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Main Character Index > Other Individuals and Organizations > Government & Military > United States Government (United States Military | John Walker | Thaddeus Ross) | Wakanda Government & Military (T'Challa)

Spoilers for all works set prior to the end of Avengers: Endgame are unmarked.

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United States of America

White House

    President Matthew Ellis 

President Matthew Ellis

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/presidentellis.png
"You elected me on a single platform: I will defend this country at all cost."

Species: Human

Citizenship: American

Portrayed By: William Sadler

Voiced By: Jorge Badillo (Latin-American Spanish dub)

Appearances: Iron Man 3 | Captain America: The Winter Soldier note  | Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

The President of the United States pre-Snap. As part of his personal vow of protecting America from all threats, President Ellis decides to take a proactive approach in dealing with the Mandarin and the Ten Rings organization, particularly with the Iron Patriot concept. During the emergence of Inhumans, he allies with Phil Coulson's underground S.H.I.E.L.D., providing them secret support.


  • Alternate History: As if the superheroes weren't enough, his presence further confirms the divergence of the MCU from real history, since Barack Obama was the real-life US President when Iron Man 3 was released.
  • Celebrity Paradox: The Die Hard films exists in the MCU, due to being referenced by Ant-Man in Avengers: Endgame, yet his actor had played the Big Bad Colonel Stuart in Die Hard 2.
  • Continuity Snarl: Ellis has been portrayed as president in both December 2012 (Iron Man 3) and May 2016 (Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.), implying that he won both the 2008 and 2012 elections. At the same time, Barack Obama (the real-life winner of those elections) has been referenced repeatedly in the MCU (Luke Cage and Runaways) as though he was president. Assuming the MCU presidency runs under the same rules and time-tables as the real life presidency and there have been no succession crises, Ellis' and Obama's terms are incompatible, unless MCU Obama was elected to an earlier term than real life, or Ellis only won in 2012 and was inaugurated a month earlier than is the norm.
  • Defiant to the End: Even when threatened by Savin (while impersonating Iron Patriot), Ellis doesn't cower and instead tries to pull a gun in the face of his situation.
  • Distressed Dude: In Iron Man 3, he is abducted by Aldrich Killian.
  • The Ghost: Although he is seen on video for Cap's exhibit in the Smithsonian Institution, he is still unseen in Captain America: The Winter Soldier when HYDRA targets him and others during Project Insight.
  • Hoist by His Own Petard: What Killian tries to invoke by having the President die in the Iron Patriot suit of armor that the President commissioned for Rhodes while set on fire by oil.
  • Horrible Judge of Character: The man he chose as his Vice-Presidential running mate joined a conspiracy to assassinate him, and he made "Thunderbolt" Ross of all people into Secretary of State.
  • The Leader: He's the leader of the USA. Based on what we see of him, he cuts a charismatic type figure.
  • Our Presidents Are Different:
    • He's President Personable, who later becomes President Target by Killian. Likely would have become President Action given he was wearing the Iron Patriot armor, but never got a chance to use it.
    • Becomes President Target again when HYDRA starts Project Insight.
  • Puppet King: Subverted. Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. at first implies that he is this to Rosalind Price, but it turns out they were simply friends.
  • Reasonable Authority Figure: President Ellis allows Coulson to continue his work with the Inhumans even though he can't officially support him. In fact, he's a reasonable enough leader that he was seen as a threat to HYDRA, who listed him as a target for Project Insight.
  • Tuckerization: His name is a Shout-Out to Warren Ellis, who wrote the Extremis arc that Iron Man 3 takes inspiration from.

    Vice President Rodriguez 

Vice President Rodriguez

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/vicepresidentrodriguez.png

Species: Human

Citizenship: American

Portrayed By: Miguel Ferrer

Voiced By: Guillermo Coria (Latin-American Spanish dub)

Appearances: Iron Man 3

The Vice President of the United States. Rhodey and Stark hear him mentioned in Killian's evil plan, and call Rodriguez to warn him that he's a target. However, it turns out Rodriguez is actually not just in on the plot, but Killian has bankrolled him into providing assistance.


  • Bald of Evil: Once his true colors are revealed, that bald dome marks a contrast.
  • The Dragon: Once he becomes President, he'll still technically answer to Killian, making him the real leader.
  • Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Working to use Extremis to have his daughter's leg regenerated.
  • Number Two: He was the second in command of the United States, before he was arrested.
  • President Evil: He's working with Killian to kill the president, in order to have his daughter's leg regenerated.
  • Traitor Shot: Once he was finished talking with Rhodes and Stark, another man asked if something was wrong, leading to the above tropes.
  • 25th Amendment: He was to ascend to the office of president once Killian had killed Ellis.
  • Walking Spoiler: There's really no way to talk about him without spoiling his morality, since he only made one brief appearance before that particular reveal.

    President Franklin Delano Roosevelt 

President Franklin Delano Roosevelt

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/unnamed_20_4.jpg

Species: Human

Citizenship: American

Portrayed By: Himself (Archive footage, Captain America: The Winter Soldier), Joseph Culp (Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.)

Appearances: Captain America: The Winter Soldier | Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

The 32nd President of the United States, who served as president from 1933 until his death in 1945, and whose administration founded the S.S.R., the predecessor to S.H.I.E.L.D. He is encountered by time-travelling S.H.I.E.L.D. agents in 1931, while he was still Governor of New York.


  • Adapted Out: In the comics, FDR personally presented Steve Rogers/Captain America with his iconic shield. In the MCU that role was taken by Howard Stark and there's no indication that Steve ever met Roosevelt.
  • Hiding the Handicap: Coulson draws attention to Roosevelt's use of a cane and leg braces to hide his polio, which was not public knowledge at the time.
  • Historical Domain Character: Based on the real FDR, with the episode he appears in throwing out a bunch of facts regarding his presidency. The only real difference is his forming of the S.S.R., which doesn't exist in real life. Prior to his appearance in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., he was also reference a few times in the Captain America movies, with The Winter Soldier featuring archival footage of him alongside Churchill and Stalin.
  • Red Herring: When S.H.I.E.L.D. learns the Chronicoms are looking to infiltrate an event in honor of Governor Roosevelt, they immediately assume that Roosevelt is their target, to prevent him from forming the S.S.R. and in turn S.H.I.E.L.D. Turns out that it wasn't Roosevelt they were after, but bartender Wilfred "Freddy" Malick, who would go on to be a prominent figure in HYDRA and was at the time tasked with delivering an early prototype of the Super Soldier Serum that would create the Red Skull. With him and the serum erased from history, HYDRA wouldn't become a threat, eliminating the need for the S.S.R..

    President Ritson 

President Ritson

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/president_ritson.png
"There's only one way this ends."

Species: Human

Citizenship: American

Portrayed By: Dermot Mulroney

Appearances: Black Panther: Wakanda Forevernote  | Secret Invasion

The current President of the United States after the Blip.


  • Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: For most of Secret Invasion, he seemed perfectly reasonable and pleasant, if a bit too naive and dim for someone of his position. Come the aftermath of Gravik's plan being foiled, he ruthlessly orders the extermination of the Skrull race on public broadcast and incites a wave of chaos and violence, even against innocent humans. Even when a furious Fury chews him out on this, Ritson angrily refuses to show any remorse.
  • Chekhov's Gunman: He was previously identified as the president in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, before making a proper appearance in Secret Invasion.
  • Hate Sink: The finale of Secret Invasion cements him as this, becoming an Absolute Xenophobe who encourages vigilante violence against aliens. When Nick Fury points out that his actions resulted in innocent humans getting killed on misplaced suspicions, he shows absolutely no remorse for it and basically tells Fury to shove it.
  • It's All About Me: Subtly, but in his call with Nick Fury after his broadcast, he tells Fury regarding the Skrulls to "get them off my planet" instead of "our planet."
  • Jumping Off the Slippery Slope: Basically his character arc; he goes from a relatively Reasonable Authority Figure caught unaware of the Skrulls' gradual infiltration of the globe to an Absolute Xenophobe by the end of the series, ordering open extermination of any extraterrestrial life found on Earth.
  • Karma Houdini: Doesn't face any consequences for his bigoted, xenophobic actions in the course of Secret Invasion, although Nick Fury warns him over a phone call that it amounts to "one-term president stuff". Whether or not this foreshadows some future Karma Houdini Warranty is yet to be seen.
  • Our Presidents Are Different:
    • Initially of the President Target type, as Gravik and his rebel Skrulls take aim at Ritson in an effort to start a world war between the USA and Russia. Fortunately, Nick Fury and Talos are able to save his life.
    • Later transitions into a President Jerkass and a borderline President Evil, when he goes Jumping Off the Slippery Slope to incite even regular civilians to murder suspected Skrulls on sight.
  • President Evil: In the aftermath of Gravik's attempts to start a nuclear war, Ritson on live television declares a Final Solution on the Skrull race, not even caring that a Skrull saved his ass.
  • Shut Up, Kirk!: Following Ritson's Absolute Xenophobe speech, an angry Fury confronts him for inciting violence as it resulted numerous deaths of innocent Skrulls and humans by extremists around the world. However, Ritson doubles down on his decision and insults Fury for his sympathy towards the Skrulls.
    Fury: (angrily) You took a BAD situation and made it worse! That's real "one-term president stuff"! We have to act now for the hit squads that you've inspired to kill off the Skrulls who still want to help us! Now you've got dumbass vigilantes killing innocent humans too, when they're not getting killed themselves. Call off your war!
    Ritson: Give me a break! There's only one way this ends. The old Nick Fury would have known that. And if you truly care about the Skrulls... get 'em off my planet!
  • Sucksessor: While President Ellis had some flaws as a leader, he was ultimately a Reasonable Authority Figure when it came to times of crisis. Ritson, on the other hand, proves to be a President Evil who, as Fury points out, makes bad situations even worse with his decisions.
  • Took a Level in Jerkass: He goes from being a generally Reasonable Authority Figure early in Secret Invasion to an Absolute Xenophobe by the end, ordering even regular citizens to Leave No Survivors when they find Skrulls in their midst. As could be predicted, this leads to a wave of paranoid vigilante violence, with more than a few genuine humans caught in the crossfire when some trigger-happy person thought they were a Skrull imposter, up to and including the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
  • Ungrateful Bastard: After he recovers in the hospital, Ritson orders the military and citizens of the U.S. to kill any Skrull they come across, ignoring the fact that some of them helped save his life (and at the cost of their own, like Talos).
  • War Hawk: Even before the Skrull crisis, he was indicated to be an aggressive man eager to go to war with perceived threats if he could help it. In Wakanda Forever, the Secretary of State states that Ritson is pushing for military action against Wakanda when they appear to be culpable for Talokan's actions and after the chaos caused during the abduction of Shuri and Riri. The Skrull crisis only makes him worse.

Department of State

    Thaddeus "Thunderbolt" Ross 

    Miriam Sharpe 

Miriam Sharpe

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/miriam_sharpe_5.png
"They say there's a correlation between generosity and guilt. But if you've got the money... break as many eggs as you like, right?"

Species: Human

Citizenship: American

Portrayed By: Alfre Woodard

Voiced By: Rebeca Patiño (Latin-American Spanish dub)

Appearances: Captain America: Civil War

"You think you fight for us? You just fight for yourself. Who's going to avenge my son, Stark? He's dead. And I blame you."

A woman who works in human resources at the State Department and the mother of Charlie Spencer, who was killed in the Battle of Sokovia.


  • Age Lift: The comics version of Miriam Sharpe is much younger, being the mother of a young boy instead of a college student.
  • Identical Stranger: An unintentional case, given Alfre Woodard later would appear in Luke Cage as Mariah Dillard.
  • Outliving One's Offspring: Her son Charlie died in the Battle of Sokovia when he was crushed by a collapsing building, leading Mirian to blame the Avengers, particularly Tony Stark, for his untimely death.
  • Race Lift: The comics version of Miriam is Caucasian.
  • "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Gives one to Iron Man, whom she blames, along with the rest of the Avengers, for the death of her only son.
  • Small Role, Big Impact: She is considered the film's One-Scene Wonder not just of her actress' performance, but also how her encounter and blaming Tony motivated him to side with the Accords and proactively take part in Civil War.
  • What Happened to the Mouse?: She has not been seen since Civil War and her reaction to Tony's Heroic Sacrifice in Endgame remains unknown.

Congress

Senate

    Senator Stern 

Senator Stern

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/senatorstern_3.png
"Ooh, sorry... funny how annoying a little prick can be, isn't it?"

Species: Human

Citizenship: American

Portrayed By: Garry Shandling

Voiced By: Humberto Vélez (Latin-American Spanish dub)

Appearances: Iron Man 2 | Captain America: The Winter Soldier

"My priority is to get the Iron Man weapon turned over to the people of the United States of America."

A United States Senator from Pennsylvania who tries unsuccessfully to get Tony Stark to provide Iron Man suits for the military. He makes a cameo appearance in Captain America: The Winter Soldier.


  • Canon Foreigner: Was created specifically for Iron Man 2, and thus has no comic book equivalent.
  • Cerebus Callback: His appearance in Iron Man 2 becomes one after the events of Captain America: The Winter Soldier. It is entirely possible that the reason why the government wanted Tony's Iron Man armor was because of Stern's allegiance to HYDRA.
  • Corrupt Politician: He's an undercover HYDRA member.
  • Dirty Old Man: When speaking to Sitwell in The Winter Soldier, he mentions a constituent he works with, describing her as "really hot, wants to be a reporter, but who listens by that point?"
  • Expy: He bears a lot of similarity to Senator Harrington Byrd, a character from the early Iron Man books who would constantly be calling for Stark Enterprises to hand the Iron Man tech over to the US Gov't and was generally obnoxious to Tony Stark. That being said, Byrd was ultimately harmless and uninvolved with any evil organizations like HYDRA.
  • Insistent Terminology: Always refers to Stark's armor as a "weapon".
  • Jerkass Has a Point: While he's a jerk about it, it's hard to argue that he's wrong to be worried about leaving technology as sophisticated and dangerous as the Iron Man suits in the hands of a Manchild like Tony Stark. Granted, he probably wanted to hand it over to HYDRA for their goals, but that doesn't actually disprove his point. The biggest argument against it is that Tony is basically the only one who really understands it and the fact that there isn't a higher intelligence around yet to judge them as more reliable than him.
  • The Mole: He's one for HYDRA within the United States Congress, until he gets discovered and arrested.
  • Names to Run Away from Really Fast: The name "Stern" should make it pretty clear that he's not a nice person.
  • No Party Given: We never learn if he's Republican, Democrat, or an independent. His real allegiance turns out to be HYDRA.
  • Obstructive Bureaucrat: He's a Senator who tries forcing Tony Stark back into weapons contracting.
  • One-Steve Limit: Sterns shares his name with Samuel Sterns, the scientist who helped cure the Hulk and would subsequently become The Leader. It's unlikely the two are connected outside of that though.
  • Precision F-Strike: After Stern is thoroughly humiliated during Tony Stark's senate hearing, he can do little else but let out a spiteful "Fuck you, Mr. Stark!" (on live television no less!).
  • Properly Paranoid: Stern feels the suits should be granted to the US so they can defend against enemy ones, but Tony assures him that there's no danger of rival armor suits to counter his, and that all attempts are decades behind. However, Ivan Vanko soon arrives to provide some doubts about that. Downplayed since, as a member of HYDRA, Stern is an enemy himself all along.
  • Put on a Prison Bus: Stern is last seen getting arrested towards the end of the film. Considering that his actor died two years after the movie's release, we can safely assume that this is the last live-action appearance of the character in the franchise.
  • Shout-Out: His name is a reference to Howard Stern, who heavily promoted the first Iron Man film on his radio show, even interviewing director and casual friend Jon Favreau.
  • Stealth Insult: To Tony: "Funny how annoying a little prick can be."

    Senator Atwood 

Senator L. Atwood

Species: Human

Citizenship: American

Portrayed By: Rebecca Lines

Appearances: The Falcon and the Winter Soldier

A long-time HYDRA collaborator installed thanks to the Winter Soldier's assassinations.


  • Corrupt Politician: Even after the fall of HYDRA she's still abusing her power and resorting to intimidation and assassination to maintain her power and achieve her goals.
  • Karma Houdini: Invoked. She avoided getting exposed after the fall of HYDRA and has remained in office for years until Bucky exposes her to the authorities.
  • Karma Houdini Warranty: Finally gets her comeuppance 9 years after HYDRA fell when Bucky leaks evidence of her corruption to the authorities.

    Senator Boynton 

Senator Boynton

Species: Human

Citizenship: American

Portrayed By: James Eckhouse

Voiced By: Germán Fabregat (Latin-American Spanish dub)

Appearances: The Avengers

A United States Senator at the time of the Chitauri attack on New York.


    Senator Christian Ward 

Senator Christian Ward

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/senatorward.png
"When evil sits to one's own heart, that is when the surest hand must cut it out."

Species: Human

Citizenship: American

Portrayed By: Tim DeKay, Alex Neustaedter (young)

Appearances: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

Grant Ward's abusive older brother, who has become a U.S. Senator.


  • Ambiguously Evil: According to Christian, Grant's stories about him being abusive are all lies, and that Grant himself is the insane one who abused their youngest brother under the delusion that Christian was forcing him to do so. Flashbacks have been shown to Christian's abuse but only from Ward's perspective, possibly indicating a dose of Unreliable Narrator; however, it was mentioned that Christian campaigned to have Ward tried as an adult when Ward nearly killed him as a teenager. Despite Christian seemingly expressing concern for Grant when he heard Coulson held him prisoner, his plan is to execute him so that he can win public support for his political campaign and it's ambiguous how much his crusade against S.H.I.E.L.D. was done out of a sincere belief that they're terrorists or whether their downfall would be good PR for him. Overall, the simultaneous discussions shown between Grant and Skye and Christian and Coulson are shot in such way that's meant to cast doubt on which brother is telling the truth, and which is the truly evil one (assuming they're not both evil). Turns out they were both telling the truth. Both of them are right about the other one. In Season 3, Thomas confirms that while Christian really did all this, Grant became much worse than both him and their parents afterwards.
  • Asshole Victim: Even if you discount all the stuff he did as a child as Grant being an Unreliable Narrator, he was definitely cheating on his wife when Grant caught up to him.
  • At Least I Admit It: The key difference between him and Grant. He admits he did horrible things, unlike Grant who blames everyone else for his problems.
  • Be Careful What You Wish For: He wanted Grant and he got him, all right. Except it's not how Christian imagined it would turn out.
  • Being Tortured Makes You Evil: Turns out, Thomas was the only child their mother didn't torture, and both Christian and Grant were so much The Unfavorite that Christian plotted Thomas's murder just to get back at their mother.
  • Big Brother Bully: To Grant and their younger brother, Thomas. He's first seen forbidding Grant from throwing a rope down to Thomas at the bottom of a well. He also forced Grant to beat up Thomas, or at least Grant claims so, but chances are he was more willing to follow Christian's lead than he remembers. Turns out it was true, but Thomas still believes that he and their parents didn't deserve to be killed by Grant.
  • Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: According to Ward, he'll smile and "bare his soul" when he's suckering you into believing his lies.
  • Character Death: Killed along with his mother and father in an act of arson in "The Things We Bury".
  • Consummate Liar: Ward, a liar himself, calls him this and says Christian is better at it.
  • Create Your Own Villain: His tormenting Grant has been hinted to be a factor in his murder-by-arson attempt, which led directly to his recruitment by Garrett. In fact, learning that Grant was more willing to follow him despite the abuse than Grant had let on would make Christian essentially a proto-Garrett.
  • Dirty Coward: He turns into a simpering coward when Grant abducts him. He also admits he didn't have the personal courage to hurt and kill Thomas himself and needed to bully Grant into doing it.
  • Even Evil Has Standards: When he makes a promise, he'll do his utmost to follow through with it, as demonstrated when he concedes to the world that there's a difference between S.H.I.E.L.D. and HYDRA in exchange for Grant. He also considers HYDRA to be a genuine enemy. He's also appalled at Grant's Never My Fault mentality.
  • Evil Counterpart: He's set up to be this to fellow Inspector Javert Talbot, who at least seems to have been a bit more reasonable and amicable towards Coulson by the present point in the series; plus, whereas Talbot genuinely cares about his family, so far we've only seen Senator Ward's nasty side towards his siblings. However, judging from what we see in the present day (even if he does cheat on his wife), he's clearly mellowed with age, with no memories of his past sins until Grant takes him back to the well.
  • In Name Only: Has no relation to the villainous Senator Ward in Howard Mackie's run on Spider-Man.
  • Inspector Javert: Like Talbot, he believes S.H.I.E.L.D. to be a terrorist organization.
  • It's All About Me: Christian's pursuit of S.H.I.E.L.D. appears to be less about mistakenly thinking they're as evil as HYDRA, and more because he could suffer political embarrassment if it came out that his brother was an agent of HYDRA.
  • Kill It with Fire: Grant tried this. It didn't work. At least, not the first time around.
  • No Party Given: Averted. He's shown to be a Republican by an (R) after his name during a TV appearance in "A Fractured House".
  • "Not So Different" Remark: Coulson tells his brother at the tail end of a harsh talkdown in "A Fractured House" that the two may have too much in common.
    Coulson: Your brother saw the same angles. Maybe you are more alike than you think.
  • Sudden Name Change: He was originally credited as "Maynard Ward" in "The Well".
  • The Unfavorite: In "The Things We Bury", he admits that the reason he made Grant torment their brother was because Thomas was the only Ward sibling their mother didn't abuse, and this was his way of making her suffer.
  • Unreliable Narrator: He claims all of Grant's stories about making him torture their brother are false, and that Grant did it of his own free will. It's not clear which brother is lying, but the only evidence that clearly supports either one of them favors Grant's version of events. Grant eventually manages to get him to admit the truth.

    Senator Randolph Cherryh 

Senator Randolph Cherryh

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/randolphcherryh.png

Portrayed By: Jonathan Walker

Appearances: Daredevil

A United States Senator in Wilson Fisk's pocket.


  • Adaptational Attractiveness: He's more handsome and better dressed than his comic book counterpart.
  • Corrupt Politician: Cherryh is on Fisk's payroll. His role is to alter zoning regulations so Fisk can complete his goal of turning Hell's Kitchen into residences for the rich.

    Senator Ellen Nadeer 

Senator Ellen Nadeer

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/senatornadeer.png

Species: Human

Citizenship: American

Portrayed By: Parminder Nagra

Appearances: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

"It was only a matter of time before this happened. We can no longer pretend like the Inhuman threat doesn't exist. Each and every one of them is a lethal weapon and now those weapons are aimed directly at us. Make no mistake; this is an act of war. Unless we take a stand and fight back now while we can, we will be complicit in our own extinction."

A United States Senator from New York who is highly vocal about the Inhuman "threat" in the wake of Hive's rampage and Quake becoming a fugitive. She's the leader of the Humans First Movement and a secret collaborator of the Watchdogs.


  • Asshole Victim: After her screen time was spent being blatantly racist toward Inhumans, annoyingly smug toward Team Coulson, killing her own brother for being a Inhuman, and generally getting away at every turn, it's really hard not to cheer when she gets blown up. While Daisy lampshades this, Jeffery admits he's more upset about the fact that they could've (legally) ratted her out as a corrupting figure eventually, but she has been killed before that could ever happen.
    Daisy: Well, we can't be too sad. She did try to have you killed.
    Jeffery: She could've been brought to justice, now we won't get that chance.
  • Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Presents a law-abiding if strident voice to the American people, while she is secretly aiding and abetting the Watchdogs' campaign against Inhumans.
  • Black-and-White Insanity: She sees herself as the one protecting the people and S.H.I.E.L.D. as the problem, ignoring the fact that they are the ones usually saving the day while she's the one working with a terrorist group. Her brother accuses her of "painting with a broad brush again," suggesting she has a habit of such thinking.
  • Curse Cut Short: Comes close to calling a Watchdog that had been infected by the Terrigen mist a "son of a bitch" as she goes up in a successful and explosive assassination attempt.
  • Even Evil Has Loved Ones:
    • Played with. She almost has her own brother killed by the Watchdogs for becoming an Inhuman, but after he begs for his life, she decides not to go through with it. She finally follows through with it personally at the end, but if they were in each other's shoes he would've done the same to her—after all, they had made a promise to each other.
    • She genuinely loved her mother and was devastated by her death.
  • Expy: Her anti-Inhuman demagoguery and extremist attitude make her a very close Distaff Counterpart for Senator Robert Kelly from the X-Men film series (although Kelly was much more sympathetic than her and eventually changed his views about superpowered people).
  • Fantastic Racism: She appears to be outspokenly anti-Inhuman, even enough that midway through "Broken Promises" she's an eyelash away from having her brother killed by the Watchdogs as he's begging her to call off the ambush.
  • Hate Sink: This woman has ZERO redeeming or likable qualities. Even her supposed Morality Pet, her brother, she ends up ultimately shooting out of hatred for Inhumans. Even a vehement racist like Tucker Shockley seems to despise her while Ivanov doesn't remotely give a shit. If anything, he's more upset at Shockley for making noise rather than killing a US senator.
  • Killed Mid-Sentence: She's blown up in her own office while goading to the Watchdogs that she doesn't have the Inhuman gene.
  • Manipulative Bastard: She blackmails S.H.I.E.L.D. director Jeffrey Mace with incriminating footage of Coulson and May with Daisy and Ghost Rider to get his cooperation.
  • Meaningful Name: Her surname is pronounced the same as "nadir", meaning a lowest point — mirroring the public hatred towards Inhumans and other powered persons, along with how her Fantastic Racism stems from losing her own brother to Terrigenesis and their mother in the Chitauri attack on New York.
  • The Mole: Apart from her views, she is coordinating with the Watchdogs to stoke anti-Inhuman hatred.
  • No Celebrities Were Harmed:
    • Her demagoguery and deeply racist views about "aliens", coupled with her status as a prominent politician, are more than a little reminiscent of the positions held by Donald Trump and his inner circle (though in Nadeer's case, taken to much greater extremes).
    • Her nature as a right-wing female politician of Indian descent calls to mind either Nikki Haley, a former governor of South Carolina and US Ambassador to the United Nations, or Tulsi Gabbard, a former Democratic congresswoman from Hawaii with an anti-gay voting record who eventually quit the party and aligned herself with the Republicans (while remaining an independent).
  • Ooh, Me Accent's Slipping: Parminder Nagra's natural British accent occasionally slips through.
  • Sudden Name Change: She was originally credited as "Rota Nadeer" in "Uprising".
  • Villain with Good Publicity: Is a prominent U.S. Senator while she seeks to use the Watchdogs to wage a campaign of fear and discrimination against Inhumans.
  • Well-Intentioned Extremist: In "Broken Promises", she claims to do what she does to protect "her people".
  • You Are What You Hate: Shockley teases that because her brother is an Inhuman, she may or may not carry the gene in her DNA too. This is surprisingly subverted when Shockley sets off a Terrigen crystal in her office, only for him to undergo Terrigenesis instead while Nadeer remains unaffected.

    Senator Stan Ori 

Senator Stanley "Stan" Ori

Species: Human

Citizenship: American

Portrayed By: Rick Holmes

Appearances: The Punisher

A United States Senator who has developed a reputation for his pro-gun control views.


  • Adaptational Heroism: As unlikeable as he is, his comic book counterpart was incredibly corrupt, with links to organized crime and dirty cops.
  • Dirty Coward: When Lewis Wilson comes to assassinate him, he weeps openly and begs for his life. While that's understandable, his cowardice becomes disgusting when he throws Karen to the assassin so he could escape, in spite of the fact that she begged for his life seconds earlier.
  • Hypocrite: Karen points out how despite his advocacy for gun control, Stan is hiring Billy Russo's company to provide him security. He actually declines Russo's offer at first for this very reason, but Russo correctly points out he is not the kind of person to die for his conviction.
  • Pompous Political Pundit: He uses the shock and anger of Wilson's bombings to rile up patriotic fervor, labeling the government and police as cowardly and useless (because, after all, they can't stop Frank) and himself as the "only solution".
  • Sleazy Politician: It's made pretty obvious that he's only using his gun control platform and the social outrage of Wilson's bombings as a reason to get more money and increase the chances of getting votes.
  • Unreliable Narrator: Ori's account of the attempt on his life paints him in a positive light, saying he fired a few shots at his would-be assassin before running to get help. Karen says it's all bullshit, he cried and begged for his life, then threw Karen to the assassin to save himself. He also says Frank Castle tried to kill him, even though Castle was not only there to save him, but Frank actually took a bullet meant for him.

    Senator David Schultz 

Senator David Schultz

Species: Human

Citizenship: American

Portrayed By: Todd Alan Crain

Appearances: The Punisher

A United States Senator, presidential prospect, and heir of the powerful Schultz family. Also a closeted gay man.


Department of Homeland Security

    Dinah Madani 

Special Agent Dinah Madani

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/dinahmadani.png
"The people he's up against, he's going to get himself killed, Billy. Neither of us want that, right?"

Species: Human

Citizenship: Iranian-American

Portrayed By: Amber Rose Revah

Appearances: The Punisher

A Department of Homeland Security agent whose investigations abroad lead her to cross paths with Frank Castle.


  • Canon Foreigner: Like Sam Stein, Madani has no comic book counterpart. Nevertheless, she gains some shades of Kathryn O'Brien from the Punisher Max comics after joining the CIA
  • Dating Catwoman: Madani is quickly seduced by Billy Russo and begins an affair with him. She weans herself off him once she learns he's dirty and also killed Stein.
  • Determinator: Dinah will let nothing stop her from exposing the Government Conspiracy and avenging the murder of her former partner, Ahmed Zubair, and later that of Sam Stein.
  • Deuteragonist: Of The Punisher.
  • Expy: Jeph Loeb has likened her to Samuel Gerard.
  • Fair Cop: Not a policeman, but still a very attractive enforcement officer.
  • Good Is Not Nice: There's a touch of Evil Gloating in her visits to Russo's hospital bed, and she taunts Russo's girlfriend by showing her his blood on her White Shirt of Death from when he bled on her after being injured.
  • Heroic BSoD: She takes to her bed for a week after Sam's death. On the plus side, this convinces Frank she's on the level.
  • Immigrant Patriotism: Her parents immigrated from Iran and Dinah herself is now in the service of the US government.
  • I Owe You My Life: Frank saved her life after Micro rammed her car, and she later repays the favor, saving Frank's life by bringing him to her father, who's a doctor. She later makes a deal with her superiors to let Frank go free.
  • It's Personal: Her interest in Frank Castle is because he's one of the soldiers involved with the unit that tortured and killed Ahmed Zubair. Things get even moreso when Billy kills Stein and several other DHS agents in the midst of a shootout. In Season 2, she is obsessive about keeping an eye on Billy through his recovery, and takes on a personal quest to bring him down when he escapes.
  • Jerk with a Heart of Gold: She's kind of abrasive and doesn't always keep Sam in the loop, but she does indeed care about him and is fundamentally on the side of good.
  • Made of Iron: Not quite to the same level as Frank, but he's quite impressed that she survived getting shot in the head.
  • Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: It's implied that her repeated taunting visits to the amnesiac Russo in hospital are what triggered a fight or flight response in him that led to him breaking out of the hospital, causing her to get reprimanded by Rafi and Mahoney.
  • "Not So Different" Remark:
    • Sam tells her that she reminds him of Frank Castle. She denies this.
    • Frank says in Season 2 she's just as screwed up as he is. In the end, she quits Homeland Security for the CIA (even inviting Frank to work with her) because she's no longer suited to law enforcement after all the rules she's broken and within the CIA she will be able to protect the USA without being bound by the law.
  • 'Tis Only a Bullet in the Brain: Russo shoots her in the head but she survives, which impresses Frank.
  • You Are in Command Now: She takes over as SAC after Wolf gets killed by Frank.

    Sam Stein 

Special Agent Samuel "Sam" Stein

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/samstein.png

Species: Human

Citizenship: American

Portrayed By: Michael Nathanson

Appearances: The Punisher

Madani's junior subordinate in Season 1 of The Punisher.


  • Alliterative Name: Sam Stein.
  • Canon Foreigner: Just like Dinah.
  • Dramatic Unmask: He corners and unmasks the leader of the commandos at the warehouse ambush as Billy Russo. Russo takes advantage of Sam's momentary shock to produce a knife and stab him to death.
  • Failed a Spot Check: When patting down Billy Russo for weapons, he fails to catch the spring-mounted blade on Russo's right arm.
  • The Mentor: Puts Madani through the ropes on her transfer back to New York City.
  • Number Two: He's Madani's second-in-command after she takes command.
  • Sarcastic Devotee: He's ultimately loyal to Madani, but not afraid to let her know when he disagrees with her.

    Carson Wolf 
See the Operation Cerberus page

    Rafael Hernandez 

Operations Director Rafael "Rafi" Hernandez

Species: Human

Citizenship: American

Portrayed By: Tony Plana

Appearances: The Punisher

Operations Director of the Department of Homeland Security and mentor of Dinah Madani.


  • Affectionate Nickname: Dinah calls him "Rafi".
  • Cool Old Guy: Unlike Wolf, Hernandez has a pretty fatherly relationship with Madani
  • The Mentor: He's the one who brought Dinah into Homeland Security and mentored her.
  • Obstructive Bureaucrat: Only to a degree, as he doesn't understand Madani's actions because he's Locked Out of the Loop and he wants her to succeed in her career
  • Reasonable Authority Figure: He wants to help Madani succeed in her career and only antagonizes when he feels her actions threaten this or the Department. Once he learns of the bug planted in her office he grows more supportive. In the end, he also agrees to give Frank a clean slate as a reparation for his losses and the service he's provided.

Advanced Threat Containment Unit (ATCU)

    Rosalind Price 

Rosalind Price

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rosalindprice.png
"The laws of nature have changed. And until the laws of man change to reflect that, we can only do what we feel is right."

Species: Human

Citizenship: American

Portrayed By: Constance Zimmer

Appearances: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

Head of the Advanced Threat Containment Unit (ATCU).


  • Almighty Janitor: She's a shady intelligence officer who happens to have considerable influence over the President.
  • Ambiguously Evil: It seems she just wants to protect humanity... but her "relationship" with the President makes her motives suspect to say the least. It turns out she's in league with Gideon Malick. However she's completely unaware that he's HYDRA until she and Coulson put the pieces together.
  • Badass Boast: When Coulson asks who she answers to, she simply replies "People answer to me." As in, the freaking President.
  • Cynicism Catalyst: Her husband died of cancer, which is why she puts the captured Inhumans in stasis. As far as she's concerned, they're victims of a disease that makes them a danger to themselves and others, so it's no different than putting someone in a medically induced coma until a cure is found.
    Rosalind: I would have given anything to be able to do this for him. Just... put him to sleep for a while.
  • Deadpan Snarker: She gives as good as she gets from Coulson.
  • Distaff Counterpart: To Coulson. Both heads of intelligence agencies, similar taste in cars, and similar banter.
  • Everyone Has Standards: Though she's willing to authorize lethal force, she clearly wants to capture most of the Inhumans alive. She's quite aghast at the trail of bodies left by Lash, though she spends most of her first episode believing Coulson is responsible.
  • Evil Counterpart: Whilst she's only Ambiguously Evil, she's this to Coulson. Both are well-meaning leaders of shadowy organisations seeking out Inhumans, both have pasts shrouded in mystery and espionage, and both are big fans of vintage cars.
  • Explain, Explain... Oh, Crap!: "I get my weekly reports... From Malick..."
  • Fantastic Racism: Towards superpowered individuals, though not overly so. She is annoyed that they're being murdered before she can capture them, and lethal force is only considered an option, not a first resort.
  • I Have Many Names: She has used a number of aliases within various agencies. Even "Rosalind Price" is an alias.
  • Knowledge Broker: She's able to dig into S.H.I.E.L.D.'s secrets... including T.A.H.I.T.I., which wasn't part of the public data dump in Winter Soldier.
  • Manipulative Bastard: Is hinted to have the President of the United States wrapped around her finger.
  • My God, What Have I Done?: Upon realizing that Gideon Malick is with HYDRA, she is as concerned as Coulson.
  • Mysterious Past: Coulson's background check on her revealed she worked for multiple government agencies under an alias.
  • Not So Above It All: She can't resist making a Hurricane of Puns about Coulson's hand. She also hints that, like Coulson, she treats her own classic car as a Companion Cube.
  • Only Known by Their Nickname: The show strongly implies that "Rosalind Price" is simply another alias.
  • Poor Communication Kills: Believed that Coulson was behind a rash of dead Inhumans, not suspecting a third party was involved.
  • Sci-Fi Bob Haircut: One of her go-to looks is a bob, which is appropriate for a oss-lady of a science thing like the ATCU.
  • Skilled, but Naive: "A Wanted Inhuman" proves that she is able to match Coulson in the world of espionage but she makes the critical error of publicizing her organization and its goals, something that S.H.I.E.L.D. and HYDRA knew to avoid because of the problems that doing so would cause.
  • Unwitting Pawn: She had been unknowingly collaborating with HYDRA through her correspondence with Gideon Malick.
  • Well-Intentioned Extremist: Wants to eliminate the threat posed by the newly-emergent Inhumans by any means necessary.
  • World Half Empty: She points out for every Daisy there's a Lash, which is why they have to contain them until they can be sorted out.

    Luther Banks 

Luther Banks

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/lutherbanks.png

Species: Human

Citizenship: American

Portrayed By: Andrew Howard

Appearances: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

"Come with me, I'll get you out of here. If you're worried you can't trust me, worry on the move."

An agent of the Advanced Threat Containment Unit and the right-hand man of Rosalind Price. He leads the unit's operations.


  • The Confidant: For Rosalind. She claims that she tells him "everything" including information about her relationship with Phil Coulson.
  • Dropped a Bridge on Him: His own gun is turned on him not long after Rosalind is killed.
  • Hero with Bad Publicity: Actually for real a good person, but positively looks like a HYDRA Mook. Which may or may not have been deliberate casting. It doesn't help that his backstory makes him seem way more suspicious.
  • Noodle Incident: Was discharged from the USMC "with cause", but we never learn what exactly.
  • Number Two: To Rosalind. He leads the ATCU's operations to capture (or eliminate) Inhumans. Daisy even says this trope's name word for word in "Among Us Hide".
  • Red Herring:
    • Despite what Hunter thinks, Banks isn't actually Lash — or even Inhuman — after all.
    • During the ambush at the Distant Star facility, it initially looks like he's The Mole. Instead, Giyera took control of his gun.

Central Intelligence Agency

    Contessa Valentina Allegra de Fontaine 

Contessa Valentina Allegra de Fontaine

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/valentinafontaine.png
"Things are about to get weird. So when they do, we're not gonna need a Captain America. We're gonna need a U.S. Agent."

Species: Human

Citizenship: American

Portrayed By: Julia Louis-Dreyfus

Appearances: The Falcon and the Winter Soldier | Black Widownote  | Black Panther: Wakanda Forever | Thunderbolts

"Well, these boots are not made for walking. Valentina Allegra de Fontaine. Actually, it's Contessa Valentina Allegra de Fontaine. I know it's hard, but I don't like to repeat myself, so you can just call me Val. But don't call me Val, just keep it in your head."

The Director of the CIA post-Endgame, who is actively recruiting various superhumans for a new government-led team ... and the ex-wife of Agent Everett Ross.


  • Adaptation Dye-Job: She has a purple skunk stripe, which is gray/white in her comic book appearances.
  • Adaptation Name Change: A very minor one. In the comics, her last name is Allegra de la Fontaine, while here, it's just Allegra de Fontaine.
  • Adaptation Relationship Overhaul: Val is known for being being the off-again on-again lover of Nick Fury in the comics. Here, Fontaine and Fury have no established relationship with one another at all. Furthermore, it's revealed in Wakanda Forever that Val used to be married to Everett Ross of all people, whereas the comic versions of both characters never even met each other.
  • Adaptational Job Change: In the comics, Val worked for SHIELD, later briefly joined the CIA alongside Nick Fury and company, and had ties to HYDRA and Leviathan revealed later. In the MCU, she's the director of the CIA.
  • Adaptational Modesty: The original Contessa is very much a Femme Fatale Ms. Fanservice in the style of a Bond Girl. The MCU Contessa is undeniably attractive, but an older woman whose charm relies on her wits instead of her sex appeal.
  • Adaptational Nice Guy: Very heavily downplayed. In the comics, Valentina is a Double Reverse Quadruple Agent who had worked for the likes of HYDRA and Leviathian to achieve her own goals. By contrast, MCU Val is a staunchly pro-American CIA director, albeit one that wants to establish her country as the ultimate superpower on Earth.
  • Age Lift: Valentina is significantly older here than she is in the comics, hence why she relies on her charm rather than her appearance to manipulate others.
  • Ambiguous Situation:
    • John Walker seems to assume she's working for an Over-the-Top Secret deniable branch of the U.S. government, and accepts the codename "U.S. Agent" on this premise. But she never actually says so, and there's an awful lot of hints that she isn't. (For one thing, an American citizen wouldn't have a European aristocratic title like "Contessa".) She also somehow knows that John took the Super Soldier Serum.
    • Exactly why Valentina frames Hawkeye for Natasha's death isn't clear in The Stinger for Black Widow. Does she genuinely want Clint Barton dead for some reason (and if so, why?), or is she simply sending Yelena Belova on a wild goose chase for shits and giggles? Although she's never mentioned by name, it's implied in the Hawkeye mini-series that Valentina was hired by Kate Bishop's mother, Eleanor, to put a hit on Clint to prevent him and her daughter from getting close to finding the connections between her and Kingpin.
    • Her role is finally revealed in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever; she's the director of the CIA.
  • Ambiguously Evil:
    • Her comics counterpart turned out to be a bad guy during the Secret Warriors arc, and she's introduced here setting herself up as a Toxic Friend Influence to John Walker, telling him he did nothing wrong by murdering Nico and shouldn't feel bad. The final episode of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier reveals she's apparently in cahoots with Baron Zemo and arranged for the extrajudicial execution of the remaining Flag-Smashers (even if she didn't arrange it, she seems awfully pleased about their deaths saving the effort of giving them a fair trial). This makes her, at best, morally ambiguous.
    • In the post-credits scene for Black Widow, she hires Yelena Belova to kill Hawkeye for his role in Natasha's death, seemingly tipping her firmly to the evil side. Hawkeye implies that she was acting as a broker for Eleanor Bishop rather than wanting Clint dead for her own reasons, but such an association with Eleanor (herself an associate of Kingpin) and Valentina's nonchalance at siccing Yelena on an Avenger doesn't lend a lot of confidence to Valentina's moral standing.
    • Wakanda Forever has her as a minor antagonist who makes it clear she has malevolent designs for the world, as she admits she salivates over the idea of America having the power of vibranium to use against the rest of the planet. She arrests Ross when he helps the Wakandans extract Riri Williams and stymies America’s place in the Vibranium race.
  • Awful Wedded Life: Implied to have had this with Everett Ross in previous years. When they meet up again in Wakanda Forever, Val seemingly apologizes for what happened between them, only to immediately spy on and arrest him once she learns he was in active communication with Wakanda.
  • Blue Blood: She's an aristocrat, holding the title of Contessa (Countess).
  • Composite Character: She appears to be a combination of the comics Contessa and Valerie "Val" Cooper, who in the comics recruited and collaborated with John Walker, right down to being called "Val" for short.
  • Conspicuous Trenchcoat: Wears a stylish trench coat complete with leather gloves in both The Falcon and the Winter Soldier and Black Widow.
  • Early-Bird Cameo: Meta case. Due to the COVID-19 Pandemic continuously pushing back the release date of her intended debut, she instead made her first appearance in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, with Marvel confirming that we were supposed to have already met her in Black Widow (where she appears in The Stinger).
  • Eccentric Mentor: Seems to be setting herself up in this role for future MCU installments — speaks with a breezy, disturbingly casual tone about mayhem and death, has an eccentric, meandering Motor Mouth way of talking and seems to almost be deliberately acting weird and off-putting to keep John Walker and his wife off-balance.
  • Establishing Character Moment: The moment she meets John Walker and his wife, Valentina is in total control of the conversation, tells Walker that he did the right thing by killing Nico, casually discusses things she has no obvious way of knowing, and encourages Walker's darker qualities by passive-aggressively isolating him from his wife, a stabilizing influence.
    • Her ECM was meant to be The Stinger to Black Widow (2021), in which she appears next to Yelena and disrespectfully blows her nose, not because they're at Yelena's sister's grave, but because she's "allergic to the Midwest." Then she offers Yelena the chance to kill Clint Barton, "the man who killed [Natasha]," implying she somehow knows at least something about the Time Heist.
  • Evil All Along: Wakanda Forever removes any ambiguity about her moral standing by revealing she's a greedy, bloodthirsty imperialist.
  • Evil Colonialist: She wants to take control of Wakanda's Vibranium so the US government has the capacity to lay waste to the world unopposed.
  • The Handler: Appears to have been one for Yelena Belova for a time, and approaches her to offer her a mission to take down Clint Barton. She later becomes this to John Walker as well, giving him the title of U.S. Agent in the process.
  • High-Heel Power: Introduced with the ominous clack-clack of her spike-heeled boots down the hallway. She lampshades it with her first line:
    Contessa: Well these boots were not made for walkin'.
  • I Know You Know I Know: In Wakanda Forever, a careful viewer can tell she already knows Ross leaked the location of Riri Williams to Shuri and Okoye, she's just waiting to catch him confessing to it.
  • In-Series Nickname: She tells John he can think of her as "Val" for short, for justifiable reasons. (But, hilariously, he's only allowed to think of her as "Val" and not actually address her as such.)
  • Karma Houdini: So far, she has brought out some of John Walker's worst instincts while isolating him from his wife, bringing him dangerously close to the point of no return; sent Yelena to assassinate Clint Barton for a crime he didn't commit; and is currently director of the CIA and actively leading American imperialist efforts to find vibranium to subjugate Wakanda and the rest of the world with. As of the end of Wakanda Forever, she's not only gotten off scot-free, but she's thriving in a position of power.
  • Lady in a Power Suit: In contrast to the slinky spy catsuits from the comics, this is a much more businesslike version of the Contessa.
  • Manipulative Bitch:
    • The Stinger of Black Widow has her convincing Yelena Belova that Hawkeye was responsible for her sister's death, and sends her on a mission to kill him.
    • In Wakanda Forever, Val deliberately leaves Shuri's beads on the road after the Talokan attack in Massachusetts, knowing that Everett Ross would pick them up in an attempt to speak to someone in Wakanda. She then coldly arrests her ex-husband so that he can't further interfere with what's going on.
  • Mask of Sanity: She's not Ax-Crazy by any means, but when she reveals herself as a Evil Colonialist in Wakanda Forever she briefly drops her normally controlled façade and reveals herself as an unnervingly jingoist and gleeful War Hawk and Everett Ross notably looks horrified at both her true agenda and the bloodthirsty joy she openly shows when delighting in her mission.
  • Metaphorically True: It's not entirely untrue when she tells Yelena that Clint was involved in Natasha's death. After all, Natasha pulled a Heroic Sacrifice so that Clint and half of the universe could live. However, Valentina carefully leaves out how Clint was actually against Natasha making a Heroic Sacrifice.
  • Mirror Character: Appears to be one for Nick Fury, in regards to the role he played in the Phase I movies. Both of them are mysterious figures who are interested in recruiting powerful individuals on behalf of the organization they work for. However, while Fury was recruiting the Avengers to represent an Anti-Hero organization to protect the world, Valentina has recruited Yelena Belova and later John Walker for an Ambiguously Evil cause. They also are very different in terms of demeanor, with Fury being a Scary Black Cynical Mentor who is undoubtedly on the side of good despite doing some morally gray things, whereas Valentina is a chipper white woman and an Eccentric Mentor who is friendly towards those she meets, but also has sinister goals in mind (one of which is sending Yelena to take out Clint Barton, someone who coincidentally was recruited by Fury).
  • Mouth of Sauron: She's an envoy for an organization interested in recruiting John Walker.
  • My Card: She gives Walker one, though it is empty on both sides except for being black on one side and white on the other.
  • Mysterious Benefactor:
    • Serves as one for John Walker. The final episode of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier has him taking on a new superhero role in her service as US Agent, without her revealing anything about who her superiors are, what his mission is going to be or even giving him a way to proactively contact her ("Just keep your phone on").
    • The Stinger for Black Widow reveals that Yelena Belova has been working for her for some time. Valentina approaches her during her "time off" with a new mission to kill Clint Barton.
  • Non-Specifically Foreign: It seems like if she's a Blue Blood with an aristocratic title, she can't be an American citizen, but she speaks with a fluent American accent and vaguely presents herself as representing the U.S. government. Her title and her first two names are Italian, while her surname is French. (In the comics, the character was Italian.) Based on the revelation of her role as the director of the CIA in Wakanda Forever, it seems she is in fact an American citizen, and that her surname and title may have been acquired through a prior marriage.
  • Overly Long Name: Contessa Valentina Allegra de Fontaine doesn't exactly roll off the tongue too well, which is why she doesn't like to repeat herself. Just call her "Val". But don't actually do that.
  • Paint It Black: John Walker and Yelena Belova trade their light-colored uniforms to black ones under her employ.
  • Patriotic Fervor: Implied. In Wakanda Forever, Val gleefully retorts to her ex-husband that she would like nothing more than to have Wakanda's status as a global superpower by having all the Vibranium in the world, and seems willing to find any reason to declare war on the nation after the incident in Massachusetts.
  • Purple Is Powerful: Val has part of her hair dyed purple and primarily wears purple as part of her wardrobe. The "powerful" part comes from the fact that she's the director of the CIA, with people such as Yelena Belova and John Walker in her employ.
  • Red and Black and Evil All Over: Valentina's default outfit consists of a black trenchcoat with a red turtleneck and gloves in her first two appearances.
  • Related in the Adaptation: Her and Everett Ross have no contact in the comics, but used to be married in the MCU.
  • Relationship Reveal: Wakanda Forever reveals she is the ex-wife of Agent Everett Ross.
  • Shut Up, Kirk!: When Everett Ross suggests how horrific America could become if they were the only ones with Vibranium in the world, Val notes that not only does she understand the implications of what would happen, but she outright revels in wanting it to happen.
  • Sinister Shades: Wears a pair of blue sunglasses when she introduces herself to John Walker in the 5th episode.
  • Stealth Hi/Bye: In the post-credits scene of Black Widow, a wide shot indicates that Yelena is the only one near Natasha's grave. Less than a minute later, Valentina suddenly appears next to Yelena without the latter (a trained Red Room agent) noticing her approach.
  • The Upper Crass: Between the Preppy Name with a nobility title and snarking she's "allergic to the Midwest", she certainly gives this vibe.
  • Villain Has a Point: While her ex-husband may have been trying to do what was morally correct at the time, Val is able to arrest him and charge him with betraying the U.S. by sharing classified information with Wakanda. It doesn't change the fact that Val is a ruthless imperialist who hopes to subject Wakanda to American authority in the near-future.
  • Villain Respect: Valentina expresses her admiration for Natasha Romanoff while visiting her grave with Yelena, although one gets the impression that she doesn't entirely mean it.
  • War Hawk: She admits that she fantasizes about the horrors America would inflict on the world if they alone had the power of Vibranium.

    Marion James 

Marion James

Species: Human

Citizenship: American

Portrayed By: Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio

Appearances: The Punisher

Deputy Director of the CIA, due to moving up to the Director's chair.


  • Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: Once the Number Two of the CIA, due to be promoted to Director, by all indications she is long gone by the time of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever several years later, in which Valentina Allegra de Fontaine is shown as the director of the CIA (and possibly before that, given the Contessa's other recent appearances).
  • Karma Houdini: While she has morals, she'll likely keep her career despite giving a mass murderer a new identity so he won't expose the dealings of Agent Orange, and won't suffer any comeuppance for allying with him solely because she and the Agency will look bad if they didn't pay attention to their agent committing a war crime. It's only when she sees the full picture that she stops covering Agent Orange, and even then she was willing to let him walk scot-free and put everything on Russo.
  • Number Two: She's the second in command of the CIA, though she's about to become the new Director.
  • Reasonable Authority Figure: When she's in a position to eliminate the last loose ends of Rawlins' conspiracy, Frank, she opts to set him up with a new life and cut him loose.
  • Two First Names: "James" is more commonly used as a given name.

    Agent Orange (Bill Rawlins) 
See the Operation Cerberus page

    Everett Kenneth Ross 

Deputy Task Force Commander Everett Kenneth Ross

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ross_96.jpg
"You step out of line, you're dealing with me. Please, step out of line."

Species: Human

Citizenship: American

Affiliation(s): USAF (formerly), CIA (formerly)

Portrayed By: Martin Freeman

Voiced By: Juan Antonio Edwards (Latin-American Spanish dub), Jesús Maniega (European Spanish dub), Toshiyuki Morikawa (Japanese dub), Julien Sibre (French dub), François Sasseville (Canadian French dub)

Appearances: Captain America: Civil War | Black Panther | Black Panther: Wakanda Forever | Secret Invasion

A CIA officer in a command position in the Joint Counter Terrorist Center.


  • Ace Pilot: Was a former Air Force member before joining the CIA. He single-handedly fights off the air force of the Wakandan weapons exporters in a remote-controlled ship. Shuri flat-out says he has one of the greatest track records known to the US military.
  • Adaptation Relationship Overhaul: Everett Ross and Valentina Allegra de Fontaine have never met each other in the comics. Here, the two of them were formerly married, and have a frosty relationship in the current day.
  • Adaptational Badass: He's a much better bureaucrat than his comic alter ego, with much more power than Ross properly earned in the comics.note  This version is also a CIA operative and former Air Force ace pilot with some combat skills, rather than just a State Dep. aide.
  • Adaptational Nice Guy: Ross in the comics is a bit of Politically Incorrect Hero, which is an aspect largely excised from the films.
  • Affectionate Nickname: Shuri (and Okoye on occasion) call him "colonizer," but in a teasing, humorous fashion.
  • Age Lift: Everett's exact age is never specified in the comics, but he's fairly young for someone of his position (which was much lower than his rank in the MCU), enough to pass for a child at times. Meanwhile, Ross's actor Martin Freeman, admittedly is quite boyish, but is also a significantly older man in his early fifties.
  • AM/FM Characterization: Ross's reappearance in Wakanda Forever has him jogging to "Can't Stop" by Red Hot Chili Peppers.
  • Ascended Extra: Everett doesn't have a particularly large role in Civil War, but plays a bigger part in Black Panther, and likely future installments.
  • Audience Surrogate: Largely fulfills this role in Black Panther once he's brought to Wakanda, as the Westerner who discovers a world that was totally unknown to him, and marveling at the technological wonders there.
  • Badass Bureaucrat: When he's introduced in Civil War, he appears as someone who would be more comfortable behind a desk than in the field. When he's introduced in Black Panther, however, he has no problem being in the middle of gunfight and is revealed to have a distinguished military record.
  • Badass in Distress: Secret Invasion reveals that Ross was kidnapped by Gravik's forces shortly after Okoye broke him out of federal detainment. He's later rescued by G'iah after she defeats Gravik.
  • Breakout Character: After only having a minor role in Civil War, Everett's presence in the MCU began to grow considerably. He would become a major character in both Black Panther films. He also appeared in Secret Invasion (2023), but as a secondary character.
  • Butt-Monkey: Even though he is significantly more competent than his comic book counterpart, Ross always draws the short straw in Black Panther when crossing paths with T'Challa again. In Korea, T'Challa's intervention screws up his original plan to apprehend Ulysses Klaue. Later, Ross gets shot taking a bullet for Nakia and would've died had it not been for T'Challa bringing him to Wakanda to be healed by Shuri. He also gets teased and bullied repeatedly by several Wakandans for being a foreigner with M'Baku joking about feeding him to his children. Then, in Wakanda Forever, his assistance to Okoye and Shuri, and then his warnings to Queen Ramonda about the US planning action against Wakanda, get him arrested for treason.
  • Celebrity Paradox:
  • The Comically Serious: He ends up falling into this role quite a bit in Black Panther, if only because many of the Wakandans he meets don't have any respect for him.
  • Deadpan Snarker: He can make some effectively witty comebacks, mostly because he is played by Martin Freeman.
  • Determinator: During the final battle of the film, despite knowing that the force field window is almost broken by a flying drone machine gun, he continues, not caring whether he’d die any second. All so he could prevent the ships from escaping Wakanda. That takes a lot of mental strength to do.
  • Fire-Forged Friends:
    • The events of Black Panther have made Ross a close ally to the Wakandan royal family. In a deleted scene, he greets Nakia, Ayo, and Okoye quite familiarly as well, with the latter being quite notable considering their slightly mutual disdain of each other at the beginning of T'Challa's solo film.
    • In Wakanda Forever Ross's friendship with the Royal Family is enough that he barely makes a show of complaint before providing Okoye and Shuri with classified intel, and later commits treason against his government to warn Queen Ramonda about an impending covert action from the United States. When discovered, he steadfastly defends his actions on these terms. Later on, Okoye repays this loyalty by rescuing him from federal prison or worse, despite the Wakandan government technically having little reason to do so.
  • Fish out of Water: Becomes this during the second act of Black Panther, having been brought to Wakanda for life-saving medical treatment.
  • Friend on the Force: Of a sort. Ross is T'Challa's biggest political ally outside of Wakanda and lets him in on the goings-on with the international political climate. He extends his allyship to Shuri and Wakanda as a whole following T'Challa's sudden death in Wakanda Forever, although it's deconstructed there in that his willingness to feed classified intel a foreign nation makes him susceptible to charges of treason.
  • Give Me a Reason: As his image caption indicates, he dares his prisoners to do something that will provoke him into tormenting them.
  • Heroic Sacrifice:
    • Zigzagged in Black Panther. During the climatic battle, one of Killmonger's ships drops down into the Mound and starts blasting at the remote control chamber that Ross is using to go after the transport ships loaded with Vibranium weapons for black supremacist cells. Despite Shuri's admonitions to escape, Ross reengages the controls and continues trying to take down the transport ships, knowing he could be killed at any moment if the ship's fire breaches the defensive walls. Subverted in that Ross manages to complete his mission and escape seconds before the ship can kill him.
    • Also from Black Panther, his Taking the Bullet for Nakia, without a moment's hesitation.
  • Hidden Depths: Black Panther reveals that he formerly served in the US Air Force and was one of the best fighter pilots they ever had. He also knows enough about magnetic levitation to make casual talk with Shuri, a prospect that clearly delights her.
  • Insult of Endearment: Shuri first greets him as "colonizer" in Black Panther. The "nickname" sticks and Okoye calls him by it regularly in Wakanda Forever, to his chagrin.
  • I Owe You My Life: Wakanda Forever makes it clear that he feels a deep gratitude towards Shuri due to her saving his life and repairing his spine in Black Panther. This leads to him commiting treason to give Shuri and Okoye information on Riri Williams, and give Queen Ramonda advanced warning that the US is planning to take action against them.
  • Jerk with a Heart of Gold: While he makes it clear that he thinks all superhumans should be locked up and enjoys taunting his prisoners, he closely works with and helps out T'Challa when in need — a dynamic which gets deepened in Black Panther, where he outright admits that he likes T'Challa and actively supports the Wakandan royal family and their allies, even Taking the Bullet for T'Challa's beloved, Nakia, whom he'd only met the night before.
  • Mirror Character: To Jimmy Woo. Both of them are agents of the US government who initially are introduced as Obstructive Bureaucrats, but later on prove themselves to be more competent and willing to help. The main difference is that Ross is relatively composed and stoic even during rather crazy situations compared to Woo. They also represent different branches of the government, with Ross working for the CIA and Woo being a federal agent.
  • The Mole: By the second movie, he's feeding information to Wakanda. He's eventually found out and arrested.
  • Nerves of Steel: Played with. During the final battle of Black Panther, Ross is tasked with remotely piloting T'Challa's ship in order to chase after the planes transporting weapons outside Wakanda. However, Erik finds out and orders the lab to be destroyed. When Ross hears that the bulletproof glass between him and the massive gun outside is only at 50% capacity, he visibly psyches himself up before asking, "How much time do I have?" and continuing with the mission.
  • New Job as the Plot Demands: In Civil War, he's Number Two in an international counter-terrorism task force. In Black Panther, set mere a couple of weeks later at most, he's a field agent running a sting operation. There is no explanation of this apparent demotion.
  • No-Respect Guy: Needless to say, a man like Ross sticks out a lot in Wakanda, which results in no one but T'Challa taking him seriously. Shuri initially dismisses him as a colonizer when he accidentally scares her, and M'Baku decides to terrorize the man for pure shits and giggles when he tries to speak to him.
  • Obstructive Bureaucrat: Spends most of Civil War yelling at everyone else for violating the Accords. Subverted in Black Panther where he's much more of a Reasonable Authority Figure.
  • Odd Friendship: With Princess Shuri. Although she treats him with little respect at first, she warms up to him considerably after he takes an interest in her work and is audibly concerned when he forgoes his safety to finish shooting at the escaping weapons transports.
  • Oh, Crap!:
    • Has this look on his face when trying to apprehend Ulysses Klaue in a sting operation, only to immediately recognize T'Challa when he shows up, realizing things are about to get complicated.
    • Has another one when he tries to speak up in M'Baku's court and the latter threatens to feed him to his children. Luckily for him, M'Baku was only yanking his chain.
    • Upon seeing the massive gun shooting at him from the outside of Shuri's lab, Ross is justifiably freaked out.
  • One-Steve Limit: He shares a surname with General Ross, and both of them appeared in Civil War together. No relation.
  • Pay Evil unto Evil: It's pretty bad form to taunt a helpless and suicidal prisoner, but considering what Zemo had done, it's hard to condemn Ross too much.
  • Put on a Prison Bus: Subverted. He's caught committing espionage with Wakanda by his own ex-wife and is arrested for it, with the end of the film showingg him being transferred to a prison facility complete with orange jumpsuit. However, Okoye stops the vehicle he's in, defeats the guards and frees him, allowing him to escape.
    Okoye: A colonizer in chains? Now I've seen everything.
  • Shut Up, Kirk!: On the receiving end of one of these from Zemo that effectively takes the wind out of his sails.
    Ross: [Smug] So how does it feel? To spend all that time, all that effort, and to see it fail so spectacularly?
    Helmut Zemo: Did it? [Ross's smile falters]
  • Suspiciously Similar Substitute: He seems to have replaced Coulson as the normal guy who is the link between the authorities and superheroes. Ironically, Coulson is a creation for the MCU while Ross had existed in the comics for decades.
  • Taking the Bullet: In Black Panther, he takes one for Nakia during Killmonger's breakout of Ulysses Klaue, which leads to him being brought to Wakanda for life-saving medical treatment.
  • Token White: The only named white guy on the good guys' side in Black Panther (Bucky Barnes sits out most of the movie and just shows up for The Stinger).
  • Took a Level in Kindness: In Civil War, Ross mainly comes across as an obstructive Jerkass. In Black Panther, he is much more reasonable and helpful. Justified, as in Civil War, he is dealing with a terrible terrorist attack on the UN that has killed several people with the main suspect being a deadly super soldier assassin and the threat of rogue superheroes, thereby making him a Properly Paranoid Jerkass Has a Point at the time. In Black Panther, he was originally occupied with a simple black market arms seller and murderer wanting to peddle a dangerous artifact. Everyday assignment, most likely, which is why he is shown to have cooled down the next time he is seen in an MCU film.
  • Turn in Your Badge: Exaggerated. Val manages to catch him speaking with Queen Ramonda via Shuri's beads, resulting in him being arrested by his own ex-wife. He's on his way to prison in the film's final moments, only for Okoye to help him escape before the van he's in arrives.
  • Two First Names: His first name is "Everett", and his last name is "Ross", which can also be used as a first name.
  • Uncertain Doom:
    • His fate after Thanos's snap is left unknown. Although may be a moot point, considering the snap was later undone.
    • Despite having been broken out of federal detainment by Okoye in Wakanda Forever, Secret Invasion shows that there was a Skrull in Moscow that assumed his identity. As such, initially, whatever became of the real Ross isn't made clear to us. Subverted in "Home" when he's freed by G'iah along with the other imprisoned humans the rebel skrulls stole identities from
  • Undying Loyalty: After the Wakandans save him in Black Panther, he becomes fiercely loyal to them. He actually commits treason against his home country all for the sake of helping Wakanda in Wakanda Forever.
  • Universal Driver's License: Justified. When he is given control of a Wakandan drone fighter, Shuri makes the interface resemble an American fighter jet so that it will be familiar to him. Before this is made clear, he raises it as a concern himself.
  • Working with the Ex: In addition to being his boss, Valentina is also his ex-wife.

    Sharon Carter 

    Prescod 

Agent Prescod

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/prescod.png
"Not humans. Skrulls!"

Species: Human

Citizenship: American

Affiliation(s): CIA

Portrayed By: Richard Dormer

Appearances: Secret Invasion

"What if the ones closest to us, the ones we've trusted our whole lives, were someone else entirely? What if they weren't even human?"

A CIA agent and associate of Everett Ross and Nick Fury's information network.


  • Conspiracy Theorist: He goes on a rant to Ross about a connection between random worldwide bombings and not being able to trust the media with information. He also has a String Theory board set up in his office. He turns out to be on the money about his theories, though.
  • Instant Death Bullet: While he is fighting against Skrull Ross, he is shot once through the chest and instantly falls over dead.
  • Remember the New Guy?: He's supposedly been a close associate of Everett Ross and Nick Fury for years, yet hasn't appeared in the MCU at all prior to Secret Invasion.
  • Properly Paranoid: All of the ideas he has about hostile Skrulls and their plans for a takeover of Earth are proven to be true. More specifically, he also spots a discrepancy in Ross's behavior and attacks him, and "Ross" is proven just a few minutes later to have been a Skrull imposter looking to plug a leak.
  • String Theory: Has a board of this that he has assembled in his safe-house regarding the Skrulls' infiltration of Earth.
  • We Hardly Knew Ye: He shows up for a single scene in the beginning of the first episode of Secret Invasion and is shot dead at the end of it.
  • The World's Expert (on Getting Killed): Is Properly Paranoid in spotting the rebel Skrulls' infiltration and destabilization of Earth, but he's the first character seen getting killed on-screen in the series as a result, when he scuffles with a Skrull impersonating Everett Ross who shoots Prescod through the chest.

Department of Justice

Federal Bureau of Investigation

San Francisco field office

    Jimmy Woo 

Agent James E. "Jimmy" Woo

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/jimmywoo.png
"What are we looking at here? Is it an alternate reality? Time travel? Some cockamamie social experiment?"

Species: Human

Citizenship: Korean-American

Affiliation(s): S.H.I.E.L.D. (formerly), FBI

Portrayed By: Randall Park

Voiced By: Ricardo Sawaya (Brazillian Portugese dub), François-Simon Poirier (Canadian French dub), Eduardo Del Hoyo (Castilian Spanish dub), Jérémy Bardeau (European French dub), Karlo Hackenberger (German dub), Frederico Di Pofi (Italian dub), Tommy Rojas (Latin Spanish dub)

Appearances: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. note  | Ant-Man and the Wasp | WandaVision | Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania

"Growing up, other kids had Michael Jordan posters on their walls, but I had Eliot Ness."

An FBI agent (formerly of S.H.I.E.L.D.) assigned to Scott Lang's house arrest as his parole officer. A few years later, he finds himself at Westview, investigating strange occurrences there.


  • Adaptational Comic Relief: Comic Jimmy was a suave Tuxedo and Martini type secret agent who had saved the world several times over, all on his own. MCU Jimmy is a lighthearted FBI agent whose scenes are often played for laughs as he ineffectually tries to get his job done. WandaVision dials this back a bit, as he proves to be more capable than he seems, but he is still the source of most of the levity outside the Hex.
  • Adaptational Wimp: In the comics, Jimmy Woo is a former FBI-turned-S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, the legitimate heir of Genghis Khan and Khan of the underground Atlas Empire who owns a flying car, and his best friend is a gorilla-man. Here, he's a goofball, somewhat bumbling FBI agent, although WandaVision shows that he can be more than capable if the situation calls upon him to be.
  • Age Lift: Far younger in the MCU than in the comics, where Jimmy Woo was both born sometime in The '30s and was one of the few characters to not be preserved by Comic-Book Time, making him elderly by the modern era. Here, he is born in The '70s (like his actor) so he is barely middle-aged by the equivalent time period of Ant-Man and the Wasp.
  • Alternate Self: Jimmy has a variant that exists on Earth-89521, where he and a rag tag group of heroes managed to survive the zombie apocalypse together.
  • Ambiguously Gay: After Scott mistakes Jimmy's "I'll be seeing you" as a legitimate invitation, he clarifies the confusion, but then backtracks and seems to be down for going on a date with Scott. Which they do!
  • Anti-Villain: While he does seem like a jerk to Scott in Ant-Man and the Wasp, he is simply doing his job watching a potentially dangerous Wild Card who broke international law. Furthermore, he is fairly friendly with Scott when he visits and sincerely congratulates him on seemingly making it to the end of his house arrest during the second visit to Scott's house. Even in the end, when he could arrest Scott for somehow getting out of the house with the suit, he doesn't, because he can't prove Scott got out of the house. All in all, he isn't all that hateable despite his rougher attitude.
  • Audience Surrogate: While investigating Westview, Jimmy brings up a whiteboard with several theories and questions. Many of these questions are what many viewers likely share themselves, including whether Vision is actually alive or not, what the hexagons in the show represent, or if there are Skrulls involved with this situation.
  • Backup Bluff: In WandaVision, when he gets captured by S.W.O.R.D., he lies that he already called in The Cavalry to save him within the hour. Ironically, he swipes a phone during the conversation where he says this and manages to fulfill the boast.
  • Badass Normal: Woo might just be a regular FBI agent, but bear in mind that FBI agents are trained for dangerous circumstances. In Episode 6 of WandaVision, he’s able to subdue three S.W.O.R.D. security guards with the help of Monica Rambeau, and is able to convincingly disguise himself as one of them (ballcap not withstanding).
  • Beware the Silly Ones: Jimmy may be a bit spacey, but he's also a former S.H.I.E.L.D. and current FBI agent who possesses all of the required hand-to-hand combat skills.
  • Borrowed Catchphrase: He uses the same "Flourish!" Catchphrase that Vision's "Illusion" persona repeatedly used in his and Wanda's magical talent show performance when he slips out of his handcuffs while captured in the S.W.O.R.D. base.
  • Breakout Character: After playing a bit role as a Sympathetic Inspector Antagonist in Ant-Man and the Wasp, Jimmy gets a much bigger role in WandaVision, where his popularity skyrocketed. Marvel clearly noticed this, and not only brought him back for Quantumania, but also made a variant of Jimmy one of the main characters for their upcoming Marvel Zombies spinoff.
  • Brick Joke: In Ant-Man and the Wasp, he becomes obsessed with figuring out a card trick Scott did for him. By WandaVision, he seems to have gotten the hang of it, as he performs it for Monica Rambeau upon meeting her.
  • Bunny-Ears Lawyer: Despite his attempts to act as a professional agent, he's kind of... odd.
  • By-the-Book Cop: Throughout Ant-Man and the Wasp, he adamantly sticks to the rules of his job in dealing with Scott, even if it ends up working against him. By the end of the film, he's cottoned on to the fact that Scott outwit him, but due to lack of evidence that the man running around San Francisco in an Ant-Man suit is him, he has to let him walk free.
  • The Cameo: What his appearance in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania amounts to, as he is on-screen for just a few seconds near the beginning during the Good-Times Montage, meeting up with Scott for lunch (doubles as a Call-Back to him asking Scott out for lunch in the second Ant-Man movie).
  • The Cavalry Arrives Late: He tries his best to get the FBI on the scene as quickly as possible in the finale, but they arrive just as the Hex reseals. They are all subsequently forced to wait outside while the final battle is occurring, but do lay down the law with Jimmy leading when they get the chance.
  • Celebrity Paradox: Captain America and the Winter Soldier establishes that Star Trek is a franchise that exists in the MCU. Randall Park voiced the Apergosian High Leader on Star Trek: Lower Decks.
  • Characterization Marches On: In Ant-Man and the Wasp, he's a By-the-Book Cop who's monitoring Scott's house arrest and repeatedly reminds everyone that Scott has to follow the law and Sokovia Accords. In WandaVision, he's more of a Reasonable Authority Figure who believes in Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right! and actively undermines Hayward's authority when he believes the man is being unreasonable.
  • Chekhov's Skill: He first takes an interest in stage magic in Ant-Man and the Wasp after watching Scott perform a card trick and is at one point found in his office trying to practice that same trick. When he shows up again in WandaVision, he's developed a talent for sleight of hand and has also been dabbling in escapology, using his newfound skill to escape a pair of handcuffs in the series finale.
  • The Comically Serious: Jimmy Woo's comedy comes from reacting in FBI seriousness to the size-shifting silliness around him, but he's not nearly as unflappable as he'd like to think.
  • Curse of The Ancients: As a part-time youth pastor, he mostly keeps his language clean from modern swears through more antiquated obscenities. He lets out a "What the dickens?" when the situation of Ant-Man and the Wasp gets to be too much for him and jokingly exclaims "Jeepers Creepers!" upon a suggestion of being mind-controlled in WandaVision.
  • Defiant Captive: Spends his time unlawfully detained taunting the leader of his captors, slipping free from his bonds, and calling in back-up with a stolen phone.
  • Dressing as the Enemy: He uses the uniform of one of the S.W.O.R.D. agents he and Monica knock out to sneak back into the S.W.O.R.D. base unnoticed.
  • Establishing Character Moment: In his very first scene, he apologetically leads a search of Scott's house, explains to Cassie why her father is under house arrest... poorly, and asks Scott about a card trick he performed moments earlier. This establishes him as a dedicated lawman who is still willing to show courtesy toward people who break the law, rather comically incompetent at times, and interested in magic.
  • Everyone Has Standards:
    • He won't arrest Scott on the suspicion that he broke his house arrest because there isn't any proof. Agent Woo does promise that if he catches Scott breaking the law, he will arrest him, but for now, Scott is off the hook.
    • By Episode 6 of WandaVision, Jimmy is very disturbed at Tyler Hayward's willingness to kill Wanda at all costs, causing him to break with S.W.O.R.D. and look for ways to help her alongside Monica Rambeau and Darcy outside of the law.
  • Friendly Enemy: Even though he is just doing his job, he speaks in a rather polite way to Scott, apologizing to him when he thought that Scott had broken from house arrest. In fact, he actually takes a liking towards Scott and invites him for dinner after his parole has ended. At first, it seemed he didn't want to see him again until he commits another crime, but he eventually warmed up to him.
  • Gosh Dang It to Heck!: Not explicitly touched upon, but Jimmy doesn't swear much and once says the rather unusual "What the dickens?" in the place of a more profane word. This may have to do with his alleged side gig as a youth pastor.
  • Hairpin Lockpick: He successfully utilizes a spare safety pin in his pocket to pick open the lock to his handcuffs while a prisoner of S.W.O.R.D.
  • Hero Antagonist:
    • An honest, hardworking FBI agent who puts Scott, Hope, and Hank at risk during the events of Ant-Man and the Wasp, but he's neither evil nor particularly heroic. He's just doing his job.
    • Fits this role even moreso in WandaVision. The only reason he gets involved with what's happening is that there just so happens to be a man in the Witness Protection Program in Westview, and he has to extract them on the FBI's behalf. His working with S.W.O.R.D. to try to break into the small town isn't so much as him intentionally trying to destroy Wanda's sitcom reality but is moreso to find out what exactly it is, and how to help her and the people she has trapped in there. He then works to rescue Wanda as well as the people in Westview on realizing Hayward's real intentions.
  • Hidden Depths: He turns out to be quite competent at performing a Hassle-Free Hotwire, an unexpected skill for a character largely defined by his by-the-book nature to possess.
  • Innocently Insensitive: After his colleagues manage to capture Hank and Janet, he lets out a Big "YES!" right in front of Scott. He is even quick to realize how insensitive he was and earnestly apologizes.
    • An offhand remark he makes about Captain Marvel accidentally strikes a nerve with Monica, who bristles at his comment and then quickly changes the subject from her Honorary Aunt.
  • In-Series Nickname: His birth name is James, but almost everyone calls him "Jimmy".
  • Inspector Lestrade: In Ant-Man and the Wasp, Jimmy's aware that Scott Lang broke house arrest, but is unable to provide conclusive proof that he did it, forcing him to let him go at the end of the film. In WandaVision, Jimmy is unable to figure out much of anything regarding the Westview case, having to rely on S.W.O.R.D. and its consultants to get a basis of what's going on. Downplayed however in that he does catch on that something's not right about Director Hayward and his methods, but he can't properly arrest the guy until he sees Cataract Vision in action, which finally gives him the basis to do so.
  • Jurisdiction Friction: He is the sole FBI agent involved in the Westview investigation and is initially willing to let S.W.O.R.D. spearhead the joint effort. This changes as Director Hayward's Jerkass tendencies become more obvious, and Jimmy begins to question his judgment, reaching a head during an argument after the attempted drone strike, where he is illegally removed from the base of operations by Hayward.
  • Lame Pun Reaction: He's so unimpressed by Hayward's Pun about Project Cataract in "The Series Finale" that he delivers some uncharacteristic sarcasm.
    Hayward: If only you had a little more... Vision.
    Jimmy: Heh. That's a good one, Hayward.
  • Metaphorgotten: His attempt to explain to Cassie why her father was put under arrest begins with a simple metaphor about drawing on the walls, but quickly veers off into the legal terminology of the Sokovia Accords. By the end of it, he's obviously confused Cassie more than he's helped.
  • Mirror Character: To Everett Ross. Both of them are agents of the US government who initially are introduced as Obstructive Bureaucrats, but later on prove themselves to be more competent and willing to help. The main difference is that Woo is openly friendlier, if not a bit spacey, while on the job compared to Ross. They also represent different branches of the government, with Ross working for the CIA and Woo being a federal agent.
  • Mr. Exposition: For anyone who missed Captain America: Civil War and Avengers: Infinity War, he's there to explain how Scott ended up on house arrest.
  • Mysterious Middle Initial: It is unrevealed what the E. in James E. Woo stands for. Strangely, this is a mystery specific to the MCU, as in the comics he is simply James Woo.
  • Nice Guy: He's very civil to Scott and tries to calmly explain to Cassie why her dad's in trouble. Woo's not very good at the explanation, but he tries, and he mentions he's a youth pastor. While he briefly cheers on hearing Hank and Hope got arrested, he then apologizes to Scott since it was an insensitive thing to do. It also says something that he follows the letter of the law and won't arrest Scott on the suspicion of him becoming Ant-Man again. WandaVision cements him as this when the FBI and S.W.O.R.D. discover what is going on with Wanda, Vision, and the town of Westview. Assuming Wanda is trapped there against her will, he tries to contact her through a radio to find out who has done this to her. Even later when it's seemingly confirmed Wanda is the one responsible for the Hex, he still gives her the benefit of the doubt and reminds Director Hayward of all the good she's done with the Avengers.
  • Nice, Mean, and In-Between: The Nice to Darcy's Mean and Monica's In-Between. He is unfailingly helpful and polite, and while he eventually works to undermine Hayward with the trio, he makes a point to never insult him, even when Hayward doesn't spare the same courtesy for them. Jimmy only ever makes valid criticisms toward Hayward's poor choices as a leader and his consistently villainizing portrayal of Wanda's actions.
  • Not Now, Kiddo: Zigzagged and played for laughs. When Cassie calls him out, he tells her that he's sure this all has to sound like a bunch of confusing adult stuff to her and proceeds to explain it... Using legal jargon.
  • Not So Above It All: Jimmy tries to be as professional as one would expect for his position, but it's not too hard to get him to crack. For instance, he's utterly fascinated with Scott's magic trick and even learns how to do it to introduce himself to Monica Rambeau. He's also one of the two people working with S.W.O.R.D. who actually seems interested in the WandaVision show itself, even expressing slight envy at Wanda and Vision having children.
  • Obstructive Bureaucrat:
    • As Scott's parole officer in Ant-Man and the Wasp. Justified, as it's his responsibility to make sure Scott doesn't break house arrest.
    • Inverted in WandaVision, where he's the only government agent involved in the Westview case who's against attacking Wanda Maximoff from the start, and eventually uses his connections to bring the rest of the FBI to apprehend Director Hayward and do damage control for Westview.
  • Odd Friendship: Jimmy is a soft-spoken Nice Guy, but he becomes fast friends with the far more extroverted, snarky Dr. Darcy Lewis when they meet at the S.W.O.R.D. base camp.
  • Oh, Crap!:
    • When he realizes that the enlarged Ant-Man suit he has cornered against a building is empty and Scott is instead escaping back to his house.
    • He openly panics in WandaVision when he notices Monica is preparing to re-enter the Hex without any protection, culminating in a Big "NO!".
  • Once More, with Clarity: During the events of "Don't Touch That Dial", we hear Jimmy (unidentified at the time of release) attempting to contact Wanda. It is not until two episodes later that we get the context of how or why, through his and Darcy's perspectives of the interaction.
  • One Dialogue, Two Conversations:
    • As he and Monica meet at the edge of Westview, Monica tries to ask why he can realize something is wrong with Westview when almost nobody else can. He misinterprets her question and thinks she is asking about his life, so he responds with a run-down of his childhood.
    • While he and Darcy talk about Wanda having kids in Westview, she offers him a chip from the bag she's eating from. He thinks Darcy's asking if he ever wants to have a kid.
      Jimmy: I can't believe Wanda and Vision are having a baby.
      Darcy: You want any?
      Jimmy: Heck, I thought about it for sure. A little Jimmy Woo, get him a tiny little FBI badge— Oh, uh, chip? Sure.
  • One-Steve Limit: Jimmy Woo shares both a first name (nicknames notwithstanding) and screentime with fellow law enforcement officer Jim Paxton in Ant-Man and the Wasp.
  • Police Are Useless:
    • Much like Paxton and SFPD in Scott's last movie, he and the FBI are very incompetent at their job and only act as detrimental obstacles for Scott and his friends. Downplayed in that they do manage to temporarily capture Hank and Hope, though it still makes them an obstacle when they refuse to listen to Hank and Hope about what is actually going on after detaining them.
    • In WandaVision, Jimmy isn't able to do much of anything regarding the sudden existence of Westview without S.W.O.R.D.'s help, despite the place housing a person of interest to the FBI. Unlike in Ant-Man and the Wasp, however, Jimmy's uselessness is more than justified, given that they're dealing with Wanda Maximoff. That being said, Jimmy gradually averts the trope as the series wraps up, as he eventually breaks with S.W.O.R.D., assists Monica with reentering the Hex, and calls in The Cavalry to arrest Hayward and his accomplices in the aftermath of what happens.
  • Production Foreshadowing: Prior to his film debut, he was mentioned in an episode of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. four years earlier.
  • Race Lift: Of the "Minority to Minority" kind, being changed from Chinese-American to Korean-American. It helps that "Woo" is applicable on both sides.
  • Reasonable Authority Figure: He treats Scott Lang with both respect and suspicion, refusing to arrest him without any proof that he broke his parole. Jimmy does promise that he'll be there to arrest Scott if the latter breaks the law again, but after the events of Endgame is more than happy to accept that all the Avengers got The Pardon, since Scott's time travel knowledge undid the Blip and restored billions of people to life. What's more, when the Westview Hex starts happening, he questions if Wanda is under duress since he knows that she's a hero, and rebels against Hayward, calling in the FBI, on realizing the man indirectly created and is worsening the situation.
  • Rule of Three: Three times over the course of Ant-Man and the Wasp, he and the rest of the FBI burst into Scott's house after they have reason to believe he is violating his house arrest. The third time, Scott's jail time is up and they have to let him go without further issue.
  • Sarcasm-Blind:
    • As a crowner to how he's seemingly not good with people after he Info Dumps the whole terms of Scott's sentence to his 10-year-old daughter:
      Scott: Wow. You're really great with kids!
      Woo: Thanks. I'm also a youth pastor.
    • He gets another one during the events of WandaVision:
      Tyler Hayward: Someone must really miss you back in Quantico.
      Woo: No, sir. Softball season's over, sir.
  • Schrödinger's Canon: In the tradition of MCU films never addressing details from the MCU TV shows, his status as a former S.H.I.E.L.D. agent is not even hinted at.
  • Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right!: After dealing with Hayward's authority for too long, Jimmy and Monica subdue the S.W.O.R.D. security agents escorting them off the property and take their uniforms as disguises. It's worth noting that Woo is the one who initiates this, with Monica only following suit after he throws the first punch.
  • Sharp-Dressed Man: To highlight his (attempted) professional attitude towards his job, his only attire throughout Ant-Man and the Wasp is a crisp two-piece suit and tie.
  • Sleight of Handiness: The series finale of WandaVision has Jimmy steal a phone off of someone's desk in plain view of everyone while handcuffed in order to call a few of his fellow agents as backup.
  • Sympathetic Inspector Antagonist: In Ant-Man and the Wasp, his goal is to ensure that Scott Lang doesn't make a break for it in his last few days of house arrest. Unfortunately, Scott's services are needed by Hank and Hope Pym at that time.
  • Time-Passage Beard: His brief cameo at the beginning of Quantumania has him sporting a Perma-Stubble, indicating his appearance here is set much later (roughly six years in-universe) than his last outing in the franchise.
  • Token Good Teammate: He's pretty much the only positive representation of the FBI within the Marvel Cinematic Universe. With pretty much every other FBI agent that makes an appearance, such as those in Daredevil and Ant-Man and the Wasp, ending up being corrupt.
  • Token Minority: He's the only Asian character of importance in both Ant-Man and the Wasp and WandaVision.
  • Took a Level in Badass: Downplayed in WandaVision. He's clearly (and understandably) out of his depth dealing with the whole Westview situation, but he's far more on the ball and competent than he was in Ant-Man and the Wasp, and does a remarkably good job with the investigation into Westview. He's also learned to do the card trick. In episode six, he's the first to throw a punch when S.W.O.R.D. agents try to remove him, Monica, and Darcy from the command post, and he can fight as well as Monica does.
  • Took a Level in Kindness: In Ant-Man and the Wasp, Jimmy is continually suspicious of Scott attempting to breach house arrest, and is visibly frustrated that he isn’t able to catch him for doing so at the end of that film. Compare this with his attitude in WandaVision, where Jimmy is among the three consultants of S.W.O.R.D. that is somewhat reluctant to follow Hayward's orders to neutralize Wanda, and decides to take matters into his own hands after Hayward dismisses them.
  • Two First Names: His first name is "James" and his last name is "Woo", which is used as both a Korean given name and surname.
  • Unspoken Plan Guarantee: He doesn't bother to clue in Monica or Darcy (and therefore the audience) in any way before he starts beating down the agents forcibly escorting them off S.W.O.R.D. premises. Justified in that he is all but explicitly stated to be acting on the spot.
  • Verbal Business Card: He provides one to Monica during their first meeting.
    Woo: James E. Woo, FBI.
  • We Will Meet Again: By the time he lets Scott off house arrest, it's pretty clear he knows that Scott violated his agreement and went out as Ant-Man, but since there's nothing to officially prove that, he has no choice but to let him go. That said, he thinks it's only a matter of time before Scott gets caught again, given how often this happens, and says he'll be the one who catches him.
  • Wrong Genre Savvy: He's a decorated FBI-agent and when WandaVision is any indicator he seems to be very competent in his job - however, dealing with a superhero who can shrink and grow seems not what he is used to or trained for. He spectaculary fails in keeping Scott in his house arrest for that reason.

    Stoltz 

Agent Stoltz

Species: Human

Citizenship: American

Portrayed By: Sean Thompson Kleier

Appearances: Ant-Man and the Wasp

A corrupt FBI agent assigned to the San Francisco field office.


  • Asshole Victim: He is the only person Ghost actually kills in the entire movie, but he's a dirty FBI agent who works for Sonny Burch, not exactly what you'd call a tragic loss.
  • Dirty Cop: He's in league with Sonny Burch, selling him information.
  • Tele-Frag: Ghost phases her hand into his heart to kill him.
  • Sudden Name Change: Originally, Kleier was listed as Geoffrey Ballard, a.k.a. Centurion, an obscure Bronze-Age character that debuted in Black Goliath #4 in 1976 and went on to appear in a few Ms. Marvel issues.

    FBI Agent 
See the Skrulls page

New York City field office

    Tammy Hattley 

Tamara "Tammy" Hattley

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/vlcsnap_2019_04_27_21h19m51s680.jpg
"I got a boss too, and he's got a hard-on for agents in financial holes."

Species: Human

Citizenship: American

Portrayed By: Kate Udall

Appearances: Daredevil

Nadeem's superior at the New York FBI office, overseeing Wilson Fisk's protection detail.


  • Cruel to Be Kind:
    • She divorced her husband to ensure that Fisk couldn't hunt him down.
    • She very much cares about Nadeem, and even tries as long as possible to keep him out of Fisk's grasp. She initially denies his promotion request to protect him and does her best to delay sending Nadeem to the prison to initiate his informant relationship with Fisk. Then once this relationship begins, Hattley withholds the truth from Nadeem until she has no choice, thanks to Fisk forcing her hand and having her murder Agent Winn in her house. Afterwards, she's visibly heartbroken as she tells Nadeem that in truth, he now works for Fisk.
  • Da Chief: Nadeem and Dex's boss.
  • A Darker Shade of Gray: Unlike Ray (and probably most of the other blackmailed Feds), she is callous enough to murder a colleague clinically and cold-bloodedly. Still, she's miles above Dex.
  • Dirty Cop: Fisk manipulates her into turning the rest of her agents into his glorified muscle.
  • Even Evil Has Loved Ones: She divorced her husband so that Fisk wouldn't be able to use him against her, and encourages Nadeem to do everything he can to keep his family from incurring Fisk's wrath.
  • Even Evil Has Standards: Despite nonchalantly murdering Winn, her conversation with Nadeem when they're preparing to escort Fisk to a summit of rounded-up gangsters makes clear she's not too happy with doing Fisk's dirty work, and the only thing keeping her from ratting is Fisk's threats of harm to her daughter. After Nadeem's posthumous confession video goes viral and implicates her, she's quick to give up everything she knows about Fisk's operation.
  • Evil Redhead: Red-headed and works for Fisk.
  • Foil: Like Nadeem, she gets blackmailed into working for Fisk. Where they differ is how they deal with it. Hattley chooses to acclimate to the new normal, and rationalizes the horrible things she does as acceptable on account of Fisk blackmailing her. Meanwhile, Nadeem refuses to accept this new normal, and is willing to go public at the expense of his career and freedom to publicly expose what Fisk is coercing them to do.
  • Forced into Evil: Fisk killed one of her children in an arranged "hit and run", and blackmailed her into working for him by threatening to kill her daughter.
  • Mole in Charge: Fisk's at the FBI.
  • Pet the Dog: She makes efforts early on to try and keep Ray out of Fisk's machinations. Unfortunately, Ray's pride keep him from failing to see the trap Fisk has lured him into.
  • Reasonable Authority Figure: She's a stern but fair-minded boss who's honest with her employees. Except she isn't. She shockingly kills Winn in front of Nadeem and blackmails him into working for Fisk just like she and Dex - and several others - already are doing.
  • Trapped in Villainy: Fisk has threatened to kill her daughter if she does try to leave.

    Ray Nadeem 

Rahul "Ray" Nadeem

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/agentraynadeem.png
"Because of you, my wife still has her husband and my son still has his father."

Species: Human

Citizenship: American

Portrayed By: Jay Ali

Appearances: Daredevil

"You know, you remind me of someone I knew growing up. Jack Kem. Yeah, but everyone knew him as Jiggy. You know, Jiggy lived in a two-family house all by himself. It was practically a mansion to me. But Jiggy was a helper, too. He was always helping out folks on the block. Annie the single mom needs a new car? Jiggy's got it. The Hoffmans are desperate for rent? No problem. Ten-year-old me thought this guy was a hero. But it turned out Jiggy had hidden ten kilos of heroin in the trunk of Annie's sedan. Another five in the Hoffman baby's room. Guess who the cops arrested when they tracked down that powder? I've seen your kind of 'help' before."

An FBI agent who Wilson Fisk manipulates into letting him out of prison.


  • Boom, Headshot!: His fate at the hands of Dex.
  • Canon Foreigner: Nadeem and all of his FBI colleagues except for Dex are all-new characters created just for the show.
  • Catch-22 Dilemma: He seeks a promotion and the corresponding pay increase to get out of financial debt, but his superiors won't promote him because his finances make him too vulnerable to bribery. This is part of what drives Nadeem to push the FBI to cut a deal with Fisk that includes letting him out of jail, exactly as Fisk engineered.
  • Deal with the Devil: He makes one with Fisk that, on paper, looks pretty good: Fisk offers information on a major Albanian crime syndicate, which will boost Ray up the career ladder whereas he'd previously stalled. Fisk sabotaged his career, to put him in a position of vulnerability where he was easily exploitable. It spirals out of control and Fisk gains complete control over Ray and turns him into a Dirty Cop.
  • Deathbed Confession: He records a final message to his family, before being killed by Dex. But the video also includes his confession and full testimony against Fisk, detailing everything he did and knows about the Kingpin's activities. His wife smuggles the video to Foggy, who quickly realizes this is a dying declaration (one of the exceptions that will permit this kind of evidence in court), the evidence they need to bring Fisk to justice. Once it's released to the public, Fisk is quickly arrested for his crimes.
  • Decomposite Character: While he's a completely original character, Fisk manipulating him into debt is similar to what Fisk did to Matt in the original Born Again story. That it has to do with his sister-in-law's cancer treatments is borrowed from Nick Manolis, the dirty cop in Born Again that Fisk paid to discredit Matt (whose son Fisk offered to pay full treatment for if Manolis perjured himself).
  • Deuteragonist: Of Daredevil Season 3. He has almost as much screentime and character development as Matt Murdock.
  • Dirty Cop: Downplayed. Fisk uses emotional manipulation and actual blackmail to turn Ray into a very reluctant accomplice. Ray eventually turns against Fisk, valuing his moral compass and the example he'll set for his son over his own survival.
  • Determinator: He's willing to go to any length for his family. Fisk even uses this to manipulate him into being desperate enough to cut the deal with Fisk to begin with.
  • Entertainingly Wrong: When questioning Foggy, he correctly suspects that Matt is leading a double life and Foggy knows about it...but he guesses that Matt is a criminal instead of a vigilante.
  • Expy: Certain elements of his character are borrowed from Nick Manolis in the "Born Again" comic.
  • Face Death with Dignity: After recording his video confession, he patiently waits in his backyard, casually drinking a beer, waiting for Dex to come and kill him. When Dex catches up to him, he says he's glad that Dex will be the one to do it, and urges him to just shoot him there and then to get things over with. He ultimately has to draw his gun to get Dex to go through with shooting him.
  • Fan Disservice: He's a good-looking, well-built guy who gets a shirtless scene in "Revelations", but it's a Shower of Angst and he's wounded from getting shot by Dex.
  • Foil: To Matt Murdock. Both have similar "I can fix this" attitudes that mirror one another. Nadeem is pretty isolated as he tries to fix all the problems he caused by himself: he never draws in Seema, he never lets her help, he barely leans on her emotionally. He doesn't depend on friends. He views co-workers as competition. He only gives in and goes for help when it’s already too late and he’s in too deep with Fisk to get out. Matt, meanwhile, is constantly trying to get everyone else to stay out of his fight and insisting that it is his fight and his alone, that he must be the one that fixes it. The only difference is that Matt realizes he needs the help of other people sooner than Nadeem does, soon enough to actually make use of a multi-pronged attack. Furthermore, Matt's got an advantage in that the people he's protecting are grown, capable adults; whereas Nadeem is having to deal with his young son being threatened.
    • He's also a foil to Jack Murdock. Both hard-working, dedicated fathers who ultimately die trying to do the right thing for their sons in opposition to a criminal organization. That said, Jack's relationship with crime was known and willing, whereas Nadeem was coerced into it.
  • Forced into Evil: Fisk runs a masterful manipulation game on him, and the subsequent Frame-Up forces him into becoming a Dirty Cop working alongside the man who shot him.
  • Guilt-Ridden Accomplice: He's only a Dirty Cop for a short time, but he's tormented by guilt the entire time until he pulls a Heel–Face Turn.
  • Happily Married: He's a family man, and has a very loving relationship with his wife Seema despite financial worries from paying for her sister's treatments. The sorts of things that Wilson Fisk likes to exploit.
  • Headbutting Heroes: Spends much of season three as a Hero Antagonist to Karen, Foggy, and Matt. However, because he is a hero, he digs into the information he has and the leads the provide and realizes Fisk is manipulating him.
  • Heel Realization: After spending a fair portion of Season 3 protecting Fisk, he's told by Matt, by Karen and by others in no uncertain terms that Fisk has been using him to regain power. When confronted with evidence in the wake of Jasper Evans' death, he goes to Fisk's penthouse and sees the full extent of the luxury Fisk is living in. He's horrified to realized that however inadvertently, he's allowed the most dangerous crime lord in New York (maybe America) to ascend the throne yet again.
  • In-Series Nickname: He is called "Ray" by most of his colleagues, but his birth name is Rahul.
  • A Lighter Shade of Gray: Much more sympathetic and moral than the other agents blackmailed by Fisk.
  • My Greatest Failure: Unwittingly allowing Fisk to rise back to power is this for him as a whole, but what he's guilty of the most is driving Dex to the Clinton Church where he tried to kill Karen Page and caused the death of Father Paul Lantom, which he personally feels guilty for for aiding and abetting.
  • Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: While it's logical to assume from earlier matters like Union Allied and Detective Blake that Fisk had a spare in case he couldn't exploit Nadeem's desperation, Nadeem ultimately takes the bait Fisk offers him, meaning that almost the entire plot and conflict of the third season is on him.
  • An Offer You Can't Refuse: Fisk suggests that he's making one of these when he first summons Nadeem to propose an offer to become an informant, only to clarify he's actually offering to provide information to Nadeem in exchange for Vanessa's protection and realizes that as a married man, Nadeem is likely to grant him sympathy for that. Then, of course, it turns out that the offer was always an irrefusable one even before Nadeem got approached, because Fisk has spent every day since he was arrested slowly bankrupting Ray without him even meeting the man, to make him desperate enough to take Fisk's deal without looking closely enough.
  • Pride: His Fatal Flaw. Aside from his financial worries, Nadeem wants his family to think well of him. He wants to be a good man and hero in their eyes, and this leads to him making some careless decisions, which also makes him easy for Fisk to exploit.
  • Reasonable Authority Figure: For all his flaws, Nadeem genuinely wants to uphold the law and will always Pull the Thread to get the truth. His antagonism towards Matt, Karen, and Foggy is because they genuinely are suspicious, but the greater threat of Fisk and the fact that they're actually the good guys puts that conflict to rest.
  • Redemption Equals Death: He eventually defies Fisk, and goes to a grand jury with the support of Matt, Foggy, and Karen. Fisk manages to blackmail the grand jury, leaving Ray to accept his fate and sacrifice himself to save his family.
  • Secret-Keeper: Matt unmasks himself to Nadeem after rescuing him and his family from Fisk's assassins.
  • Thanatos Gambit: Nadeem's recorded confession of his involvement in Fisk's crimes would normally be legally inadmissible as evidence, as statements made outside of a courtroom are regarded as hearsay. However, dying declarations are exempt from this rule. So Nadeem orchestrates his own death by returning to his home, which he knew was under surveillance, assuming correctly that Fisk would eventually send someone to kill him.
  • Trapped in Villainy: His mount of debt leaves him open to manipulation by Fisk into getting him his sweetheart deal with the penthouse and all his stuff, then has another of his turned agents frame Nadeem for murder to fully trap him.
  • Unwitting Instigator of Doom: By agreeing to Fisk's deal, Ray bears indirect responsibility for every crime that Fisk commits or has others commit for him upon getting out of prison.
  • Unwitting Pawn: Fisk lures him in with promises of career advancement. In fact, he's been Fisk's pawn since long before he even spoke to the man. Fisk targeted Nadeem by cutting off his sister-in-law's medical insurance, forcing Nadeem to pay her medical bills and go into crippling debt, ruining his FICO score and delaying hopes of career advancement, so that when Fisk offers him information, Nadeem won't look too closely at the possible repercussions.
  • We Used to Be Friends: While he and Dex start the season as close friends and colleagues (helped in part by Dex saving his life during the motorcade attack), they grow distant as Fisk manipulates Dex into becoming his hired killer and goes on a killing spree. They only become close again when Fisk's manipulation of Nadeem is revealed and the latter is forced into his service, but it's a twisted reversal of their former relationship. It started with Nadeem as the one reaching out to Dex and offering friendship, but ended with Dex assuming they were now best buds.
  • You Remind Me of X: Once he realizes Fisk is manipulating him and the FBI, he realizes Fisk very much reminds him of his childhood neighbor Jiggy, who ostensibly painted himself as a man of his community who helped others out...and then made them into fall guys when the police came to arrest him for dealing drugs. Fisk attempts to claim he's a better man than Jiggy, but Ray isn't buying his lies.

    Benjamin Poindexter 

    Pryor Arinori 

Pryor Arinori

Species: Human

Citizenship: American

Portrayed By: Don Castro

Appearances: Daredevil

A colleague of Dex and Nadeem's on the Fisk task force.


  • Bald of Evil: He's got a shaved head, although he's not really "evil" so much as "blackmailed into working for Wilson Fisk".
  • Forced into Evil: Fisk has some sort of dirt which is how he got blackmailed into working for him.
  • Noodle Incident: He refuses to tell Nadeem what exactly it is that Fisk is blackmailing him with.
    Arinori: Better we don't talk about it, and in here we don't even say his name.

    Agent Lim 

Agent J. Lim

Species: Human

Citizenship: American

Portrayed By: Scotty Crowe

Appearances: Daredevil

A colleague of Dex and Nadeem's.


  • Oh, Crap!: His reaction when Dex turns up at Fisk and Vanessa's wedding in his fake Daredevil costume and carrying Julie's frozen corpse.
  • Token Good Teammate: He's one of the few FBI agents who's not corrupt and/or being blackmailed by Fisk. Dex even takes note of this and gives him the choice to walk away when he's planning to kill all agents protecting Fisk at the hotel so he can get to the man and kill him. When Lim doesn't take this offer, Dex non-lethally subdues him instead of killing him.

    Agent Alvarez 

Agent Alvarez

Species: Human

Citizenship: American

Portrayed By: Kimberli Alexis Flores

Appearances: Daredevil

A colleague of Dex and Nadeem's.


    Agent Wellers 

Agent Wellers

Species: Human

Citizenship: American

Portrayed By: Matthew Mc Curdy

Appearances: Daredevil

A colleague of Dex and Nadeem's.


  • Bald of Evil: He's a much more consenting dirty cop than Arinori or Nadeem are in working for Fisk.
  • Shoot the Messenger: Fisk brutally beats him to death for telling him that Nadeem has gone rogue and helped Karen Page escape from Dex. He's notably the only person in season 3 that Fisk personally kills rather than have someone else do it for him.

    Agent Winn 

Agent Winn

Species: Human

Citizenship: American

Portrayed By: Andrew Sensenig

Appearances: Daredevil

An agent with the New York FBI office's Office of Professional Responsibility.


  • Boom, Headshot!: Hattley kills him with Ray's gun, then Felix Manning bags the gun (with Ray's prints) and an audio recording to blackmail Ray into working for Fisk.
  • Internal Affairs: Fisk manipulates him into opening an investigation into Dex's line-of-duty shooting of the Albanians who ambushed Fisk's motorcade, as part of a gambit to get Dex suspended.

Department of Damage Control

    In General 

Damage Control

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/dodc.png

Appearances: Iron Man note  | Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. note  | Spider-Man: Homecoming | Spider-Man: No Way Home | Ms. Marvel | She-Hulk: Attorney at Law

A department of the U.S. government formed in a joint collaboration with Stark Industries, tasked with the clean up of superhuman involved conflicts.


  • Adaptational Jerkass: Their comic book counterparts were a privately contracted construction company that specialized in Hero Insurance for a lot of the main Marvel stories. Whenever anyone in Damage Control did anything villainous or caused problems for anyone, it was either by complete accident or individual bad apples in the organization who wanted to use the Applied Phlebotinum for selfish reasons, problems that the organization itself is quick to stamp out. Here, they start as a Cleanup Crew, and even then their Establishing Character Moment in Spider-Man: Homecoming has them running a blue-collar construction company out of business. Later, they become a Cape Busting operation that behave more like a precinct of militarized police more interested in incriminating heroes instead of going after the actual bad guys on the basis of their Enhanced status.
  • Adapted Out: Aside from Anne-Marie Hoag and Agent Cleary, none of the Damage Control members from the comics appear.
  • Cape Busters: After the Snap and the Blip they have taken on this role over their intended job as a Cleanup Crew, given how they antagonize Spider-Man, Ms. Marvel, and She-Hulk.
  • Cardboard Prison: They run the Cube, supposedly The Alcatraz. The first time it shows up, in Ms. Marvel, the Clan Destine escape in about five minutes of getting there. In She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, it turns out they never noticed Emil Blonksy had been leaving his cell to partake in underground fighting until they saw internet footage of it.
  • Cleanup Crew: A non-villainous example. Their goal is to clean up and repair the damage left behind by superhero activities and salvage materials and weapons from the battles.
  • Composite Character: As of Spider-Man: No Way Home they have taken on a role similar to that of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s Cape Killers during Civil War (2006) or H.A.M.M.E.R. during Dark Reign.
  • Damage Control: As the name suggests, that is their function in a nutshell.
  • Early-Bird Cameo: Damage Control was first mentioned on the TV news at the end of the first Iron Man movie as the team responsible for cleaning up after the destruction caused by Stark and Stane's fight with each other. However, they only become plot-relevant 15 films later in Spider-Man: Homecoming.
  • Face–Heel Turn: At some point after Endgame, they underwent this, going from a simple Cleanup Crew to a fullblown Cape Busters faction willing to use Stark military-grade tech on teenagers.
  • Failed a Spot Check:
    • None of the agents driving the Damage Control truck appear to notice Spider-Man and Vulture tussling on top.
    • Shortly after, Spider-Man gets stuck in their Storage Vault for an entire night, and no one seems to notice either.
  • The Ghost: After the attack by the Watchdogs on the Mackenzie house in the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. episode "Watchdogs", Daisy Johnson mentions that Damage Control is going to take care of cleaning up the mess, but they don't actually appear in the episode.
  • Hypocrite: In Spider-Man: No Way Home, Damage Control confiscated E.D.I.T.H and the drones under its command due to the collateral damage they caused in Europe while under Peter's control at the time due to his lack of experience. By the time of Ms. Marvel (2022), Damage Control start using the E.D.I.T.H drones for their own dogmatic purposes, which end up causing just as much damage to Jersey City as Peter caused by accident.
  • Irony:
    • They, an organization co-founded by Tony Stark, spearhead an investigation on and attempt to prosecute Spider-Man, Stark's protege, for the death of Mysterio, a former employee who Stark fired for mental instability.
    • Despite their name, they actually cause far more collateral damage than the target they were after in Ms. Marvel. Blowing up a bodega with E.D.I.T.H. drones and nearly leveling a high school (that was thankfully empty except for Kamala and her friends) doesn't do them much favors in this respect.
  • Lawful Stupid: What they are at their best, zealously enforcing the law on the heroes without an ounce of care. She-Hulk smashes one TV screen after a bunch of internet trolls provoke her? They arrest her and make no attempt to go after the trolls.
  • Morality Chain: When Stark was alive, they weren't too bad as an Obstructive Bureaucrat department other then putting Toomes and his crew out of business, but after Stark's Heroic Sacrifice, they get in the way of superheroes like Peter and their friends and family (and especially Kamala and her friends and family) to give them legal grief.
  • New Job as the Plot Demands: In Spider-Man: Homecoming, Damage Control was initially little more than a clean-up crew for the Chitauri invasion that also happened to collect what remained of their alien technology. From Spider-Man: No Way Home onwards, they've become federal agents who investigate, arrest and prosecute whom they believe to be dangerous individuals with powerful abilities, eventually conficasting control of E.D.I.T.H. from Peter and use them during the events of Ms. Marvel.
  • No Sympathy:
    • They don't show any compassion towards Toomes and his men after making them lose their jobs without compensation.
    • The first time they see Kamala Khan using her powers, their reaction is to "bring her in", and start a manhunt. They try to capture her for saving a kid from falling to death, being somehow convinced she tried to attack him.
    • She-Hulk has a Freak Out after discovering she was victim of a clear case of stalking and sexual harassment (having her sexual activities recorded and broadcasted without her consent), with the collateral damage that ensues being just a smashed TV and some people getting nervous. They arrest her and the following episode makes perfectly clear that they have done nothing to investigate the Intelligencia (the She-Hulk hating forum that performed said activities), instead prioritizing throwing the book at Jen. Downplayed in this case since Jen was quickly released and the Intelligencia are normal douchebags who committed a normal crime, so investigating them would be the province of conventional law enforcement.
  • Obstructive Bureaucrat: They act as this in the Spider-Man trilogy as legal system obstacle Cape Busters in the paths of Toomes and Peter and give them grief, especially following the passing of their founder Stark, that makes them condescendingly controlling regardless if the suspect is a mentee of Stark like Peter or not.
  • Police Brutality: As of the events of Ms. Marvel, they have no problem whatsoever deploying Attack Drones (repurposed E.D.I.T.H. drones, to be specific) to attack teenagers who are standing in the middle of a major American city for the crime of having powers (which they revealed while trying to save someone) with (almost) no regard whatsoever for collateral damage. The excuse of "unknown superhuman" doesn't really justifies such an example of Disproportionate Retribution and Hollywood Law.
  • Took a Level in Badass: They were antagonistic in Spider-Man: No Way Home, but couldn't do much outside the boundaries of the law and a good lawyer could send them away in a sec. In Ms. Marvel (2022), they have control of EDITH’s drones, allowing them to surveil and spy anyone they want without much repercussion, and have the firepower that comes with it, making them much more of a threat for the heroes.

    Anne-Marie Hoag 

Anne-Marie Hoag

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/annemarie.png

Species: Human

Citizenship: American

Portrayed By: Tyne Daly

Appearances: Spider-Man: Homecoming

"Thank you for your service. We'll take it from here."

The director of Damage Control, a U.S. government department operated by Stark Industries that's tasked with cleaning up collateral wreckage caused by superhuman activity.


  • Iron Lady: She's the director of Damage Control and is shown to be a firm and strict woman.
  • Obstructive Bureaucrat: As the head of Damage Control, she oversees the logistics of cleaning up sites affected by superhuman battles, which makes Adrian Toomes' business redundant.
  • Power Hair: She wears her hair at a medium length, reflecting her position of power.
  • Reasonable Authority Figure: Downplayed, but she stops her men when they point their guns at Toomes for punching one of them, and she tells him he can always talk to his superiors about his grievances.
  • Small Role, Big Impact: Only appears briefly in Spider-Man: Homecoming, but her actions in the prologue inadvertently turn Toomes towards villainy. She is also briefly visible in the background during the aftermath of the bodega incident, presumably to help the NYPD coordinate the clean-up of the alien tech involved.
  • Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Her causing Adrian Toomes and his crew to lose their jobs is what drives them to become a gang of dangerous criminals.

    Agent Foster 

Agent Foster

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/agentfoster.png
"Maybe next time, don't overextend yourself."

Species: Human

Citizenship: American

Portrayed By: Gary Weeks

Appearances: Spider-Man: Homecoming | Spider-Man: No Way Home

An agent of Damage Control who accompanies Hoag in confronting Adrian Toomes and his crew after the Battle of New York. Several years later, he accompanies Cleary in the detainment of Peter Parker.


  • All There in the Script: His name is not mentioned in the film, but it's revealed during the credits.
  • Canon Foreigner: He doesn't appear to be based on any character from the comics.
  • Jerkass: He has the gall to mock Toomes after putting him out of work and later Peter for Mysterio's death.
  • Jerkass Has a Point: While an asshole about it, he is correct Toomes shouldn't have invested so much on the Chitauri salvagage job when they were working joes handling advanced alien technology which no sane government would allow.
  • Number Two: He seems to be this for Hoag, being always at her side and being the only one besides her to talk during the confrontation with Toomes. He still appears at Hoag's side during the scenes in the present.
  • Obstructive Bureaucrat: Gives a legal headache for Toomes and later Peter Parker and his friends and family.
  • One-Steve Limit: He shares his last name with several major MCU characters, such as Jane Foster or Bill Foster.
  • Only One Name: He's only known as "Foster".
  • Very Punchable Man: A minor character who's only there to treat Toomes like crap, making it very satisfying when he gets punched in the face for his trouble.

    Agent Cleary 

Agent P. Cleary

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/agentcleary.png
"Department of Damage Control, we have a warrant for the arrest of Peter Parker."

Species: Human

Citizenship: Iranian-American

Portrayed By: Arian Moayed

Appearances: Spider-Man: No Way Home | Ms. Marvel

"Child endangerment is a nasty rap. A boy was entrusted to you, and as his legal guardian, essentially his mother, you not only allowed him to endanger himself, but you actually encouraged it."

An agent of Damage Control who interrogates Peter Parker and his entourage regarding the death of Mysterio.


  • Ambiguously Brown: Am almost white passing example. Arian Moayed is Iranian American but is on the lighter side. Agent Clearly's name implies he is partially white or is using a white passing name. Though his uncomfortable facial expression to Deever's racism could be due to his Iranian American heritage would normally victimise him if his name and complexiom wasnt white passing.
  • Adaptation Name Change: His name is Albert in the comics while his badge shows his name starts with a "P" in the MCU.
  • Everyone Has Standards: Even though he's a smarmy jackass who is out to arrest teenagers for trying to be superheroes, Cleary seems visibly uncomfortable with his partner Deever's willingness to racially profile people in an attempt to find Kamala. In the final episode, he balks at the bad press Deever's manhunt for Kamran and Kamala is generating, ordering her to stand down when she's about to attack a high school. When she does so anyway, Cleary is furious and orders her back to base so she can be fired.
  • Good Cop/Bad Cop: Tries this dynamic with Agent Deever in Ms. Marvel: he begins by complimenting Zoe and claiming that her social media posts are popular in his office before Agent Deever begins more harshly questioning her about her involvement with "Night Light". It fails because he becomes so aggressive in questioning after the initial compliments that Zoe immediately realizes she was being manipulated and clams up harder when Deever gets worse.
  • Hollywood Law: Agent Cleary's interrogation tactics are questionable at best and outright illegal at worst. For one, he's insistent on trying to interrogate Peter and company without lawyers present (and even seems to fully buy into Only Bad Guys Call Their Lawyers when dealing with MJ), straight-up tricks Ned into almost confessing potentially illegal acts (which, while technically legal, is still a morally dubious tactic), and generally seems to have little regard for due process.
  • Hypocrite: When confronting May, he accuses her of committing Child Endangerment by enabling her nephew's activities as Spider-Man. However, he seems to see no issue with arresting at least three high schoolers and subjecting them to ruthless interrogation, even manipulating Ned into almost confessing to committing illegal acts, with no concern for their psyche or that they may have gone through a traumatic experience just last week.
  • Inspector Javert: He's convinced Peter is involved in Mysterio's death and resorts to nigh-illegal actions in order to incriminate Peter. He also immediately calls for the arrest of Kamala Khan when he sees a demonstration of her powers on social media.
  • Jerkass: He acts like a complete dick to the people he interrogates, even when they are just teenagers.
  • Jerkass Has a Point: He arrests three teenagers on flimsy evidence and acts like an asshole throughout his interrogation of them, but he's not wrong to point out to May that her encouraging Peter's dangerous and illegal superheroics isn't what would be expected of a responsible Parental Substitute.
  • Know When to Fold 'Em: He eventually realizes that pursuing Kamala is causing Damage Control more trouble than it's worth, and firmly orders Deever to stand down. When she ignores him and proceeds with raiding the school, he has her fired.
  • Manipulative Bastard: Cleary is shown to have a talent for manipulating those he brings in to interrogate, though some are more susceptible to it than others. In both Spider-Man: No Way Home and Ms. Marvel, Cleary pretends to be a friendly good cop to Ned Leeds and Zoë Zimmer respectively, excitedly goading them on to reveal positive experiences before twisting them to suit his agenda.
  • Obstructive Bureaucrat: He's a demeaning agent of Damage Control who condescendingly interrogates his suspects to keep them in line and to incriminate them based on them being Convicted by Public Opinion.
  • Only Bad Guys Call Their Lawyers: When Michelle says she wants a lawyer, he asks her why she'd need one if she didn't do anything wrong.
  • Pragmatic Villainy: While he was clearly uncomfortable with Deever's racism while trying to find the enhanced individual, him finally putting his foot down and firing her was because she authorized an attack on high schoolers, which is a PR disaster for Disaster Control.
  • Race Lift: In the comics, Albert Cleary is of African-American descent, while his film counterpart can be assumed to be Iranian-American like Moayed.
  • Rabid Cop: The way he uses slimy and illegal tactics to interrogate someone would qualify him as this. Especially since many of those he interrogates happen to be teenagers.
  • Slimeball: He uses blatantly underhanded tactics including trickery and gaslighting during his interrogations.
  • What the Hell, Hero?: Tells May how disgusted he is that she's allowing her nephew to put himself at risk by being a superhero.
  • You Just Told Me: He uses this technique to make Ned admit that he's Spider-Man's "Guy in the chair".

    Agent Deever 

Agent Sadie Deever

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/4c30dd5d_1db1_4776_80dc_b5af97a9d28f.png
"We're looking for an enhanced individual."

Species: Human

Citizenship: American

Portrayed By: Alysia Reiner

Appearances: Spider-Man: No Way Home | Ms. Marvel

"This is what happens when the wrong people get powers."

An agent of Damage Control. When Kamala Khan first uses her powers, Deever becomes determined to capture the young Enhanced, even if it means innocent lives are caught in her way.


  • Big Bad Ensemble: Makes up the American half of Kamala's opposition, with Najma and the ClanDestines/Djinn serving as the Pakistani half. Though she does play a role in (inadvertently) saving Kamala in the third episode, she and the DODC wind up becoming the final threat in the season finale.
  • Bigot with a Badge: She brings up racial characteristics without hesitation, making Cleary uncomfortable, and walks into the mosque with her shoes on with no concern for their customs. When Sheik Abdullah quotes Abraham Lincoln to her, she snidely mistakes his words as being from the Quran and scoffs dismissively when he corrects her.
  • Canon Foreigner: There's no Agent Deever in the comics.
  • Child Hater: If you take her statements at face value, her obsessive pursuit of Kamala and Kamran has less to do with their being enhanced and more to do with their being enhanced children.
  • Early-Bird Cameo: Prior to her main role in Ms. Marvel, she appears among the ensemble of Damage Control interrogating the Parkers and their friends.
  • Fantastic Racism: It is easy to tell she is yet another Enhanced hating individual who will do anything in her power to apprehend them.
  • Flat Character: Most individuals who hate Enhanced usually have a reason for doing so (be it blaming them for collateral damage, losing a loved one, out of fear or even for fame and fortune). Deever has none of these and is nothing more than a government agent being an asshole toward everyone she meets.
  • Good Cop/Bad Cop: Tries this dynamic with Agent Cleary in Ms. Marvel: he begins by complimenting Zoe and claiming that her social media posts are popular in his office before Agent Deever begins more harshly questioning her about her involvement with "Night Light". Cleary's unprompted and sudden aggressive manipulation instead causes Zoe to realize what's going on, and Deever opens up with even more aggression and unnecessary racist comments that leads her to just refusing to answer anything.
  • Hate Sink: She is rude to everyone she meets, and snidely racist towards people of Middle-Eastern and Latin-American descent in a way that makes even her partner Agent Cleary — who was more than willing to threaten and intimidate teenagers — uncomfortable. She also authorizes the deployment of EDITH's drones to capture "Night Light", who is a teenager and has thus far done nothing wrong, leading to Bruno's apartment being blown up.
  • Hypocrite: "This is what happens when the wrong people get powers." This is after she sent an armed drone to a civilian population and destroyed someone's apartment. Deever also keeps spewing about how the Enhanced she is pursuing is a danger to the public when she is willing to put innocent children in harm's way.
  • Never My Fault: After examining the damage done to Bruno's apartment, Deever remarks that "this is what happens when the wrong people get powers." She left out that the destruction is not by an Enhanced but by the drone she herself sent to chase after said Enhanced.
  • Politically Incorrect Villain: She is deliberately disrespectful and disdainful towards Middle Eastern people and has little issue with racial profiling in trying to find "Night Light", something that makes Agent Cleary visibly uncomfortable. She also rather mockingly "corrects" herself when she asks Zoe if "Night Light" was Latina, saying "I'm supposed to say 'Latinx' now, right?" Cleary scolds her in private afterward, and it's apparent that her aggressive approach to Zoe made her unwilling to give up anything.
  • Rabid Cop: While she may not be as outwardly aggressive as Agent Cleary can be, she's a sleazy, racist government agent more than happy to authorize lethal force against a teenager. In the final episode, she disobeys a direct order from Agent Cleary to stand down and goes rogue to capture Kamala and Kamran. This gets her chewed out by Agent Cleary and unceremoniously relieved of duty.
  • Would Hurt a Child: She uses a lot of resources to go after Kamala, even after knowing she is just a young teenager, and other children are involved.

    Agent Barrie 

Agent Barrie

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/barrie.png
"What do you mean, wrong people?"

Species: Human

Citizenship: American

Portrayed By: Ethan McDowell

Appearances: Ms. Marvel

An agent of Damage Control that accompanies Agent Deever during her campaign to apprehend Ms. Marvel.


S.W.O.R.D. (Sentient Weapon Observation and Response Division)

    In General 

S.W.O.R.D.

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/sword_logo_3.png

Appearances: Spider-Man: Far From Home note  | WandaVision

A government agency founded by Maria Rambeau in the 90s, charged with monitoring space for potential threats.


  • Adaptation Name Change: "Sentient World Observation and Response Department" in the comics. Some dialogue in the fourth episode of WandaVision implies that it had a different name prior to the Snap, possibly keeping in line with the original.
  • Adaptational Job Change: Downplayed. S.W.O.R.D.'s role as an organization in the comics was to keep an eye on extraterrestrial threats on Earth's behalf, hence the "World Observation and Response" part of their name. Their first appearance in the MCU shows them in firmly operating on Earth, though Monica Rambeau is told that she is limited to working on cases that are on Earth on her mother's posthumous orders shortly after being blipped.
  • Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: Despite playing a prominent part during the events of WandaVision, S.W.O.R.D is never referenced or seen again after the events of the show, with S.A.B.E.R essentially taking its place.
  • Decomposite Character: Their usual comic role of being S.H.I.E.L.D. IN SPACE! is taken up by S.A.B.E.R., which is introduced in Spider-Man: Far From Home, first named in Secret Invasion (2023) and shown in full in The Marvels.
  • Expy: Just like S.H.I.E.L.D., a variety of American intelligence agencies. In WandaVision their operations and uniforms invoke the Department of Justice like the FBI (even though they work with them in this universe).
  • Fun with Acronyms: Like S.H.I.E.L.D., while what the name stands for is accurate, they sure really wanted a cool-sounding name, huh?
  • Government Agency of Fiction: Similar to S.H.I.E.L.D., of which it was originally a sub-divison in the comics.
  • Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Episode 5 of WandaVision reveals that S.W.O.R.D. managed to reacquire Vision's corpse from Wakanda and subsequently started dissecting and experimenting on it. Not only did Vision explicitly ask the U.S government not to do this in his will, but Wanda's discovery of this fact is what causes her to break into their headquarters and create Westview, causing problems for not only them, but for the FBI and later the entire multiverse as well.
  • Remember the New Guy?: They were established some time before the Snap, but we only get a glimpse of them in The Stinger of Spider-Man: Far From Home, and see them in action for the first in WandaVision, despite the numerous space-related events that would have involved them.
  • Sigil Spam: Like S.H.I.E.L.D. before them, they love putting their insignia on everything they've got. At the beginning of Episode 4 of WandaVision, we see Monica in S.W.O.R.D. field wear, and she's got one on her chest and two on her jacket's shoulders.

    Maria Rambeau 

    Monica Rambeau 

    Tyler Hayward 

(Acting) Director Tyler Hayward

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/tyler_hayward.png
"You know, you people who left still have the luxury of optimism. You have no idea what it was like. What it took to keep the lights on."

Species: Human

Citizenship: American

Affiliation(s): S.W.O.R.D.

Portrayed By: Josh Stamberg

Appearances: WandaVision

The Acting Director of S.W.O.R.D. in the time after the Blip.


  • Bait the Dog: See the Pet the Dog entry below, then read every other entry. We're introduced to what seems like a Reasonable Authority Figure, but it becomes apparent episodes later that he's a huge bully whose only goal really is retrieving the sentient weapon he sees as his property (Vision), consequences be damned.
  • Big Bad Ensemble: While Wanda's control of the Hex and Agatha's manipulations of her are far greater dangers, Hayward's Knight Templar attitude towards the former and desire to turn Vision's corpse into a weapon provides a secondary threat.
  • Big Bad Wannabe: Compared to Agatha, Hayward poses relatively little threat to others. He's pretty much powerless in the face of Wanda's rage, and while White Vision almost kills her, it's also easily talked down by the Westview Vision. Hayward is ultimately beaten by Darcy after running away from the superpowered Monica and Maximoff twins, and easily arrested by Woo.
  • Bigot with a Badge: Hayward is the secondary antagonist of WandaVision and a high-ranking agent of the intelligence agency S.W.O.R.D. Initially appearing as a sympathetic and humble Reasonable Authority Figure, Hayward quickly jumps the rails when he ends up in the field and encounters Wanda, whom he promptly blames for everything going wrong and tries to murder against the advice of Monica and Darcy. It is later revealed that Hayward does have a role in causing the crisis by experimenting on Vision's original body which is what caused Wanda to snap from her grief.
  • Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Hayward is initially introduced as a friend of both Monica and Maria and warmly welcomes the former back to S.W.O.R.D. after the Blip. This turns out to be a facade as he later shows that he has been keeping a lot of secrets related to Wanda from Monica and is willing to kill the former Avenger by any means necessary.
  • Bullying a Dragon: He tries to fire a missile at Wanda, who was able to bring Thanos to his knees singlehandedly, with a measly drone strike was probably not the smartest move. For this, Wanda possesses his men and compels them to turn their guns on him.
  • Canon Foreigner: He has no direct counterpart in the comics.
  • The Chains of Commanding: When introduced, Hayward explains to Monica how stressful it was in the past five years to keep S.W.O.R.D. running after the Snap.
  • Cynicism Catalyst: After Thanos wiped out half of all life, Hayward was left to take charge of what was left of S.W.O.R.D. and run it for five years. He insists Monica doesn't share his views because she didn't have to live through that time of zero hope.
  • Didn't Think This Through: You gotta admit, arresting an FBI agent despite not having the authority to do so, confessing to all of your crimes right in front of him, and later imprisoning him without anybody watching him isn't exactly one of Hayward's brighter ideas.
  • Dirty Coward:
    • He's among the first to cut and run when Wanda begins expanding the Hex, which does mean that he's one of the only S.W.O.R.D. agents to not be absorbed into it.
    • He also tries to cut and run when the final battle starts going sideways. Darcy puts a stop to that plan real quick.
  • Expy: Is a pretty clear one of Henry Peter Gyrich in terms of behavior, tropes and (current) position in S.W.O.R.D..
  • The Extremist Was Right: Hayward's determination to arrest/kill Wanda at all costs ends up being validated to some extent in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, where she ends up getting corrupted by the Darkhold and starts dreamwalking in an attempt to get Tommy and Billy back, making her just as big as a threat as Hayward feared.
  • Fantastic Racism: During his rant against Monica, he accuses her of constantly advocating for super-powered individuals.
  • Hate Sink: In contrast to the Laughably Evil nature of Agatha Harkness, there is nothing amusing about him, he's just is a despicably slimy Obstructive Bureaucrat piece of work.
  • Hypocrite: Hayward is critical of Wanda for disregarding Vision's wishes by resurrecting him, yet he lied that she had stolen his corpse, when she actually just recreated her own version of the synthezoid, and he is also disrespecting Vision's wishes by experimenting on his body for shady reasons. He talks about how Vision's will wouldn't want him to be brought back, but Hayward's trying to do that himself as a sentient weapon, which Vision didn't want to become. The final episode confirms that this isn't a coincidence; he's actively framing Wanda for his own crimes.
  • Jerkass Has a Point: Although he's incredibly callous about it, and seems to be saying it more to serve his own agenda than because it's sensible, it's true that they can't just bury Vision like one would an ordinary person, because it's not safe to leave that much vibranium unguarded. And he is also absolutely right in stating that Monica is projecting her personal feelings onto Wanda, almost without caring about all the people Wanda is imprisoning and, for all he knows, killing!
  • Jerk with a Heart of Jerk: Prior to the series, Wanda arrives at the S.W.O.R.D. facility and Hayward welcomes her warmly and even shows her where Vision's body is kept, on a table being disassembled into pieces. Not only does he show no sympathy for the grieving Wanda, he also won't let her give Vision a proper burial or any kind of sendoff and considers Vision's corpse his property.
  • Jumping Off the Slippery Slope: At the start of the series Hayward comes off as extreme but somewhat reasonable given how much he had to deal with during the Blip. In later episodes, he shows little respect for his colleagues, holds an FBI agent hostage, and is more than willing to shoot civilians just to cover up his secret project.
  • Kick the Dog: After Monica calls him a coward for not being willing to negotiate with Wanda, Hayward brings up that it is fortunate that she was not around when her mother died.
  • Knight Templar: Radicalized after having to deal with the fallout of the Snap, he treats Wanda as a terrorist threat to be eliminated.
  • Laser-Guided Karma: At the end of WandaVision he is arrested by the FBI for breaking the Sokovia Accords, falsely arresting and deceiving an FBI agent, and attempted murdernote  amongst other illegal activities.
  • Manipulative Bastard: This is Hayward's stock in trade —if he wants you on his side, he will be friendly and flattering. If he wants to undermine you, he'll start with passive-aggressive insults while pretending to be on your side and move on from there. And there is very little he won't do to make Wanda look like a terrorist to Monica and everyone else, Hayward shows simple recordings of Wanda "breaking" into S.W.O.R.D. and "stealing" the Vision's body. In reality, Wanda entered the facility peacefully and left without Vision's body.
  • No Sympathy: When Vision is slowly dying after forcibly escaping the Hex, Hayward simply stares at him without any emotion. He even showed no such pity to a grieving Wanda when he shows her Vision's body being dissected by scientists for the sole purpose of weaponry, not even acknowledging Vision as a person.
  • Not-So-Well-Intentioned Extremist: While he chalks his extremism and aggressiveness against Wanda up to wanting to free the residents of Westview from Wanda’s control, he really just wants to rebuild Vision so he can turn it into a sentient weapon. Monica even implies that he's willing to "burn Westview to the ground" just to eliminate the second Vision created by Wanda, no matter the casualties within. To say nothing of how his vendetta against Wanda largely stems from both his own wounded Pride and Fantastic Racism.
  • Obstructive Bureaucrat: It turns out Hayward knows more of the situation than he is letting on to Monica, Jimmy and Darcy. He only reveals that Wanda visited the S.W.O.R.D. facility holding Vision's body a few days ago, after Monica is forced out of the Hex. Following this, he refuses any attempts for Monica to make peace with Wanda and gets rid of the trio. His deception didn't stop there as it turns out that Wanda didn't steal Vision's body, it was with him the entire time.
  • Pet the Dog:
    • When he arrives outside Westview, he's brusk and annoyed, but willing to accept and work with whatever tools and information he has, regardless of the source. Before that... he's dealing with Monica Rambeau, daughter of the founder of his organization, someone he'd worked with for years. He's deeply compassionate with her, understands why she'd take it badly being grounded, and responds with, to paraphrase, "It was your mother's plan if anyone came back... remember, your mother always believed you'd come back".
    • Although he's still very unsympathetic towards Wanda's wishes when she arrives to see Vision's body, Hayward does allow her to see it and grieve him, even telling S.W.O.R.D.'s security to stand down after she shatters a window.
    • Downplayed when Vision escapes the Hex and starts disintegrating. While he does nothing to try and help or comfort Vision, he at least seems disturbed by what he's watching, and doesn't talk back when Darcy starts criticizing him for doing nothing.
  • Politically Incorrect Villain: He seems to like reminding Monica of her race when she goes against him, showing a clip of her as a Jive Turkey to everyone while she looks ashamed, and asking snarkily "Which one of you is the sassy best friend?" when she, Darcy and Jimmy empathize with Wanda.
  • Pride: After Wanda humiliates him in Episode 5 ("Hey, there he is. The guy who almost got murdered by his own murder squad," says Darcy), Hayward becomes hell-bent on defeating her as a means of getting even, the consequences to other people in S.W.O.R.D. or in Westview be damned.
  • Put on a Prison Bus: Jimmy Woo ultimately gets to arrest him for all of his abuses of power.
  • Reasonable Authority Figure: He's initially presented as this, helping Monica with returning to S.W.O.R.D., comforting her over her mother's loss, and giving Darcy what she needs to investigate the Hex no matter how odd it may seem. However, as the series goes on, his true colors come to light.
  • Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Tries to escape Westview as he realizes he's outmatched against Monica and Wanda's kids. He fails when Darcy crashes her van into his vehicle and traps him inside.
  • Slimeball: He would rather simply jump to killing Wanda to ensure Westview's freedom over reasoning with her and is not above in turning the late Vision into a weapon for his agency's own ends without any moral regard for Wanda's own feelings or Vision's own fears of undergoing this prior to his death.
  • Stupid Evil: Literally everything about him and his role in the story.
  • Suspiciously Similar Substitute: To Thaddeus Ross. Like Ross, Hayward is an Obstructive Bureaucrat Knight Templar Jerkass with a hatred for superpower beings who is willing to Kick the Dog and sacrifice those to get what he needs.
  • Too Dumb to Live:
    • Trying to kill a woman with telekinetic and reality warping powers – the one who nearly killed Thanos in Endgame and can rip vibranium like it was made of tissue paper – with a drone and later with guns, while her children are standing right next to her, is definitely not the brightest idea. He's very lucky that when Wanda makes his men turn their guns on him, she has enough restraint to not make them also shoot him. In said confrontation, he also walks right into the line of fire of his men while talking to Wanda. The fact Monica does this as well makes it more a case of Artistic License – Gun Safety, however.
    • Rather than even attempt to lie about what he was doing, he tells Wanda about Project Cataract, shows her Vision's dissected corpse being operated on, and tries to coax her when she begins to get upset by talking about him only in terms of material value. Presumably, Hayward has at least some small intel saying that they were close, or even that she was forced to kill him — but instead of a more heartfelt, emotional appeal, he approaches the situation of talking down a grieving widow like saying her husband would now be useful as fertilizer, he's cemetery property, and it's time to move on. It's only a testament to Wanda's restraint that she doesn't snap and kill Hayward right there and then.
  • Unwitting Instigator of Doom: By taking Vision's corpse, dismantle him, then showing Wanda the descarated remains while treating him as little more than an item and forbidding Wanda from getting the closure she needed, not only did he cause the events of WandaVision to happen, but also the events of Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness to unfold.
  • We Used to Be Friends: His genuinely warm, friendly demeanor towards Monica suggests that Hayward was quite close to the Rambeau family for many years. It makes it all the more despicable when he deliberately begins insulting and dismissing her later on as they try to deal with the Westview incident.
  • What Measure Is a Non-Human?: He blatantly and deliberately violates Vision's living will by taking possession of his corpse after the battle in Wakanda, having his scientists at S.W.O.R.D. dismantle Vision's remains in order to rebuild him as a sentient weapon under their control, exactly what Vision didn't want. When he shows Wanda what's left of her lover, Hayward speaks about him only in terms of raw materials and machinery, not as a person.
  • Would Hurt a Child: Thinking that Tommy and Billy are not actually human, he orders a missile strike on Wanda while her sons are standing right next to her. He also tries to ruthlessly gun the twins down himself once he gets into Westview, only for Monica to intervene in the nick of time. He may appear to believe the boys are not real, but still.

    Agent Franklin 

Agent Franklin / The Beekeeper

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/955576c9_783e_4237_95f5_9d98da124e6e_1_201_a.jpeg
"Yes, sir!"

Species: Human

Citizenship: American

Portrayed By: Zac Henry

Appearances: WandaVision

A field agent of S.W.O.R.D. who attempts to infiltrate Westview from underground to find out what's happening inside.


  • Good All Along: Although he seems to be quite a sinister figure in his first appearance, Episode 4 reveals he's just a S.W.O.R.D. agent trying to figure out what's going on in Westview who means no harm to Wanda and Vision and is, in fact, trying to help them.
  • Knight of Cerebus: His sudden appearance, emerging from a manhole, is deeply unsettling to the Visions — so much so, that Wanda opts to reverse time with her powers so she doesn't have to see him. Ultimately subverted in Episode 4, where it's revealed that he's actually just a lowly field agent whose hazmat outfit was transformed into a beekeeper's outfit when he got into Westview.
  • Morphic Resonance: The entire reason he's a beekeeper. He was an agent of S.W.O.R.D. in a hazmat suit entering Westview from underground, but upon entering Westview, his hazmat suit turned into something more normal for a small town in the 60s, a beekeeping suit, and with some bees spontaneously appearing next to him to match the look.
  • Oh, Crap!: While it's not apparent at first, Episode 4 reveals that this is his reaction to realizing that he just exposed himself to Wanda and Vision back in Episode 2.
  • Scary Stinging Swarm: His first appearance has bees swarm around him, following him from the manhole from which he emerges. Turns out the bees are this to him as well, as they come from Westview spontaneously transforming his clothes.
  • Sigil Spam: There is a S.W.O.R.D. logo on his beekeeper suit, a symbol that already has Wanda on high alert after the toy helicopter incident earlier that day.
  • Sinister Silhouettes: The dark night sky, combined with the town's mediocre lighting gives Franklin this appearance when he appears before Wanda and Vision. This continues in Episode 4 where he is only seen in darkness in the real world and we are unable to see his face clearly.
  • The Spook: A dark, silhouetted figure who only briefly shows up at the end of the second episode before Wanda promptly hits the Reset Button to avoid confronting him.
  • Uncertain Doom: It's unknown what became of him after Wanda reversed time upon seeing him, especially since his tether got separated and turned into a jump rope while entering Westview. As of the series finale, we still don't know what happened to him. However, it is implied that he is still alive in Westview.
  • What Happened to the Mouse?: Franklin's fate is still unknown by the series' end, even after Wanda lifts the effects of the Hex off of Westview. However, Word of God stated that he is still alive in Westview and given how the Hex is no longer in effect, it can be presumed that he was rescued and returns to his job.

    Agent Rodriguez 

Agent Rodriguez

Species: Human

Citizenship: American

Portrayed By: Selena Anduze

Appearances: WandaVision

An agent of S.W.O.R.D. working closely with Hayward.


  • Flat Character: Pretty much exists to be the Yes Woman to Hayward, although she does give Hayward a questioning look behind his back when he talks about infiltrating the Hex after they barely escaped from it the first time it expanded.
  • Number Two: She's Haywards closest collaborator in the investigation of the Westview anomaly and Project Cataract.

    Agent Monti 

Agent Monti

Species: Human

Citizenship: American

Portrayed By: Alan Heckner

Appearances: WandaVision

An agent of S.W.O.R.D. serving in the investigation of the Westview Anomaly.


  • Dirty Coward: When the Hex expands, he abandons the cuffed Darcy to be trapped within it.
  • Flat Character: He pretty much exists just to be a dick to Darcy.
  • Irony: In the Hex, he becomes the circus's strongman, a fitting fate considering his refusal to help Darcy lift her heavy equipment when she was setting up shop.
  • Laser-Guided Karma: After abandoning Darcy in an attempt to escape the Hex, he fails to escape it and gets made into a circus strongman... who then gets knocked on his ass by Darcy after Vision wakes her up.

    Project Cataract (Unmarked Spoilers

Alternative Title(s): MCU United States Government Military

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