Phil Coulson, Skye and Jemma Simmons^[src]

Miles Lydon was known as one of the best hackers in the world. Lydon managed to hack into the Kremlin and retrieve embarrassing pictures of Vladimir Putin. Lydon joined the hacktivist group known as the Rising Tide, sharing a belief that all information should be free and available to all who could use it. Lydon was romantically involved with Skye and taught her many computer skills that she used in her quest to find the truth about her parents.^[1]

Reunion with Skye[]

185px-001 — Lydon and Skye discuss S.H.I.E.L.D.

Lydon remained in contact with Skye when she infiltrated S.H.I.E.L.D. hoping to find evidence about her parents' identity. When a hack of his brought him to S.H.I.E.L.D.'s attention, Skye warned him away with a text. Skye soon joined him in his Austin, Texas apartment. Lydon was surprised to hear that Skye found S.H.I.E.L.D. to be less monstrous than they had imagined. However, following a brief romantic interlude, they were discovered and detained by Melinda May.

Brought back to the Bus for interrogation, Skye tried to defend Lydon to her team as they flew to Hong Kong. However, the truth then came out. Despite their shared ideals, Lydon accepted payment of one million dollars from a woman named Raina for information that was later used by her employers to endanger the life of a man named Chan Ho Yin. Despite Lydon's insistence that he only did it so they could build a life together, Skye was horrified that Lydon would abandon his ideals like that. Realizing that he wasn't the man she thought him to be, Skye broke off their relationship.

Lydon later aided Phil Coulson's team when their extraction mission went bad, and after it was over, Coulson offered Lydon a choice; a cell or a Tracking Bracelet that would prevent him from using electronic equipment. Coulson then left him in Hong Kong without any money (as Coulson donated the money from the information about Chan to the family of slain S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent Quan Chen, who died on the mission) or any way to return home.^[1]

Personality[]

"You know I'd never intentionally hurt anyone. I'm just trying to get my life together."

―Miles Lydon to Skye^[src]

Lydon was an egotistical and manipulative man who cared a lot about money, propping himself up as an idealist fighting against corrupt institutions. He took millions of dollars just to put someone in danger. He was very skilled at hacking, which helped him keep his history clean of his thefts. Along with money, he also cared about Skye a lot. He claimed he took the money to help them instead of just himself.

Abilities[]

"He infiltrated the Kremlin."
"Yeah, the picture of, uh, Putin shirtless on horseback, that was his hack."

―Jemma Simmons and Leo Fitz^[src]

Master Hacker: Miles Lydon is one of the world's greatest hackers, able to access information from computers around the globe. He is widely recognized for having hacked the Kremlin to obtain topless photos of Vladimir Putin. Among his other feats, he managed to hack S.H.I.E.L.D.'s information about one of the individuals that appear on their Index, Chan Ho Yin, and he was the one who taught Skye about hacking, before she became a master hacker on her own.