| “ | Saw something terrible today. When I say "terrible", I mean ancient and powerful. It's changed how I see things. I've never believed I was worth anything, that what I said or did had any meaning. Maybe that's why I'm a spy. Or why I agreed to come here. I'm not looking for mercy or absolution. I just want you to know, I've been where you are right now. Filled with rage, wanting revenge. I chose HYDRA for petty, personal, selfish reasons. For a father figure, for vengeance, for closure. But what I saw today gave my life meaning. For the first time ever, I have a sense of satisfaction that I never experienced when I was seeking revenge. You know, everyone had this place wrong. It isn't death. It's a new beginning. Malick was right. This is all meant to be. And the fact that you followed me here, that we're in this together, that just confirms the fact that I am part of a grand plan. I see that now. | „ |
| ~ Ward's final monologue to Phil Coulson. |
Grant Ward is one of the two main antagonists (alongside Daniel Whitehall) of the TV series Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., serving as the central antagonist of Season 1, the secondary antagonist of Season 2, one of the two main antagonists (alongside the Hive) of Season 3, and a posthumous antagonist in subsequent seasons, with his Framework counterpart appearing as major protagonist in Agents of HYDRA arc of Season 4.
Initially appearing as a loyal S.H.I.E.L.D. black ops specialist, Ward was revealed to be a sadistic, manipulative, and delusional double agent of HYDRA before eventually rising to become one of the organization's remaining leaders. He is also considered the most personal and one of the most dangerous adversaries of the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents from his old team, as well as being the arch-nemesis of both their leader Phil Coulson, and his former love interest Daisy Johnson who is also his girlfriend in the Framework.
He was portrayed by Brett Dalton, who also played Hive (whilst possessing Ward's body).
What Makes Him Magnificent?[]
- He has a tragic childhood backstory of being abused by his parents and older brother (the latter of whom forced Grant to nearly kill his younger brother Thomas by drowning him in a well), after which he was adopted and molded into a living weapon by the deranged narcissist that is John Garrett, who left him in the woods for five years before ordering him to kill his own pet dog. The Framework goes out of its way to show that he would've turned out fine if he had even a slightly better upbringing.
- He is in general one of the best non-enhanced fighters in not only the show, but perhaps the entire MCU with Hill directly comparing him to Black Widow.
- He's given an overall charismatic, funny performance from Brett Dalton.
- He's a trained, professionally dangerous martial artist and marksman, as shown multiple times throughout his screentime. He can also speak six languages: English, French, Italian, Russian, Spanish, and body language.
- He spends the entire first season acting as a mole within S.H.I.E.L.D. for HYDRA, pretending to lack social skills and performing several successful missions with Team Coulson in order to earn their trust, having genuine heartfelt bonds with Daisy, Fitz and Simmons, and even sleeping with May. Out-of-universe, many fans of the show were quite shocked by the reveal of Ward being HYDRA.
- At one point while still undercover, Ward manages to fool a lie detector created by Nick Fury, who, to quote Mysterio, is "the most paranoid and most dangerous person on the planet." It's said that not even Black Widow could pass the lie detector despite her having the best espionage scores of any S.H.I.E.L.D. agent.
- In Season 2, after successfully breaking out of U.S. custody, he meticulously tracks down, abducts and murders his older brother Christian (now a senator) as well as their parents, staging it as a murder-suicide. No tears are shed on the deceased's behalf here because they were all abusers who deserved it.
- He drops off Kara into S.H.I.E.L.D. custody, pretending to give her a chance at rehabilitation so they can later kidnap Bobbi together.
- Despite his constant shortcomings, he manages to rise rapidly through HYDRA's ranks and becomes their leader, cutting all the dead weight so the organization doesn't fail like it has again. Even Gideon Malick is impressed with him due to this and decides to make him his partner instad of killing him like originally intended,
- Despite having a massive "never my fault" mentality (e.g. blaming S.H.I.E.L.D. for Kara's death despite being the one who pulled the trigger thinking it was May), he admits more than once that he knows he's a bad man who doesn't deserve forgiveness from his former team due to his actions, meaning he's not completely delusional. He even dies happy upon finding Hive on Maveth, thus finally finding a purpose in life after wasting a good 30+ years of it just murdering, betraying, seeking revenge and hating himself. Even Coulson admits that Ward won because of this at the end of the day, despite Coulson successfully avenging Ros.
- Overall, while he's definitely heinous enough by the show's standards, compared to other HYDRA leaders like Daniel Whitehall and Aida (both of whom are rapists), Ward comes off as a lesser evil due to his genuine affability in the first two seasons. Even as he becomes drastically worse by the time of Season 3, it's pretty heartwarming how Ward still loves his younger brother Thomas and late girlfriend Kara.
What Makes Him a Baddie?[]
- He kills Thomas Nash, a paraplegic old man set up as an unwitting decoy for the Clairvoyant.
- Overall, he's widely and negatively renowned as a traitor to S.H.I.E.L.D., viciously killing several fellow agents, including Victoria Hand and Eric Koenig. He even drops Fitz and Simmons into the ocean, deeming his care for them a weakness.
- While escaping U.S. custody in Season 2, he threatens to suicide-bomb an entire city block, unscrupulous that a mother and her young son (whom Ward was politely conversing with) would die in the explosion too.
- While this was done out of a twisted care for her he influenced Kara into becoming a full-blown villain after freeing her from her mind control, with him actively pursuing her into a path of brutal revenge for his twisted idea of "closure".
- He tortures Bobbi by puncturing her fingernails with needles, later leaving her in a room with a gun rigged to shoot whoever opens the door. Bobbi takes the bullet in order to save Hunter, her ex-husband.
- On the way to Malick's secret vault in Zepkow, Ward blows a hole in an airplane full of people (albeit not without warning the passengers to fasten their seatbelts first), endangering everyone onboard.
- He kidnaps and tortures Lash with mustard gas, snarking at him the whole time.
- He kills Ros in front of Coulson, sniping her in the neck and even taunting him afterwards.
- He tortures Simmons for information on Maveth, even forcing Fitz to listen to her screams.
- Overall, it's because of him that Hive returns to Earth and nearly enslaves the human race.
Trivia[]
- So far, he, Hive and Jiaying are the only Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Magnificent Baddies.
- Nearing the end of Season 1, Ward makes a sexist comment towards Maria Hill, saying that Nick Fury lost respect by making her his second-in-command, and that Black Widow was better for "eye candy". However, it's likely this was just Ward's attempt to distract Hill during a standoff rather than actual misogyny, since he not only has a genuine soft spot for Daisy, Simmons and Kara, but also has women in his crew when he becomes the new leader of HYDRA in Season 3. It helps that he never makes that type of comment again in the future. Therefore, Ward still qualifies as a MB.
External Links[]
- Grant Ward at the Villains wiki
- Grant Ward at the Marvel wiki
- Grant Ward at the MCU wiki
- Grant Ward at the Near Pure Evil wiki
[]
 Magnificent Baddies
| ||
|
Movies TV Shows | ||