Ruby Hale was an antagonistic character in the fifth season of Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.. She was the daughter of General Hale, who had been genetically engineered by Dr. Daniel Whitehall as he had hoped to create the perfect leader for HYDRA. She had also developed an obsession with Daisy Johnson/Quake, including a desire to defeat her and absorb the Gravitonium to become the "Destroyer of Worlds".
History[]
Origin[]
Ruby was born to HYDRA agent General Hale, although she never knew her father. In fact, unbeknownst to her, she was the result of Daniel Whitehall's work to create enhanced humans in order to create the organization's ideal future leader, as he then had her mother inseminated with a genetically altered seed in order to give birth to her. During her childhood, Ruby was regularly taken to the home of fellow HYDRA leader Baron Wolfgang von Strucker and was sent to play with his son, Werner. One day, Ruby struck her head on the kitchen counter, resulting in a scar on her forehead. Werner was blamed for the accident and was beaten in front of Ruby and her mother.
Like her mother, Ruby was at the top of of her class in HYDRA's secret preparatory academy which dealt in training students into becoming elite operatives. After Whitehall's death, however, her capabilities were put into question. During the organization's downfall, Ruby refused to complete the final test: executing her dog to confirm her loyalty. After arguing with her professor, she witnessed her mother execute him, making the two of them the last of HYDRA's leaders. After HYDRA's downfall, Ruby's relationship with her mother became strained as she was then forced to live in the academy.
Destroyer of Worlds[]
General Hale made contact with a group of aliens called The Confederacy, which warned them about an oncoming invasion and that they would offer their protection in exchange for Gravitonium and a large number of Inhumans. Ruby intended to reignite the Destroyer of Worlds program to merge the contender with the Gravitionium to wipe out the Confederacy and any threat to humanity. However, she began to suspect that her mother favoured Daisy Johnson, a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, to take on the Confederacy. This sparked Ruby's obsession with hunting down the Inhuman to prove herself, both to HYDRA and to her mother. After S.H.I.E.L.D. was declared a terrorist organization after Glenn Talbot was shot in the head by Daisy's L.M.D., Ruby's mother took up Talbot's position and the two of them worked to locate and capture the remaining agents.
Months later, Talbot woke up from his coma and was placed into the HYDRA academy where Ruby coldly ignored him when they met. When Talbot angrily confronted her, Ruby coldly twisted his arm and held him defenseless. After Hale arrived, she explained to Talbot about the Confederacy and her plan. However, after he refused to work with the likes of HYDRA, Ruby tied him up and dragged him off for torture, where he was confident that S.H.I.E.L.D. would come for him. After an unknown amount of time, Ruby successfully broke him and extracted all the information they needed.
Confrontation with S.H.I.E.L.D.[]
When the agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. returned from their adventure into a post-apocalyptic future, Hale sent Ruby to spring the trap laid by Agent Piper, who believed it was a peaceful negotiation. Although Hale sent Ruby and her Sleeper Mech soldiers to capture them, Ruby planned on killing them if necessary. Upon arriving, disappointed that Daisy wasn't accounted for, Ruby ordered her robots to kill them to grab the former's attention. After a fight ensued, Ruby, desiring Daisy more, decided to use her chakram to injure Yo-Yo Rodriguez to provoke the agents into retaliating. This was successful and resulted in Yo-Yo's arms being dismembered, forcing the agents to fall back.
Following the mission, Hale stated her disappointment in Ruby, who angrily defended her failure by declaring it an opportunity to find Quake, but a unperturbed Hale locked Ruby in her bedroom for an unknown period of time before hiring Carl Creel to take Ruby's place.
Manipulating Werner von Strucker[]
As instructed by her mother, Ruby went to the academy cafeteria to see Werner von Strucker, ignore him and leave so that he could later follow. Werner followed after Ruby to find her training in the gym. They met and Werner recounted how the two of them had met before, how they used to play together and one day, she hit her head which resulted in a scar, his father blamed him for it and beat him in front of her and her mother for it. Werner then used a knife to take Ruby hostage and demanded to speak with her mother. Conveniently, Hale showed up and ordered to him to release Ruby. Werner did so and Ruby then stood by as Hale and Werner exchanged words about his new powers, HYDRA, and his father. After Hale sent him to his room so he could leave in the morning for refusing to be any part of her plans, Hale told Ruby to convince him into staying using whatever methods were necessary.
Ruby later approached Werner during the night while he was waking up from a nightmare. While discussing his enhanced memory powers also made him feel every pain he'd ever felt, Ruby then told Werner that her mother wanted her to seduce him in order to convince him to join them. Ruby then told him that he didn't have to join Hale's team but that it could actually both of theirs.
The next morning, Ruby was pleased to find that Werner had stayed. She then brought Werner to introduce him to Carl Creel in the gym. While overseeing the two men, Hale arrived to congratulate her and then asked her how she did it. Ruby then replied that she told him "the truth".
Suspicions[]
A few weeks later, after Phil Coulson was captured and brought to the HYDRA academy, Ruby once again pulled the same tactic she had with Strucker and Talbot, ignoring him in the cafeteria when he tried to get her attention. Coulson didn't fall for it, which impressed Ruby. A while later, Ruby visited Coulson in his cell, asking him if he indeed went to the future, in which he didn't deny it. After asking how she failed at being the "Destroyer of Worlds", he revealed that it was actually Daisy. Ruby threatened Coulson to tell her where Quake was, but he remained steadfast and refused to talk. Ruby then brought in a tortured Glenn Talbot to show him what would happen if he continued to be defiant.
After a week, Ruby wass with her mother overseeing Creel testing the Gravitonium where they witnessed him nearly being absorbed into the element. Ruby, beginning to grow suspicious of her mother's motives, visited Werner to see if he had made any progress on redrawing the Particle Infusion Chamber blueprints. She told Strucker about her suspicions towards her mother, where Werner stated that she was the true Destroyer of Worlds and that her mother knew it.
Later, after Creel learned of Talbot's current status and broke him and Coulson out, Ruby took several Sleeper Mechs to pursue them. After the Mechs were defeated, Ruby began fighting Creel with the two of them being evenly matched. However, just before she could kill him, Hale stormed in to break up the fight and demanded to know what she was doing. Ruby, caring less for her mother's opinion, threw her chakram at Creel who turned to wood in the nick of time. Hale confronted her daughter and asked who she was, with the latter declaring that she was the true "Destroyer of Worlds". Intrigued by her answer, Hale then commanded her to bring back Talbot and Coulson, who had escaped by using the alien transportation machine given to Hale by the Confederacy.
Face-off with Quake[]
Ruby pursued Coulson and Talbot to a snow-covered forested region. As she attacked them, she was ambushed by Daisy. As Coulson and Talbot escaped, Ruby conversed with Daisy about how the latter was the sort of idol every little girl dreamed of becoming when they got older. As Daisy remarked that she took a wrong turn in her choices, Ruby simply stated that she was engineered differently and that she never intended to become her: she wanted to defeat her. They then fought with the two of them somewhat equally matched. However, Daisy was able to defeat her using her Inhuman shockwave powers and escaped just as General Hale arrived and extracted her daughter.
Upon returning to base, Hale then commented on how Ruby should put ice on her injuries claiming that she needed her at her best. Ruby, however, complained that she could have defeated Quake if Hale had not forced her to run, although Hale argued that Quake had an unfair advantage and promised that once they had finished their objective with Project Destroyer of Worlds, she would be able to defeat Quake with ease. Ruby told Hale to move up their timetable which Hale refused as she wanted Creel to tell them more about the Gravitonium before ordering Ruby to return to her room.
Ruby furiously objected to being locked away yet again, despite Hale then reminding her over how she went against her orders and tried to murder the Absorbing Man. Hale then noted how both Creel and Ruby were out of her control and, as Ruby had tried to walk away, Hale aggressively shoved her against a wall and threatened to force her. Ruby reluctantly agreed and returned to her room, discovering that Hale had taken down all of her posters and decorations, leaving the room completely bare. Before Ruby could object, the door was then locked behind her, leaving her trapped inside her room.
Betraying her mother[]
While still locked inside of her bedroom, Ruby was visited by Werner, who told her he had finished going through his father's notebooks and figured out how to complete the Particle Infusion Chamber. However, Ruby informed him that Hale would not allow her to go inside the chamber until they finished testing as she still listened to what Creel told her. Strucker noted that she could betray Hale, while Ruby claimed that she did not know why she had not done it already.
While Strucker left, Ruby had her door remain open until Hale walked by and came to investigate. Hale noted her surprise that Ruby had not left with Strucker to which she stated that whether there was a lock on the door or not, she could never run away from her own mother, noting that over the years Hale had succeeded in making her completely obedient. Hale claimed that she had great plans for her daughter, to which Ruby noted that Daniel Whitehall had once had great plans for Hale herself, noting that while Hale had always wanted a choice she had never given as much to her daughter.
Ruby began crying as Hale acknowledged that she had been asking a lot from her recently, to which Ruby claimed that she had been asking the impossible. Ruby tearfully confessed that she had done everything within her own power to be what Hale wanted from her, including eliminating her weaknesses while passing every test and yet she still was not enough, reminding Hale that she had called her a disappointment following a previous mission. Hale listened in dismay as Ruby continued telling her how she had continued trying in order to please her mother, before calling Hale her one weakness.
Upon hearing this confession, Hale sorrowfully took Ruby in her arms and embraced her. However, this proved to be exactly what Ruby had planned as she noted that she was also Hale's only remaining weakness. With Hale defenseless in their embrace, Ruby launched her over her shoulder and slammed her against the ground, before grabbing her chakrams and battle suit before walking out the door. As Hale begged her to stop, Ruby promised that she would make her mother proud before locking the door behind her, trapping Hale inside the room with no possible exit available for her. With her mother having been dealt with, Ruby rejoined Werner who had successfully ordered a scientist to prepare the Gravitonium for transport to the location of the Particle Infusion Chamber for Ruby to finally complete Project Destroyer of Worlds' goal for her. Ruby joined Strucker as he still held his gun to the scientist, where she told him that they were finally free before smiling at Strucker as their plans were now finally all coming together.
Capturing Fitz and Simmons[]
Together, Ruby and Werner travelled to HYDRA's facility in England where they discovered that Anton Ivanov had been killed, resulting in his Sleeper Mechs being shut down. Investigating the facility, Ruby soon found Leo Fitz and Jemma Simmons in one of the rooms surrounded by downed Sleeper Mechs. Ruby then got their attention by throwing one of her chakrams near them, embedding it in a table, while Strucker held them at gunpoint. As Strucker noted that both Fitz and Simmons had been there when S.H.I.E.L.D. had tortured him while he was locked into the Theta Brain-Wave Frequency Machine, he then went to the Particle Infusion Chamber only to discover that Fitz had just destroyed a vital part of it, meaning they could not infuse Ruby with the Gravitonium. Ruby then placed her blade under Simmons' throat, demanding that they fix it or she would slice her open. Despite Simmons noting that they could not allow Ruby to do this, Fitz then claimed that they never had any other choice.
Downfall and death[]
While Fitz was working on repairing the machine, Ruby continued to sadistically throw her blades at a tied down Simmons to keep him motivated, but was convinced to release her so he could fix it faster. After they failed to persuade her into stopping her scheme, Werner then returned with the Gravitonium and news of Ivanov's death, thus learning of someone else on the premises. After learning that Fitz and Simmons intentionally rebuilt it incorrectly, Ruby beat up Fitz to force them into finishing it properly. After that was done, Ruby climbed into the machine and Strucker activated the infusion process.
During the infusion process, Ruby began screaming out in agony. Strucker then shut off the machine, finding that Ruby was injected with only 8% of the Gravitonium. However, this was enough to grant her some measure of gravity manipulation, though at the same time she began to hear the voices of Ian Quinn and Dr. Franklin Hall screaming inside her head. She quickly lost control of her new powers and her sanity while also accidentally killing Werner with a localized gravitational pulse. Distraught and driven mad, Ruby then attacked a recently-arrived Quake, but before she could kill her, her mother stopped her and tried to reason with her. However, before anybody knew it, Yo-Yo arrived and killed Ruby out of revenge for maiming her before, slashing her throat with her own chakram. Upon Ruby's death, the Gravitonium exploded from her body in a shockwave that shook the facility.