Hive (Marvel Cinematic Universe)

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

- Gideon Malick

"You'll believe... once I make a believer out of him."

- Hive, speaking his words.

Alveus, aka Hive, serves as the main antagonist of the second half of the third season of the hit TV series, Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. He is an immensely-powerful Inhuman born thousands of years prior to the main story who seeks to regain his lost power. Being considered the most-powerful of all Inhumans to date, Hive seeks to also "change the world".

He was portrayed by Dillon Casey and Brett Dalton (who previously portrayed Grant Ward up until his death in episode "Maveth"), having assumed the forms of their respective characters.

Origin
Many millennia ago, the Kree, a powerful alien race went to many worlds to create slave-soldiers to fight their wars, these slave-soldiers colloquially named inhumans; one of the planets they traveled to being Earth. Alveus was on Earth where the Inhumans were successfully created. When he became an Inhuman due to the Terrigenesis process, Alveus was meant to serve as the leader of the Inhumans, and a way to control them; however, Alveus instead led the Inhumans to war with the Kree, driving them away from Earth (all except the Kree known only as "G.H.", who was found by S.H.I.E.L.D. and put in a stasis tube). When the Inhumans began to fear Alveus, they teamed-up with regular humans and used the Kree's secret weapon, the Monolith, to banish the Inhuman to the planet Maveth.

However, a group of humans, who all intents and purposes worshiped Hive, thought it was the world's rightful ruler. This group evolved and took many names. During World War II, they infiltrated the Nazi's and took the name HYDRA under the direction of its then leader, Red Skull. This group's sole intention was to bring back this dangerous Inhuman to Earth. For centuries, they had tried and failed.

The society eventually started using the Monolith to send other humans to Maveth, so that Hive could use them for host bodies and not be lost to time. One of these hosts was Nathaniel Malick, brother of current HYDRA leader Gideon Malick, who was betrayed by his brother. While on Maveth, Alveus came into contact with an alien civilization, but eventually killed-off all of the aliens for an unknown reason.

4,722 Hours
In 2001, a group of astronauts from NASA was sent in as a sacrifice to this thing as they had done to many others over the centuries under the guise that they were sent in to do scientific research. Hive made them go mad, killing each other, leaving their bodyguard, Will Daniels alive. Will stood on that planet, eluding it for 14 years. Then in 2015, S.H.I.E.L.D. agent and biochemist, Jemma Simmons, was brought to that planet accidentally and, for months, Jemma, with the help of Will Daniels, survived long enough for her S.H.I.E.L.D. colleagues to bring her back, though Will was killed while he saved her before Hive possessed his body. The heads of HYDRA were trying to seek out S.H.I.E.L.D. to try to find out how to bring back this deadly Inhuman for Hive to take over Earth.

Maveth
Sometime later in December 2015 (Earth-time), a small team of HYDRA agents lead by Grant Ward at the request of HYDRA leader, Gideon Malick, traveled to Maveth to bring Hive back to Earth with S.H.I.E.L.D. scientist, Leo Fitz, as an unwilling sacrifice to the creature. They were followed by SHIELD director, Phil Coulson, who was on a mission to kill Grant Ward after he killed Phil's girlfriend, Rosalind Price, who was also the head of the Advanced Threat Containment Unit which allied themselves with S.H.I.E.L.D. Grant, Leo, and the HYDRA team encountered Hive within the body of Will Daniels. "Will" was made to be a guide.

"Will" would tell Leo about an older civilization that use to live on that planet. Leo was puzzled that he knew a great deal about them. Just as Leo was inspecting his limp leg, it showed Will's leg was rotting, indicating he was a rotting corpse and "Will" told Leo he was around when this alien civilization existed, thus telling him he was the Inhuman HYDRA was seeking. Leo and "Will" fought until Leo seemingly killed "Will" shortly before Phil killed Grant Ward, HYDRA agent and traitor to S.H.I.E.L.D. Both Leo and Phil left Maveth shortly after, leaving behind Ward's dead body and Coulson's prosthetic hand, which he used to kill Ward.

Little did Leo and Phil knew, Hive left Will's heavily-damaged body and took possession of Grant Ward's body, then left Maveth for Earth, something it couldn't have done had Coulson not killed Ward and provided the necessary outlet. Hive intercepted Malick's car as it was speeding away from HYDRA castle. Malick was pleasantly surprised that the creature that HYDRA sought for centuries was finally on Earth, using Grant Ward's body as a new host. HYDRA succeeded in bringing back this evil being.

Bouncing Back
""They have advanced, but they haven't changed." "They?" "Humans. But you're not human anymore, are you? You don't believe I am what they say. Once I'm strong enough...you will.""

- Hive to Giyera

Hive is kept under supervision at Malick's HYDRA lair, where he sits in a room and catching up current events on Earth. 3 months after being found, sometime in March 2016, he asks Malick to feed him, so he is given large trays of food so that he can regain his strength. After HYDRA captures an Inhuman named Lucio, Malick's faith in Hive wavers, so he demonstrates his sincerity by turning into sand and sending it towards Malick and Giyera.

The Inside Man
Lucio is later brought before Hive, who is immune to the Inhuman's powers. Later, he requests that 4 humans are brought to him, alive and healthy. Shortly after, he is given 4 ordinary bodies to use, but he doesn't seek to possess them; instead, he absorbs their life force and their flesh, replenishing his (Ward's) body to normal, reducing the 4 people to blood-covered skeletons and covering Hive in a slimy substance.

Spacetime

 * "I know you've had people killed. You've even considered shooting someone. But to drain a man's life with your own hand, to feel the life go out inside him as Mr. Coulson did with me. That look in his eyes. A feeling so powerful, it scared him enough to leave that hand behind. But you don't fear anything, do you?"
 * ―Hive to Gideon Malick

His host body fixed, Hive dresses himself with a black cloak, then gets to eat dinner with Malick. Malick tells Hive that his family believed in him, and that if he were to be brought back to Earth, he would be rewarded; Hive takes note of Malick's net worth of $9.2 billion, then makes a suggestion regarding how to acquire more power, showing him Coulson's prosthetic hand, which he left behind after killing Ward back on Maveth. The suggestion comes up about buying the company that manufactured the hand, the Transia Corporation, in order to acquire his own technology with which to dominate over all. At the Transia Corporation building, Malick, Giyera and Hive speak to the board of directors about purchasing the entire company, but the chairman denies them; however, Hive then brings in an Inhuman named Charles Winton (who was captured previously in the day), who has the ability to show the future to people who touch him, and thus the chairman receives a horrifying vision of Hive absorbing life energy from everyone in the room, killing them all and reducing them to blood-covered skeletons. Horrified and fearful, the chairman hands over the company, but Hive kills everyone anyways.

A while later, Malick acquires a cybernetic suit built by the company before, and it is considered by him to be real power. Hive tempts him to kill the chairman by crushing his skull, which he does to illustrate his superiority. That night, when S.H.I.E.L.D. attacks the company, the crew hacks into security cameras, eventually catching a brief glimpse of Hive still inside Ward's body before the footage cuts out; discovering that Ward may have been resurrected somehow, Coulson and Inhuman Daisy Johnson split up, with Coulson saying that he's going to find Ward. Daisy makes it to the rooftop of the building, and fights off Malick in his cybernetic suit. After he escapes and the helicopter flees, Hive is seen with Giyera in Malick's hideout, as he tempts Giyera to betray Malick; he now works for Hive, who is about to continue his own agenda. Giyera betrays Malick and Hive expresses pleasure in hearing this.

Paradise Lost

 * "This needs to be made right, but I still need a Malick by my side."
 * ―Hive to Gideon Malick after killing his daughter Stephanie

Hive is in Gideon's estate, having summoned the rest of HYDRA's inner circle to there so that he can show them he's back on Earth. When Malick asks him about having the memories of every host body, he simply asks Malick who he wants to talk to. Later, when the inner circle is gathered up, Hive steps in; at first, everyone assumes that he's simply Grant Ward. However, he then transforms into a Medusa-like creature with tentacles, emphasizing that he's the real deal. Later on, Hive tells Malick's daughter Stephanie Malick about what her father did to his brother; he made him have to be sacrificed so that he wouldn't be. Stephanie, horrified at her father, looks at him with disgust, then tells Hive to "do what [he] has to"; much to Malick's surprise and horror, Hive kills Stephanie by transferring his parasitic cells into her. He says that now Malick knows what true sacrifice is, then leaves.

The Team
Edits begin April 19th, 2016

Powers and Abilities
After exposure to the Terrigen Mist, Hive became an incredibly-powerful Inhuman that was worshiped by many. His power was only equaled by his leadership of a rebellion against the Kree.
 * Possession: Hive is capable of possessing a human body, taking their physical appearance. This power has allowed him to survive on Maveth for thousands of years, as HYDRA used the Monolith to send people (called "Travellers") to Maveth so that Hive could kill them, then possess their bodies. When he takes a host body, he gets all the memories of the person, as well as (to a lesser degree) their personality. However, he has stated that to Giyera that in order to possess a body, the body has to be dead, meaning he can't possess a body that still lives and breathes. As shown when he possessed Will Daniels and Grant Ward, their skin color changed to white-gray, a tip-off to the fact that he has taken their form.
 * Longevity: As stated above, HYDRA has sent people through the Monolith to Maveth for thousands of years, allowing Hive to kill them and possess their bodies. This allowed him to live for thousands of years on Maveth.
 * Transformation: In "Paradise Lost", Hive transformed his Ward body's head into that of a tentacle-covered creature with greenish-grey skin, which is it's true form.


 * Body Manipulation/Regeneration: To kill his victims, Hive sends sand-like skin cells from his host-body hurtling towards a potential victims. In "Bouncing Back", when he used this power, one could notice his skeletal hand as his skin came off like sand in the wind. This "sand" is like a parasite, managing to eat away at potential victims within seconds; in "The Inside Man", he used this "sand" to absorb the "life-force" of 4 ordinary humans. After he did this, the 4 humans had been reduced to blood-covered skeletons and Hive's host-body (Ward) had been restored to full health. In "Spacetime", he used his powers to kill the entire Transia Corporation board of directors, as they screamed horrificly while the "sand" ate away at them.
 * Atmokinesis: Hive can use the weather to his advantage against potential foes. While on Maveth, he could cause severe sandstorms to confuse and isolate his victims.
 * Terrakinesis: Hive is capable of manipulating the terrain around him however he wishes. On Maveth, when Jemma Simmons and Will Daniels were about to reach a wormhole, Hive widened a canyon with his powers.

Trivia

 * It is confirmed by Elizabeth Henstridge that it is actually the Marvel Cinematic Universe's adaption of The Hive, a parasitic being created by HYDRA to embody their ideals. Seeing as Hive is a parasitic Inhuman who seems to resemble a slug, or even an octopus, this seems highly likely to be the case.
 * In the comics, Hive is a parasitic entity created by HYDRA, composed of countless parasites merged around a host to form a single individual. Due to his intelligence, strength and dedication to the cause of HYDRA, Hive was appointed as one of HYDRA's heads by Wolfgang von Strucker.
 * In "Paradise Lost", it was shown that Hive resembles Medusa, a creature from Greek mythology; the creature had snakes on her head, like Hive's tentacles, and if you looked at her, you would turn to stone.
 * It's theorized that Jiaying knew about Hive and feared it which is why she wanted the monolith, to prevent it from returning to Earth, though in "Paradise Lost", the Afterlife Inhumans were descendants of the Inhumans that he led against the Kree for an Orb-like weapon, leaving her speculated to free Hive.
 * Daniel Whitehall in the aforementioned episode, Paradise Lost, also feared Hive which is why he never had any part in Gideon's plans.
 * The name Alveus is Latin, translated as "reservoir", which means a supply or source of something; his power is to disperse tiny parasitic cells from his skin onto other people, eating whomever touches these cells. This likely means that he is a reservoir of these parasitic cells, or the name is perhaps tied-in with his plans.
 * Reservoir is also a word associated with water, and can be defined as "a large natural or artificial lake used as a source of water supply".
 * Another definition of "reservoir" is "a place where fluid collects, especially in rock strata or in the body".
 * Alveus also means "hollow vessel", referencing his body-possession power.
 * It's theorized that the Hive has Blue and Orange Morality, seeing its actions as being right and justified in its own mind while everybody could develop the misconception that it's evil.
 * Hive's Freudian Excuse is possibly that it was ostracized for being too powerful and intimidating and that's ultimately why it lashes out for being stranded on Maveth.
 * Hive seems rather similar to Pitch Black from Rise of the Guardians; they are both evil entities made of a sand-like substance and they both seek to "change" the world as we know it to be.