GRANT WARD
Real Name: Grant Ward
Identity/Class: Normal human
Occupation: (probationary) S.H.I.E.L.D.
agent;
formerly Hydra agent;
formerly S.H.I.E.L.D. agent
Group Membership: S.H.I.E.L.D. (Strategic
Homeland Intervention Enforcement Logistics Division);
formerly Hydra
Affiliations: Elektra, Gorgon (Tomi Shishido),
S.H.I.E.L.D.;
formerly Phil Coulson, Hydra agents
Enemies: Phil Coulson, Lola Daniels, Deathlok
(Henry Hayes), Leo Fitz, Horus (Tarik Fayad), Melinda May, Mockingbird
(Bobbi Morse), Quake (Daisy Johnson), Jemma Simmons, briefly Avengers
(Captain America (Sam Wilson), Captain Marvel (Carol Danvers), Hulk
(Bruce Banner), Iron Man (Tony Stark), She-Hulk (Jennifer Walters)),
Spider-Man (Peter Parker))
Known Relatives: None
Aliases: Iron Thief
Base of Operations: Mobile internationally
First Appearance: (Reality-199999 counterpart/television): Agents of
S.H.I.E.L.D. (September, 2013);
(Reality-616): All-New All-Different Point
One#1/4 (December, 2015)
Powers/Abilities: Grant Ward has combat and weapons training from both S.H.I.E.L.D. and Hydra organizations with corresponding enhanced reflexes from training, as well as being able to adapt quickly to different technologies and engaging in covert operations.
For a short while, he wore a type of Iron Man suit of armor (likely a modified Model 35). This internally powered, armored suit was fitted with palm-mounted repulsor blasts that could be intensified to incinerate close-proximity targets, jet boots for (likely) Mach 1+ flight, internal helmet-mounted electronic heads-up display fitted with identification of key opponents and their powers/weaknesses, plus a chest-mounted searchlight; this armor also gave enhanced protection and superhuman strength. However, while the design was (modified) Stark design, it was not Stark-manufactured and so was not composed of the same materials, thus compromising full original Iron Man specifications and capabilities to some extent.
Ward
also briefly wore an easily assembled, briefcase-held armor suit of
similar design (possibly a modified version of his original suit) with
similar capabilities.
Height: 6'2"
(by approximation); in armor: 6'5" (by approximation)
Weight: 200 lbs. (by
approximation); in armor: unrevealed
Eyes: Brown
Hair: Black
History:
(Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.#5 (fb)) - Years ago, buddy S.H.I.E.L.D. agents Grant Ward and Phil Coulson devised a plan for Ward to go undercover and penetrate Hydra. Although concerned, Director Maria Hill approved the plan. Ward passed various tests and was accepted by then Hydra leader Gorgon (Tomi Shishido).
(Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.#5 (fb)) - Later, during an attack by Black Widow, Captain America and Iron Man against Gorgon and Hydra forces, Ward leapt and took an Iron Man repulsor blast aimed for Gorgon (but secretly set at low intensity so that Ward could take the hit and survive).
(Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.#6 (fb)) -
Gorgon thanked Ward
for his loyalty as he recovered in a Hydra base. Gorgon envisioned
Hydra "freeing" the world instead of conquering it and asked for Ward's
help to achieve this. It was at this point that Ward appeared to have
turned to Hydra's cause under Gorgon.
(Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.#5 (fb)) - Ward was made one of Gorgon's lieutenants and informed Coulson of this at a secret meeting in Hell's Kitchen, New York.
(Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.#6 (fb)) - At a personal
debriefing with Hill (secretly a Life Model Decoy (LMD) android) and
Coulson aboard a S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier, Ward shot the Hill LMD and
escaped. Hill
revealed via the LMD shutting down that she never trusted Ward (or
anyone).
(All-New All-Different Point One#1/4) - Maestro and Gamesmaster observed extradimensionally that certain events on Earth would prove interesting, including those of Coulson's S.H.I.E.L.D. agents.
(Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.#1 (fb) -
BTS) - A hacker
uploaded previous designs of Tony Stark's Iron Man armors onto the
internet. Ward capitalized on this to obtain his own suit of armor.
(Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.#1) -
Disguised in Iron Man armor as Iron Thief, Grant Ward attacked the
high-security Pentagon and
stole the miniature quantum drive, which contained the 87 Coulson
Protocols
(codenamed Axiom), a list of tactics and protocols to eliminate any
major super hero on Earth if they ever went rogue.
(Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.#2) - Iron Thief
took to the night air over Madripoor and attacked Horus, the island's
defender, successfully countering every move before killing him. Soon
after, the helmeted Ward posted on the Dark Web that the remaining 86
protocols would be up for auction in 48 hours, intending to
duplicitously take the money and the drive.
(Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.#4) - Coulson obtained the
Axiom quantum drive at the Barbuda-based auction and dropped it from
a speedboat for his team of agents' collection. With the Axiom drive
lost to
Hydra, Iron Thief swooped in and knocked Coulson out with repulsor rays
to kidnap him.
(Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.#5) - Iron
Thief took Coulson
to a secret base to get the hero-killing Protocols directly from
Coulson, who refused. Now revealing himself to be his former friend,
Ward brought Coulson's former paramour, the telepath Lola Daniels, to
retrieve the information, then left them imprisoned. The information
was then used
against Spider-Man in
Shanghai.
Soon after, Gorgon was disappointed that
Ward had lost the
Axiom computer drive until Ward stated that Spider-Man has almost been
defeated (if not for S.H.I.E.L.D. interference) and stolen money used
to
buy the large number of Iron Man armors already on the black market.
(Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.#6) - Hydra's initial attacks around the world using Iron Man armors had been thwarted. Inside the Mount (the defunct headquarters of the Pantheon), Ward tried to assuage Gorgon's disappointment. However, Coulson and Daniels, having escaped, attacked but were distracted by new Hydra agents, although Gorgon was knocked out.
Ward took Iron Man armor that quickly assembled around his
body. However, the Avengers (Captain America, Captain Marvel, Hulk,
Iron Man and She-Hulk) and Spider-Man, along with Coulson's
S.H.I.E.L.D. agents (Deathlok, Melinda May, Mockingbird and Quake). The
Avengers and
S.H.I.E.L.D. agents overwhelmed their foes until just Ward was left,
but he incinerated Lola Daniels before them. Coulson resisted shooting
Ward, who was taken into S.H.I.E.L.D. custody. Later in his isolation
cube, Ward taunted Coulson.
(Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.#9) - In the wake of the feud
between Iron Man and Captain Marvel (Danvers) over the precognitive
Inhuman Ulysses that divided the super hero community, S.H.I.E.L.D.
aligned more with Danvers. Elektra now led Coulson's team of
S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, Coulson himself having been dismissed. Elektra had
Ward reinstated as a probationary S.H.I.E.L.D. agent (with an explosive
collar that Elektra could trigger if he signaled treasonous behavior).
Agent Fitz went rogue to aid Coulson with Ward in pursuit via jetpack,
but he was unable to catch Fitz.
S.H.I.E.L.D. later set
a trap using a
bogus Ulysses vision, and Elektra's remaining team members, including
Ward,
captured Coulson. With roles reversed, Ward later approached the
confined Coulson and gloated.
(Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.#10) - Director Hill relieved
the gloatingly cheerful Ward from monitoring Coulson in his isolation
cube.
Comments:
Grant Ward created by Joss Whedon, Jed Whedon, Maurissa Tancharoen.
Grant War-616 was developed by Marc Guggenheim & German Peralta.
The character Grant Ward first appeared in the Marvel
television series, Agents of
S.H.I.E.L.D. (2013). Played by actor Brett Dalton, Ward is depicted
as an undercover Hydra agent infiltrating S.H.I.E.L.D. The comic
character's height approximation is taken from Dalton.
The comic character seems to have oddly disappeared into the background. He would've been a good addition when Hydra took over the USA (when Captain America's history was rewritten, sort of).
Ward went from S.H.I..E.L.D. agent to Hydra double agent and Avengers foe... and then S.H.I.E.L.D. took him back on probation?? No wonder Nick Fury has had his doubts about S.H.I.E.L.D. in the past!
The second iteration of Ward's Iron Man armor appeared to be more like that from the Iron Man II film, which automatically assembled around the body.
The front cover to Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.#6 includes a female colored to look like Medusa of the Inhumans, but I'm sure this is meant to be Mockingbird, as Medusa does not appear.
The last page to Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.#10 shows a
final pinup-style page of Phil Coulson charging forward with his team
of agents, potentially with Ward and jetpack. But that couldn't be
right, could it...? They wouldn't accept Ward as part of their team
unless they were ordered to, surely...?
They might be, but stop calling me Shirley...
--Snood
This profile was completed 12/15/2020, but its publication was delayed as it was intended for the Appendix 20th anniversary 's celebratory event.
Profile by Grendel Prime.
CLARIFICATIONS
:
Grant Ward (Iron Thief) has no known connections to:
images:
(without ads)
Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.#9, p3, pan1 (main image, jetpack)
Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.#5, p5, pan5 (headshot)
Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.#5, p11, pan4-5 (Hydra mask)
Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.#4, p20, pan4 (1st armor)
Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.#6, p11, pan4-7 (2nd armor)
Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.#9, p20, pan5 (standing, S.H.I.E.L.D. uniform)
Appearances:
All-New All-Different Point One#1/4 (December, 2015) - Marc Guggenheim
(writer), German Peralta (pencils & inks), (editor)
Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.#1 (March, 2016) - Marc Guggenheim (writer),
German Peralta (pencils & inks), Katie Kubert (editor)
Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.#2 (April, 2016) - Marc Guggenheim (writer),
German Peralta (pencils & inks), Katie Kubert (editor)
Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.#4 (June, 2016) - Marc Guggenheim (writer),
German Peralta (pencils & inks), Katie Kubert (editor)
Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.#5 (July, 2016) - Marc Guggenheim (writer),
German Peralta (pencils & inks), Katie Kubert (editor)
Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.#6 (August, 2016) - Marc Guggenheim (writer),
German Peralta (pencils & inks), Katie Kubert (editor)
Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.#9 (November, 2016) - Marc Guggenheim (writer),
Ario Anindito (pencils & inks), Katie Kubert (editor)
Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.#10 (December, 2016) - Marc Guggenheim (writer),
Ario Anindito (pencils & inks), Katie Kubert (editor)
First posted: 09/21/2021
Last updated: 09/20/2021
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
Non-Marvel Copyright info
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and © 1941-2099 Marvel Characters, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
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