Daniel Whitehall (Marvel Cinematic Universe)

"Freedom. Equality. Individual rights. These principles make mankind a plague on this planet. Think of a forest. It dries up and catches fire with the first spark. Now, mankind would fight that fire, believing every individual plant perfect in its own individual way. But it's the fire that's perfect. Essential. Now more magnificent plant species, like the giant sequoia, their seeds need the heat of that fire to crack open and be born. To literally rise from the ashes. And they will live for a thousand years. You don't need to keep burning. Rise... be born."

- Whitehall while brainwashing Agent 33. "Discovery requires experimentation."

- Whitehall's catchphrase.

Daniel Whitehall (born as Werner Reinhardt), is a major antagonist in the ABC TV series, Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.. He was the main antagonist of the first half of Season 2, a posthumous antagonist in the second half, and later appeared in the flashbacks of Seasons 3 and 5.

He was the leader of HYDRA who intended to find an object known as the Obelisk and use its potential capabilities for HYDRA's intentions of controlling the world. He is known for dissecting Daisy Johnson's mother and Calvin L. Johnson's wife, Jiaying, thus gaining his longevity.

He is portrayed by Reed Diamond.

Biography
Werner Reinhardt  joined the Nazis and became an officer of the Schutzstaffel. He rose through the ranks until he became an Obergruppenführer (Lieutenant general), eventually joining HYDRA, the special science division led by Johann Schmidt. He was married for some time but his wife died, leaving him a widower. When he was sent to search for mysterious artifacts. On one occasion, his team discovered the corpse of a blue-skinned humanoid organism. Somehow, during this time, Reinhardt learned about Johann Schmidt's disfigurement that earned him the nickname "Red Skull". Like his leader, Reinhardt knew about and searched for the Darkhold, a book that was said to contain infinite knowledge, but he never managed to find it. By March 1945, Johann Schmidt invited Jiaying to touch to Obelisk. Reinhardt's men fo discover that Jiaying could touch the Obelisk without dying, and instead triggered an unusual response whereas the Obelisk radiated a bright light. Before Reinhardt could begin his study of the woman, word of the Red Skull's apparent demise at the hands of Captain America became known, and he ordered his men to lock the woman in a cage and evacuate the fortress immediately.

However, Reinhardt and his men could escape, the facility was attacked by a Strategic Scientific Reserve (S.S.R.) team led by Peggy Carter, Jim Morita, and Dum Dum Dugan. Reinhardt was then escorted out of the facility by Dugan while his experiments were found and captured.

Trivia

 * He is the series' incarnation of the Kraken, a legendary HYDRA agent from the Marvel Comics universe.
 * Daniel Whitehall's death marks the second time Phil Coulson has killed a main antagonist in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., following John Garrett, and preceeded by Grant Ward and Aida.
 * Though he dies halfway through the season, he can still be considered the main villain and Big Bad of the season because his sadistic dissection of Jiaying traumatically turned her into a villain and there is nothing else that could have happened to her that would have caused her to do the things she did. It is reasonable to say that he is more deserving of the blame than her for her attempts to start a war against S.H.I.E.L.D.
 * Whitehall is currently one of only two villains in the TV series that is Pure Evil, alongside John Garrett.
 * Whithall could be considered the bigger Bad of season Five, as even though he was Deceased, he was the creator of the destroyer of worlds project, and he engineered the creation of Ruby Hale.