Maria Hill has been a part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe for over a decade, first showing within the inaugural Avengers film again in 2012. A gradual, calming beacon of normalcy in a world stuffed with tremendous troopers, chaos magic, sentient robots, and speaking raccoons, she turned a fan favourite through the years that adopted for the easy motive that she was one of many few persistently bizarre folks on this franchise. With out superpowers, magic, or a high-end mech go well with, she nonetheless managed to face down every little thing from Fury’s mood to rogue Asgardian gods and HYDRA terrorists utilizing little greater than her gun and her personal internal metal, repeatedly proving that on a regular basis individuals are as able to saving the world as Iron Man and Captain America. 

Loyal, succesful, and environment friendly, she’s the one individual that Fury (canonically essentially the most untrusting man on earth!!) selected to share his secrets and techniques with. Absolutely she deserved higher than being gunned down in a firefight with a gang of double-crossing aliens whose secret plot was so flimsy and apparent {that a} youngster may have found out it was a lure. To make issues worse, her dying—surprisingly bloody and graphic for a franchise so historically sterile that it shies away from letting its lead characters kiss—isn’t finally even actually about her, however moderately how the fallout from it would have an effect on, enrage, or in any other case inspire Fury. 

To be truthful, the MCU hasn’t ever been terribly curious about Hill as a personality for her personal sake, so I suppose it’s not all that stunning that her dying is little greater than a plot gadget. She’s by no means had a narrative of her personal and has largely been handled as an extension of Fury, fulfilling the roles of his right-hand, emergency backup, and sounding board by turns through the years. Her a number of appearances throughout numerous motion pictures and tv reveals have solely ever sketched within the barest particulars of her character and private life, relying as a substitute on Cobie Smulders’ succesful efficiency and a normal sense of fan affection for her as an actress to fill within the emotional gaps alongside the best way. (Look, all of us cherished How I Met Your Mom’s Robin Scherbatsky, okay?) 

The concept Secret Invasion lastly may enable us to get to know Hill as one thing different than (or no less than one thing along with) Fury’s #1 Sidekick was actually fairly compelling, and it’s unlucky that Marvel missed out on yet one more alternative to deepen our understanding of and connection to this character who has been a part of the tales it’s been telling for therefore lengthy. However regardless that Smulders could haven’t been given a ton to do, her presence on the canvas mattered, and if Maria needed to die her character deserved a greater finish than a shock dying in Fury’s shadow, meant to persuade viewers that Secret Invasion is a Very Severe Story with actual and even lethal stakes. And let’s not even get into the truth that this twist continues an uncomfortable narrative sample of killing off feminine characters—together with Natasha Romanoff, the unique Gamora, and even Peter Parker’s poor Aunt Might—to offer some kind of emotional motivation for a male character. (Doesn’t that edge awfully near the thought of fridging? Simply asking questions!)