That Secret Invasion Death Was the Worst Kind of Cheap Storytelling Trick

Maria Hill has been part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe for over a decade, first appearing in the inaugural Avengers movie back in 2012. A steady, calming beacon of normalcy in a world full of super soldiers, chaos magic, sentient robots, and talking raccoons, she became a fan favorite over the years that followed for the simple reason that she was one of the few consistently ordinary people in this franchise. Without superpowers, magic, or a high-end mech suit, she still managed to face down everything from Fury’s temper to rogue Asgardian gods and HYDRA terrorists using little more than her gun and her own inner steel, repeatedly proving that everyday people are as capable of saving the world as Iron Man and Captain America. 

Loyal, capable, and efficient, she’s the one person that Fury (canonically the most untrusting man on earth!!) chose to share his secrets with. Surely she deserved better than being gunned down in a firefight with a gang of double-crossing aliens whose secret plot was so flimsy and obvious that a child could have figured out it was a trap. To make matters worse, her death—surprisingly bloody and graphic for a franchise so traditionally sterile that it shies away from letting its lead characters kiss—isn’t ultimately even really about her, but rather how the fallout from it will affect, enrage, or otherwise motivate Fury. 

To be fair, the MCU hasn’t ever been terribly interested in Hill as a character for her own sake, so I suppose it’s not all that surprising that her death is little more than a plot device. She’s never had a story of her own and has largely been treated as an extension of Fury, fulfilling the roles of his right-hand, emergency backup, and sounding board by turns over the years. Her multiple appearances across various movies and television shows have only ever sketched in the barest details of her character and personal life, relying instead on Cobie Smulders’ capable performance and a general sense of fan affection for her as an actress to fill in the emotional gaps along the way. (Look, we all loved How I Met Your Mother’s Robin Scherbatsky, okay?) 

The idea that Secret Invasion finally might allow us to get to know Hill as something other than (or at least something in addition to) Fury’s #1 Sidekick was honestly pretty compelling, and it’s unfortunate that Marvel missed out on yet another opportunity to deepen our understanding of and connection to this character who has been part of the stories it’s been telling for so long. But even though Smulders may have not been given a ton to do, her presence on the canvas mattered, and if Maria had to die her character deserved a better end than a shock death in Fury’s shadow, meant to convince viewers that Secret Invasion is a Very Serious Story with real and even deadly stakes. And let’s not even get into the fact that this twist continues an uncomfortable narrative pattern of killing off female characters—including Natasha Romanoff, the original Gamora, and even Peter Parker’s poor Aunt May—to provide some sort of emotional motivation for a male character. (Doesn’t that edge awfully close to the idea of fridging? Just asking questions!)