NOTE: This article is about the incarnation of Hive from the Marvel Cinematic film series. The mainstream version can be found here: Hive (Marvel). |
“ | Their emancipation will be my gift to you. | „ |
~ Hive to Daisy Johnson. |
“ | You'll believe... once I make a believer out of him. | „ |
~ Hive to Gideon Malick and Giyera, foreshadowing his ability to control other Inhumans. |
“ | It's beautiful. Smaller than you imagine. I only wanted to make it better. To feel a connection. But you must feel that already. To sacrifice for them... with all their flaws. | „ |
~ Hive's last words to Lincoln, as they view Earth together. |
Alveus, also known as Hive and referred to as "It", is one of the two overarching antagonists (alongside John Garrett) of the Marvel Cinematic Universe TV series Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D..
He was a parasitic mind-controlling Inhuman created by the Kree and whose existence inspired the foundation of HYDRA. Returning to Earth after being banished to another planet, he intended on recreating the original Kree experiments so he could transform a portion of the human race into his mind-controlled Primitives and then seize control of the world for the Inhuman race.
He was portrayed by Jason Glover in his original human form, Dillon Casey while possessing Will Daniels, and primarily by Brett Dalton while possessing Grant Ward (who also played Agent Brick in Milo Murphy's Law, Parasite in Superman: Man of Tomorrow and the Witness in the Destiny franchise).
Personality[]
“ | Sometimes the world's greatest miracles happen by accident. | „ |
~ Hive recalling what Daisy said to him while fighting a Kree Reaper. |
Alveus was not initially a malevolent or cruel being. He treats his allies with genuine affability and does not abuse them. He remains or at least acts like a friend to people who serve him and is attracted to Inhumans but this could be cause of his silent manipulations and mind control but he is still careful to not treat anyone like slaves even though they do not serve him willingly. Beneath his calm and charming demeanor, however, Alveus is perfectly capable of an unspeakable ruthlessness while punishing those who disappoint him.
Despite his methods, Alveus does display a human side and believes that he was making the world a better place through his actions. Having witnessed a once great society on Maveth unfold on itself, he makes several claims that Earth was in constant chaos and by turning the inhabitants into Inhumans, becoming "connected" to everyone he equated himself as not only the bringer of death but as well peace. Alveus even confesses in his final moments that in spite of their flaws, he wished to know what it was like to be a human.
Being virtually a parasite, Alveus has a trait in which he retains the memories of the bodies he inhabited. There are moments when these personalities surface and he becomes the people he formerly inhabited and not himself. For example, while confronting Gideon Malick as his brother, Nathaniel, he displays initial shock over the latter' betrayal twenty years ago and kills Malick's daughter in front of him as punishment for such an act.
He appears to be specially connected towards Grant Ward, as he was a person who dedicated his life to HYDRA and indirectly returning him to Earth. He also refused to change bodies despite Ward's being weak but there is always a chance that changing forms is a painful process but whatever the case is, Ward is generally his public image towards his followers. Hive also seems to have had a soft spot when it came to Daisy Johnson, which was perhaps inspired by how Ward had felt about her.
In Alveus' final moments, instead of showing initial anger over his plans failing and his immediate death, he accepts his fate with dignity and humility. He shows no fear despite having lived thousands of years, death was the only thing he had never felt a true connection towards and calmly states to Lincoln Campbell that his best interests were for humanity before they died side by side.
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.
- Vessel 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 "Travelers") 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. He also cannot possess Inhumans. 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.
- Superhuman Strength: Hive's host bodies display superhuman strength, enough to go toe-to-toe with Kree Reapers.
- Regenerative Healing Factor: As long as he has been fed on a regular basis, Hive possess the power to passively regenerate from any damage. He passively regenerated from damage caused by a rocket launcher in a few seconds.
- Advanced 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.
- Shape-Shifting: 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. He did this again in "Ascension" to intimidate Phil Coulson.
- Body Manipulation: To kill his victims, Hive sends sand-like skin cells from his host-body hurtling towards 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 5 ordinary humans. After he did this, the 5 humans had been reduced to blood-covered skeletons and Hive's host-body (Ward) had been restored to full working capacity. In "Spacetime", he used his powers to kill the entire Transia Corporation board of directors, as they screamed horrifically while the "sand" ate away at them. In "Failed Experiments", he used this power to kill a Kree Reaper, turning its face into a skull, later ripping out its heart and holding it in his hand.
- Mind Control: Killing people isn't the only use that Hive's cells have; it was later discovered that he is capable of mind-controlling Inhumans by transferring his cells into their brains, which Malick describes as "join[ing] the hive". In "The Team", he appeared behind Daisy and mind-controlled her into killing Malick, who had betrayed Hive, and stealing the Kree Orb and several Terrigen Crystals from S.H.I.E.L.D., which she normally wouldn't do. In "The Singularity", he also mind-controlled Alisha Whistley and James, getting to James only after he became an Inhuman. It is unknown if he can mind-control humans, but it's suggested by Malick that he took control of HYDRA through this power. As shown in "Emancipation", Lash's powers allowed him to free Daisy from Hive's control, and future attempts at "swaying" her were unsuccessful. Hive's powers allowed him to instantly gain full control of Holden Radcliffe's Inhuman Primitives, which had no original thoughts of their own and relied entirely on Hive for survival and basic instincts.
- 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.
- Hand-to-Hand Combat: Presumably using the memories of other people whom he killed and possessed, Hive was able to hold his own without using his powers, showing that he doesn't really need them to be terrifying. In "Failed Experiments", he was able to hold his own against a Kree Reaper, a brute-like Inhuman hunter, and didn't use his powers on him until he had decided he had enough. In "Ascension", his memories of Grant Ward allowed him to over-power even Daisy Johnson.
Weakness[]
- Past lives: The memories in his head can be jumbled, causing him to experience them all at once causing him to lose his identity and sanity, as experienced when Lincoln used the memory machine to scramble his thoughts in "Absolution". This caused him to struggle to speak sentences and instead say things said by previous hosts.
Relationships[]
Allies[]
Hosts[]
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Enemies[]
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Trivia[]
- Before the Season 3 midseason premiere, it was confirmed by Elizabeth Henstridge that "It" was actually the Marvel Cinematic Universe's adaption of the Hive, a parasitic being created by HYDRA to embody their ideals.
- 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 Baron Wolfgang von Strucker.
- Also in the comics, he was Caucasian and he had blonde hair. But to make him look ancient, he was a Mayan Hunter in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
- It's theorized that Jiaying knew about Hive and feared him which is why she wanted the monolith, to prevent it from returning to Earth. Though in "Paradise Lost", it is stated that the Afterlife Inhumans were descendants of the Inhumans that he led against the Kree for an Orb-like weapon, leaving her speculated about whether or not she sought 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. However, it is probable that Whitehall thought it was nonsense.
- Hive is similar to Apocalypse from the X-Men comic book series. They are both powerful god-like beings who are thousands of years old and believed to be the first of a super-powered sub-species of humans (Hive with Inhumans and Apocalypse with mutants) and they seek to weed out the weak from the strong. They are also both able to mind-control their brethren, as Apocalypse transforms some mutants into his followers, called the Horsemen of the Apocalypse.
- In X-Men: Evolution, Apocalypse also sought to turn the world's population into mutants, similar to Hive's goal of turning the human population into Inhumans.
- Hive is one of only a few characters on Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. to have been portrayed by multiple actors, due to his body-possession power.
- 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.
- Yet another way to define Alveus is "beehive", a reference to how he can control the minds of Inhumans like how bees are hive-minded and obey their queen bee.
- It's theorized that the Hive has Blue and Orange Morality, seeing its actions as being right and justified in its own mind while anybody else could develop the misconception that it's evil.
- According to Phil Coulson, Hive was the inspiration behind the concept of The Devil.
External Links[]
- Hive on the Marvel Cinematic Universe Wiki
- Hive on the Magnificent Baddie Wiki.