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Quote1 Bones don't hold me up. I'm held up by all the parts working as one. Quote2
Grant Ward as Hive[src]

History

Origin[]

The ancient Inhuman known by the Latin term "Alveus", and currently referred to by its English translation "Hive", was among the first of his kind. A pair of Kree reapers abducted the Mayan[4] hunter who would become Hive while he was on a hunting trip, and experimented on him with the Terrigen Mist.[4] The Mist transformed his body into a collection of countless microscopic parasites that functioned in unison. Alveus could use his parasites to consume living flesh to heal himself, and to reanimate dead flesh to act as a new host body for the Inhuman. Alveus would retain the memories of any individual he used as a host, even after abandoning their corpse. He also possessed the ability to infest Inhumans with his parasites, which caused them to immediately fall under his complete control, right down to their emotions, essentially turning them into eager, willing slaves.[5]

The Kree created Alveus to lead their armies on Earth, but he instead led the Inhumans in rebellion against them, leading the regular Humans of Earth to worship him as a god out of gratitude. Once the Kree had been expelled from the Earth, however, the other Inhumans grew afraid of Alveus' power to control them. The Inhumans banded together to exile Alveus through the Monolith the Kree left behind on Earth.[1][5]

Exile[]

The portal sent Alveus to an alien world known as Maveth. The planet was a lush one with a thriving alien civilization when he arrived, but the Inhuman took currently unknown actions that caused that civilization to collapse and die out, ultimately rendering the entire planet a nearly barren wasteland. Before its collapse, Maveth's civilization worshipped Alveus as a god and built gigantic monuments to him.[2][3]

Back on Earth, Alveus' human followers started a cult devoted to returning their "god" from his exile so he could rule over the world as its rightful king, with his worshippers being rewarded lushly as his faithful servants. This cult, which came to be known as "Hydra", somehow came to possess the monolith containing the portal to Maveth, although they could not work out how to open a steady connection that would allow them to bring Alveus back. Instead, from time to time, Hydra would ritualistically send one of their own members to the alien world to serve as a sacrifice to Alveus, who would kill the sacrifice and use his corpse as a new host body. As a result of his powers, Alveus was practically immortal as long as he was periodically provided with a new host.[1]

Although Hydra survived to the modern day, the overall structure of the organization became less and less concerned with bringing Alveus back from Maveth, until it seemed to have entirely abandoned this plan under the leadership of the Red Skull in the early 20th Century. However, a smaller faction, led by the Malick family, quietly continued the Hydra religion, as well as continuing to make sacrifices. In 1970, after learning that his father had always tampered with the lot-drawing ceremony to avoid becoming a sacrifice, young Gideon Malick rigged the ceremony the same way to save himself, but the first time he did it, in doing so, Gideon unintentionally doomed his brother Nathaniel to become the next sacrifice. Nathaniel was sent through the portal and became a host, but memories of Gideon's betrayal lived on within the hivemind of Alveus.[5]

As the number of members in the Hydra cult dwindled, Gideon Malick began to look to the idea of sending outsiders to Maveth to serve as sacrifices instead. In 2001, he used his vast wealth and political connections to create the Distant Star Pathfinder, a NASA project that was supposed to conduct research into the Kree monolith and the alien world on the other side of the portal. In reality, the astronauts that Distant Star Pathfinder sent through the portal were all meant to be sacrifices to Alveus, either to serve as a new host body or as simple food.[1] One of these astronauts, Will Daniels, was able to avoid Alveus, which he simply referred to as "It", and survived on Maveth for fourteen more years. In 2015, Jemma Simmons, a S.H.I.E.L.D. scientist, was accidentally pulled through the portal to Maveth and stranded there. With Simmons' scientific expertise and Will's working knowledge of the planet, the two of them were able to devise a way back through the portal to return to Earth. Although Simmons managed to return to Earth, Alveus ambushed Will and killed him, subsequently taking possession of his body.[2][3]

Seeing how she had accomplished what Hydra had not been able to figure out in centuries - how to bring someone back from the planet - Malick had Simmons captured to force her to bring his god back through the portal to Earth. Another S.H.I.E.L.D. scientist, Leo Fitz, motivated by his love for Simmons, went in her place so he could rescue Will, who Jemma had fallen in love with during her months-long stay on the alien world, and who they still believed was alive. Malick also sent a team of Hydra agents led by Grant Ward through the portal to keep their eyes on Fitz and escort Alveus back to Earth, and he tricked the Director of S.H.I.E.L.D., Phil Coulson into going through the portal to act as a new sacrifice.[6] Alveus, still in Will's body, found them and pretended to be Will so Fitz would lead him through the portal. Alveus took advantage of a sandstorm so he and Fitz could escape from Ward and the Hydra soldiers, but Fitz soon discovered that "Will" was not who he appeared to be. Fitz destroyed Will's body with a flare gun before Alveus could escape through the portal.[3]

Return to Earth[]

Fitz and Director Coulson returned to Earth believing they had left Alveus and the Hydra agents stranded on Maveth; however, shortly before the portal closed, Alveus took control of the corpse of Grant Ward, freshly dead after Coulson caved in his chest, seeking revenge for their personal history. Alveus returned to Earth in Ward's corpse and soon found Gideon Malick.[3] Hydra moved Alveus to a secret bunker in the Netherlands to prepare for his eventual conquest of the world. Malick provided his "guest" with two Inhumans he could make his thralls: Giyera, Malick's bodyguard, who possessed the ability to telekinetically move inorganic objects, and Lucio, a Colombian Inhuman who could temporarily paralyze anyone who looked into his eyes. He also completely restored Grant Ward's body by consuming five innocent people Hydra provided him.[7][8]

Alveus (Earth-199999) from Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D

Hive in possession of Grant Ward's body

Fully recovered from his centuries in exile, Alveus began to put his plan in motion. First, he had the Watchdogs, an anti-Inhuman hate group, steal a missile from the ATCU for Hydra in exchange for high-tech weaponry.[9] He then had Hydra take control of the Transia Corporation, and murdered their entire board of directors. He equipped Malick with the gauntlets from a powered exoskeleton Transia had developed so Malick could feel the same kind of power Inhumans know.[10] Next, he scrubbed all of Transia's research into invasive species for some unknown reason.[5]

With his plans moving along smoothly, Alveus took it upon himself to reveal his presence to the rest of Hydra. He gathered the members of Hydra's inner circle to Gideon Malick's private home, where Alveus introduced himself to them, even somehow showing them his true face from underneath Ward's. Shortly thereafter, back in the form of Grant Ward, he murdered Malick's daughter Stephanie so that Malick would "know the true meaning of sacrifice," and to make Gideon pay for betraying Nathaniel all those years ago.[5]

Knowing that S.H.I.E.L.D. would look into his activities with Transia's research, Alveus sent Giyera to one of Transia's laboratories so he could be captured and take them down from the inside. Giyera hijacked the Zephyr One and brought it to Malick's bunker, taking Director Coulson and several S.H.I.E.L.D. agents with him. The Secret Warriors, a team of Inhumans working for S.H.I.E.L.D., rescued them and escaped with the Zephyr; however, Alveus was able to take control of one of them, Daisy Johnson, before they escaped. Under Alveus control, Daisy stole a Kree artifact in S.H.I.E.L.D.'s possession, killed Gideon Malick, who was captured during the mission and was working with them to stop Alveus' plans, and reduced S.H.I.E.L.D.'s headquarters to rubble before returning to her new master in the Zephyr. With Gideon Malick dead, Alveus added almost $1 billion of Malick's personal wealth to his ever-expanding war chest.[11]

The next phase of Hive's plan was to bring more Inhumans under his sway, converting both Alisha and James to his side. Although both of them had once lived in the secret Inhuman community at Afterlife, James had not undergone Terrigenesis before Jiaying expelled him from the community for stealing the ancient Kree artifact Daisy took from S.H.I.E.L.D.. Hive understood what the artifact was - a beacon that would send an emergency signal to the Kree for reinforcements - but S.H.I.E.L.D. only had half of it. Hive brought about James' transformation and then infected him with his parasites to get him to reveal where he had rest of the artifact hidden.[12]

Hive and his three followers then went to Romania to find Holden Radcliffe, a radical transhumanist who researched invasive species for Transia. S.H.I.E.L.D., however, also took an interest in Dr. Radcliffe, seeing him as the most likely person to come up with a way to counter Hive's parasites. A small team of their agents found Dr. Radcliffe before him, but Hive's team were able to get him away from them. Hive personally came across Jemma Simmons in Romania, causing Will's memories of their time together to come to the surface. Hive spoke to her as Will, but Simmons saw through his game and shot him in the stomach.[12]

Making a Connection[]

At some point, Hive used Gideon Malick's fortune to buy an entire town in Wyoming. He took his followers, including Dr. Radcliffe, to this place and revealed to them his grand plan - using Dr. Radcliffe's experience with invasive species, he would recreate the original experiment the Kree performed on him thousands of years ago that would allow ordinary humans to undergo Terrigenesis, and would distribute this pathogen globally using the missile the Watchdogs recovered from the ATCU.[12] Once Dr. Radcliffe believed he has perfectly replicated the original experiment, Hive chose the remaining members of Hydra's inner circle be the first to be subjected to it. The experiment failed, however, and the test subjects are all killed in the process. Dr. Radcliffe chalked up the failure to Inhumans having insufficient Kree DNA in their bodies. Instead, what he needed was the DNA of a real Kree, so Hive used the beacon to summon a pair of Kree reapers to the Earth. One of the reapers killed Alisha before Daisy killed him and ordered Dr. Radcliffe to drain his spine. However, a team of S.H.I.E.L.D. agents infiltrated Hive's town to rescue Daisy, and one of them destroyed the Kree's corpse before Dr. Radcliffe could extract its DNA. Hive fought the other Kree, who called the Inhumans "failed experiments." Hive brutally killed the Kree, tearing his heart out to exact his revenge on the aliens for the experiment done to him millennia ago. Hive could not enjoy his victory for long, however, as S.H.I.E.L.D. agents attacked him the moment his fight with the Kree warrior was over. The agents retreated when Hive merely shrugged off their most powerful weaponry.[4]

When Dr. Radcliffe couldn't take enough DNA from the remaining Kree corpse, Daisy suggests they use the DNA in her blood as a supplement. Years earlier, Daisy recovered from what would have been a mortal gunshot wound with a serum derived from Kree biology. Dr. Radcliffe again tested the experiment, this time on a group of Watchdogs Hive and James abducted. The experiment mostly worked - they become Inhumans, but were horribly deformed and were stripped of their previous mind. While most others were horrified by these "primitives," Hive saw them as his children and ordered Dr. Radcliffe to begin reproducing the pathogen. Meanwhile, Daisy believed she convinced Lincoln Campbell, her boyfriend and one of the Secret Warriors, to leave S.H.I.E.L.D. and join Hive. In reality, the whole ordeal was a ploy devised at S.H.I.E.L.D. to sneak a plane past Hive's defenses. On board the plane was Lash, a monstrous Inhuman with powerful energy-based abilities. Lash's powers made him a perfect counter to the Hive - not only was he physically stronger, but his energy powers destroyed Hive's parasites before they could reach him and could burn a hole in his chest to hurt him in ways none of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s regular weapons could come close to. Unable to fight him off himself, Hive turned the primitives on Lash, but they too proved to be of little use. Daisy comes to her master's aid, but Lash knocked her down and somehow used his powers to pull Hive's parasites out of her body, freeing her from his control. James killed Lash when the monstrous Inhuman carried Daisy onto the plane.[13]

Despite S.H.I.E.L.D.'s recent victories over him, Hive moved along with his plan. He, Giyera, James and the Primitives took over a missile silo on an island in the Pacific from where they would launch the missile carrying Dr. Radcliffe's pathogen. When S.H.I.E.L.D. stopped the launch, Hive decided to personally stop their interfering in his plans. However, S.H.I.E.L.D. planned on Hive coming after them, so he fell into a trap they set involving a machine that brought back the memories of all of Hive's previous hosts. The deluge of memories overwhelmed the ancient Inhuman, giving S.H.I.E.L.D. the opening they needed to leave the silo with Dr. Radcliffe as their prisoner. Hive followed them out of the base, but he fell into yet another trap, and was imprisoned in a gel matrix cube.[14]

Hive was brought to S.H.I.E.L.D.'s headquarters in stasis. While the agency argued among themselves what to do with Hive, James and Giyera put the next phase of their master's plan into motion. The hangar bay doors to the S.H.I.E.L.D. base were heavily damaged when Daisy first betrayed them preventing them from closing. From a quinjet, James and Giyera dropped the pathogen into the base, transforming many of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s agents into primitives. The primitives shattered the gel matrix cube, freeing Hive from his prison. S.H.I.E.L.D. realized that this was Hive's plan all along - without a means to launch the missile, he'll fly the Zephyr high enough into the atmosphere to disperse the pathogen globally. Daisy figured out his plan and left her containment unit to face him personally. Rather than try and stop him, however, Daisy begged Hive to take her back and re-infest her with his parasites. Hive wanted to, but whatever Lash did to her to remove the parasites the first time made him unable to do so.[14]

Hive's plans were momentarily stalled while he had to fight an emotionally distraught Daisy. While her powers made her a worthy opponent to Hive, his unique physiology made her attacks have little affect on him. James and Giyera knocked Daisy out when they arrived in hangar. They brought her aboard the Zephyr and took off to distribute the pathogen. S.H.I.E.L.D. followed after them once they're clear of the primitives still in their headquarters. Hive personally investigated their quinjet when it docked on the Zephyr and came face to face with Director Coulson himself. Hive, in an attempt to intimidate him, showed Coulson his true face, and threatened to kill him and take over his body as his next host. Coulson revealed himself to actually be a hologram, a distraction designed to keep Hive away from the rest of his team. The S.H.I.E.L.D. agents fought their way through the plane, freeing Daisy, killing Giyera and incapacitating James along the way. Hive cornered the team just before they could reach the pathogen. While the primitives distract the rest of the team, Hive went after Daisy directly to stop her from sabotaging the pathogen. Although Hive was unable to convince her to stand aside, Lincoln appeared in the pilot's chair to steer the quinjet carrying the pathogen directly into space. He sent Daisy back onto the Zephyr with a bolt of electricity (his Inhuman ability), and then fried the quinjet's controls, trapping himself and Hive on the plane.[15]

Hive realized he had been beaten. Rather than make a desperate attempt to salvage his plan, Hive calmly accepted his fate and patiently awaited his death. In his final moments, Hive confessed to his fellow Inhuman that he only wanted to make the world better and feel a connection with those around him. Hive and Lincoln floated side-by-side in zero gravity, watching the Earth as the warhead detonated, destroying the quinjet with the two Inhumans still on board. Hive had finally been destroyed.[15]

Personality

Hive possesses a very calm and calculating personality, and has never displayed open anger or sadness when things don't go according to plan. He is also able to incorporate the memories and emotions of the people whose corpses he uses as a host into his own, allowing the Hive to perfectly act as if he were that person.

Attributes

Powers

Living Hive: As a result of Terrigenesis, Hive was transformed into a countless number of microscopic parasites that functioned under a collective mind. The parasites gave Hive a myriad of abilities, including:

  • Reanimation: Hive can reanimate dead flesh and transform the corpses of his victims into a central host for his parasites. The host's memories and emotions would be adapted into his own, allowing Hive to know all that they knew.
  • Advanced Longevity: In addition to being nearly impossible to kill, as long as he was periodically provided with a new host body, Hive seemingly could live forever.
  • Regeneration: Originally, Hive's parasites could feed on living flesh to repair his body at an incredible speed. However, after regaining his true strength, he was able to regenerate passively. He managed to passively regenerate from a shot from a bazooka instantaneously.
  • Mind Control: Hive's parasites could infest the brains of Inhumans, allowing Hive to take complete control over their minds, transforming them into loyal followers who would unquestionably follow his orders.
  • Superhuman Strength: He was strong enough to go toe-to-toe with Kree Reapers.

Weaknesses

  • Hive is somewhat limited by the physical ailments of its host bodies. Without living flesh to consume to sustain himself, the corpses he inhabits will continue to decay to the point where the body is no longer usable. He is also strongly affected by the emotions and memories he gathers from his host bodies.

Notes

  • While Hive himself has no actor, the character is portrayed by the actors who portray his host bodies. Dillon Casey portrayed Hive in the body of Will Daniels at the very end of the episode "4,722 Hours", and for most of the episode "Maveth". Brett Dalton portrays Hive in the body of Grant Ward starting at the end of the episode "Maveth" until his death in the episode "Ascension" Jason Glover portrayed the person who became Hive in the episode "Failed Experiments".

Trivia

  • Hive's ancient name, "Alveus", is a Latin word meaning, among other things, "hollow vessel" and "beehive."

See Also

Links and References

References

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