Alexander Goodwin Pierce

Lt. Alexander Goodwin Pierce
Publication information
Publisher	Marvel Comics
First appearance	Nick Fury vs. S.H.I.E.L.D. #3 (Aug 1988)
Created by	Bob Harras and Paul Neary
In-story information
Team affiliations	S.H.I.E.L.D.
Notable aliases	Anthony Duranti

Alexander Goodwin Pierce is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics, usually as a supporting character in stories featuring the espionage agency S.H.I.E.L.D. as an agent. The character is played by Robert Redford in the 2014 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 Pierce was born on Long Island, New York. He majored 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 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 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.

In other media

Television

• Alexander Pierce appeared in the 1998 live-action television film Nick Fury: Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D., portrayed by Neil Roberts.

Film

• Robert Redford portrays Alexander Pierce in the 2014 Marvel Studios film Captain America: The Winter Soldier. This version is the Secretary of Defense and the Winter Soldier's handler. The leader of a Hydra cell within S.H.I.E.L.D., he masterminds Project Insight, the development of Helicarriers intended to carry out mass assassinations of citizens recognized as a threat based on Arnim Zola's algorithm to force the world into submission. Pierce has Project Insight disguised as an effort to recognize and apprehend criminals and terrorists prior to misdeeds. Pierce's plan is foiled by Steve Rogers, Natalia Romanoff, Sam Wilson, Nick Fury and loyal S.H.I.E.L.D. agents. While Wilson stops Project Insight and Rogers fights the Winter Soldier atop HYDRA's corrupted Helicarriers, he tries to escape with Romanova as a hostage, however, Fury guns Pierce down. Pierce's last words are "Hail Hydra".

External links

• Alexander Goodwin Pierce at Marvel Wiki
• Alexander Goodwin Pierce at the Internet Movie Database