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Who Is Maria Hill? An Empowered Woman Behind S.H.I.EL.D

Raúl Asensi
Maria Hill

Image: Marvel Comics / Marvel Studios

Maria Hill is the former director of S.H.I.E.L.D., so she has a relevant role in Marvel Comics. She has appeared in several MCU movies and is part of the cast of Secret Invasion.

David Finch and Brian Michael Bendis created Maria Hill. She arose in 2005 in The Avengers #4. Since her creation, she has been present in the comics in various facets that have captivated fans.

Who is Maria Hill in the Marvel Comics?

Maria Hill appears in several MCU movies, and Marvel’s editor-in-chief Joe Quesada describes her as an empowered woman with a strong personality, “She’s like a force of nature. She is as strong and imposing a character as Nick Fury.

Hill was born in Chicago, United States. She is the daughter of a father who always stressed her mother’s death, who died giving birth to her. Because of this, hatred and resentment filled her environment.

In addition, Hill was surrounded throughout her life by authority figures, such as her father, the school’s headmaster that had expelled her, and her superior in the Marines INVIM 13-FB.

When she reached adulthood, Maria Hill joined the U.S. Armed Forces. Later, she became an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D., having a career with ups and downs.

Maria Hill Biography

Maria Hill’s biography revolves around well-marked facets where she has sown, among other things, mistrust. Hill is an accomplice to several crimes for the Avengers team, but they have no proof.

Civil War

Civil War takes place in the story of 2006 – 2007. Captain America does not help Hill at this stage, and preparations begin to arrest superheroes who do not bow to the Superhuman Registration Act.

This law brought controversy between humans and superheroes, mainly because it has a political connotation. Because of this, Captain America and Hill clashed, arguing that he should comply with the will of the American people.

Captain America managed to escape from Helicarrier. And Hill became the primary enforcer of this law. Thus began the crusade against superheroes who opposed the Registration Act. To do so, she blackmailed Wonder Man and recruited others, going so far as to brainwash them.

She used the Thunderbolts to capture Spider-Man, but the Punisher killed the two members who went there, Jack O’Lantern and Jester. After all these onslaughts, Maria Hill retired.

Thus, Tony Stark was proposed as the new director of S.H.I.I.E.L.D. since, in her opinion, he was the only one who could replace Nick Fury. When this Civil War concluded, the President of the United States made Stark director of S.H.I.E.L.D. and Maria Hill deputy director.

Deputy Director of S.H.I.E.L.D.

As deputy director, Maria Hill was an active member of Stark’s S.H.I.E.L.D. cabinet chamber. She assisted him in dealing with an uprising of terrorist groups that got their hands on hyper-advanced biological weapons.

Hill was skeptical from the beginning that a conspiracy was behind the attacks. This action differed from the stance of the rest of the cabinet members, including Sal Kennedy, whom Hill detested.

The Helicarrier began to become infected with neoplastic tumors from the Mandarin. Hill was the one who organized the evacuation, thinking that the infection was the target of the attack. But, as time went on, Hill began to trust Stark’s leadership.

So, she began to show herself as a more confident agent as Deputy Director. She felt less constrained by what the conventional process represented. Perhaps that’s why she risked her career so that Stark could escape when S.H.I.E.L.D.’s Martial Law was about to be applied.

Secret Invasion

The story of the Secret Invasion takes place between 2008 – 2010. Stark is already absent from his management position, so Maria Hill stays in charge. That leads her to face a series of extraterrestrial Skrulls.

The Skrulls can change forms, assuming the appearance of anyone or anything. Thus they revealed the replacement of Edwin Jarvis and several S.H.I.E.L.D. agents.

These Skrulls killed Hill, realizing later that this version was a “Life Model Decoy”. The real Hill took advantage and activated the Helicarrier’s self-destruct system, killing everyone involved. She managed to escape in the Jet Pack.

In the story “Dark Reign”, the President of the United States disbanded the S.H.I.E.L.D. organization, leaving Stark and Hill unemployed and replaced by Norman Osborn.

Osborn was in charge of reforming S.H.I.E.L.D. when H.A.M.M.E.R. fell. Iron Man’s story reveals that Hill tried to lead an everyday life. However, Osborn sent H.A.M.M.M.E.R. to arrest her, accusing her of theft.

In the 2010 story “Siege,” Hill turns to Thor for help. That happened after Osborn launched an attack against Thor and his home Asgard. In the Iron Man series, Maria Hill becomes a supporting character. Her job is to protect him and his friends from various threats.

Also, in the 2010 story “Heroic Age”, which came after “Siege”, Maria Hill was appointed by Captain Steve Rogers to team up with The New Avengers.

2010 to the present

Around this time, Nick Fury’s apparent death occurred. Then, Maria Hill was named commander, acting director, and finally director of S.H.I.E.L.D. The events followed Daisy Johnson’s actions involving the Secret Avengers in the invasion of A.I.M. Island.

The story of “Avengers: Standoff!” shows how the S.H.I.E.L.D. organization and Maria Hill establish Pleasant Hill. That is a supervillain prison designed to resemble a gated community.

There, Hill serves as Mayor and shows a training video to S.H.I.E.L.D. cadets using reality-warping technology derived from the Cosmic Cube called “Kobik”.

In the story “Second Civil War,” Diablo kidnaps Maria Hill. He attempted to extract the security code clearances for the active Helicarriers and the Triskelion. Victor Von Doom eventually rescued her.

Maria Hill’s Abilities

Maria Hill is a beautiful woman with a height that imposes. She appears to be a woman of her age who exercises regularly. She has served in important positions that have earned her the respect of her superiors and adversaries.

Among Maria Hill’s skills is that she is an innate leader. She applies military tactics and strategy effectively. Hills is considered a highly skilled martial artist. She is excellent in hand-to-hand combat.

In addition, she is an armed combatant and expert marksman. She was trained by the Marines, acquiring sophisticated espionage techniques from the S.H.I.E.L.D. organization. She demonstrates high capacity in interrogations, making the strongest to bend the strongest.

Due to her position, she has had access to different high-tech devices. She is always armed and can use any of them without distinction. Her means of transportation was formerly the S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarriers.

Other versions of Maria Hill

In other versions, Maria Hill appears in:

MC2

In MC2, Maria Hill is a member of the National Security Force. On one of her government missions, she misfired a part of the Carnage symbiote, setting it free.

Subsequently, the symbiote was stopped by Spider-Girl, Spider-Man’s daughter. Nick Fury later reported this. Hill later accused American Dream of A-Next of committing crimes against the U.S.A. She stood out as a heroine in the missions of that government.

Ultimate Marvel

Image: Marvel

In the Ultimate Marvel Universe, Maria Hill has held two prominent positions: a former S.H.I.E.L.D. agent and a homicide detective now working for the NYPD.

Maria Hill’s first appearance is interrogating Miles Morales about the death of Aaron Davis. That leads her to discover that Spider-Man was not the killer the press was selling. In addition, Hill reveals that Aaron Davis accidentally died when one of his guns misfired.

Also, Hill is the one who works on the Venom case, which led to a break-in at Morales’ house, injuring his father. When Maria Hill made an illegal break-in to the house, she was accosted by the children there.

Gwen accosted Hill giving a lesson in legal matters of her actions, thanks to the knowledge left by her late father. While in parallel, Mary Jane records her with her tablet to leave evidence.

Ultimately, Miles ends up saving citizens in the hospital and being targeted by Venom’s attack. Hill confirms that Miles is Spider-Man there when she sees him climbing a light pole and buildings.

Maria Hill’s appearances in Other Media

Image: Marvel Studios

Among Maria Hill’s appearances in other media, we have:

Television

On the small screen, we see her in:

Video Games

In video games, she appears most often as a playable character in:

Maria Hill in the MCU

The actress who plays Maria Hill is Cobie Smulders in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), appearing in several of its films as Deputy Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. and friend Nick Fury:

Maria Hill is also present in the TV series:

In 2023, she will return in Diseny+’s Secret Invasion, where Smulders will reprise her role again.

Maria Hill in Secret Invasion

Image: Marvel Studios

Secret Invasion, the new Disney+ series, will premiere on June 21, 2023. In this series, we will see Maria Hill in action again. She will be the former high-ranking S.H.I.E.L.D. agent who, until now, has played Nick Fury’s friend.

We will again see Cobie Smulders playing Maria Hill in Secret Invasion. Smulders will show in-depth who Hill is and her previous appearances. The cast will also include the likes of Ben Kingsley, Emilia Clarke, Olivia Colman, and Christopher McDonald. 

Of course, the series also includes Samuel L. Jackson, Ben Mendelson and Martin Freeman. Of course, that cast is super exciting for fans eagerly awaiting this premiere.

Featured Image Via Marvel Comics / Marvel Studios

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