Hive (Marvel Cinematic Universe)/Synopsis

The story of the ancient parasitic Inhuman Hive from the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Origin
Alveus was originally a hunter-gatherer human who happened to encounter Kree Reapers after a successful hunt. The Kree cornered and forcibly abducted him onto their ship, where they performed various experiments. Alveus was transformed by Terrigenesis. When he was sent away to a far distant planet, his remnant followers founded a secret society whose primary purpose is Hive Paganism. His existence also inspired ideals of the Devil and Satanism throughout religion and mythology. 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 betrayed Nathaniel. While on Maveth, Alveus came into contact with nine different alien civilizations living in nine different cities; he then watched idly-by while they killed each-other in a war for survival. It's been suggested that Alveus had a hand in the war, killing many of the aliens he encountered.

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 Hive for fourteen 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 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 is that while they returned to Earth, Hive left Will's heavily-damaged body and took possession of Grant Ward's body, and 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 and gaining his memories for his own purpose. HYDRA had finally succeeded in bringing back this evil being.

Bouncing Back
"Hive: They have advanced, but they haven't changed. Giyera: They? Hive: 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. Three 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-like parasite 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 four humans are brought to him, alive and healthy. Shortly after, he is given four ordinary bodies to use, but he does not seek to possess them; instead, he absorbs their life force and their flesh, replenishing Ward's body to normal, reducing the four people to blood-covered skeletons and covering Hive.

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, recalling through the mind of Grant Ward about how Coulson killed him.

After 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 just before he kills his daughter Stephanie in front of him.

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
"Daisy: I have to get back to the base, they have something we need. Hive: Do it."

- Hive now controls Daisy Johnson.

During an attack on the HYDRA base, Hive stands before Daisy, and transfers his cells into her, allowing him to mind-control her. She eventually returns to the S.H.I.E.L.D. base and, under Hive's influence, steals a Kree object and some Terrigen crystals, then kills the captured Gideon Malick, as Hive feared he would spill secrets about him. After this, she causes an earthquake inside the base, making rocks fall on top of Phil Coulson. With that accomplished, she heads for Hive, who informs Giyera that Malick is dead and they now have access to his massive fortune.

The Singularity
"After we're finished there will be no more war, no more pain, especially now that we're together. It's time we took back this planet, make it the home Inhumans have always deserved."

- Hive talking about his goals to Daisy Johnson.

Standing outside New York City with Daisy, Hive speaks to her about his intentions, and she seems to finally be taking a liking to the one who looks like Ward. Later on, they start preparing their new plans. Hive and Johnson first went to Alisha Whitley, whom they knew would be targeted by Coulson, and left her doubles to ambush Lincoln Campbell and the rest of the team sent to protect her. With Whitley by their side, Hive and Johnson then went to speak to James, who mocked Johnson and questioned if she had broken up with Campbell. Hive then revealed himself and demanded the rest of the Kree Orb; when James refused they dropped a Terrigen Crystal, which filled the room with Terrigen Mist and forced him to undergo Terrigenesis. After he finished this, he starts making objects explode by touching them, but Hive mind-controls him into stopping this. Daisy proceeds to cause an earthquake that allows the four to unearth a Kree weapon that the Kree Orb is connected to; when they ask what it is, Hive says that it's the only thing that can kill him. After taking it, they filled the room with explosives, anticipating that S.H.I.E.L.D. would be here soon due to looking out for Daisy using her powers. However, Coulson and May manage to save themselves from the explosives, much to the villain's dismay and running away entire village.

Failed Experiments
With mercenary forces and controlled Inhumans covering every inch of Hive's purchased town, they would all be likely safe from any S.H.I.E.L.D. attack. Hive explains the story of how he became an Inhuman to three former HYDRA leaders, descended from original worshipers of his, and also reveals his plan to them; turn humans into Inhumans. Radcliffe uses a device he built with help from Hive, and used some of Hive's blood to run the experiment. However, instead of turning the HYDRA members into Inhumans as intended, they are horrifically-melted into skeletons; according to Radcliffe, they are in need of actual blood from an actual Kree alien, giving Hive an idea. Using the Kree Orb, he summons forth two Kree Reapers, alien hunters who have been in stasis for thousands of years. Their ship crashes directly into a building in the middle of the night, by which point a S.H.I.E.L.D. team has arrived ready to kill Hive. One of the Reapers is killed by Daisy, and drained of its blood, but S.H.I.E.L.D. agent "Mack" uses a Splinter Bomb to turn the alien corpse into dust. The other Reaper goes into a church and finds Hive there, and they proceed to fight. The Reaper insisted that Hive was a failed experiment, but this didn't stop Hive from killing the alien using his parasite-like skin cells, eating away at the alien's flesh until there was only a skeleton left. S.H.I.E.L.D. agents shot at Hive right after this, with one even using an RPG on him, but these attacks are fruitless, forcing them to run away from the all-powerful Inhuman. Hive then chases the agents, and is unable to stop them from escaping, and tends to the injured Daisy. Later, Hive carves out the Kree Reaper's blue, human-like heart and shows it to Radcliffe, hoping to use it to make the experiment work; however, Daisy reminds Hive that she was brought back to life using Kree blood during the time that Ward wasn't pretending to be a good guy. Hive, remembering this using Ward's memories, is talked into draining Daisy's.

Emancipation
"Hive: These will do just fine. Holden: Are you serious? These Primitives are an abomination of science and a very poor reflection of my talents. Hive: They are not abominations, they're part of me and the Inhuman race. I want you to make more."

- Hive and Holden Radcliffe about the creation of the Primitives.

Eventually, the Quinjet arrives at the base, and Hive stands alone to welcome him; however, much to his surprise, Lash, a brute Inhuman put on-board to kill him, stepped off the Quinjet and fought Hive and the Primitives. He manages to kill some of the Primitives and injure Hive badly. He put Daisy's unconscious body onto the Quinjet as it took off back to the S.H.I.E.L.D. base; however, Hellfire then throws a fire-covered chain into Lash's back, making it protrude out his chest, killing him. The Quinjet took off back to the heroes' base, where they find out what Hive is planning; he's going to transform a huge portion of the world's population into Primitives using Radcliffe's experimental gas. Hive plans to disperse it by using a warhead stolen from the ATCU facility in Indiana, which will be fired into the atmosphere and spread the gas.

Absolution
With all the pieces having fallen into place, Hive moves forward with his plan to turn billions into Radcliffe's Primitives. He and his minions take control of a missile silo on an island, and put the warhead on one of the missiles there; however, right before it fired, Leo Fitz managed to find and use the automatic shut-down code, preventing it from launching. Hive walks through the base after having deduced that S.H.I.E.L.D. is here, and after catching sight of Lincoln, tries to mock him and trick him into thinking Daisy needs him back. After being led through a hallway to find agents Mack and Elena, the memory machine Coulson and Werner von Strucker had both used activated, this time able to project itself like radio-waves. This causes Hive's mind to become scrambled as he yells out in pain, experiencing the memories of his hosts Grant Ward, Nathaniel Malick and Will Daniels, going as far as to say words they've spoken. Giyera and Hellfire come in and see Hive in this mess, and listen to his order "Disconnect the warhead for absolution", despite being confused with his current state-of-mind. After Hive ends up stumbling out of the base, he is locked inside a gel-matrix cube by Elena, leading to his capture. Giyera and Hellfire made off with the warhead, meaning that it can still be used for Hive's plan, but what mattered was that the ringleader was now captured.

At the S.H.I.E.L.D. base known as "the Playground", a bomb Hive had previously set filled with the "Absolution Virus" detonated in the Zephyr One's landing room, causing multiple agents to be turned into Primitives, who, after dragging some more agents into the gas cloud and Fitz escaping by the skin of his teeth, smashed Hive's Containment Module to pieces, ripping it up and freeing their master. Hive, still in a confused state-of-mind, stepped onto the Zephyr One and is faced by Daisy Johnson; surprisingly however, she wanted to be mind-controlled yet again, simply kneeling down and saying "take me".

Ascension
Hive attempted to mind-control Daisy, but finds that whatever Lash did to her prevents him from connecting with her like before; Daisy, furious, attacks him with her powers, but he was able to call upon the memories and abilities of the able-bodied Grant Ward to save himself from her. Despite having all his bones twisted-up and broken by Daisy's powers, he was able to easily heal himself, and mocked her for her efforts of revenge. Giyera arrives at the base in a HYDRA jet, and thus Daisy was distracted enough for Hive to knock her out. Hive then ordered the Primitives to put Daisy inside the Containment Module on-board the Zephyr One, and to load the warhead, on Giyera's jet, onto the battleship-like jet, allowing them to ascend. While on-board with Giyera and Hellfire, Hive explains how they can still achieve their goal; by having the Zephyr One ascend to several hundred thousand feet in the air until just high enough for the warhead's timer to go off in the atmosphere. They can escape using the Containment Module right before the warhead detonates, thus ensuring that they survive to lead the massive army of Primitives they'll probably have when this is all over.

When it was discovered that Leo Fitz and Melinda May had managed to stow away on-board the Zephyr One and killed Giyera by shooting him multiple times then freeing Daisy, a Primitive drags Giyera's body into the cockpit for Hive and Hellfire to observe. A Quinjet then attaches to the top of the ship, with Phil Coulson on-board; Hive goes to confront him alone. Coulson and Hive come face-to-face, as it seems that Coulson is not afraid to die to this monster that he'd unleashed on the planet; Hive then shifts into his true form, that of a tentacled purple-pink squid monster with red eyes and a puckered-up mouth, and prepares to kill him and possess him, as he's just been told that other agents have managed to accompany Coulson here on the Quinjet. However, when he tries, he finds that "Coulson" is actually a hologram, while the real Coulson is somewhere else, and mocks him with an impression of Princess Leia from Star Wars, causing Hive to become enraged and shift back into Grant Ward. He finds everyone fighting the Primitives in the room with the empty Containment Module, and slipped away to notice Daisy putting the warhead on-board a Quinjet to fly into space and detonate harmlessly.

Lincoln reveals that he's on-board in the pilot's seat, and uses his powers to blast Daisy out and back into the Zephyr One. He then blasted the Quinjet with him, Hive and the warhead on-board high into space, as Lincoln gives his goodbyes to Daisy and admits that he loves her before the radio cuts out due to the Quinjet now being in space. Hive and Lincoln float around inside, as Hive knows that this is his end and attempting to mind-control Lincoln won't save either of them from the warhead, which has only seconds left to do what it has to. As Hive and Lincoln look at the world, Hive says that he only wanted to help the Inhuman race with the Absolution Virus and rid people of their flaws; Lincoln simply says "They're only human", and they stay side-by-side as the warhead detonates, destroying the Quinjet, ending the threat of the Absolution Virus and Hive, finally experiencing what's eluded him for millennia; death. Hive reflects sadly to Lincoln on how beautiful the world is only wishing to have made it better and feel connected to it. Lincoln acknowledges this in turn and both stay together as they die in the explosion, which is observed by the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents on the Zephyr One.

Legacy
Sometime after Hive's death, due to Daisy feeling guilty over her actions while under his influence, coupled with the shock of losing her lover, Lincoln, she went into hiding for months as a vigilante. Months later, she returned to S.H.I.E.L.D. after she accepted what happened.

A year later, shortly after Phil Coulson and his people returned from a dystopian future in which Earth was destroyed and humanity and inhumans were slaves of the Kree, a massive explosion caused three monoliths, similar to what brought Hive to Maveth, to merge causing what is known as a fear dimension to leak from a portal that was created. Many of Coulson and his team's deepest fears were being manifested, one of them being Hive. Hive's manifestation was destroyed by Mike Peterson and Phil Coulson, along with other manifestations.