Alexander Goodwin Pierce is a fictional comic book character appearing in books published by Marvel Comics, usually as a supporting character in stories featuring the espionage agency S.H.I.E.L.D., of which Pierce is an agent.
He is played by Robert Redford in the 2014 feature film Captain America: The Winter Soldier.
§Publication history
The character, created by Bob Harras and Paul Neary, first appeared in Nick Fury vs. S.H.I.E.L.D. #3 (August 1988).
§Fictional character biography
Alexander Goodwin Pierce was born in Long Island, New York. He majors at S.H.I.E.L.D. Academy in civilian surveillance, and serves in the Accounting Department before becoming a sleeper agent working in decoding dispatches from HYDRA. When S.H.I.E.L.D. is taken over by the Deltites, Nick Fury becomes a renegade and fugitive and recruits Pierce to help him defeat Madame Hydra and the Deltites and take back the S.H.I.E.L.D. organization. Together they perpetrated a series of break-ins at S.H.I.E.L.D. installations, including a Communications Station in Philadelphia; the information they acquired was carefully leaked and inaccurate. Pierce functioned as a contact between Nick Fury and Tony Stark before accompanying Fury to Hong Kong following false leads in search of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s stolen Helicarrier Power Core. After escaping death in an ambush at HYDRA's Hong Kong base, Pierce accompanied Fury to the Himalayas, along with their prisoner, Madame Hydra. Unable to withstand the bitter cold, they were seized by the Deltites and brought to S.H.I.E.L.D.'s orbiting satellite. Aided by Madame Hydra, Pierce and a group of S.H.I.E.L.D. agents escaped and took part in the battle that led to the destruction of the Deltites.
Following the subsequent disbanding of S.H.I.E.L.D., Pierce served as caretaker of the skyscraper that once served as its headquarters. He was then contacted for help by Nick Fury aid him and his allies in vanquishing the Death's Head Squad. He later joins the new version of S.H.I.E.L.D. Fury has organized. Pierce subsequently serves as the sometimes personal aide and bodyguard to Fury.
He later appears as the leader of one of Nick Fury's secret independent teams, the Secret Warriors.
§Other media
§Television
- Alexander Goodwin Pierce appeared in the 1998 live-action television film Nick Fury: Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D., portrayed by Neil Roberts.
§Film
- In the 2014 Marvel Studios film Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Alexander Pierce is a senior leader within S.H.I.E.L.D. and is played by actor Robert Redford. The leader of the terrorist Hydra cell operating within S.H.I.E.L.D., he masterminds Project Insight, the development of three new Helicarriers intended to carry out a mass assassination of all citizens recognized as a threat to Hydra by an algorithm developed by Arnim Zola (the right-hand man of Hydra founder Red Skull), in order to allow Hydra to force the world into submission. When Nick Fury becomes suspicious of Project Insight, which has been disguised as an effort to recognize and apprehend criminals and terrorists prior to their misdeeds, Pierce commands the Winter Soldier to eliminate Fury. His plan is foiled by Fury, Captain America, Black Widow, the Falcon, and S.H.I.E.L.D. agents loyal to them. He tries to escape with Black Widow as a hostage, but she electrocutes herself, allowing Fury to shoot Pierce dead. His last words are "Hail Hydra."
§References
§External links
- Alexander Goodwin Pierce at Marvel Wiki
- Alexander Goodwin Pierce at the Internet Movie Database