Alveus, more commonly known as Hive, was the primary antagonist of Season 3 of Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.. He was an early Inhuman created by the Kree thousands of years ago who was banished from Earth to the planet Maveth. During Hive's exile, a cult was formed in worship of him and would endure throughout the centuries until it became the terrorist organization known as HYDRA in the modern era. HYDRA's sole purpose was to bring Hive back to Earth so that he could conquer the planet, a purpose that was fulfilled in late 2015.
History[]
Creation[]
The primitive human who would become Hive
Millennia ago, when mankind was still living as primitive hunter-gatherers, a group of aliens known as the Kree arrived on Earth. Their purpose was to develop a new breed of soldiers to fight in their many wars across the galaxy, and so they conducted experiments on humans, implanting latent genes that, once activated through a mutagenic process known as Terrigenesis, gave the new Inhumans access to unique superhuman abilities.
One such human, a Mayan hunter-gatherer, ran afoul of a group of Kree that landed in Mesoamerica. After being captured, he was subjected to a Terrigenesis experiment, becoming one of the first Inhumans, if not the very first. The hunter's mutation transformed him into an amalgamation of various parasitic microorganisms, possessing the ability to "infest" the bodies of the dead and reanimate them into new hosts. Designed to command the Kree's Inhuman army, the hunter-gatherer also had the ability to control the minds of other Inhumans. Because of this, he would earn the new name "Alveus", the Latin word for "Hive", as in "hive-mind".
Exile[]
Although Hive was created to act as a general for the Kree's Inhuman army, he would instead turn on his creators. Leading a revolution, he succeeded in driving the Kree off Earth. However, the Inhumans feared Hive's power and would ultimately band together with regular humans in order to banish him from the Earth, as well. Hive was cast through the Monolith and found himself trapped on the planet Maveth, where he would remain for over five thousand years. During this time, he would travel the planet, consuming its native inhabitants to sustain himself.
Meanwhile, back on Earth, the remnants of Hive's followers would establish a secret society that would one day become known as HYDRA. Viewing Hive as their god, HYDRA's purpose was to eventually bring the Inhuman back to Earth so that he could dominate the planet. Over the centuries, they would sacrifice people to the Monolith, sending them to Maveth as offerings for Hive to either be consumed or used as host bodies.
In 2001 AD, a NASA exploration team led by Will Daniels arrived on the barren planet Maveth. It wasn't long before the researchers all fell victim to Hive, being driven mad and killing themselves due to his influence. Only Will himself survived and, with his meager resources, was able to make a home for himself and learned of ways to avoid Hive. In the meantime, Hive continued to wander, allowing himself to be carried on the dust storms across the wastelands.
Return[]
In 2015 AD, a young woman named Jemma Simmons arrived on Maveth through a Monolith portal. Within the first few weeks of her arrival, she would encounter Will Daniels and the two would help one another to survive. Will informed Jemma of the evil presence that seemed to be haunting him and taught her how to avoid it, warning her against visiting certain areas.
Six months after arriving on Maveth, Jemma was rescued when her colleagues from S.H.I.E.L.D. found a way to re-open the portal. At the time of the rescue, Hive attacked, but Will was able to hold him at bay until Jemma could escape. Unfortunately for Will, he was unable to follow after Jemma as the portal disappeared. Will then fell victim to Hive, being killed and then having his corpse possessed by the parasitic Inhuman.
Months following her return to Earth, Jemma and Leo Fitz were captured by HYDRA and forced to aid them in an operation to retrieve Hive from Maveth. When the Monolith portal was opened, Grant Ward led a team - including the captive Fitz - through the portal and into the desolate alien wasteland. Not long after, Fitz encountered who he thought was Will Daniels, but it was actually Hive possessing his body. After "Will" killed several of Ward's men, he and Fitz fled into a dust storm. While Ward attempted to follow them, he was ambushed by Phil Coulson, who had made through the portal via airdropping into HYDRA's castle. The two of them followed after Fitz and "Will", but Ward soon attempted to kill Coulson, only to be overpowered and killed himself.
By the time they reached the next point where the portal was due to appear, Fitz realized that Hive had possessed Will's body, noticing that the flesh on Will's leg had rotted to the bone. He was able to stop Hive from entering the portal by shooting him with a flare gun, damaging his host body beyond mobility. Coulson soon caught up to Fitz and together they vanished through the portal, but Hive was still alive. Hiss parasitic form emerged from Will's corpse and made his way to the corpse of Ward. Possessing Ward's body, Hive made it to the portal before it closed, emerging in the now-demolished HYDRA castle. HYDRA's leader, Gideon Malick, had just left the castle and Hive was able to intercept his car on the road. Seeing the condition Ward's body was in, Malick was sure that HYDRA's god had finally returned.
Working with HYDRA[]
Malick would take Hive back to his base of operations where the Inhuman would spend his time learning about humanity's progress over the centuries, watching several TV documentaries focusing on mankind's major conflicts. With his host body in a state of decay, Hive was fed raw meat to aid his recovery. He would soon regain his ability to spread his parasitic particulants, allowing him to completely devour the flesh from living humans in seconds, allowing him to completely repair Ward's body. He also spread his parasites to the Inhumans Giyera and Lucio, taking control of their minds.
After fully recovering, Hive conferred with Malick, who told him that he was destined to lead HYDRA in its efforts to conquer the world. Hive noted that Malick was interested in acquiring true power, and agreed to help him obtain it. Together, he and Malick visited the headquarters of the Transia Corporation, the company responsible for developing the technology in Phil Coulson's prosthetic hand. Meeting with CEO Rowan Hamilton, Malick stated that he wanted to buy Transia out, but Hamilton refused to sell. Hive then had the homeless Inhuman Charles Hinton brought into the board room, who showed Hamilton a horrifying vision of his colleagues suffering a terrible death. Hamilton was terrified and agreed to sign Transia over to Malick, but Hive still killed the other board members anyway, using his nanoparasites to devour them.
A short time later, HYDRA obtained a prototype exoskeleton from Transia's vault and Hive urged Malick to put it on so that he could experience true power. The exoskeleton greatly enhanced Malick's physical strength, allowing him to overturn the table in the Transia board room and crush Hamilton's skull with his hands. That night, when S.H.I.E.L.D. attacked the Transia building, the crew hacked into the security cameras, eventually catching a brief glimpse of Hive still inside Ward's body before the footage cut out; discovering that Ward may have been resurrected somehow, Coulson and Daisy Johnson split up, with Coulson saying that he was going to find Ward. Daisy pursued and fought against Malick, defeating him and wrecking his exoskeleton, though the HYDRA leader was able to escape.
Following the battle at Transia, Hive visited the Malick estate, having summoned the rest of HYDRA's inner circle there so that he could reveal himself to them. When Malick asked him about having the memories of every host body, he simply asked Malick who he wanted to talk to. Later, when the inner circle was gathered together, Hive stepped in; at first, everyone assumed that he was simply Grant Ward. However, he then transformed into a Medusa-like creature with tentacles, proving that he was truly HYDRA's lost patron. Later on, Hive told Malick's daughter Stephanie about what her father did to his brother, how he had set Nathaniel up to be a sacrifice in a ceremonial lottery. Stephanie, horrified at her father, looked at him with disgust, then told Hive to "do what [he] has to"; much to Malick's surprise and horror, Hive killed Stephanie by transferring his parasitic cells into her. He then stated that Malick now knew what true sacrifice was.
Preparing for war[]
During a S.H.I.E.L.D. attack on Malick's base, Hive ambushed Daisy and transferred his parasitic cells to her, bringing her under his control. When she returned to the Playground, she stole an ancient Kree device and some Terrigen crystals, then killed the captive Malick, as Hive feared he would tell S.H.I.E.L.D. everything he knew about him. After this, she caused an earthquake inside the base, making rocks fall on top of Coulson. With that accomplished, she returned to Hive's side, informing him of Malick's demise. With Malick gone, Hive had access to his vast fortune.
Standing outside New York City with Daisy, Hive spoke to her about his intentions to remake the world for Inhumankind. Later on, they started preparing their grand plans. Hive and Daisy 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 on their side, Hive and Daisy then went to speak to JT James, who mocked Daisy and questioned if she had broken up with Lincoln. Hive then revealed himself and demanded the rest of the Kree device; when James refused they dropped a Terrigen crystal, which filled the trailer with Terrigen Mist and forced him to undergo Terrigenesis. When James emerged from his husk, he started making objects explode by touching them, but Hive then infected him and brought the new Inhuman under his sway. Daisy proceeded to cause an earthquake that allowed them to unearth a Kree weapon that the orb was supposed to connect to; when asked what it was, Hive said that it was the only thing that could kill him. After taking it, they filled the room with explosives, anticipating that S.H.I.E.L.D. would be there soon. However, Coulson and May managed to save themselves from the explosives, much to Hive's dismay.
Using the Malick fortune, Hive purchased the entire town of Union City to use as his base of operations. With HYDRA troops and mercenaries covering every street, the town had been fortified in anticipation of S.H.I.E.L.D. interference. Having captured the scientist Holden Radcliffe for his purposes, Hive put the good doctor to work on developing a Terrigen-based formula capable of turning regular humans into Inhumans. Radcliffe's initial efforts failed, resulting in the gruesome deaths of his test subjects, but he deduced that pure Kree DNA was required to make the formula work. With this in mind, Hive activated the Kree orb, transmitting a signal to a nearby Kree satellite. Two Kree Reapers came down in stasis pods and emerged in Union, going on a rampage. Hive killed one of the Kree while Daisy crippled the other one by breaking its limbs. The crippled alien was then taken to Radcliffe's lab where its body was to be drained of blood. However, S.H.I.E.L.D. intervened before this could happen and Alfonso Mackenzie used a Splinter Bomb to disintegrate the Kree, but Daisy attacked him in retaliation and almost killed him. With Mack severely injured and a number of their agents killed, S.H.I.E.L.D. were forced to retreat.
Despite S.H.I.E.L.D.'s interference, Hive was still able to continue with the Kree experiment; Daisy reminded him that she had been resuscitated once with Kree blood, which Hive recalled from Grant Ward's memories. Daisy offered to let Hive drain her blood in order to complete the Absolution virus, and so he would have the means to turn humans into Inhumans. The virus was tested on several captured members of the Watchdogs, a militant hate group dedicated to exterminating Inhumans. When exposed to the Absolution gas, the guinea pigs all underwent rapid Terrigenesis, emerging from their husks as deformed, primal creatures that Radcliffe would dub "Primitives". These creatures were completely devoid of their former humanity and possessed no unique power sets, but were susceptible to Hive's control,
In a last-ditch effort to save Daisy from Hive's sway, S.H.I.E.L.D. released the Inhuman Lash from confinement, believing that his purpose was to kill Hive. Daisy had previously managed to hack the Playground's security protocols in order to discretely contact Lincoln and persuade him into joining her and Hive, but when a Quinjet arrived at Hive's base, he and Daisy were surprised to find that it was Lash aboard the craft. Lash attacked Hive and briefly subdued him before turning his attention to Daisy, using his power to destroy the nanoparasites in her body. As he carried her to the Quinjet, however, Hellfire attacked him from behind and killed him. Although physically weak from having so much blood drained, Daisy was finally free from Hive's control and was able to pilot the Quinjet back to the Playground.
Absolution[]
With all the pieces having fallen into place, Hive moved forward with his plan to turn billions into Radcliffe's Primitives. He and his minions took control of a missile silo on an island, and installed a warhead loaded with Absolution 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 walked through the base after having deduced that S.H.I.E.L.D. was there, and after catching sight of Lincoln, mocked him and his plan to take Daisy back. After being led through a hallway to find agents Mack and Yo-Yo, Coulson activated a modified Theta Brainwave Machine that projected intense theta waves, causing Hive's mind to become scrambled. As he yelled out in pain, Hive was bombarded by the jumbled, incoherent memories of his current and previous hosts, speaking random words that they had previously spoken. After Coulson and the others had escaped, Giyera and Hellfire came in and found Hive in a confused state. Amid his scrambled memories, he uttered the order "Disconnect the warhead for absolution". After Hive stumbled out of the base, S.H.I.E.L.D. managed to capture him by dropping a gel-matrix module on him, sealing him within suspension gel. With Hive captured, his Primitives dead and the Absolution warhead obtained, it seemed that S.H.I.E.L.D. had won the war against HYDRA once and for all.
After Hive had been brought back to the Playground, several S.H.I.E.L.D. personnel were busy storing some new supplies. One agent inspected a crate that had been secretly rigged with a bomb that Hive had previously set, filled with the Absolution Virus. When the crate was opened, the bomb went off and a cloud of corrupted Terrigen Mist transformed the agent into a Primitive, who then grabbed another agent and dragged him into the mist. Several more agents were dragged into the gas cloud and transformed, though Fitz was able to escape by the skin of his teeth. The Primitives then smashed Hive's suspension gel cube to pieces, freeing their master. Still in a confused state of mind, Hive stepped onto the Zephyr One and was confronted by Daisy; surprisingly however, she wanted to return to Hive's control, kneeling down and begging him to take her back. However, when Hive attempted to re-infect Daisy, he found that she had become impervious to his parasites due to Lash's power. Daisy then attacked him, but Hive was able to recover from the assault and fought back, overpowering her.
Final battle[]
After subduing Daisy and locking her in a containment module, Hive hijacked the Zephyr One with the aid of Hellfire and Giyera, who had arrived via a HYDRA QuadCopter. As the Zephyr took off, Hive explained his plan to his underlings; he intended to take the ship into the upper atmosphere and have the Absolution warhead aboard detonate on a timer, after which its viral payload would be distributed over a third of the planet, transforming billions of people into Primitives. Hive and the others would escape from the Zephyr via the docked Quinjet before detonation.
When it was discovered that Leo Fitz and Melinda May had managed to stow away on-board the Zephyr One and had killed Giyera, a Primitive dragged Giyera's body into the cockpit for Hive and Hellfire to observe. A Quinjet then attached to the top of the ship, with Coulson on-board; Hive went to confront him alone, but after attempting to kill Coulson and possess his body, he discovered that Coulson wasn't there at all and that he had been talking to a hologram; the real Coulson had snuck onto the Zephyr and was using his prosthetic hand to transmit the hologram and keep Hive distracted. Hive returned to the Zephyr where he discovered that his Primitives had all been killed and that Daisy had smuggled the warhead onto a Quinjet.
When Hive followed Daisy to the Quinjet, he saw that Lincoln was on-board in the pilot's seat. Lincoln used his powers to blast Daisy out and back into the Zephyr One. He then set the Quinjet on a course into space, destroying the controls so that Hive couldn't hijack the craft. As Lincoln gave his goodbye to Daisy and admitted his love for her, the radio cut out due to the Quinjet breaching the atmosphere. As Hive and Lincoln floated weightlessly inside, Hive made no effort to fight or sway Lincoln, knowing that he had been defeated. He and Lincoln drifted beside each other, looking out over the Earth and admiring its beauty. Hive stated that he only wanted to make the world better, but also expressed his admiration for Lincoln and his willingness to protect humanity regardless of their flaws. The timer on the warhead soon finished its countdown and the Quinjet vanished in the resulting explosion, destroying both Hive and Lincoln.