History Characters / AgentsOfSHIELDHYDRA

[[redirect:Characters/MarvelCinematicUniverse]]

[[Characters/AgentsOfSHIELD Back to Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Character Index]]

!ComicBook/{{HYDRA}}

-->See the [[Characters/{{MCUHYDRA}} HYDRA page]]
----

'''Warning: Major unmarked spoilers for ''Film/{{The Avengers|2012}}'', ''Film/CaptainAmericaTheWinterSoldier'', and Seasons One and Two of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. below.'''

'''Only spoilers for the current season (three) will be marked.'''

A rogue Nazi military and scientific division thought annihilated at the end of UsefulNotes/WorldWarII.

[[foldercontrol]]

!Leadership

-->See the [[Characters/{{MCUHYDRA}} HYDRA Leadership page]]

!Agents & Operatives

[[folder:Agent 33]]
!!''Kara Lynn Palamas[=/=]Agent 33''
[[quoteright:300:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/agent_33_aos_2264.jpg]]
->'''Portrayed By:''' Maya Stojan, Ming-Na Wen
->'''Appearances:''' ''Series/AgentsOfSHIELD'' (first appears in '[[Recap/AgentsOfSHIELDS2E3MakingFriendsAndInfluencingPeople Episode 25: Making Friends And Influencing People]]'')

A former S.H.I.E.L.D. agent now brainwashed into serving HYDRA.
----
* AdaptationDyeJob: Her comics counterpart is a blonde.
* AlasPoorVillain: An honest SHIELD agent, brainwashed by HYDRA, manipulated by Ward into his loyal aide and lover, then killed by Ward when he mistakes her for May, leaving [[EvenEvilHasLovedOnes Ward grieving over her dead body.]]
* AloofDarkHairedGirl: Becomes this after being brainwashed into a HYDRA agent.
* BirdsOfAFeather: She and Ward are both very damaged people who (unlike Ward and Skye) more genuinely understand one another and can support each other emotionally. This leads to them developing a relationship.
* BrainwashedAndCrazy: Her entire introductory episode is spent getting conditioned by Whitehall, finally succumbing at the end.
* DarkActionGirl: After successfully being brainwashed.
* DesignatedGirlFight: Her most prominent on-screen fights have been with May, Skye and Bobbi. This is especially obvious since every other ActionGirl in the series, including the three she's fought, have all proven to be more than a match for the men, including [[DarkActionGirl Dark Action Girls]] like her who fight male heroes.
* DiscardAndDraw: The mask fused over her face has enough memory for three different faces. To mimic a new one, she must delete an old one.
* TheDragon: Becomes a replacement one for Whitehall after Bakshi is captured by S.H.I.E.L.D.. In the latter half of Season 2, becomes this to Grant Ward.
* ElectronicSpeechImpediment: One symptom of having her mask fused to her face.
* EvilCounterpart:
** To May, after using a hologram mask to impersonate her and getting stuck that way.
** She's also a {{Foil}} to May in that her loyalty to Whitehall is unquestioning and compelled by brainwashing, whereas May's loyalty to Coulson is based on a long friendship and history of shared service, and she's never afraid to argue with him. In fact, Coulson sees through Agent 33's impersonation of May in "Face My Enemy" because she is agreeing too readily with his orders to take his place if he goes off the deep end.
* EvilDuo: Became this with Whitehall near the end of the first half of Season 2 after Bakshi's capture. In the latter half of Season 2 becomes this with Grant Ward.
* FacialHorror: Getting a live wire to the face tends to leave scars. The nanomask is fused to her face with a horrific burn in the area the wire destroyed. She eventually gets the mask fixed, but the burn is still there, as shown when she deactivates it.
* FamousLastWords: "Baby..."
* HazyFeelTurn: After Whitehall's death, she's left completely lost about what to do next with her life, and teams up with AmbiguouslyEvil Ward simply for a lack of other options.
* LadyAndKnight: She becomes Ward's Bright Lady after he is rejected (read: shot in the back) by Skye. After Whitehall's death she's like a wounded dove that inspires him towards a new purpose; helping her.
* LossOfIdentity: After Whitehall's death, she all but loses herself, but with Ward's help, Kara manages to reclaim her old identity.
* MyMasterRightOrWrong: Her brainwashing made her an agent of Whitehall, not HYDRA. She is dismayed by his death and doesn't know what to do with herself.
* NotSoDifferent: With Ward. Both were SHIELD agents that defected to HYDRA; only Kara didn't have a choice and Ward was technically a HYDRA agent first. Both have superiors with undying loyalty (though Ward was more loyal to John Garrett than HYDRA), with their deaths they didn't know what to do. Both have a grudge against someone in SHIELD: Coulson and/or May for Ward, Bobbi for Kara.
* RaceLift: White in the comics, Hispanic here. Thanks to the mask permanently fused to her face, now appears Asian. Until the mask is repaired, enabling her to resemble her true appearance again even if it can't ever be removed for real.
* RedemptionRejection: She pretends to stay with SHIELD for psychological recovery at Ward's urging, but it's all a ploy to exact vengeance on Bobbi. This bloodlust leads to her own accidental death at Ward's hands.
* ShapeshifterModeLock: Being electrically shocked while disguised as May fuses the mask to her face, along with giving her a horrible burn on her left eye that makes the disguise useless. She eventually gets it fixed, but the mask is still stuck to her. She can now shift at will, but can only keep three faces in memory. In order to gain any other identities, she has to give one up. However, she can also deactivate the mask and have her original (though still scarred) face. By the time of "The Frenemy of my Enemy", she's able to contact her mother and get a photo of herself pre-scarred, allowing her to have her own face without the damage.
* SatelliteCharacter; Deconstructed. While her entire life revolves around helping Ward... this is because she is completely, utterly insane, and has lost her own psyche. She also does have her own wants and needs, making it more co-dependence.
* StuffedIntoTheFridge: [[spoiler: Dies in the Season Two finale, cementing Ward's turn to a full, true villain, and head of Hydra.]]
* TragicMonster: As she points out, Whitehall wiped away whoever she was. Essentially, Kara Palamas is dead. She is ''[[TenderTears very]]'' relieved when she is able to reclaim her old name, and as of "The Frenemy of My Enemy" she prefers to be called Kara again. It didn't remove her hatred against Bobbi for her betrayal.
* VengeanceFeelsEmpty: Averted. She had Bobbi at gunpoint, but realizes she's not afraid to die and has no remorse for betraying Kara. Shooting her then and there won't give her closure. So Ward decided to try something else.
* YouAreNumberSix: Initially referred to by her S.H.I.E.L.D. callsign and with no name given. She's eventually revealed to be Kara Palamas, an obscure character from the ''Hercules'' comics.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Kenneth Turgeon]]
!!''Kenneth Turgeon''
[[quoteright:300:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/kenneth_turgeon_aos_9976.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:300:''"The higher you go, the scarier it is."'']]
->'''Portrayed By:''' Adam Kulbersh
->'''Appearances:''' ''Series/AgentsOfSHIELD'' (first appears in ''[[Recap/AgentsOfSHIELDS2E3MakingFriendsAndInfluencingPeople Episode 25: Making Friends And Influencing People]]'')

-->''"The time tables have moved up, and I have been called upstairs to fill them in. No prep time, no powerpoint, just me, pants around my ankles, talking out of my butt."''

A HYDRA scientist and supervisor.
----
* AffablyEvil: Sure, he works in an evil organization bent on world domination and killing a ton of people, but he's extremely friendly about it.
* BenevolentBoss: He tries to keep Simmons from moving up in HYDRA because it's more dangerous the higher you go.
* CanonForeigner: He has no direct comic counterpart.
* FrameUp: He gets framed as S.H.I.E.L.D.'s mole in HYDRA by Simmons.
* OmnicidalManiac: Despite being pretty affable, he's very excited about the prospect of HYDRA gaining the ability to kill millions using the Obelisk.
-->'''Simmons:''' Do you have any idea what this means? We could kill millions of people, perhaps even billions.\\
'''Turgeon:''' Pretty awesome, huh?
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Marcus Scarlotti]]
!!''Marcus Scarlotti''
->'''Portrayed By:''' Falk Hentschel
->'''Appearances:''' ''Series/AgentsOfSHIELD'' (first appears in ''[[Recap/AgentsOfSHIELDS2E6FracturedHouse Episode 28: A Fractured House]]'')

A mercenary and HYDRA operative hired to frame S.H.I.E.L.D. for attacking the United Nations and to eliminate S.H.I.E.L.D. agents.
----
* AdaptationNameChange: His first name is "Marco" in the comics.
* BondOneLiner: When Agent Walters is KilledMidSentence by one of his splinter bombs, Scarlotti responds with "You were saying?"
* FalseFlagOperation: He leads a HYDRA attack on the UN while claiming to be S.H.I.E.L.D. in order to turn the world's militaries on them. He and his team take out six S.H.I.E.L.D. agents with ease.
* KnifeNut: He has a wicked looking combat knife, as well as a knife-and-chain weapon.
* MythologyGag: He pulls out a knife-and-chain to fight May in the safehouse. Scarlotti is the first Whiplash in the comics, though his weapons were closer to Vanko's Whiplash suits in ''Film/IronMan2''.
* OffscreenMomentOfAwesome: Bobbi Morse mentions that Scarlotti almost killed Clint Barton, aka Hawkeye, a few years ago.
* RaceLift: He's American in the comics. Here, he's likely a German, since his actor is German. This may also be why his name is changed.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Toshiro Mori]]
!!''Toshiro Mori''
[[quoteright:300:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mori_toshiro.jpg]]
->'''Portrayed By:''' Creator/BrianTee
->'''Appearances:''' ''Series/AgentsOfSHIELD'' (first appears in ''[[Recap/AgentsOfSHIELDS2E6FracturedHouse Episode 28: A Fractured House]]'')

A Japanese engineer and weapons designer for HYDRA.
----
* AManOfWealthAndTaste: He sure loves his fine tea.
* AffablyEvil: Quite pleasant for a weapons designer.
* BeardOfEvil: A short croppled goatee and mustache; classic villain facial hair.
* CanonForeigner:He has no direct comic counterpart.
* EvilGenius: As the builder of the Splinter Bombs.
* SharpDressedMan: Wearing a black shirt and suit.
* TooDumbToLive: He just had to try and kill the agents who had just taken out most of his guards. In response, they kill him as an afterthought.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Julien Beckers]]
!!''Julien Beckers''
->'''Portrayed By:''' Michael Enright
->'''Appearances:''' ''Series/AgentsOfSHIELD'' (first appears in ''[[Recap/AgentsOfSHIELDS2E6FracturedHouse Episode 28: A Fractured House]]'')

The Belgian Minister of Foreign Affairs and a member of HYDRA
----
* BitchInSheepsClothing: Pretending to be a defender of civil liberties to get fugitive agents of the then outlawed S.H.I.E.L.D. to fall in HYDRA's trap.
* CorruptPolitician: He's a minister who works for HYDRA.
* GenerationXerox: His grandfather is a HYDRA scientist during UsefulNotes/WorldWarII.
* TheMole: Within the Belgian government
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Kebo]]
!!''Kebo''
[[quoteright:300:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/kebo_aos.jpg]]
->'''Portrayed By:''' Daz Crawford
->'''Appearances:''' ''Series/AgentsOfSHIELD'' (first appears in ''[[Recap/AgentsOfSHIELDS2E22SOSPart2 Episode 44: S.O.S. Part 2]]'')

A member of Ward's new HYDRA cell.
----
* BaldOfEvil: Not a hair on this HYDRA operative's head.
* TheDragon: He serves as Ward's second-in-command.
* ElectrifiedBathtub: He managed to match and nearly kill Bobbi in a straight fight, but Bobbi defeated him by using her electrified escrima sticks while he's trying to get out of a swimming pool the two had previously been fighting in.
* EvilBrit: Speaks in a noticeable British accent.
* LastEpisodeNewCharacter: Shows up in a single scene right at the end of Season 2, when Ward decides to take over HYDRA.
* MouthOfSauron: He acts as Ward's voice when dealing with new recruits before they get to meet Ward.
* MuggingTheMonster: Is assigned to torture Werner von Strucker, who [[CurbStompBattle beats him easily]] once he starts fighting back.
* NumberTwo: He's constantly at Ward's side throughout his introductory episode and Ward entrusts him with tasks such as torturing/evaluating for leadership Werner.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Werner von Strucker]]
!!''Werner von Strucker''
[[quoteright:300:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/werner_von_strucker_aos.jpg]]
->'''Portrayed By:''' Spencer Treat Clark
->'''Appearances:''' ''Series/AgentsOfSHIELD'' (first appears in ''[[Recap/AgentsOfSHIELDS3E2PurposeInTheMachine Episode 46: Purpose In The Machine]]'')

The son of Wolfgang von Strucker.
----
* BlondGuysAreEvil: A blond member of HYDRA and a murderer.
* HeKnowsTooMuch: After he fails to kill Andrew, Ward puts a hit on him.
* MadeOfIron: An extended torture session only made him a little bloody in mouth.
* NervesOfSteel: He endured an extended period of torture from Kebo without cracking. Afterward, Ward tells him that he was hoping the torture would bring out or develop this trope in him.
* NewMeat: After he blows his first assignment of killing Andrew, Malick chides Ward for giving him such an important assignment off the bat.
* NotQuiteDead: He's stabbed in the gut and left in a comatose state. [[spoiler:Coulson brings him out of said state and used the Theta Brain-Wave Frequency Machine to access Werner's memories make him remember certain things about Gideon Malick.]]
* OverlordJr: Played with a little. Werner's father Wolfgang was one of HYDRA's major heads, but he mostly kept his business separate from his son's life. It was only until after [[spoiler: Wolfgang is killed by Ultron]] that Ward properly brought him into the HYDRA fold.
* RichIdiotWithNoDayJob: Until Ward came along, he just loafed around spending his father's money, but finds his inner strength while getting tortured.
* UnexpectedCharacter: In the comics, Werner is heavily overshadowed by his siblings, the Fenris twins. Here he's become TheApprentice for Grant Ward.
* YouHaveFailedMe: Ward orders a hit on Werner for failing to kill Andrew.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Giyera]]
!!''R. Giyera''
[[quoteright:300:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/giyera_icon.png]]
->'''Portrayed By:''' Mark Dacascos
->'''Appearances:''' ''Series/AgentsOfSHIELD'' (first appears in ''[[Recap/AgentsOfSHIELDS3E8ManyHeadsOneTale Episode 52: Many Heads, One Tale]]'')

An Inhuman serving Gideon Malick. He's head of security of Endotex Labs, a front of the ATCU Science Division, which Mallick controls.
----
* BadassInANiceSuit: Wears a suit and is capable of holding his own in a fight against badass Bobbi Morse.
* TheBrute: He's the most physically imposing of of Mallick's operatives. He leads the ATCU mooks in Endotex Labs a head of security.
* EmpoweredBadassNormal: He was formerly in special ops before becoming Inhuman, and is good enough to fight ''May'' equally.
* EvenEvilHasStandards: Is visibly horrified at hearing [[spoiler: the dying screams of five innocent people that Hive kills to restore its host body.]]
* FreezeFrameBonus: His ATCU profile shows he used to be in the Marine Corps.
* MindOverMatter: His power is telekinesis, but he can only affect non-organic matter.
* NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast: You probably don't want to mess with someone whose surname is the Filipino term for "war."
* NotSoStoic: He always maintains a cool and collected presence, but when he starts interacting with the Inhuman Hive, [[spoiler:who was at that point possessing the deceased body of Grant Ward]], he was notably perplexed to how to interact an Inhuman like Hive.
* OneManArmy: In "Paradise Lost", he's able to [[spoiler:seize the ''Zephyr'']] all by himself. Note that [[spoiler:most of the main cast is aboard at the time]].
* TortureTechnician: Ward has him torture [[spoiler:Simmons]]. Giyera starts with [[NoodleImplements a wrench and a hammer]].
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Lucio]]
!!Lucio
[[quoteright:300:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/lucio.JPG]]
->'''Portrayed by:''' Gabriel Salvador
->'''Appearances:''' ''Series/AgentsOfSHIELD''

An Inhuman working for the corrupt National Police of Colombia, who can induce a temporary paralysis in others with his gaze. Is kidnapped by HYDRA and becomes one of the two Inhumans tasked with guarding Hive.
----
* AllThereInTheManual: He is not named in his debut episode, but the character's name can be found in the episode's credits.
* BaldOfEvil: A corrupt cop with not a shred of hair on his head.
* BeardOfEvil: He has a thick, bushy beard.
* DeadlyGaze: He can induce paralysis in others with his gaze.
* ChekhovsGunman: He's just a standard Dragon once Hive takes control of him. [[spoiler: After he is killed by Joey, Simmons is able to to learn quite a bit about Hive and how he infects people after studying his infected brain. This becomes quite crucial after Daisy is infected in learning how to free her.]]
* DirtyCop: He works for the highly corrupt National Police of Colombia.
* TheDragon: To Victor Ramon.
* EvenEvilHasStandards: He objects to Hive [[spoiler:slaughtering five innocent people to repair Ward's body]].
* {{Expy}}: His power to paralyse people with his eyes, and needing to cover them up to not do so constantly, may remind fans of the ''Secret Warriors'' of Gorgon, the HYDRA leader resurrected near the beginning of the series with the same power (albeit, Lucio's power is temporary, while Gorgon's turned them into permanent statues).
* FacialHorror: Has some pretty horrific scarring around his eyes after Joey melted his sunglasses to his face.
* ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice: [[spoiler:Stabbed and killed by Joey with a partially-melted pipe to save Lincoln.]]
* NoNameGiven: He's not named in his debut episode, but Bobbi refers to him as "Medusa-Eyes".
* SinisterShades: Which conceal his DeadlyGaze.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:The Ancient Society]]
!!''The Ancient Society''
[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/1800s_hydra.jpg]]

->'''Appearances''': ''Series/AgentsOfSHIELD'' (first appears in ''[[Recap/AgentsOfSHIELDS3E2PurposeInTheMachine "Purpose in the Machine"]]'')

->''"Thousands of years ago, an Inhuman was born on this planet that was destined to rule it, so powerful, so fearsome that others were consumed with dread, and so they banished it from the Earth, sent it through the portal to a distant planet. HYDRA was founded with the sole purpose of engineering its return."''
-->--'''Gideon Malick'''

This secret society was founded in ancient times centered around the fanatical worship of a powerful Inhuman that was exiled to the planet Maveth by ancient Inhumans. Ever since his banishment, the cult has been determined to bring him back to Earth to commence a planetary takeover. Over the centuries, the cult evolved, taking many forms, with its most recent incarnation coming into existence shortly after the rise of Nazism in 1940s where the cult took on the name HYDRA, which has become the organization's most colloquial label.

* AncientConspiracy: "Many Heads, One Tale" revealed that HYDRA is actually [[spoiler:descended from a cult worshiping an ancient Inhuman, who was banished through the Monolith thousands of years ago, and have been working towards retrieving him ever since.]]
* AristocratsAreEvil: Most, if not all, members of the group in the mid-19th century are European noblemen.
* AsLongAsThereIsOneMan: "Cut off one head, two more shall take its place." [[spoiler:Considering the group has been around through ''millennia'', it's safe to say that the phrase is more than just a BadassCreed.]]
* {{Cult}}: They worship a specific ancient Inhuman who has been banished into a planet on the other side of Monolith.
* DrawingStraws: They draw lots (in this case, colored stones from a sack rather than literal straws) to see who will go into the Monolith to feed Hive. [[spoiler:At some point (Possibly but not necessarily starting with Malick's father), the white stone was scored so that [[DirtyCoward the leader of the group could always know which stone not to draw]].]]
* HumanSacrifice: When the society came in possession of the Monolith, they started sending men through the portal, hoping to save or at least serve their leader on the other side. But none of them ever came back.
* MythologyGag: [[spoiler:The {{retcon}} turning HYDRA from a Nazi splinter group into an AncientConspiracy was used in the comics years ago]].
* SigilSpam: The Hebrew word for "Death", seen in "Purpose in the Machine", is used in the group's castle to mark secret passages and other dangerous places. They also can't stop themselves from putting disguised variations of their symbols everywhere for millennia.
* VillainousLegacy: [[spoiler:The group's founded since millennia, and still exists through modern days.]]
* WalkingSpoiler: The society was a sort-of predecessor to HYDRA, and they have been around since millennia.
* WeAreEverywhere: In the mid-19th, their castle was in England and most of the members appear to be European (the nobleman named Manzini is most likely an Italian, for example). During World War II, they are centered in Germany. In the modern days, they are pretty much everywhere around the world.

!Leadership

[[folder:Daniel Whitehall/Werner Reinhardt]]
!!''Doctor Daniel Whitehall/Werner Reinhardt''
[[quoteright:290:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/whitehall_daniel.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:300:''"Discovery requires experimentation."'']]
->'''Portrayed by:''' Creator/ReedDiamond
->'''Appearances:''' ''Series/AgentsOfSHIELD'' (first appears in ''[[Recap/AgentsOfSHIELDS2E1Shadows Episode 23: "Shadows"]]'')

->''"Freedom. Equality. Individual rights. These principles make mankind a plague on this planet. Think of a forest. It dries up and catches fire with the first spark. Now, mankind would fight that fire, believing every individual plant perfect in its own individual way. But it's the fire that's perfect."''

A prominent member of HYDRA in 1945 and, somehow, in the 21st century as well.

* ArcVillain: Though he starts off as Season Two's BigBad, he doesn't last beyond "What They Become".
* AscendedExtra: Daniel Whitehall is a relatively new villain in the Marvel comic universe, having only debuted in 2009 (though he's the replacement/successor to long-time HYDRA agent Commander Kraken, who debuted in 1970). Here, he's the BigBad of Season Two and one of the heads of HYDRA.
* BigBad: At the onset of Season Two, he appears as one of the heads of HYDRA and is the lead villain searching for the Obelisk.
* BigBadDuumvirate: At the end of "A Hen in the Wolf House", Whitehall teams up with the Doctor to kill Coulson and his team, and he later brings Ward into the fold in "The Things We Bury".
* BreakThemByTalking: He delivers one to Agent 33 about HYDRA's philosophy of TheEvilsOfFreeWill to wear down her resolve while brainwashing her.
* CatchPhrase: "Discovery requires experimentation."
* ColdBloodedTorture: He boasts about [[VideoGame/{{Wolfenstein}} Deathshead]]-levels of torture, like how he once operated on a conscious woman on-and-off for a full week, and how [[LackOfEmpathy the hardest part was keeping her awake enough to feel the pain]].
* {{Determinator}}: He's been after the Obelisk since ''1945''.
* DiscOneFinalBoss: He spearheads the search for the Obelisk, and later the hidden city, in the first half of Season Two. After he's killed by Coulson, he leaves a hole that could be filled by the Doctor, Ward and Agent 33, or Jiaying, with the position of BigBad ultimately going to Jiaying.
* TheDreaded: His subordinates are terrified of failing him, and rightly so, given his penchant for ColdBloodedTorture and utter lack of anything resembling a conscience. Even the usually unflappable Raina is scared of him.
* DroppedABridgeOnHim: The first half of "What They Become" is spent building up to a final confrontation between the Doctor and Whitehall. Just before the big showdown, Coulson arrives and shoots Whitehall on sight, killing him instantly and pissing the Doctor off.
* EvenEvilHasStandards:
** On the receiving end of this after his death, as one of the HYDRA leaders speaks ill of him at the subsequent meeting, and even Agent 33 realizes that he was a terrible master.
** While his objections aren't remotely moral in nature, Whitehall wants nothing to do with the "ancient cult" facet of HYDRA, preferring the scientific aspects established by the Red Skull. He even tried to convince a young Gideon Malick to abandon the cult in favour of Whitehall's vision for HYDRA.
* FakeAmerican: In-universe, he dropped the German accent and adopted an American name after being released from S.H.I.E.L.D. custody.
* FauxAffablyEvil: His introduction has him cheerfully chatting with a subordinate even as Agent Carter and the [=SSR=] are closing on their location, even reassuring the subordinate and telling him not to be scared because the Red Skull is now dead. He doesn't even get particularly upset when the [=SSR=] arrests him, but his veneer of good manners thinly disguises a psychopath who expects everyone around to obey him completely out of MindControl or sheer terror, and it's rare for him to open his mouth without speaking about torture, mass-murder or power.
* ForScience: "Discovery requires experimentation."
* FourEyesZeroSoul: He's seen calmly cleaning his glasses during the evacuation of his HYDRA camp. He repeats the action after receiving word that Creel has obtained the Obelisk in the present day. He calmly orders the vivisection, organ extraction and then dumping of Skye's mother.
* HealingFactor: While never shown demonstrating it, this is why he's OlderThanTheyLook, having extracted it from Jiaying and applied it to himself.
* LockedOutOfTheLoop: Regarding the Obelisk. Despite searching for it for decades he knows nearly nothing about what it really is and needs The Doctor to show him how it functions. He's also unaware of who The Doctor actually is, showing no recognition when they meet despite the fact that The Doctor apparently knows him. Instead of being recruited by the SSR like Zola, he was kept in captivity until 1989, when Alexander Pierce released him. He also encountered the Doctor's wife who he first met in 1944 but hadn't aged a day since, and experimented on her to take her immortality for his own, killing her in the process.
* MadDoctor: It's not clear what kind of doctor he is, though he references performing surgery ([[ColdBloodedTorture as torture]]) and is interested in scientific research (into weapons of mass destruction).
* TheManBehindTheMan: He appears to be running a portion of HYDRA in the present day after the demise of Alexander Pierce, though Ward implies that Whitehall's a subordinate to Baron Strucker.
* MightAsWellNotBeInPrisonAtAll: While imprisoned, he still has considerable influence over not only the Red Skull's HYDRA, but also Malick's Hive-worshipping HYDRA.
* MoralEventHorizon: Why Agent Carter decided against using him for anything and instead locked him up for life; his human experimentation with the Obelisk didn't just disgust the audience. [[invoked]]
* MuggingTheMonster: Between the Absorbing Man and Mister Hyde, Whitehall - despite his only superpower being not aging - surrounded himself with people who can arm-wrestle with Thor and the Hulk, and yet managed to believe he was totally in control the entire time.
* OlderThanTheyLook: He appears alive at the end of "Shadows"... set nearly ''seventy years'' after his appearance in a flashback at the beginning of the episode. It's revealed that he did in fact age naturally into an old man while in custody until Alexander Pierce freed him under the pretense of "medical release". He and HYDRA tracked down a woman who didn't get killed by the Obelisk and who hadn't aged a day- Skye's mom. Whitehall vivisected her to rejuvinate himself and then tossed her corpse into the woods.
* OrcusOnHisThrone: He lets his many agents do his dirty work for him. The only two things he has done personally are: go after Raina and brainwash Agent 33.
* RaceLift: He was British in the comics and worked as British intelligent agent during World War II. In MCU, he's instead a German HYDRA Officer during World War II. Then again, "Daniel Whitehall" is his real name in the comics, while here his real name is Werner Reinhardt and "Daniel Whitehall" is an alias.
* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: For a villain, anyway. He has no problem with his agents changing their plans or [[YouHaveFailedMe failing their mission]], such as when Agent 33 failed to catch Raina or when Ward took Skye from the Quinjet. However, he won't tolerate direct disobedience.
* RealityEnsues: Whitehall is a monstrous HYDRA leader with incredible resources at his command. How does he die? From Coulson putting a couple of bullets in him while Whitehall's back was turned.
* RememberTheNewGuy: He was apparently a very high-ranking member of HYDRA in the 40's and part of the inner circle of the ComicBook/RedSkull, despite the fact that he's neither seen nor mentioned in ''Film/CaptainAmericaTheFirstAvenger'' and only appears in the MCU starting with the second season of ''[=AoS=]''.
* {{Sadist}}: Boasts to Raina that he's perfected the art of performing surgery without anesthesia- ForTheEvulz- without them falling unconscious from the pain. He also seemed to greatly enjoy mentally breaking Agent 33. His underlings range from those who are utterly terrified of him to those who he controls completely with brainwashing as well.
* TheSociopath: Very sadistic, FauxAffablyEvil, [[MadDoctor experimenting with the obelisk using human test subjects and then continuing with the same methods when it becomes apparent that they don't work]] simply ForTheEvulz. That, coupled with the fact that he's TheUnfettered, makes him this.
* SoftSpokenSadist: He always talks in a calm, almost monotone, manner.
* ScaryShinyGlasses: A few camera angles with the right lighting give him this.
* ShutUpHannibal: Rare evil to evil version. When he corners Raina and she tries to negotiate, he just shuts her up with a little remote torture device.
-->'''Whitehall:''' You should know, I'm not like the people you're used to dealing with. I'm not so easily confused.
* StupidJetpackHitler: A HYDRA leader who ran a base in Austria filled with a good number of future 084s -- including the first official 084 according to S.H.I.E.L.D. records.
* SurprisinglySuddenDeath: After spending a good deal of Season 2's first half on the Doctor's quest for brutal revenge against him, he gets a deliberately anti-climactic and unsatisfying death from Coulson with a couple bullets he doesn't even see coming.
* ThoseWackyNazis: A first-generation member of HYDRA, which spun out of the Nazi party, but essentially kept the major themes along with a touch of StupidJetpackHitler.
* TotalitarianUtilitarian: Believes that there should be a single world order run by HYDRA dedicated to eradicating TheEvilsOfFreeWill and anything resembling liberty or freedom.
* UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom: He didn't get to live to see it (or really care), but his visection of Jiaying would mean doom for plenty of innocent people down the line.
* VillainousFriendship: Despite being a sadistic sociopath and former Nazi, Whitehall was held in surprisingly high regard by his HYDRA peers. List even admits to missing him after Whitehall was killed, and the HYDRA council honors him with a toast, saying that he had joined the Red Skull in the afterlife.
* WhiteHairBlackHeart: He's a sadistic HYDRA scientist with white hair. It doesn't appear to be age-related either, as he still has it even as a middle-aged man during 1945.
* YoureInsane: Gets this from The Doctor, who declares his methods in trying to figure out the Obelisk (specifically, repeating methods he knew didn't work) "the very definition of insanity".

[[folder:Dr. List]]
!!''Dr. List''
[[quoteright:300:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/list_maos.png]]
[[caption-width-right:300:"Let's show them what we have accomplished. Send out the twins."]]

->'''Portrayed by:''' Henry Goodman
->'''Appearances''': ''Film/CaptainAmericaTheWinterSoldier'', ''Series/AgentsOfSHIELD'' (first appears in ''[[Recap/AgentsOfSHIELDS2E11Aftershocks Episode 33, "Aftershocks"]]''), ''Film/AvengersAgeOfUltron''

A scientist and one of the leading figures of HYDRA, often representing the voice and interests of Wolfgang Von Strucker.

* AscendedExtra: His role in the movies is fairly brief. His only real function there is to be a loyal aide Von Strucker can confide his [[EvilPlan evil plans]] to. By guest starring in three episode of [=AoS=] as the GreaterScopeVillain, he ends up with more screentime than his boss.
* BigBadEnsemble: With Robert Gonzales and Jaiying in the second half of Season 2, who appears more often and is a more imminent enemy than List.
* TheDragon: He represents Strucker's interests and works on his behalf.
* DragonAscendant: With the deaths of Whitehall as well as the HYDRA councilors his standing within the organization has increased.
* EarlyBirdCameo: His first appearance was in TheStinger of ''Film/CaptainAmericaTheWinterSoldier''.
* EvilOldFolks: An evil man whose age is starting to show.
* ForScience: Though not as much as Whitehall, he has no compunction against experimenting on living people. He even respects Whitehall's dedication.
* GreaterScopeVillain: Set up as one for the latter half of Season 2, despite not appearing much. He's a leader in HYDRA and is Coulson's primary target to destroy HYDRA.
* TheMole: He was one of the many S.H.I.E.L.D. members secretly aligned with HYDRA.
* MouthOfSauron: Served as Strucker's in the HYDRA council.
* SharpDressedMan: After the deaths of the HYDRA council, his wardrobe improves.
* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: He ends up getting knocked out by Iron Man in ''Age of Ultron'', but unlike Strucker, his fate after that point is not revealed. In a search for remaining HYDRA operatives in "S.O.S.", he's noted to be gone, so it's likely he was arrested like Strucker, if not killed along with him.

[[folder:Sunil Bakshi]]
!!''Sunil Bakshi''
[[quoteright:300:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/sunil_bakshi_aos_1795.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:300:''"I'm part of a grand history."'']]
->'''Portrayed By:''' Simon Kassianides
->'''Appearances:''' ''Series/AgentsOfSHIELD'' (first appears in ''[[Recap/AgentsOfSHIELDS2E1Shadows Episode 23, "Shadows"]]'')

-->''"We grow stronger every day while S.H.I.E.L.D. clings desperately to a world it no longer understands. We will rip it from your hands."''

A HYDRA operative who gives the orders in the field as well as recruiting ''gifted'' individuals.

* AffablyEvil: He comes off as rather polite in his lectures.
* AmbiguouslyBrown: Played by a slightly darker white British actor of Cypriot descent, though his [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bakshi surname]] implies South Asian or Jewish ancestry.
* AssholeVictim: It's quite hard to feel sorry for his plight and ultimate demise after he's shown himself to be not just a loyal but also willing follower of Whitehall.
* BumblingSidekick: Even though he should by all accounts be a formidable villain, being Whitehall's Dragon, a senior leader of HYDRA, and the one who supervises HYDRA's brainwashed subjects, he has a surprising tendency to fail at every instance. It's a wonder that Whitehall kept him around, even if his failures weren't apparent from the start.
** He thought [[BadLiar Simmons]], of all people, could be trusted. He backpedals on this quickly, only for DeepCoverAgent Bobbi to reveal herself and get the jump on him instead.
** With Agent 33, he catches May in a trap and by all means should've held the upper hand, but after Coulson sees through their disguises, he fails to make any backup plans and tries to make a hasty extraction, but is quickly hit with an ICER and foiled as a result.
** Both Ward and a disguised Hunter are able to make quick work of him.
* CanonForeigner: Unlike his master, he has no comic book counterpart and was created specifically for the show.
* CompellingVoice: He uses a TriggerPhrase in order to keep brainwashed subjects in line.
* DirtyCoward: As soon as he winds up in a situation he has no control over, such as Hunter holding him at gunpoint, he is reduced to a simpering coward.
* TheDragon: Bakshi serves as Whitehall's second-in-command.
* DragonAscendant: Once Whitehall has been dealt with, he is effectively the head of HYDRA in Whitehall's region of the globe. However, he never actually gets to do anything, since he is a prisoner of S.H.I.E.L.D., then Talbot, then Ward, and then he's killed.
* DrivenToSuicide: Has a cyanide pill in his cheekbone, which he utilizes while being grilled by Bobbi. It didn't quite kill him.
* EvilBrit: Speaks in a noticeable British accent.
* EvilGenius: He's quite intelligent, to say the least.
* FightingFromTheInside: Is apparently resisting his brainwashing by Ward and Kara, leading to the capture of Deathlok and Lincoln by HYDRA. Then it turns out that he's really not. His acting was so convincing, even viewers thought he had legitimately returned to HYDRA.
* KarmicDeath: He is killed by Jemma, albeit accidentally or in self-defense with a Splinter Bomb, an item created by HYDRA to kill people horribly.
* TheHeavy: Has had considerably more screen time in season 2 than other HYDRA members, including [[BigBad his master]].
* HumiliationConga: He was already a ButtMonkey from the start, but after being betrayed by Ward and sold out to S.H.I.E.L.D., he can't seem to catch a break.
** Bobbi [[BreakHimByTalking breaks him by talking]] and gets him to indirectly spill Whitehall's secret behind his OlderThanHeLooks appearance. Following this, he fails to kill himself with cyanide.
** After Whitehall is killed, he is fooled into thinking there is a power struggle in HYDRA, [[BatmanGambit and following a faked breakout scheme]], he is manipulated into ordering the assassinations on the other HYDRA leaders before being recaptured and taken into military custody.
** His last brainwashed subject breaks him out of prison... except she is working with [[WildCard Ward]], and he quickly finds himself subjected to the same brainwashing. Worse, he is outright told he is expendable and it seems the procedure is little more than revenge and ForTheEvulz.
** To summarize: He failed to notice S.H.I.E.L.D. had infiltrated HYDRA's ranks until it was too late, couldn't stop S.H.I.E.L.D. from finding the underground city first, lost control of his brainwashed subjects, inadvertently let slip his master's secrets, undermined his entire leadership on his first day as DragonAscendant, and finally was HoistByHisOwnPetard when he was subjected to his own brainwashing procedure.
* {{Irony}}: The HYDRA agent that oversees brainwashed individuals was not only brainwashed himself, but manipulated into destroying HYDRA itself. [[UnwittingPawn Not that he needed brainwashing to already do that.]]
* NonActionGuy: He hasn't shown any incredible fighting prowess. When dealing with May, he catches her off-guard so Agent 33 can taze her, then tortures her while she's tied up. Once she's free, he wisely makes a break for it before being stunned by Coulson. In the next episode, he chases down Simmons while flanked by backup and given his lack of bruises later, seems he didn't opt to fight Bobbi himself ([[ActionGirl probably for a good reason]]).
* NotSoHarmlessVillain: Despite having a rather bad run of luck, he proves he can be quite the manipulator in "The Frenemy of My Enemy". Not only did he manage to either overcome or convincingly fake being brainwashed by Ward and Agent 33, he played along until he was in a position to get back into HYDRA free and clear, managing to capture both Deathlok and Lincoln after the two had worn themselves out fighting each other. This is subverted in the following episode when he's revealed to have been on Ward's side all along, and manages to sneak Coulson's team into HYDRA's base, even killing a HYDRA mook off-screen that was following him.
* OhCrap:
** His reaction after being found by the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents being tied up on a chair. This happened after Ward [[KickTheSonOfABitch beat him up off screen along with other HYDRA agents]].
** When Agent 33 breaks him out of prison, he is relieved to see that she is still loyal... then Ward appears right behind her.
* SharpDressedMan: Has thus far only been seen wearing a nice suit, even on a field mission (while his underlings have more proper attire).
* TakingTheBullet: Meets his end when Simmons tries to kill Ward with a splinter bomb in the penultimate episode.
* UndyingLoyalty:
** Bobbi thinks she's cracked his personal code and found out how to make him turn on Whitehall. As a final push, she asks "what kind of a man are you?" He replies, "A loyal one!" Then he bashes his head on a table to break open a CyanidePill hidden in his cheekbone.
** This is still a primary trait even after he is brainwashed by Ward. He meets his end by putting himself in the way when Simmons tries to kill Ward.
* UnwittingPawn: He's made into the patsy that takes down most of the leadership of HYDRA.
* WellDoneSonGuy: Bobbi's theory behind his loyalty to Whitehall is based on this sort of approval-seeking behavior. Her SherlockScan told her that he's estranged from his parents and a ray of acceptance and respect from Whitehall secured his devotion.

[[folder:HYDRA Council]]
!!Octavian Bloom, the Baroness, the Banker, the Sheik
[[quoteright:345:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/eb36b1785dd9229a5133ea8293ddbff8.png]]
->'''Portrayed By:''' Fred Dryer, Kathryn Leigh Scott, Joel Polis, Maz Siam
->'''Appearances:''' ''Series/AgentsOfSHIELD'' (first appear in ''[[Recap/AgentsOfSHIELDS2E11Aftershocks Episode 33, "Aftershocks"]]'')

The various branch leaders of HYDRA alongside Daniel Whitehall under Baron von Strucker.

* AsLongAsThereIsEvil: ''Film/CaptainAmericaTheWinterSoldier'' shows us that if you "Cut off one head, another shall take its place". What Team Coulson doesn't know is that the HYDRA leadership is still alive and well, even if they destroyed a very big branch of HYDRA. Coulson knows, though, since he sent Deathlok to scout out the remnants of HYDRA.
* BigBadDuumvirate: They are implied to be at equal footing with Whitehall. They only have this position for one episode before they die.
* BoomHeadshot: Bloom gets one from Lance Hunter.
* CanonForeigner: None of them seems to have comics counterparts, which is odd, because even in the comics, HYDRA has several branch leaders like them. Although since they are [[WeHardlyKnewYe short-lived]] in this series, this won't be a waste of characters.
* CosmopolitanCouncil: They're a surprisingly diverse group for HYDRA, including several ethnicities and both genders.
* DeadlyGas: The Sheikh is killed with poisonous gas.
* EqualOpportunityEvil: In a demonstration of HYDRA having moved beyond its Nazi roots, its leadership council includes a woman and a Middle-Eastern man. [[spoiler: Makes sense, because the earliest incarnations of HYDRA ''weren't'' Nazi at all.]]
* MouthOfSauron: Dr. List serves as Strucker's voice in the HYDRA council.
* NoBodyLeftBehind: The Banker is killed and disintegrated by a Splinter Bomb, the similar bomb that Marcus Scarlotti used to kill Agent Noelle Walters.
* OnlyKnownByTheirNickname: Save for Octavian Bloom, we never find out their real names.
* TheRedBaron: They all have titles such as The Banker, The Sheikh, The Accountant, and The Baroness.
* TakenForGranite: How the Baroness dies, after drinking champagne laced with the weaponized Diviner effect.
* WeHardlyKnewYe: All of them save List die thanks to S.H.I.E.L.D.'s manipulations in the episode they are introduced.

[[folder:Grant Ward]]
!!''Grant Douglas Ward''
[[quoteright:300:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ward_grant_douglas.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:300:''"...while a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent is considering right and wrong, HYDRA's already taken the shot."'']]
->'''Portrayed By:''' Creator/BrettDalton
->'''Appearances:''' ''[[Series/AgentsOfSHIELD Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D]]''

-->''"There's not enough good left inside me."''

An anti-social Level Seven (formerly a Level Six) agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. who was said to have a strong moral foundation. He became a member of Agent Coulson's team that is assembled to investigate strange events around the world. However, he was really an agent of HYDRA loyal to John Garrett, who recruited him into both organizations at the same time. Following Garrett's defeat, Ward is imprisoned by S.H.I.E.L.D. in The Playground's basement prison, and is used as a source of information on HYDRA.

In the Season 2 finale, he steps up to take control of HYDRA due to the power vacuum caused by Coulson's S.H.I.E.L.D. and the Avengers.

* AbusiveParents: As bad as his brother Christian was to him, his parents were ''worse'' - to both of them. Garrett was also this, having kidnapped a teenage Ward from a government facility and proceeding to physically and emotionally abuse him for fifteen years.
* AccidentalMurder: He accidentally kills Kara at the end of Season 2.
* AffablyEvil: Even at his worst, he never loses his friendly tone or charming personality. And contrary to Garrett, it's ''genuine''.
* AntiVillain: A Type I variant for much of the second season. After escaping from USA federal custody, he occasionally drops off presents for Team Coulson, like a BoundAndGagged Bakshi. He's also a dangerous ex-HYDRA member who wants to take down his brother, which also makes him a WildCard. In the finale, he drops the "Anti" part.
* ArchEnemy: He's this to the original Team Coulson plus Triplett, because he was "family" and betrayed them. After the climax of Season 2, where he tortured Bobbi and Kara was killed in the rescue operation, Hunter hates Ward as well and Ward now reciprocates in his hatred of SHIELD, wanting to see them suffer. About the only main character that Ward ''hasn't'' pissed off personally is Mack, though Bobbi has at least seemed to recognize the danger and restrained herself.
* AsskickingEqualsAuthority: He becomes the new head of HYDRA by simply kicking the butts of the surviving members until they acknowledge him as "director".
* TheAtoner: Ward did genuinely try to make amends and protect his brother Thomas from harm after hurting him in his youth, going so far to take drastic measures against their abusive parents in order to protect them. Unfortunately the measures he took only frightened his younger brother to run away from him, costing Grant the only member of his family he truly loved and cared for.
* BadassInANiceSuit: As is tradition with S.H.I.E.L.D. agents. He drops the habit after he reveals himself as a HYDRA mole.
* BeardOfEvil: In the first half of Season 2, he has a thick beard and is a captive HYDRA agent. His attempt at mourning his actions and being TheAtoner makes it double as a BeardOfSorrow. Then he goes on the lam, sends a giftwrapped Bakshi to Director Coulson, and shaves it off.
* BecomingTheMask:
** After being revealed as a HYDRA mole, he admits to developing genuine feelings for Skye, to which Garrett says he regrets making him keep the cover for so long. He also claims to have genuinely cared for Fitz and Simmons.
** He tries to specifically [[InvokedTrope invoke]] this in Season 2, claiming that he's still a member of Coulson's team, despite the fact that in Season One he only ''pretended'' to be a member of the team to be a spy for Garrett, until he was eventually discovered. Given the horrific things he's done in addition to his well-established status as a ManipulativeBastard and ConsummateLiar, no-one's buying it.
* BelievingTheirOwnLies: Ward has an incredible capacity for self-delusion. Despite having killed Kara himself, he repeatedly says that S.H.I.E.L.D. murdered her. [[spoiler:His younger brother Thomas even points out that Ward genuinely believes that he isn't the one who threw Thomas into a well when they were children, and even promised Thomas in the aftermath that he wouldn't let anyone hurt him again.]]
* BelligerentSexualTension: Hinted at with Skye in the interrogation scene.
* BerserkButton:
** Don't mess with Skye. Don't even think about it. Though this likely isn't his Berserk Button anymore since she made it perfectly clear they'll never be a couple.
** Don't call him a Nazi.
** Don't compare him to his brother Christian whom he hates.
** Don't call him a DirtyCoward who uses his DarkAndTroubledPast as an excuse for not taking responsibility for his own actions.
** Don't [[spoiler:threaten his younger brother]].
** ''Don't'' tell him he's even worse than his parents and older brother.
* BigBadWannabe: He takes control of HYDRA in Season 3, but all he really manages to do is [[spoiler:provoke Coulson into killing him.]]
* BigBadDuumvirate: Forms one with Malick since they are the only heads of Hydra left in season 3.
* BigBrotherInstinct:
** According to his backstory, Ward learned how to fight in order to protect his little brother (and himself) from their [[BigBrotherBully big brother]], who was physically abusive. He shows shades of this towards Skye, too. "FZZT" reveals that he has this towards Fitz-Simmons as well.
--->'''Ward:''' How can I protect you from something I can't even see?
** This is all revealed to be an act designed to get their trust.
** Twisted even further in Season 3 Episode 'Closure' [[spoiler: His youngest brother Thomas revealed that Grant WAS the one who tossed him into the well, yet still proclaimed he wanted to protect Thomas after the incident]].
* BigBrotherMentor:
** He takes Agent 33 under his wing and helps her reclaim her identity in the wake of her brainwashing at Whitehall's hands.
** His first appearance in Season 3 is about pushing Werner von Strucker to find his inner Hydra so he can move into his father's business.
* BlueAndOrangeMorality: In Season 2, he seems utterly and genuinely baffled that despite giving up precious HYDRA intel, and claiming to regret his previous actions, that his former comrades point blank refuse to even consider trusting him because of what he did. This is essentially the reason for all of his actions. From his point of view, he is doing the right thing.
* BodyguardingABadass: Lorelei. He's a normal human and she's as strong as Loki.
* BoxedCrook: Starting off in Season 2, he provides HYDRA secrets to Team Coulson on the condition that Skye is the one he delivers them to, since it's the only way he can get her to speak with him.
* BreakHerHeartToSaveHer: Ward exploits this trope by pretending to leave Kara at S.H.I.E.L.D., claiming Coulson to be the better man to help her rebuild the life she lost to HYDRA. This however, was part of their plan all along, allowing Kara to capture Bobbi.
* BreakoutVillain: He was going to be kill off in the first season finale, but when its revealed at he's a HYDRA agent, he was plan to be the BigBad of season 3 and possibly the entire series.
* BrokenPedestal: No-one takes the news that he's been EvilAllAlong particularly well, but the biggest and worst reactions come from Skye (for whom he was a mentor and LoveInterest) and Fitz (who viewed him as the hero he'd like to be himself).
* CanNotSpitItOut: After throwing his brother in a well, he swears to never let anybody hurt him again, instead of just apologizing.
* CanonForeigner: He has no comic book counterpart.
* CatchPhrase: Over the course of Season 2, his watchword becomes "closure."
* CerebusRetcon: Everything prior to "Turn, Turn, Turn" takes a darker turn when we find out his persona was engineered to make the team trust him.
* CharacterDeath: [[spoiler:His heart is crushed by Coulson's robotic hand.]]
* CharacterDevelopment: Towards the end of Season 1, he was shown to be purely a follower, unable to function if he didn't have orders, however long term, to obey. Over the course of Season 2 he learns to set goals for himself and become his own man, and by the end of it he is ready to step up to a leadership role. Unfortunately, this character development didn't come with any moral development, so ultimately this means he has transitioned from being an evil minion to being an evil leader.
* ChickMagnet: Slept with both May and Lorelei, earned Skye's affection before his true colors were revealed, and gained Kara's undying devotion.
* CombatPragmatist: If it can be [[ImprovisedWeapon utilized as a weapon]], chances are that Ward's gonna use it against his opponent.
* TheComicallySerious: His response to a joking question that Coulson asked him? A legitimately serious answer without a hint of irony. Then Coulson injects ''him'' with a TruthSerum in order to get Skye on their side (although he later claims the serum was fake- given it never shows up again despite its obvious uses, it probably was).
* ConsummateLiar: It comes with the territory. He claims that being drugged with truth serum in the pilot was a ruse, and he told Skye nothing that was above level 1. When he's hooked up to a lie detector that checks against ''96 different variables'', he manages to beat it by drawing on his genuine feelings for Skye to fool Koenig into thinking the machine was getting a false-positive. He also impaled one of his fingers with a paper clip, to throw off the readings a bit more. It's implied in his meeting with his brother that he's lied so much that even he doesn't remember the truth anymore.
* ColdSniper: Once boasted to have made a shot from two thousand feet, and we've seen him with a sniper rifle more than once. [[spoiler:This comes in handy when assassinating Rosalind Price in Season 3.]]
* CrazyPrepared: It turns out that he lines his jackets with armor plates. They come in handy when Skye shoots him in the back.
* CreepyMonotone: He starts speaking with one in Season 2 after claiming to have achieved some form of enlightenment during the hiatus.
* CunningLinguist: According to Episode 1.02, he can speak six languages.
* DarkAndTroubledPast:
** Coulson mentions that Ward's anti-social tendencies aren't surprising, given his family history. This is hammered home in "The Well": his older brother was one hell of a cruel asshole even as a child.
** It turns out that it got even worse afterwards with Ward having been targeted by Garrett and abused, manipulated, and trained into becoming exactly what Garrett needed, using techniques that included dumping the sixteen year old in the woods alone for six months with only a dog, and ordering him to kill said dog later on as a way of teaching him that caring is weak.
** Hell, even before Garrett he had issues. He drove a thousand miles just to try and burn his brother alive in the family home. His options after that act of attempted murder where hard time which would have darkened his psyche even more. Or Garrett, which did the same but with a purpose.
* DeadpanSnarker: Despite his serious and no-nonsense demeanor, he has his moments.
* DeepCoverAgent: In Coulson's team, for HYDRA. Everything about him was fabricated to create a different persona than his true one, right down to being a fan of the Patriots football team. In truth, he hates that team.
* DefrostingIceQueen: At first, he prefers to [[IWorkAlone work alone]] and resents being put on Coulson's team, but he later warms up to his teammates and even joins them on game night. He exploited this trope to give Coulson "someone to fix" and gain his trust. However, he genuinely defrosted a bit, much to Garrett's annoyance.
* {{Delinquents}}: As a young teen, he ran away from the military school his parents sent him to, stole a car, drove it a thousand miles to get back home, and then tried to burn his house down while his older brother was still inside. Agent Garrett recruited him while he was in juvenile hall awaiting trial.
* DespairEventHorizon: The death of Kara was his, as he lost all resolve at that moment and from then on was driven purely by revenge.
* DiscOneFinalBoss: Is set up as the BigBad at first, but [[spoiler: gets killed by Coulson in the mid-season finale.]]
* TheDogBitesBack: Flashbacks reveal that Ward finally fought back against his abusive brother by running away from military school and attempting to burn the house down with him inside. His brother survived and wanted him to be tried as an adult, while his parents didn't care.
* TheDragon: He started out as Garrett's right-hand man.
* DragonAscendant: With all of HYDRA's leadership dead by the end of Season 2, Ward seeks to take over the organization himself in order to avenge Kara's death, setting himself up as the most obvious BigBad going into Season 3. [[spoiler: He later forms a BigBadDuumvirate with Malick.]]
* DrivenToSuicide: After Garrett's death and his own capture, he tried to kill himself at least three times.
* DumbMuscle: Comes off as one at first, but then we learn a bit more about him, such as the fact that he's fluent in six different languages, and quickly caught on to the suspicious behavior of the PMP officers.
* EmpoweredBadassNormal: When he gets a turn with the Asgardian Berserker Staff.
* EscapeArtist: Can slip handcuffs fairly easily.
* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes:
** He tries to convince Skye that, despite being a HYDRA plant and lying "to everyone about everything", his feelings for her are genuine. She doesn't buy it.
** He genuinely seems to have developed a loving relationship with Kara, given that he walked right into Coulson's hands when Deathlok napped her. Coulson even names this as a reason why he thinks that he isn't completely beyond redemption. Ward ultimately leaves Kara with S.H.I.E.L.D., recognizing that's he's not a good influence on her and wanting her to recover her past. Which turns out to be a foul play, but the trope is still played straight, as him accidentally killing her emotionally ''shatters'' him.
** In spite of everything, [[spoiler:he still cares about his younger brother Thomas all along. Too bad Thomas is still afraid of him and has no problem with letting Team Coulson take him down.]]
* EvenEvilHasStandards:
** Ward seemed rather disgusted when he saw Garrett murder a Marine Corp general by using his broken rib to stab him in the neck. He's also clearly upset that he had no choice but to lock up the other officers, saying that Garrett's actions weren't necessary.
** He also takes offense when Skye calls him a Nazi.
** He keeps his promise to not shoot down the Bus when Skye agrees to go with him in "...Ye Who Enter Here". Too bad Whitehall pulls rank on him.
* EvilAllAlong: Implied when he reveals his true colors in "Turn Turn Turn", and confirmed in "Ragtag" when we learn that Garrett recruited him for HYDRA years before he became a DoubleAgent inside S.H.I.E.L.D.
** WordOfGod is that hints were dropped about his true colors all season. Of note is the scene from "Yes Men" when he fights with May while under the spell of Lorelei, ending with them both on the floor and having a gun to her head; the way the scene is edited, it implies he pulled the trigger '''''after''''' he was released from her control.
* EvilCounterpart:
** He may or may not have had one in his older brother, but if Christian was the worse brother when they were younger, then as time went on the polarity was reversed. Both of them grew up to be lying liars (though Ward refuses to lie to Skye, either about how HYDRA works or about her father), though suffice it to say lying is part of Senator Ward's job description, whereas Grant Ward is simply manipulative; also Christian is a Senator, while Grant chose to side with HYDRA, if only because Garrett did as part of his own ultimate plans.
** In naming himself the "Director" of HYDRA, Ward seems to be making himself a counterpart to Coulson, and his new structure for HYDRA seems to be based on principles he picked up while he was undercover with S.H.I.E.L.D..
* EvilFeelsGood: In "Maveth", after trying to justify his evil actions Ward felt a true sense of purpose.
* EvilDuo: In the latter half of Season 2 with Agent 33.
* EvilIsNotAToy: Late in season 2 Coulson tries to request his assistance for help in locating with and ultimately fighting HYDRA. While there are some short-term benefits to this, things eventually wind up much, much worse for everyone involved.
* EvilMentor: To Werner von Strucker in the same way Garrett was to him; physical abuse mixed with verbal encouragement about how much greater he can become.
* ExactWords: He's skilled at saying something that a mark will interpret as "A" when he means "B".
** In "The Only Light in The Darkness" he convinces Eric Koenig that he came to Providence "for Skye". Eric interprets this as him having feelings for her (which he does), but he's ''really'' there to capture her on Garrett's orders.
** In "Writing on the Wall" he tells Bakshi that he can get the man "close enough to Coulson to put a bullet in his head". Bakshi thinks this means delivering Coulson to him on a silver platter, when in fact, it was the other way around. He lampshades this during a phone call with Skye.
* {{Expy}}: An ally that becomes a deadly enemy, with a penchant for psychological torture and mind games and an obsession with the lead heroines of the show who kills the love interest of TheMentor and leading authority figure? [[Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer Angelus says hi]].
* FamilyUnfriendlyDeath: [[spoiler: Gets his chest caved in, fairly slowly, by Coulson.]]
* ForcedToWatch: As a child, Ward's elder brother dropped their younger brother down a well. He was forced to watch their brother struggle to tread water and hear his pleas for help, but could not drop him the rope. If he did, the elder brother threatened that he would join their brother in the well. Ward says it was the first time he ever truly felt hate. He later claims that he was also forced to personally beat his younger brother.
** Subverted in Season 3 "Closure": [[spoiler: Thomas Ward, now living under a new identity, stated that Ward was the one who dropped him into the well, not Christian, and stated that Ward twists his own memories to make him the injured party rather than admit the truth or take blame.]]
* {{Foreshadowing}}: Ward does a ''very'' convincing job of faking the effects of a truth serum. Late in the season, it is revealed that he has been lying about his allegiance, working for HYDRA all along.
* FreudianExcuse: Ward's AbusiveParents and BigBrotherBully are the reason he becomes an arsonist and attempted murderer, and later a HYDRA mole within S.H.I.E.L.D. All of that happened before Garrett got hold of him and promised him protection, only to subject him to more abuse.
** Lampshaded in "The Dirty Half Dozen".
-->'''May:''' We all had our traumas, Ward. Didn't turn any of us into psychopaths.\\
'''Grant:''' Well, we all have our own ways of coping, don't we? For example, I was yours.
** Somewhat {{subverted}} in season three when Thomas reveals that Ward was the one who hurt him by choice, not Christian; that Ward's version of projecting Thomas was to cripple their father; and his way of making up for his torment of Thomas was to try and kill Christian, who he blamed for what happened to Thomas instead of accepting responsibility. Thomas points out that Ward's choices got him where he is [[NeverMyFault even if Ward himself never admits it.]]
* GodzillaThreshold: For Coulson in the second half of Season 2, he is their "Bad Option" because they're out of good ones. While going after the remaining HYDRA figureheads still unaccounted for, Coulson says to Hunter and Deathlok that he has go and get Ward to find Dr. List, the HYDRA scientist they are looking for.
* HannibalLecture: He ''tries'' to do it to Skye, only for her to be smart enough to first shut it down instantly, then actively play on it to make sure he has no more information than he's already given.
* HeartbrokenBadass: Getting tricked into killing his own girlfriend made him become the ''new leader of HYDRA'' in order to get revenge on S.H.I.E.L.D.
* HeelFaceDoorSlam: Every single original member of Team Coulson makes it quite clear that he can ''never'' make amends for what he did and will ''never'' be considered a part of the team ever again.
* HeelFaceRevolvingDoor: He is easily the most unpredictable character in the entire series. He infiltrated Team Coulson (that's bad), he actually grew fond of them and risked his life several times to save them (that's good), he betrayed them anyway and killed several people by doing so (that's bad), then he gave them information on HYDRA (that's good), but escaped from custody and probably killed more people by doing so (that's bad), then he helped SHIELD capture Sunil Bakshi (that's good), afterwards he killed his abusive brother and parents and made it look like a murder-suicide (that's bad), then he infiltrated HYDRA and helped Skye to escape (that's good), after ending up with Kara/Agent 33 he kills several people in order to stay undercover and help Kara get her revenge on Bakshi (that's bad), when Coulson is on the run he joins forces with him once again and viably assists his team (that's good), and now he is helping Kara to torture and kill Bobbi for revenge (that's bad). When he accidentally kills Kara at the end of season two, it leaves him completely broken (that's good). So he decides to take over HYDRA (that's bad).
* HeroKiller: Has killed the most named protagonists on the show, including Victoria Hand, Eric Koenig, [[spoiler:and Rosalind Price]]. Furthermore, he successfully tortures and comes ''very close'' to killing Bobbi, likely the team's biggest badass (and Hunter as well, for that matter). While he ultimately fails in killing her, he succeeds in heavily injuring her to the point of breaking her morale in her job. It's unlikely Bobbi has ever faced anything else like that in her career.
* HellBentForLeather: Is often seen dressed casually wearing a leather jacket, which [[HiddenBadass visually contrasts]] with his status as a OneManArmy. Continues this trend into Season 3 as HYDRA's new leader.
* HiddenDepths: As shown in MamasBoy below, he's softer than he lets on. He's also not as dumb as you may believe. A good example of this is in the episode "FZZT" when he imitates Simmons' imitation of himself. ''Very'' hidden. He's a HYDRA agent.
* HoneyTrap: He had a sexual relationship with May as part of his cover during the first season. As you might expect, making May a WomanScorned didn't go well for him.
* HumansAreTheRealMonsters: He says his canine companion, Buddy, is "better than human" because he's "smart, loyal, and trustworthy." Given his family history and the people he works for, it's easy to see where he's coming from. Garrett then confirms this by ordering him to kill Buddy.
* IgnoredEpiphany: In Season Two, he claims he realized he was wrong to give all his loyalty to Garett. Then in Season 3, he turns Werner into his pupil using Garrett's methods.
* ImprobableWeaponUser: Uses a ''silver plate'' as a shield and throwing object, in a manner like Captain America!
* ImprovisedWeapon: Against ''himself'' when he's DrivenToSuicide following his actions in the first season. He breaks the buttons on his pants and uses the sharp edges to cut his wrists. When this fails and he's given buttonless pants, he rips pages out of books and folds the paper until the corners are sharp enough to do the job. This fails too and his reading material is taken, causing him to ''ram his head into a wall'' until he's forcibly sedated. This would explain his BeardOfSorrow, since he obviously wouldn't be allowed near a metal razor.
* IncrediblyLamePun: Is quite fond of making puns related to his first name, like "I'm part of a '''grant''' plan".
* IronicHell: Ward spent the entire season lying and manipulating his former comrades. Therefore, it's only fitting that he ends up getting his throat crushed by May, rendering him temporarily mute.
* ItMeantSomethingToMe: After being outed as a HYDRA agent, he claims that his feelings for Skye were real. Instead of being touched by this, she's ''sickened.''
* ItsAllAboutMe:
** When Skye calls him out on being a lying murderous traitor, he goes on an angry rant about how hard it was to keep his cover up.
** In Season 2, he wants forgiveness from the Team for his misdeeds, yet he refuses to grant any his older brother Christian. In fact he murders him, right after he gets him to confess that he made Grant torture their younger brother [[spoiler: which turns out to be a lie.]]
** According to his family this is a signature trait - he warps every situation it's always about how ''he'' is the one to be pitied.
* ItsPersonal: After Kara's death, Ward is obsessed with revenge against Coulson and S.H.I.E.L.D. His reconstruction of HYDRA is less about actually wanting to be the new head of HYDRA and more about using it to get revenge. The enmity between Ward and Team Coulson was already personal on the S.H.I.E.L.D. side, due to Ward pretending to be their friend and betraying their trust. The fact he attempted to kill Fitzsimmons and May, and managed to kill fellow SHIELD agents only adds to their enimity towards him.
* ItsPersonalWithTheDragon: While he is usually working for or with someone else, most of Team Coulson have reasons to hate him more than the actual BigBad of a given season.
* JerkWithAHeartOfJerk: He admits he cares about Fitzsimmons then dumps them in the ocean with out a second thought, and really can't understand why Team Coulson refuses to take him back into their fold after that, acting like being a HYDRA mole wasn't any different from from night of drunken stupidness. The Season 2 finale leaves little doubt that he is beyond redemption; his "love" for Kara was mainly indoctrinating her into his idea for closure - and he dropped her off in S.H.I.E.L.D. custody so she wouldn't be rehabilitated but so she could kidnap Bobbi and he and Kara could torture her together. And when Kara dies during Hunter and May's rescue attempt, Ward refuses to accept any responsibility for his beloved's death and uses it as an excuse to go after his former S.H.I.E.L.D. teammates.
* JustFollowingOrders: When dumping Fitzsimmons into the ocean in an airtight container, he admits to them that it's not because he wants to, but because he has to.
-->'''Fitz''': You care about us!\\
'''Ward''': I do. That's a weakness.
* KarmicDeath: [[spoiler:After so long of whining about how all his evil is justified and nothing is his fault, he finally realizes just how petty it all was and feels a true sense of purpose for the first time...just in time for Coulson to slowly crush the life out of him.]]
* KickTheDog:
** Literally, as Garrett ordered Ward to kill his dog after being accepted to a S.H.I.E.L.D. academy to demonstrate his lack of "weakness". He lets it go... And ''then'' he kills his pet.
** Also done with Fitz-Simmons by dropping them out of the plane midflight in an airtight container. This demonstrates that his villainness is greater than his friendship with them.
** Has [[spoiler: Jemma tortured just so Fitz can hear her scream. So he can force him to help them use the portal safely.]] However he has one of his minions do it [[NeverMyFault so he can remain blameless]]. This could be his [[DisproportionateRetribution little payback]] for when [[Recap/AgentsOfSHIELDS2E19TheDirtyHalfDozen Simmons tried to kill him]].
* KickTheSonOfABitch: Betraying Bakshi to Director Coulson, and later tying up a loose end with his parents from all those years ago--not just involving arson but finally exposing them for the heartless, abusive shits that they really were.
* KickThemWhileTheyAreDown: Done to Bobbi in the Season 2 finale, hard enough to break bone in her leg.
* KilledOffForReal: [[spoiler: Ward finally kicks the bucket at the end of "Maveth" when Coulson crushes his heart in with his prosthetic hand. However, "It" comes out of the alien portal assuming the form of Ward in TheStinger.]]
* KnightOfCerebus: Once his true colors are revealed, he becomes one of the darkest villains on the show. Best summarized [[http://www.8cn.tv/content/shields-biggest-twist-didnt-have-anything-do-hydra in this article]], written shortly after the reveal.[[note]]after "Nothing Personal"[[/note]]
* LackOfEmpathy: {{Inverted}}. As Daisy puts it, his problem isn't that he doesn't feel anything, he feels ''too much.''
* LadyAndKnight:
** After losing his "liege lord", so to speak, he decides to become Skye's Dark Knight by keeping his promise to her, slaying dragons like Bakshi, and protecting her from villains like Whitehall. However, she refuses to be his Bright Lady and shoots him in the back.
** "Love in the Time of Hydra" sees him become this for Agent 33 A.K.A Kara. He becomes a pillar of strength for her, finds someone to repair her damaged mask, helps her rediscover her identity, and manhandles Bakshi (again), and all seemingly without ulterior motive; he even rejects sexual favors when she used Skye's face. Kara, for her part, is much more willing to be his Bright Lady (or Dark Lady as the case may be).
* TheLancer:
** Acts as Coulson's NumberTwo and is a straight man to his SilentSnarker. As May becomes more of this, he slips into TheBigGuy role because of his interrogation methods and preference for solving the problem by punching out the person responsible.
** Then [[EvilAllAlong he flipped switches]] and was revealed to actually be TheDragon to John Garrett.
* TheLeader: As the new leader of HYDRA, Ward has shades of Mastermind (likes to be prepared, and favors plans), Headstrong (is usually on the front line, and emphasizes bravery and worthiness) and Charismatic (has successfully turned numerous recruits, including Werner von Strucker, into his loyal followers).
* LikesOlderWomen: So far, the only woman he's shown being consensually physically intimate with is Agent May (at least 15 years his senior, if the actors' ages are anything to go by). Subverted when it's revealed he found seducing her to be the most efficient method to gain her trust. Whatever his actual preferences are, this was just part of the mission.
* LoveIsAWeakness: Garrett taught him that any form of compassion or sentiment is weakness. It's part of the reason why he rejects Fitz's olive branch at a chance of redemption.
* LoveMakesYouCrazy:
** Ward was unbalanced before he met Skye but with Garrett's death the only thing he has driving him is his fixation on Skye. Then she shot him in the back in "What They Become" and now he's fixated on Kara. Then he accidentally shot her, due to being tricked by May, and now returns to HYDRA.
* LoveRedeems:
** InvokedTrope. Ward is being actively helpful to Team Coulson so he can endear himself to Skye and tells her such. He goes so far as to sever any ties he had with HYDRA so he can provide them with a high ranking member to interrogate and comments that he is going to continue to do so.
** After meeting Kara, his every action was devoted towards helping her heal from her brainwashing. Coulson tells him his genuine affection for her is proof that he is becoming something that approaches a decent human being. It was his love for Kara that made losing her painful enough to drive him back to HYDRA, thus making this an ''inverted'' trope as well.
* MadBomber: When he escapes from custody he realizes that Bobbi is trailing him. When they end up on a bus, he reveals his duffle bag is filled with explosives that he'll set off if she still tries to follow him.
* MamasBoy:
** When Skye is questioning him on TruthSerum, she asks him if he's killed anyone. Yes, but they were all ''terrible'' people and afterward he felt ''really'' bad about it and does his grandmother know about this?
-->'''Ward:''' ''[pout]'' [[CrowningMomentOfFunny Grammsy?]]
** Totally averted with Ward's feelings towards his actual mother, who abused him. He even murders her (along with his father and older brother) in Season 2.
* ManipulativeBastard: He managed to play the entire team and they never suspected that he was a HYDRA double agent.
* MasterActor: He lived and worked with Team Coulson for ''months'' without any of them catching on to his real loyalties. In Season 2, he even managed to convince Coulson that he was willing to leave Kara with S.H.I.E.L.D. to help her, making Coulson believe that ''maybe'' Ward wasn't beyond redemption. This was as much of an act as his S.H.I.E.L.D. agent persona.
* MeaningfulName:
** To "ward" means to defend, which goes hand in hand with being an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.
** It is also used as a suffix to indicate direction or bias. Which becomes important as he goes from acting in a S.H.I.E.L.D.-ward manner to a HYDRA-ward one, inverting the first example in the process.
* TheMole: He has been working for Garrett and HYDRA his entire career in S.H.I.E.L.D.
* MoralMyopia: In his mind, all of his actions are justified, and actions against him are unforgivable.
* MrFanservice: Provides the male eye candy in the main cast. Skye comments on his "firmness", and ogles him with some X-ray glasses in the stinger of "Eye Spy".
* MyMasterRightOrWrong: His true loyalty is to Garrett, not HYDRA itself, and was very eager to get away from HYDRA once Garrett had the cure, much to Garrett's annoyance. He gets an earful on this point in "The Beginning of the End", as he proves incapable of dealing with the situation when Garrett goes nuts. As Coulson points out, he gave all his loyalty to a narcissistic psychopath.
* NecessarilyEvil: Under truth serum, he said that he feels "very bad" about killing "terrible people." It's later revealed that S.H.I.E.L.D. has no truth serum and that he feels nothing at all over killing people, terrible or otherwise.
* NeverMyFault:
** It's his main character flaw. He blames other people for more or less everything he's done, except when talking to Skye. Even when he says he's taking responsibility for his actions, he takes no responsibility for the factors that led him to take those actions in the first place. His brother eventually gives this a LampshadeHanging.
--->'''Christian Ward:''' Spare the not-apology. [[SelfDeprecation I'm a senator.]]
** Bobbi Morse accurately pinpoints that his desire for "closure" is just a way of projecting his failings onto other people. When he reforms HYDRA with himself in charge, it's because he wants vengeance on S.H.I.E.L.D. for Kara's death - a death which could have been prevented if he hadn't indoctrinated her into seeking "closure" and had genuinely reformed her instead.
** Further confirmed by [[spoiler: Thomas Ward]] who backed up Christian's assessment that Ward always twists the truth, blaming others for his 'bad' actions, and never admitting his own role in them or taking the blame, to the point where even Ward believes his own lies.
** Taking to extremes in Season 3 when he declares war on SHIELD for killing Kara. Even when it was his actions, including kidnapping Bobbi and attempting to murder May which lead to Ward himself killing Kara. However as been pointed out as per usual he takes no responsibility for his actions even going so far to declare to his brother that SHIELD personally killed the woman he loved.
* NoSocialSkills: Maria Hill gave him the lowest rating in this department, even drawing a small porcupine (which Coulson mistook for a "little poop with knives sticking out of it") on his assessment sheet. He's actually very adept at reading and manipulating people, and only pretended to have NoSocialSkills to appeal to Coulson's instinct to take in and rehabilitate strays.
* NotBrainwashed: In regards to his service to Garrett. He did all that bad stuff of his own free will.
* NothingPersonal: In "[[TitleDrop Nothing Personal]]", he says this about being a HYDRA agent. It ''really'' pisses Skye off. Also his general attitude towards Team Coulson concerning their antagonistic relationship in Season 2. This changes after the finale when May tricks him into killing Kara: Now ItsPersonal.
* NotSoDifferent: In "A Fractured House", Coulson caps off his TheReasonYouSuckSpeech by saying that he may very well be just like Christian.
-->'''Coulson''': Your brother saw the same angles. Maybe you two are more alike than you think.
* NotSoStoic: He usually drops his characteristic stoicism when not on missions, like when he opens up to Skye about his brother or when he expresses his disappointment at losing to her in Battleship. Then there's his encounter with the Beserker Staff: To say that it had an unpleasant effect on him would be an understatement. Just touching one piece of it sends him into a rage for hours, resulting in him, among other things, yelling at Skye when she tries to calm him down.
* NotWorthKilling: Decides this of Simmons after seeing how much she had changed since threatening him.
* OrderReborn: He's rebuilding HYDRA in Season 3 into a lean meritocracy that cares nothing for heritage. "Worthiness" is everything.
* {{Omniglot}}: Is said to speak six languages.
* OneManArmy: And is annoyed to find that half the team isn't as combat capable as he is.
* OneRiotOneRanger: He was trained to be "the whole solution" and it shows whenever he gets into a fight. He makes a habit of demolishing entire teams of operatives, whether private security or other S.H.I.E.L.D. agents.
* OnlyAFleshWound:
** In the pilot, he denies that Coulson's syringe hurt him... until its truth serum takes effect and Ward admits "Yes, that did hurt, but I mask my pain in front of beautiful women to preserve my masculinity."
** He barely reacts to a shallow bullet wound in "[[Recap/AgentsOfSHIELDS1E2084 0-8-4]]". It's not until a few hours after the firefight that anyone else even knows about it. Skye freaks out upon seeing it, but Ward doesn't see what the problem is, since it's not killing him.
* OnlySaneMan: Though he didn't know that Skye was TheMole for the Rising Tide at the time, he was the only member of the team to suggest that letting the girl who hacked into the S.H.I.E.L.D. system on the team wasn't a good idea.
** In retrospect, as TheMole himself, he didn't like having an unknown variable thrown into the mix. Considering that she's the one person on the team he developed real feelings for, he was right.
* PayEvilUntoEvil: He justifies his kill count by saying they were "terrible people." Later subverted when he turns out to be a HYDRA mole and has no problem killing good people, either.
* PermaStubble: As of "Providence" as an early form of BeardOfEvil.
* PetTheDog: He claims in "Making Friends and Influencing People" that dumping Fitzsimmons into the ocean was been intended to give them a fighting chance while making it look like to Garrett he killed them. Unfortunately, because of the trauma they suffered as a result, neither Fitz nor Simmons agree that this was a kindness.
* PlayingBothSides: During Season 2. He has betrayed both S.H.I.E.L.D. and HYDRA and went on the run from ''both''.
* PlayingTheVictimCard: One of his major issues. It becomes clear that he reinterprets anything that happens to him so that he can be the persecuted party.
* PoliticallyIncorrectVillain: Once his cover's blown he reveals himself as a bit sexist, commenting that a lot of people lost faith in Nick Fury when Maria Hill was made his lieutenant; if Fury wanted "eye-candy", he suggests Black Widow would've done just as well. Though given the context, this could have been an attempt to distract Hill.
* PragmaticVillainy: Most of his seemingly [[PetTheDog benevolent]] actions in the first seventeen episodes (including saving Simmons' life) could be seen this way--all to gain the trust of Team Coulson. He even [[DiscussedTrope discusses]] this notion with Garrett in the eighteenth episode "Providence", and also with Raina.
-->'''Ward:''' I jumped out of a plane.\\
'''Raina:''' Out of a ''plane?''\\
'''Ward:''' I had a parachute.
* PutOnABus: At the end of the first season, he is taken into custody by the U.S. military. WordOfGod has stated that they decided ''not'' to kill him off because they feel there's more left to tell with his story. Sure enough, he returned for the second season and has apparently become the BigBad of the third.
* RankUp: Villainous example. Goes from deep-cover mole to Director of HYDRA.
* RedStringOfFate: He believes he and Skye are bound by this. He knows he's a monster and Raina leads him to believe that Skye is destined to become one as well. When she does, they can be monsters together. He eventually abandons this thinking mid-Season 2, as he recognizes that her shooting him means she'd never go along with it.
* RedemptionRejection:
** Fitz believes that Ward still has some good in him, and tries to make him see he doesn't owe Garrett anything. Ward responds by confirming that Fitz is right about their friendship, but Ward sees that as a weakness and ejects him and Simmons from the Bus into the ocean.
** In Season 2, Coulson offered him the chance to go through the Tahiti program so he can have a fresh start at life. He rejects it for his own selfish reasons.
* ReplacementFlatCharacter: His straight-laced personality greatly resembles Coulson from before his development in the Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse films. As noted elsewhere, his entire persona was a construct deliberately designed to win the trust of the people on Coulson's team.
* RealityEnsues : Betray your team, willingly join a terrorist group. Attempt to kill some of your teammates, actually kill fellow agents and a high ranking member of SHIELD. Just like in real life unless there was extenuating circumstances like mind control then you will get locked up for treason and murder for the rest of your life. Or given to the US Government as a good will gesture. You will not be let back on the team you tried to kill, or back in the organisation you betrayed no matter the intelligence or skills you have.
* RoaringRampageOfRevenge: In Season 2, he is obsessed with "closure". He appears to define this as confronting those who he perceives as having wronged him (Or someone he cares about), torturing them until they confess their sins, and only then killing them. Because of their role in the death of his lover Kara, he began seeking closure with S.H.I.E.L.D.
* SelfMadeOrphan: He becomes this (with the additional murder of his brother Christian) in "The Things We Bury".
* SinkOrSwimMentor: Seems to be this for the new HYDRA members.
* SocialDarwinist: He starts spouting such beliefs in Season 3, feeling that HYDRA fell because most of the prior leadership got where it did because of money rather than on personal merit. He makes it a point of recruiting those that have proven themselves through their own merit for the new HYDRA.
* TheSociopath: Ultimately {{subverted}}. He is a ConsummateLiar who doesn't even blink while casually betraying, torturing or killing people, but he is capable of feeling empathy and even love. Ward is aware of his heinous actions and the fact he is hurting people. He even feels guilt for doing them, but as his brother points out, he justifies his actions by blaming [[WhyDidYouMakeMeHitYou his victims, so he can stay blameless in his own mind.]] Daisy deduced that his problem isn't that he doesn't feel anything, he feels ''too much''.
* SpotTheImposter: Turns out he's not so good at this, and ends up killing Kara while she has May's face.
* StalkerWithACrush: After escaping from USA federal custody, he acts like this around Skye. He tells her he's watching her, calls her with unknown numbers and leaves little presents that involve dead bodies. Once she shoots him in the back in "What They Become", he finally gets the message that it's not mutual, as he tells Agent 33 in "Love in the Time of HYDRA" when she tries to have hanky panky with him while wearing Skye's face. He says "I'm not crazy", because he'd have to be delusional to think he and Skye still have a future.
* StartOfDarkness: [[spoiler: His path to villainy began when he pushed his younger brother Thomas into a well. He didn't apologize for it, and only told Thomas that he'd make sure his brother would never be hurt again. He projected all his guilt onto his bully brother Christian to the point where he tried to burn the house down with him inside. Then Garrett found him and did the rest...]]
* StealthExpert: According to S.H.I.E.L.D.'s ratings, his espionage scores are the highest since [[ComicBook/BlackWidow Agent Romanoff]]. Which, [[{{Foreshadowing}} in hindsight]], was a clue to his true character.
* TheStoic: He generally has a calm, collected reaction to most situations, whether it's taking on a group of armed guards or dealing with a Tesseract weapon that will kill him and the rest of the team if it blows.
* ThenLetMeBeEvil: When the Team refuse to forgive him, apparently giving up about getting them to do so.
* TookALevelInJerkass: In the Season 1 finale. Taunts Skye that she is as bad as he is and threatens to simply take what he needs from her. During the fight with May he keeps taunting her, leading to her crushing his larynx just to shut him up. And he actually gets worse in Season 2.
* TortureTechnician: He does one hell of a job torturing Bobbi in the Season 2 finale, and in "Closure", he personally tortures [[spoiler:Simmons]].
* TragicVillain: Ward was already on a dark path, but Garrett's abusive tutelage is what really set his path in stone.
* TheUnfavorite: The only one of the Ward brothers who wasn't regularly abused by their mother was Thomas, the youngest.
* VillainByProxyFallacy: His need for 'closure' may fall into this. Bobbi flat out states that there will always be someone he or his people need to seek 'closure' with, because that way he never has to take responsibility for his own role in screwing up his life.
* VillainousBreakdown:
** He has a nasty one between seasons one and as the full weight of his betrayal hits him. He tried to kill himself several times before he was able to come to terms with it and offer information on HYDRA.
** He has another one in the Season Two finale, when Bobbi won't crack under his torture.
** He gets another in Season 3, when [[spoiler: his brother Thomas gives him an epic KirkSummation telling him despite how horrible Christian and their parents were Grant is more worse then they ever were.]]
* VillainousCrush: Towards Skye. Before Skye finds out about Ward's true allegiances, the feeling is mildly reciprocated. Afterwards, she's disgusted. Ward's feelings linger until halfway through Season 2, where he finally gives up on any kind of relationship with Skye after she shoots him in the back.
* VillainsNeverLie: Deceive, perhaps, but never lie. This is why Skye agrees to come along as a hostage in "Ye Who Enter Here", because he kept his word that the Bus would be spared. [[HopeSpot Whitehall would have none of it, though, and orders Agent 33 to have the Bus blown out of the sky.]]
* WalkingSpoiler: His role in the plot changes constantly and so only the first few episodes with him can be safely talked about without spoilers for season wide arcs.
* WeUsedToBeFriends:
** His role in Season 2. Instead of [[CharacterDeath killing him off]] (as was originally planned) or otherwise [[PutOnABus writing him out of the series]], the writers chose to keep his character as part of the core cast, albeit in a slightly reduced capacity (so far, he's only been in every other episode). In practice, this means having him held prisoner on Playground base itself, so that S.H.I.E.L.D. can use him for inside information on HYDRA.
** While Coulson, May, Skye, and Fitz have all made it clear that the trope title very much applies to their feelings towards him, Ward insists that he genuinely regrets his actions and wants to help. They didn't buy it. Turns out their mistrust was justified as he uses their limited trust in him to insert Kara into their care so he can later kidnap Bobbi and brutally torture her. Though as revealed in "S.O.S." he was telling the truth about ''one'' thing, he misses being on a team. Just not Coulson's.
* WellDoneSonGuy: Though Garrett is his mentor instead of his father, the fierce devotion Ward shows him definitely gives off this vibe. In fact, his loyalty is exclusively towards Garrett and not towards either of S.H.I.E.L.D. OR HYDRA's ideologies. He says he always thought his and Garrett's association with HYDRA was only a means to find a way to heal Garrett's wounds and that they would go their own way once that objective was completed.
* WildCard: Ward becomes this after escaping from federal custody. First, he captures a well-known HYDRA member for S.H.I.E.L.D. and then, he goes back to HYDRA with the implication of working for S.H.I.E.L.D. while at the same time working against SHIELD. After the death of Daniel Whitehall in "What They Become", he and Agent 33 become complete wild cards, not even beholden to HYDRA either. Even when he takes over HYDRA, Ward remains something of an unpredictable element.
* WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds: His abusive childhood combined with Garrett's abuse made Ward the man he is today. Years later, it is accidentally killing Kara that turns Ward from an AntiVillain into a full-on BigBad.
* WouldHitAGirl: He's not above hitting women when the situation requires it, but only to the extent that is necessary. Averted with his vicious fight with May, where he attempts to use a Bench Saw on her, while taunting her about their previous sexual positions.
** In the Season 2 finale, he brutally tortures Bobbi (with the assistance of Kara) and when she tries to escape, beats her to a pulp and breaks her knee. Of course she's way more skilled than he is (and that's saying something), so it's an accomplishment for him.
** In the same episode, he shoots May right in the gut at point blank range. It ends up actually being his girlfriend Kara...
* WrongGenreSavvy: In Season 2, he seems to be trying to turn himself into TheAtoner, but he's an accomplished liar and also slightly unhinged, so it's hard to tell how sincere he is. He doesn't seem to get that he can't atone on his own terms, and he genuinely seems to think that Skye will eventually forgive him for killing a bunch of innocent people, betraying S.H.I.E.L.D., and mentally crippling Fitz if he tries really hard. Coulson eventually tells Ward that he'll never be forgiven for his various crimes and that the only reason they keep him around is for information.
* YouAreInCommandNow: At the end of Season 2, after all of HYDRA's heads have been cut off by S.H.I.E.L.D. and the Avengers, he takes over the dregs as the only person with any semblance of authority in the organization.

[[folder:Gideon Malick]]
!!''Gideon Malick''
[[quoteright:300:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/malick_gideon.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:300:''"Sometimes you sacrifice a player to save the game."'']]
->'''Portrayed By:''' Creator/PowersBoothe
->'''Appearances:''' ''Film/{{The Avengers|2012}}'', ''Series/AgentsOfSHIELD'' (first appears in ''[[Recap/AgentsOfSHIELDS3E6AmongUsHide Episode 50: "Among Us Hide..."]]'')

A former member of the World Security Council, ''Agents'' reveals that he's an old friend of Wolfgang von Strucker and one of the last remaining members of the old HYDRA.

* AscendedExtra: He previously appeared in ''Film/{{The Avengers|2012}}'' as an unnamed member of the World Security Council.
* BigBadDuumvirate: With Ward since they are the only heads of Hydra left in season 3. [[spoiler: After the mid-season finale, he officially takes over as the BigBad. It doesn't last, however; Hive has him killed in "The Team."]]
* BrokenPedestal: [[spoiler:He feels this way about Hive after he murders his daughter in front of him, even deciding that instead of resurrecting a god, he had freed the Devil incarnate.]]
* CommanderContrarian: To Nick Fury in ''The Avengers''. He was the Councilman that pushed Fury hardest to develop and use the "Phase Two" Tesseract-powered weaponry instead of the Avenger Initiative, and called Fury out on sending the Tesseract back to Asgard. Given his true allegiances, Malick's motives may have gone a little further than simple extremism.
* CruelAndUnusualDeath: [[spoiler:Under Hive's control, Daisy hits him with her earthquake power until he's literally shaken apart cell by cell. It is so nasty that when he saw a vision of it, he thought it was Hive's own work.]]
* DemotedToDragon: [[spoiler:Once Hive recovers and starts taking the initiative, Malick is reduced to being another lackey, albeit one with a lot of resources.]]
* DirtyCoward: [[spoiler:His father used a scored stone in the ritual to ensure he was never sent into the Monolith. When Gideon learned of this, he continued the tradition, and his brother - who also knew and thought that Gideon had tossed that stone into a lake - was the next person to be chosen]]. Sheds whole new light on him convincing Ward to go too.
* TheDreaded: Loeb said about him: "Gideon is incredibly menacing and in him we have a character that even the stone-cold Grant Ward would fear." Even the ''president'' is too afraid to act directly against him.
* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: At the end of "Parting Shot", he's shown to have a daughter who he appears to care very much about. [[spoiler: It's later revealed that he cares about his family - but if it means that '''he''' can survive, he'll sacrifice them anyway.]]
* EvenEvilHasStandards: He isn't pleased that Ward recruited Werner von Strucker before he was ready, and only sells Werner out because it's the pragmatic thing to do.
* EvilSoundsDeep: He speaks in a low, gravelly voice, courtesy of Powers Boothe.
* FalseFriend: Werner turns to him to try and gain protection from Ward's wrath. While Gideon assures Werner of his safety, he later arranges with Ward to hand over Werner as part of some greater deal.
* FictionFiveHundred: He's insanely wealthy thanks to business connections all over the world. [[spoiler:After his death, Hive was able to use Malick's wealth to buy out an entire ''town''.]]
* HonoraryUncle: Werner von Strucker says Gideon was nicer to him than his father ever was.
* ManipulativeBastard: Is so good at this that he convinces Grant Ward, a master manipulator himself, to go on a suicide mission for him.
* MoleInCharge: A HYDRA leader within the World Security Council, making him more powerful than Alexander Pierce himself. Also, [[spoiler:he helped found the ATCU and commands its Science Division by obfuscating Rosalind's oversight, using it to create Inhumans to further HYDRA's goals.]]
* NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast: "Malick" sounds an awful lot like "malice".
* NotSoStoic: Thanks to an Inhuman which can show visions of death through physical contact, Malick loses his cool for the first time in a while.
* OutlivingOnesOffspring: [[spoiler:Hive punishes Malick for his cowardice by murdering his daughter right in front of Malick.]]
* TheRemnant: The last of the old guard at HYDRA thanks to the actions of Team Coulson, the Avengers, and Grant Ward's New Hydra.
* VillainHasAPoint: [[spoiler:Coulson admits to Malick during the interrogation that he's right to believe that Hive is the devil, considering Coulson himself committed the sin that allowed him to return to Earth.]]
* VillainWithGoodPublicity: He was a member of the World Security Council as he was able to keep his alliance with HYDRA hidden a ''long'' time, to the point that not even Coulson or the Avengers knew his true colors until [[spoiler: he made the mistake of telling Rosalind about S.H.I.E.L.D.'s Tahiti program.]]

[[folder:Hive]]
!!Hive
[[quoteright:300:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/it_parasite_icon.png]]
[[caption-width-right:300:Hive in its parasite form]]
[[caption-width-right:300:[[labelnote:Click here]]http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/it_2_icon.png[[/labelnote]] to see Hive [[spoiler:possessing Will's body]]]]
[[caption-width-right:300:[[labelnote:Click here]]http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/it_3_icon.png[[/labelnote]] to see Hive [[spoiler:possessing Ward's body]]]]
->'''Appearances:''' ''Series/AgentsOfSHIELD''

An ancient and powerful Inhuman who was banished through the Monolith centuries ago. HYDRA was originally founded to engineer its return to Earth.

* AGodAmI: Mostly from the perspective of others (HYDRA was founded as a cult based around it, and Malick directly refers to Hive as a god), but Hive is suggested to have a similar view of itself, referring to making "a believer" out of Giyera. The demeanors of its swayed Inhumans is also disturbingly reminiscent of a cult.
* AchillesHeel: Hive can't use a living person for a host, only a dead body, and it can't use Inhumans. It also either can't or [[ApeShallNeverKillApe refuses to]] feed on other Inhumans. It can keep its hosts functioning long after decay but requires to feed on other humans to heal the host (and the host can be killed properly with fire).
* AdaptationalBadass: And ''how''. In the comics, Hive was just one of several HYDRA leaders introduced in ''ComicBook/SecretWarriors'' who was a genetically engineered parasite monster whose only power, beyond turning a random host into a tentacle monster, was controlling and assimilating people with PuppeteerParasite creatures it spawned (which needed special labs to grow) and bringing back a recently dead Viper as a HumanoidAbomination (which he only demonstrated once). Here, he's the ''founder'' of HYDRA's original form, an immortal Inhuman, who can effortlessly devour humans, control Inhumans, and is functionally un-killable. Not to mention, while in the comics Hive took ''years'' to completely control a host and couldn't speak in an understandable fashion, here, Hive gains control of his hosts pretty quickly and can speak perfectly fine using them.
* AdaptationDeviation: In the comics, Hive was a bio-engineered monstrosity created to demonstrate HYDRA's ideals. Here, not only is it an Inhuman, but [[spoiler:HYDRA was originally a cult worshiping it. Even their famous skull and tentacles symbol appears to be a reference to it]].
* AdaptationOriginConnection: In the comics, Hive is the result of a HYDRA lab experiment, not an Inhuman.
* AffablyEvil[=/=]FauxAffablyEvil: Hive's tone of voice is always polite, if [[CreepyMonotone unsettling]], especially when addressing it's fellow Inhumans. Whether this affability is genuine or not is ambiguous, due in no small part to Hive's [[HiveMind complex]] [[MindHive mental state]], emotionless demeanor, and fondness for psychological torture.
* AlienBlood: It bleeds some brownish ooze.
* AllThereInTheManual: It being the MCU version of Hive was revealed shortly to the premiere of Season 3B, but even early on in these first few episodes its name has still not been spoken InUniverse.
* AmbiguousGender: Since it's an Inhuman, it presumably had a gender at some point, but centuries and countless bodies later, such things don't apply to it any more.
* AncientConspiracy: "Many Heads, One Tale" reveals that the being on the other side of the portal is actually an ancient Inhuman that was banished from Earth millennia ago. A cult soon rose up bent on finding the creature and bringing it back, a cult that over time evolved into something we're already familiar with: HYDRA.
* ApeShallNeverKillApe: He refuses to let other Inhumans be killed, sparing Lincoln after Giyera managed to knock him out.
* AsskickingEqualsAuthority: By far the most powerful and threatening Inhuman seen, and the most dangerous HYDRA leader in the entirety of the MCU, which is befitting given he was made to control and lead the Inhumans and was HYDRA's founder and first leader.
* BigBad: Takes the position from Malick once he regains his full power.
* BlackCloak: In one form, it wears a long and tattered black cloak with a correspondingly dark and concealing hood.
* BodyHorror:
** While possessing [[spoiler:Will, it walked around with a gaping leg wound, and while possessing Ward, it was emaciated and corpse-like, still showing signs of the injuries that killed Ward. Once it consumes five humans, Hive manages to restore Ward's body to health.]]
** Hive's method of killing people is to use its own cells to break down their bodies and assimilate their organic material. This is all done ''very'' graphically.
* BodySurf: When one host body is damaged beyond usefulness, Hive transfers to a new one, though it apparently can only do this [[ParasiteZombie with hosts who are already dead]] and aren't Inhumans. The "blood sacrifices" of early HYDRA were meant to provide it with a steady flow of new bodies to inhabit.
* BrainwashedAndCrazy: Hive's spores can infect the brains of other Inhumans, causing them to devote themselves to him. It's described as being similar to a drug addiction, releasing dopamine to make the victim feel as if his presence fulfills a need. The process is theoretically reversible, as the spores don't cause any damage.
* CanonCharacterAllAlong: It is eventually revealed to be [[http://marvel.wikia.com/wiki/Hive_(Earth-616) Hive]].
* CapturedSuperEntity: Was imprisoned on a distant planet ''for a very good reason''.
* CompositeCharacter: His backstory of being the ruler of the Inhumans who was forced into exile by his people, while his existence was hidden from the present day Inhumans and his large number of other powers, seems to have been taken from The Unspoken, a very unrelated character. Perhaps with a dash of ComicBook/{{Apocalypse}} as well due to his Inhuman supremacist attitude.
* {{Cthulhumanoid}}: His true form, only seen from the back, has gray skin and Gorgon-like tentacles for hair.
* CreepyMonotone: After [[spoiler: it inhabits Grant Ward's body]].
* DishingOutDirt: On Maveth, it can summon sandstorms at will, and that's usually a sign that it's close by.
* TheDreaded: Everyone who isn't a HYDRA secret society true believer is scared shitless of this thing. It is stated that Jiaying was fully aware of his existence and did everything she could to keep him sealed up.
* EldritchAbomination: As an Inhuman, Hive must have been human at some point. Now, it's a worm-like parasite.
* {{Expy}}:
** Of [[CompositeCharacter two]] ''Series/{{Angel}}'' characters; a BigBad with plans of global domination that feeds on humans and brainwashes others into becoming his loyal and happy worshipers is similar to Jasmine , while his status as a God-like being long exiled from the Earth who has now returned by [[BodySurf possessing the body of one of the main characters]] brings to mind [[EldritchAbomination Illyria]].
** Hive being a worm-like parasite that uses bodies as hosts is similar to the antagonists of ''Film/TheHidden'' and ''Literature/{{Animorphs}}''.
** It is also a Marvel supervillain who is a millennia-old former human given godlike powers by aliens, including the ability to enslave others of his own kind. In short, it is similar to ComicBook/{{Apocalypse}}.
* FanDisservice: Often appears shirtless in its third host [[spoiler:Grant Ward]]. He retains some of his muscles, but is also visibly decaying. [[spoiler:After he's healed, he appears naked, but also covered in blood and ooze from five stripped skeletons.]]
* GreaterScopeVillain: Of Season 3 [[spoiler:until it escapes to Earth in the mid-season finale]], as well as for HYDRA as a whole. It was an ancient Inhuman banished long ago, and HYDRA has been worshiping this thing since it was founded.
* HiddenAgendaVillain: Even Malick admits he doesn't know what Hive actually has planned. Given what Hive did to the planet he was trapped on, it can hardly be good for humanity.
* HiveMind: The precise mechanics remain unclear, but when it infects Inhumans, it "brings them into the hive." They don't appear to be able to share detailed knowledge in either direction, but the Inhumans understand Hive's will and are devoted to it to an almost religious extent. [[spoiler:Daisy Johnson]] describes it as like having a piece that's always been missing finally filled, and slips into using the RoyalWe when excited. [[spoiler: According to Fitz and Simmons, it's more like a drug addiction, and its victims are controlled by being kept on a perpetual "high" and are open to suggestion]].
* HumanResources: Hive can heal its hosts by taking living tissue from other humans. [[spoiler:Ward's body is healed by [[StrippedToTheBone stripping five humans to skeletons.]]]] However, it adamantly refuses to feed on its fellow Inhumans, though whether this is lack of ability or simply personal preference isn't made clear.
* HumanoidAbomination: Once Hive latches on to a human host and regains it's strength, it demonstrates considerable, and quite horrifying power, with even its individual cells acting as an extension of its will.
* InsistentTerminology: Downplayed. While Hive is normally fine with being referred to as an Inhuman, when pressed it notes that it's technically a different type of creature, since it was a human directly modified by the Kree rather than a descendant like the others.
* InterrogatingTheDead: Hive assimilates the memories of its hosts. [[spoiler:It knew Fitz from possessing Will, and tracked down Malick in no time after taking over Ward.]]
* IWillPunishYourFriendForYourFailure: [[spoiler:For Malick's cowardice, he gives his daughter Stephanie the kiss of death, which horribly disfigures her face. Considering everyone else Hive killed in a similar manner was turned into bloody skeletons, she got off easy.]]
* KickTheDog: [[spoiler:Hive's idea of punishing Malick for his cowardice is to murder his daughter, Stephanie, right in front of Malick.]]
* KillAndReplace: It takes over the bodies of those it kills to impersonate them. How well this works seems to depend on how fresh the host is and its access to food, as it can't repair the bodies without a steady source of protein. An astronaut it used against Simmons and Will was ragged, likely from a decade of neglect, and when it took over [[spoiler:Will]] it couldn't do anything about a broken leg. [[spoiler:When it takes over Grant Ward's body, Hive manages to completely heal by taking the living tissue from five normal humans.]]
* KnightOfCerebus: Being the only EldritchAbomination in the series, this is a natch. Even when it's ''mentioned'', the mood gets noticeably darker, and most scenes that it appears in are accompanied by at least one form of BodyHorror.
* KnightTemplar: It describes it's mission as "creat[ing] the world Inhumans have always deserved".
* LongLostSibling: [[spoiler:A weird example. Since it's a MindHive of all its hosts, it is in some way all the sacrifices HYDRA sent through over the centuries--including Gideon Malick's brother, Nathaniel, who was sent through when Gideon rigged the lottery to save himself. Hive spends a good portion of "Paradise Lost" speaking as Nathaniel, even killing Gideon's daughter to teach Gideon the meaning of sacrifice]].
* MasterOfYourDomain: Once it has regained some strength, Hive demonstrates the ability to control its host's tissue for various purposes, releasing it as a cloud of individual cells. On other Inhumans, these cells infect the brain and make the Inhuman loyal to Hive above all else. With normal humans, it's to aid in feeding.
* MindHive: It contains all the memories and personalities of all its hosts, including the countless "Travelers" sent by HYDRA to feed it over the centuries. Normally, it maintains a distinct and calm personality, but it's unclear if that is Hive's original, "true" personality, or an aggregate of everyone it has absorbed.
* MonsterLord: It is one of the original Inhumans, hand-crafted by the Kree to lead their armies.
* NoNameGiven: As far as the season 3 midseason finale, "It" has not been named but is otherwise known as the dark Inhuman or just It. Promotional material released shortly before the beginning of season 3B identifies it as being the character "Hive", [[CanonCharacterAllAlong from the comics]]. In "Paradise Lost," an Inhuman researcher says it used to be called Alveus, Latin for Hive.
* NoSell: Lucio's power has no effect on him, though precisely why isn't made clear.
* NighInvulnerable: Hive is seemingly unaffected by bullets, since its hosts are already dead, and fire only forced it to find a new host.
* OneManArmy: The planet it was banished to was once populated with nine major cities. "It" reduced them to dust and desolated the planet by itself, though Hive implies that they destroyed themselves in a futile effort to kill it.
* PetTheDog: Insists that HYDRA doesn't kill [[ApeShallNeverKillApe any of his fellow Inhumans]] working with SHIELD.
* PhysicalGod: HYDRA worships it as a god, an opinion Hive itself does nothing to dissuade. [[spoiler:Malick]] eventually decides while it is a god, it was never one for humans, and it only cares about Inhumans.
* PronounTrouble: In addition to gender difficulties, it will sometimes alter the pronouns it uses for itself. Sometimes it says "I," sometimes "we," and sometimes it refers to its hosts as separate people while other times it speaks as them directly.
* PuppeteerParasite: Hive is actually a worm-like parasite that uses dead bodies as hosts.
* ReallySevenHundredYearsOld: Has existed and possessed its powers for ''centuries'', judging by the length of time that HYDRA and their predecessors have been trying (and failing) to return it to Earth.
* RoyalWe: Hive refers to itself as "we". Makes sense, considering it has its own memories plus the memories of its host (and possibly all of its previous hosts as well).
* {{Sadist}}: Hive is rather fond of psychological torture, and since it possesses the memories of every single person it has ever been a host for, it's capable of getting under the skin of a great many people. [[spoiler: Its treatment of Malick is particularly cruel. Hive manipulates him into committing his first hands-on murder, pretends to be his long-dead brother to mess with his head, and then finally brutally murders his daughter right in front of him for no good reason at all.]] Hive's particular method killing via its spores is also extremely painful, as they eat normal humans from the inside out.
* SanitySlippage: Induced this in Daniels' colleagues, causing their deaths one-by-one.
* SatanicArchetype: [[spoiler:After losing his daughter, Malick starts comparing him to Satan, and Coulson is all too ready to agree with him on that point. In fact Phil goes so far as to speculate the inverse--specifically, that ''Satan'' is an ''Alvean'' archetype.]]
* SealedEvilInACan: Trapped on an alien world, which HYDRA is seeking to reopen the portal to. [[spoiler:It escapes in the mid-season finale.]]
* TheStoic: Hive is always calm and collected.
* SuperPersistentPredator: The second your blood hits the air, Hive ''will'' start coming for you.
* SuperPrototype: Hive was one of the first Inhumans created by the Kree, and is, with little doubt, the most powerful.
* SuperpowerLottery: Most Inhumans have one power, Hive has several, very different and unusual abilities. Justified as the Inhumans, unlike mutants, are explicitly designed, and Hive was specifically designed to be the leader of the Inhumans and so his multiple powers are likely to ensure AsskickingEqualsAuthority.
* TakeOverTheWorld: Gideon Malick says Hive was destined to rule the world and that HYDRA was formed to be its army.
* WasOnceAMan: More than most Inhumans. They remain generally human shaped after Terrigenesis with just the occasional physical side effect, but Hive became a worm-like creature that inhabits the dead.
* WorfHadTheFlu: Centuries of being imprisoned have all but eliminated the supposedly vast power it once possessed. Fitz is able to disable its host with a flare gun, and it doesn't demonstrate itself to be any stronger than its host would be. Hive insists that, once it has regained its strength, it will prove that the stories about it are true. [[spoiler: He restores his strength by ''gorging'' on five humans.]]

[[folder:Stephanie]]
!!''Stephanie Malick''
->'''Portrayed By:''' Bethany Joy Lenz
->'''Appearances:''' ''Series/AgentsOfSHIELD'' (first appears in ''[[Recap/AgentsOfSHIELDS3E13PartingShot Episode 57: Parting Shot]]'')

Gideon Malick's daughter and heir and a member of HYDRA.

* BlondesAreEvil: She never does anything heinous on screen, but she's a member of HYDRA, where being a fascist power seeker is a requisite
* DaddysLittleVillain: She has been raised to be a HYDRA leader and shares her father's vision.
* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: Despite being a member of the aforementioned fascist cult, she genuinely cares about her father. That is until the [[spoiler: BrokenPedestal moment in which she chooses Hive over her father after the latter is exposed as a coward who cheated his way out of being sacrificed to Hive all his adult life.]]
* TheFundamentalist: Unlike her father, who cares more about power than the Hydra faith, she is a true believer in Hydra's role as servants of Hive and chooses the latter over her father.
* SacrificialLamb: She [[spoiler:is killed by Hive to punish Gideon for having betrayed his brother instead of being willing to be sacrificed to Hive.]]
* WeHardlyKnewYe: [[spoiler:She's killed in her second appearance.]]

!Agents & Operatives

[[folder:Agent 33]]
!!''Kara Lynn Palamas[=/=]Agent 33''
[[quoteright:300:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/agent_33_aos_2264.jpg]]
->'''Portrayed By:''' Maya Stojan, Ming-Na Wen
->'''Appearances:''' ''Series/AgentsOfSHIELD'' (first appears in '[[Recap/AgentsOfSHIELDS2E3MakingFriendsAndInfluencingPeople Episode 25: Making Friends And Influencing People]]'')

A former S.H.I.E.L.D. agent now brainwashed into serving HYDRA.
----
* AdaptationDyeJob: Her comics counterpart is a blonde.
* AlasPoorVillain: An honest SHIELD agent, brainwashed by HYDRA, manipulated by Ward into his loyal aide and lover, then killed by Ward when he mistakes her for May, leaving [[EvenEvilHasLovedOnes Ward grieving over her dead body.]]
* AloofDarkHairedGirl: Becomes this after being brainwashed into a HYDRA agent.
* BirdsOfAFeather: She and Ward are both very damaged people who (unlike Ward and Skye) more genuinely understand one another and can support each other emotionally. This leads to them developing a relationship.
* BrainwashedAndCrazy: Her entire introductory episode is spent getting conditioned by Whitehall, finally succumbing at the end.
* DarkActionGirl: After successfully being brainwashed.
* DesignatedGirlFight: Her most prominent on-screen fights have been with May, Skye and Bobbi. This is especially obvious since every other ActionGirl in the series, including the three she's fought, have all proven to be more than a match for the men, including [[DarkActionGirl Dark Action Girls]] like her who fight male heroes.
* DiscardAndDraw: The mask fused over her face has enough memory for three different faces. To mimic a new one, she must delete an old one.
* TheDragon: Becomes a replacement one for Whitehall after Bakshi is captured by S.H.I.E.L.D.. In the latter half of Season 2, becomes this to Grant Ward.
* ElectronicSpeechImpediment: One symptom of having her mask fused to her face.
* EvilCounterpart:
** To May, after using a hologram mask to impersonate her and getting stuck that way.
** She's also a {{Foil}} to May in that her loyalty to Whitehall is unquestioning and compelled by brainwashing, whereas May's loyalty to Coulson is based on a long friendship and history of shared service, and she's never afraid to argue with him. In fact, Coulson sees through Agent 33's impersonation of May in "Face My Enemy" because she is agreeing too readily with his orders to take his place if he goes off the deep end.
* EvilDuo: Became this with Whitehall near the end of the first half of Season 2 after Bakshi's capture. In the latter half of Season 2 becomes this with Grant Ward.
* FacialHorror: Getting a live wire to the face tends to leave scars. The nanomask is fused to her face with a horrific burn in the area the wire destroyed. She eventually gets the mask fixed, but the burn is still there, as shown when she deactivates it.
* FamousLastWords: "Baby..."
* HazyFeelTurn: After Whitehall's death, she's left completely lost about what to do next with her life, and teams up with AmbiguouslyEvil Ward simply for a lack of other options.
* LadyAndKnight: She becomes Ward's Bright Lady after he is rejected (read: shot in the back) by Skye. After Whitehall's death she's like a wounded dove that inspires him towards a new purpose; helping her.
* LossOfIdentity: After Whitehall's death, she all but loses herself, but with Ward's help, Kara manages to reclaim her old identity.
* MyMasterRightOrWrong: Her brainwashing made her an agent of Whitehall, not HYDRA. She is dismayed by his death and doesn't know what to do with herself.
* NotSoDifferent: With Ward. Both were SHIELD agents that defected to HYDRA; only Kara didn't have a choice and Ward was technically a HYDRA agent first. Both have superiors with undying loyalty (though Ward was more loyal to John Garrett than HYDRA), with their deaths they didn't know what to do. Both have a grudge against someone in SHIELD: Coulson and/or May for Ward, Bobbi for Kara.
* RaceLift: White in the comics, Hispanic here. Thanks to the mask permanently fused to her face, now appears Asian. Until the mask is repaired, enabling her to resemble her true appearance again even if it can't ever be removed for real.
* RedemptionRejection: She pretends to stay with SHIELD for psychological recovery at Ward's urging, but it's all a ploy to exact vengeance on Bobbi. This bloodlust leads to her own accidental death at Ward's hands.
* ShapeshifterModeLock: Being electrically shocked while disguised as May fuses the mask to her face, along with giving her a horrible burn on her left eye that makes the disguise useless. She eventually gets it fixed, but the mask is still stuck to her. She can now shift at will, but can only keep three faces in memory. In order to gain any other identities, she has to give one up. However, she can also deactivate the mask and have her original (though still scarred) face. By the time of "The Frenemy of my Enemy", she's able to contact her mother and get a photo of herself pre-scarred, allowing her to have her own face without the damage.
* SatelliteCharacter; Deconstructed. While her entire life revolves around helping Ward... this is because she is completely, utterly insane, and has lost her own psyche. She also does have her own wants and needs, making it more co-dependence.
* StuffedIntoTheFridge: [[spoiler: Dies in the Season Two finale, cementing Ward's turn to a full, true villain, and head of Hydra.]]
* TragicMonster: As she points out, Whitehall wiped away whoever she was. Essentially, Kara Palamas is dead. She is ''[[TenderTears very]]'' relieved when she is able to reclaim her old name, and as of "The Frenemy of My Enemy" she prefers to be called Kara again. It didn't remove her hatred against Bobbi for her betrayal.
* VengeanceFeelsEmpty: Averted. She had Bobbi at gunpoint, but realizes she's not afraid to die and has no remorse for betraying Kara. Shooting her then and there won't give her closure. So Ward decided to try something else.
* YouAreNumberSix: Initially referred to by her S.H.I.E.L.D. callsign and with no name given. She's eventually revealed to be Kara Palamas, an obscure character from the ''Hercules'' comics.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Kenneth Turgeon]]
!!''Kenneth Turgeon''
[[quoteright:300:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/kenneth_turgeon_aos_9976.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:300:''"The higher you go, the scarier it is."'']]
->'''Portrayed By:''' Adam Kulbersh
->'''Appearances:''' ''Series/AgentsOfSHIELD'' (first appears in ''[[Recap/AgentsOfSHIELDS2E3MakingFriendsAndInfluencingPeople Episode 25: Making Friends And Influencing People]]'')

-->''"The time tables have moved up, and I have been called upstairs to fill them in. No prep time, no powerpoint, just me, pants around my ankles, talking out of my butt."''

A HYDRA scientist and supervisor.
----
* AffablyEvil: Sure, he works in an evil organization bent on world domination and killing a ton of people, but he's extremely friendly about it.
* BenevolentBoss: He tries to keep Simmons from moving up in HYDRA because it's more dangerous the higher you go.
* CanonForeigner: He has no direct comic counterpart.
* FrameUp: He gets framed as S.H.I.E.L.D.'s mole in HYDRA by Simmons.
* OmnicidalManiac: Despite being pretty affable, he's very excited about the prospect of HYDRA gaining the ability to kill millions using the Obelisk.
-->'''Simmons:''' Do you have any idea what this means? We could kill millions of people, perhaps even billions.\\
'''Turgeon:''' Pretty awesome, huh?
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Marcus Scarlotti]]
!!''Marcus Scarlotti''
->'''Portrayed By:''' Falk Hentschel
->'''Appearances:''' ''Series/AgentsOfSHIELD'' (first appears in ''[[Recap/AgentsOfSHIELDS2E6FracturedHouse Episode 28: A Fractured House]]'')

A mercenary and HYDRA operative hired to frame S.H.I.E.L.D. for attacking the United Nations and to eliminate S.H.I.E.L.D. agents.
----
* AdaptationNameChange: His first name is "Marco" in the comics.
* BondOneLiner: When Agent Walters is KilledMidSentence by one of his splinter bombs, Scarlotti responds with "You were saying?"
* FalseFlagOperation: He leads a HYDRA attack on the UN while claiming to be S.H.I.E.L.D. in order to turn the world's militaries on them. He and his team take out six S.H.I.E.L.D. agents with ease.
* KnifeNut: He has a wicked looking combat knife, as well as a knife-and-chain weapon.
* MythologyGag: He pulls out a knife-and-chain to fight May in the safehouse. Scarlotti is the first Whiplash in the comics, though his weapons were closer to Vanko's Whiplash suits in ''Film/IronMan2''.
* OffscreenMomentOfAwesome: Bobbi Morse mentions that Scarlotti almost killed Clint Barton, aka Hawkeye, a few years ago.
* RaceLift: He's American in the comics. Here, he's likely a German, since his actor is German. This may also be why his name is changed.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Toshiro Mori]]
!!''Toshiro Mori''
[[quoteright:300:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mori_toshiro.jpg]]
->'''Portrayed By:''' Creator/BrianTee
->'''Appearances:''' ''Series/AgentsOfSHIELD'' (first appears in ''[[Recap/AgentsOfSHIELDS2E6FracturedHouse Episode 28: A Fractured House]]'')

A Japanese engineer and weapons designer for HYDRA.
----
* AManOfWealthAndTaste: He sure loves his fine tea.
* AffablyEvil: Quite pleasant for a weapons designer.
* BeardOfEvil: A short croppled goatee and mustache; classic villain facial hair.
* CanonForeigner:He has no direct comic counterpart.
* EvilGenius: As the builder of the Splinter Bombs.
* SharpDressedMan: Wearing a black shirt and suit.
* TooDumbToLive: He just had to try and kill the agents who had just taken out most of his guards. In response, they kill him as an afterthought.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Julien Beckers]]
!!''Julien Beckers''
->'''Portrayed By:''' Michael Enright
->'''Appearances:''' ''Series/AgentsOfSHIELD'' (first appears in ''[[Recap/AgentsOfSHIELDS2E6FracturedHouse Episode 28: A Fractured House]]'')

The Belgian Minister of Foreign Affairs and a member of HYDRA
----
* BitchInSheepsClothing: Pretending to be a defender of civil liberties to get fugitive agents of the then outlawed S.H.I.E.L.D. to fall in HYDRA's trap.
* CorruptPolitician: He's a minister who works for HYDRA.
* GenerationXerox: His grandfather is a HYDRA scientist during UsefulNotes/WorldWarII.
* TheMole: Within the Belgian government
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Kebo]]
!!''Kebo''
[[quoteright:300:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/kebo_aos.jpg]]
->'''Portrayed By:''' Daz Crawford
->'''Appearances:''' ''Series/AgentsOfSHIELD'' (first appears in ''[[Recap/AgentsOfSHIELDS2E22SOSPart2 Episode 44: S.O.S. Part 2]]'')

A member of Ward's new HYDRA cell.
----
* BaldOfEvil: Not a hair on this HYDRA operative's head.
* TheDragon: He serves as Ward's second-in-command.
* ElectrifiedBathtub: He managed to match and nearly kill Bobbi in a straight fight, but Bobbi defeated him by using her electrified escrima sticks while he's trying to get out of a swimming pool the two had previously been fighting in.
* EvilBrit: Speaks in a noticeable British accent.
* LastEpisodeNewCharacter: Shows up in a single scene right at the end of Season 2, when Ward decides to take over HYDRA.
* MouthOfSauron: He acts as Ward's voice when dealing with new recruits before they get to meet Ward.
* MuggingTheMonster: Is assigned to torture Werner von Strucker, who [[CurbStompBattle beats him easily]] once he starts fighting back.
* NumberTwo: He's constantly at Ward's side throughout his introductory episode and Ward entrusts him with tasks such as torturing/evaluating for leadership Werner.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Werner von Strucker]]
!!''Werner von Strucker''
[[quoteright:300:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/werner_von_strucker_aos.jpg]]
->'''Portrayed By:''' Spencer Treat Clark
->'''Appearances:''' ''Series/AgentsOfSHIELD'' (first appears in ''[[Recap/AgentsOfSHIELDS3E2PurposeInTheMachine Episode 46: Purpose In The Machine]]'')

The son of Wolfgang von Strucker.
----
* BlondGuysAreEvil: A blond member of HYDRA and a murderer.
* HeKnowsTooMuch: After he fails to kill Andrew, Ward puts a hit on him.
* MadeOfIron: An extended torture session only made him a little bloody in mouth.
* NervesOfSteel: He endured an extended period of torture from Kebo without cracking. Afterward, Ward tells him that he was hoping the torture would bring out or develop this trope in him.
* NewMeat: After he blows his first assignment of killing Andrew, Malick chides Ward for giving him such an important assignment off the bat.
* NotQuiteDead: He's stabbed in the gut and left in a comatose state. [[spoiler:Coulson brings him out of said state and used the Theta Brain-Wave Frequency Machine to access Werner's memories make him remember certain things about Gideon Malick.]]
* OverlordJr: Played with a little. Werner's father Wolfgang was one of HYDRA's major heads, but he mostly kept his business separate from his son's life. It was only until after [[spoiler: Wolfgang is killed by Ultron]] that Ward properly brought him into the HYDRA fold.
* RichIdiotWithNoDayJob: Until Ward came along, he just loafed around spending his father's money, but finds his inner strength while getting tortured.
* UnexpectedCharacter: In the comics, Werner is heavily overshadowed by his siblings, the Fenris twins. Here he's become TheApprentice for Grant Ward.
* YouHaveFailedMe: Ward orders a hit on Werner for failing to kill Andrew.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Giyera]]
!!''R. Giyera''
[[quoteright:300:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/giyera_icon.png]]
->'''Portrayed By:''' Mark Dacascos
->'''Appearances:''' ''Series/AgentsOfSHIELD'' (first appears in ''[[Recap/AgentsOfSHIELDS3E8ManyHeadsOneTale Episode 52: Many Heads, One Tale]]'')

An Inhuman serving Gideon Malick. He's head of security of Endotex Labs, a front of the ATCU Science Division, which Mallick controls.
----
* BadassInANiceSuit: Wears a suit and is capable of holding his own in a fight against badass Bobbi Morse.
* TheBrute: He's the most physically imposing of of Mallick's operatives. He leads the ATCU mooks in Endotex Labs a head of security.
* EmpoweredBadassNormal: He was formerly in special ops before becoming Inhuman, and is good enough to fight ''May'' equally.
* EvenEvilHasStandards: Is visibly horrified at hearing [[spoiler: the dying screams of five innocent people that Hive kills to restore its host body.]]
* FreezeFrameBonus: His ATCU profile shows he used to be in the Marine Corps.
* MindOverMatter: His power is telekinesis, but he can only affect non-organic matter.
* NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast: You probably don't want to mess with someone whose surname is the Filipino term for "war."
* NotSoStoic: He always maintains a cool and collected presence, but when he starts interacting with the Inhuman Hive, [[spoiler:who was at that point possessing the deceased body of Grant Ward]], he was notably perplexed to how to interact an Inhuman like Hive.
* OneManArmy: In "Paradise Lost", he's able to [[spoiler:seize the ''Zephyr'']] all by himself. Note that [[spoiler:most of the main cast is aboard at the time]].
* TortureTechnician: Ward has him torture [[spoiler:Simmons]]. Giyera starts with [[NoodleImplements a wrench and a hammer]].
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Lucio]]
!!Lucio
[[quoteright:300:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/lucio.JPG]]
->'''Portrayed by:''' Gabriel Salvador
->'''Appearances:''' ''Series/AgentsOfSHIELD''

An Inhuman working for the corrupt National Police of Colombia, who can induce a temporary paralysis in others with his gaze. Is kidnapped by HYDRA and becomes one of the two Inhumans tasked with guarding Hive.
----
* AllThereInTheManual: He is not named in his debut episode, but the character's name can be found in the episode's credits.
* BaldOfEvil: A corrupt cop with not a shred of hair on his head.
* BeardOfEvil: He has a thick, bushy beard.
* DeadlyGaze: He can induce paralysis in others with his gaze.
* ChekhovsGunman: He's just a standard Dragon once Hive takes control of him. [[spoiler: After he is killed by Joey, Simmons is able to to learn quite a bit about Hive and how he infects people after studying his infected brain. This becomes quite crucial after Daisy is infected in learning how to free her.]]
* DirtyCop: He works for the highly corrupt National Police of Colombia.
* TheDragon: To Victor Ramon.
* EvenEvilHasStandards: He objects to Hive [[spoiler:slaughtering five innocent people to repair Ward's body]].
* {{Expy}}: His power to paralyse people with his eyes, and needing to cover them up to not do so constantly, may remind fans of the ''Secret Warriors'' of Gorgon, the HYDRA leader resurrected near the beginning of the series with the same power (albeit, Lucio's power is temporary, while Gorgon's turned them into permanent statues).
* FacialHorror: Has some pretty horrific scarring around his eyes after Joey melted his sunglasses to his face.
* ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice: [[spoiler:Stabbed and killed by Joey with a partially-melted pipe to save Lincoln.]]
* NoNameGiven: He's not named in his debut episode, but Bobbi refers to him as "Medusa-Eyes".
* SinisterShades: Which conceal his DeadlyGaze.
[[/folder]]

-->''"Freedom. Equality. Individual rights. These principles make mankind a plague on this planet. Think of a forest. It dries up and catches fire with the first spark. Now, mankind would fight that fire, believing every individual plant perfect in its own individual way. But it's the fire that's perfect."''

* WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds: His abusive childhood combined with Garrett's abuse made Ward the man he is today. Years later, it's accidentally killing Kara that turns Ward from an AntiVillain into a full-on BigBad.

* CruelAndUnusualDeath: [[spoiler:Under Hive's control, Daisy hits him with her earthquake power until he's literally shaken apart cell by cell. It's so nasty that when he saw a vision of it, he thought it was Hive's own work.]]

* AGodAmI: Mostly from the perspective of others (HYDRA was founded as a cult based around it, and Malick directly refers to Hive as a god), but Hive is suggested to have a similar view of itself, referring to making "a believer" out of Giyera. The demeanors of it's swayed Inhumans is also disturbingly reminiscent of a cult.

* CommanderContrarian: To Nick Fury in ''The Avengers''. He was the Councilman that pushed Fury hardest to develop and use the "Phase Two" Tesseract-powered weaponry instead of the Avenger Initiative, and called Fury out on sending the Tesseract back to Asgard.

* FictionFiveHundred: He's insanely wealthy thanks to business connections all over the world.

* OneManArmy: The planet it was banished to was once populated with nine major cities. "It" reduced them to dust and desolated the planet by itself, though Hive implies that they destroyed themselves in a futile effort to kill it.

* WhiteHairBlackHeart: He's a sadistic H.Y.D.R.A. scientist with white hair. It doesn't appear to be age-related either, as he still has it even as a middle-aged man during 1945.