Maria Hill
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| Maria Hill | |
 Maria Hill. Art by Steve McNiven. |
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| Publication information | |
|---|---|
| Publisher | Marvel Comics |
| First appearance | New Avengers #4 (March 2005) |
| Created by | Brian Michael Bendis David Finch |
| In story information | |
| Alter ego | Maria Hill |
| Team affiliations | S.H.I.E.L.D |
| Abilities | Trained agent |
Maria Hill is a fictional character of the Marvel Universe. She is deputy Director of the planetary defense/intelligence service S.H.I.E.L.D..
Contents |
[edit] Fictional character biography
[edit] Introduction
Born in Chicago,[1] Hill has a brief stint in Madripoor that gets her noticed by various heads of state and government around the world.
After the scandalous affair of the Secret War and its disastrous effect on New York City, S.H.I.E.L.D. director Nick Fury goes into hiding. Maria Hill, viewed by the leaders of several nations as being both an efficient agent and, more importantly in their eyes, not directly loyal to Fury or any of his personal cadre, is appointed interim Executive Director. For a time, a Life Model Decoy of Fury is regularly used in public to maintain an illusion of normalcy within the Directorate's ranks. Hill is expected to be loyal to United States interests before those of the United Nations, which S.H.I.E.L.D. is supposed to serve before any other country.
Hill quickly establishes new policies on super-powered heroes, as requested by the President of the United States and his peers in other national governments: to end S.H.I.E.L.D. support for the heroes. These policies are in full effect when Hill tries to prevent the Avengers from re-forming following the breakout at the super-villain prison the Raft.
Captain America's Champion status allows him to form any team he wants for any mission he sees fit. Spider-Woman's status as a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent gives her access to any files that the Avengers may require. These two situations convince Hill to leave the situation alone.
In the wake of events in the Savage Land the Avengers suspect Hill of being complicit in various crimes, but lack the evidence to prove her malfeasance. For her part, Hill has suspected the latest incarnation of the Avengers of harboring an illicit agenda in connection with, among other things, the House of M affair.
She earns Iron Man's respect when she ignores the president's orders to nuke an island the Avengers were on.
[edit] Civil War
Maria Hill is directly responsible for Captain America going underground to lead the opposition against the Superhuman Registration Act. Weeks before the act became law, Hill summons Captain America to gain insight into the developments inside the superhero community. When the Captain informed her that the registration issue was dividing heroes and setting them against each other, Hill attempts to force him into leading the Avengers in a pre-emptive measure to capture and detain heroes who would not consent to having their identities revealed. Since the act had not yet become law, the Captain dismisses her command as politically skewed, saying that heroes need to "stay above" such affairs or Washington would start telling them who the super-villains were.
Following Captain America's refusal, Hill summons a company of soldiers armed with tranquilizers and orders them to open fire. She implies that Captain America not obeying her orders/the will of the American people, makes him a supervillain. Left with no other choice, Captain America fights his way out of the Helicarrier and hijacks a jetplane (though he makes sure the pilot is unharmed).
As S.H.I.E.L.D. Director, Hill is one of the leading enforcers of the Superhuman Registration Act. She blackmails Wonder Man into actively supporting S.H.I.E.L.D.'s crusade to hunt down the superheroes opposed to the Registration Act. She sends Kree supersoldier Noh-Varr, already brainwashed, to capture the Runaways. She directs the Thunderbolts to capture Spider-Man after he goes rogue. The two Thunderbolts members sent out, Jester and Jack-O-Lantern, are slain by the Punisher.
After foiling an attack on Stark Tower, Maria Hill admits to Tony Stark that she doesn't want her job as director of S.H.I.E.L.D. and thinks she shouldn't have been offered it in the first place. She suggests that the only other person besides Nick Fury who should lead the organization is Stark himself.
At the conclusion of the Civil War, the President of the United States appoints Tony Stark the new director of S.H.I.E.L.D., with Maria Hill his acting deputy director. Stark later, dismissively asks her to fetch some coffee; Hill does not look pleased.[2]
[edit] Deputy-Director
Since being made Deputy Director, Maria Hill been a core member of Stark's S.H.I.E.L.D. cabinet and assisted Stark in dealing with a sudden rise in various terrorist groups who have gotten access to hyper-advanced biological weapons. Unlike the rest of the cabinet (including Sal Kennedy who she loathed personally), Maria remained skeptical of a single conspiracy behind all these attacks. [3] When the Mandarin's neoplastic tumor began infecting the Helicarrier, Maria organising the evacuation; she (wrongly) believed the infection was the main objective of the attack. [4]. Since then, however, Hill has become much more trusting in Stark's leadership and has been a trusted agent in her role as Deputy Director.
[edit] Quotes
- Joe Quesada: "[Hill] is such a strong personality, she's like a force of nature and quite frankly, while perhaps not immediately loved by all involved, she's certainly as strong and imposing a figure as Nick Fury. Right now I feel that people view her as the outsider but [while] I don't think she’s any harsher than Fury has ever been, what's different is that we aren’t quite clear about her motives".[5]
[edit] See also
[edit] Footnotes
- ^ Secret War #5
- ^ Civil War #7
- ^ Iron Man, Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. #15
- ^ Iron Man, Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. #18
- ^ Newsarama (no date): "Joe Fridays" (column), by Joe Quesada
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