Hamish MacLeod

Iain De Caestecker (Leo Fitz)

*"There's always risks involved in science. That doesn't mean that we don't pursue it anyway."*
―Leo Fitz[src]
Doctor **Leopold James "Leo" Fitz** is a former S.H.I.E.L.D. agent and scientist. A genius engineer, he is one of the youngest and most prominent members of S.H.I.E.L.D. Sci-Tech division and inseparable from his research partner and friend (and later wife), Jemma Simmons. He, along with Simmons, was recruited to Phil Coulson's Team and worked with them on all of their missions. While on the team, Fitz became good friends with Grant Ward and Skye. During the HYDRA Uprising, Fitz was an active participant in hunting for John Garrett and the rest of the Centipede Project. When Ward, a HYDRA infiltrator, was ordered to kill him and Simmons, Fitz suffered brain damage due to prolonged time without oxygen after being dropped into the Atlantic Ocean.

As time progressed, Fitz's condition seemed to get better with help and support from his fellow S.H.I.E.L.D. colleagues rebuilding it. Slowly regaining his skills, Fitz was able to get back into doing active field and lab work under Coulson's supervision, and played an important role in the conflicts with Robert Gonzales' S.H.I.E.L.D. faction and during the War Against the Inhumans. After Simmons was swallowed by the Monolith, Fitz studied the Monolith for months and with S.H.I.E.L.D.'s help, he went through a portal to Maveth and rescued her. Fitz helped Simmons research a way back to the planet, but their work attracted the attention of HYDRA, who forced Fitz to go back to the planet to bring the insidious Inhuman Hive back to Earth. Following the Battle of Maveth, Fitz helped S.H.I.E.L.D. in defeating Hive and his plan to disperse a pathogen that would turn a portion of humans into Primitives.

Since Jeffrey Mace's appointment as the new Director of S.H.I.E.L.D., Fitz worked with Holden Radcliffe on developing an Artificial Intelligence called Aida which was designed to serve S.H.I.E.L.D. as a decoy target. He was caught in an explosion with Coulson and Ghost Rider by Eli Morrow and was almost sent into another dimension, but managed to get out, and helped in stopping Morrow's evil plan. To Fitz's shock, Radcliffe betrayed S.H.I.E.L.D. and used Fitz's technology against S.H.I.E.L.D. Fitz was captured and his mind was connected to the virtual reality called the Framework where he lived a rewritten life as **The Doctor**, Aida's lover and HYDRA's ruthless second-in-command; he ultimately became the Framework's *de facto* dictator after Aida sustained injuries too serious for her to continue her duties as Madame Hydra. After he created for Aida a machine to become a real person, he was tricked by a repentant Radcliffe into approaching a backdoor to the real world; thus, Fitz left the Framework, traumatized from his behavior there. Shortly after, with the help of the Spirit of Vengeance, Fitz and his allies defeated Aida.

Despite having averted Aida's plan, it was at the cost of having become international fugitives, implicated for Mace's death, and the attack on Glenn Talbot. When his close friends were all abducted by mysterious forces, Fitz was arrested by U.S. Air Force General Hale, who had accused him in abetting their escape. Six months into his imprisonment however, Lance Hunter rescued him and brought him to Enoch, the one responsible for the abduction of the agents. Fitz decided to go into suspended animation for 74 years to facilitate his rescue of the team.

A few months later, the ship he and Enoch were waiting on was attacked, though Fitz and Enoch escaped. The two traveled through space for about a year until Fitz arrived on Kitson via the *Lazy Comet* and shortly after was captured by Malachi, being brought to a Confederacy ship. Upon 'reuniting' with Jemma Simmons, Daisy Johnson, Piper and James Davis, Simmons bargained for her team-mates' lives and the two were plugged into the Cerebral Fusion Machine. After a confrontation with his dark self, Fitz and Simmons escaped the ship when Enoch incapacitated the Chronicoms who were watching them, with Enoch then using an Inter-Planetary Conveyance Disc to teleport them to Earth. The trip went wrong, however, and the trio found themselves on Kitson once again. Fitz was sentenced to death as he was still wanted, but the trio was saved by Izel and brought onto her crew.

FitzSimmons took the *Lazy Comet* back and headed for Earth, but upon realizing Izel's true nature fled from her and her crew. Fitz escaped in a Quinjet and at long last returned to Earth following a heartfelt reunion with his team. Fitz gave the agents support from the Lighthouse when they were attacking Izel, but when Chronicom Hunters attacked the Lighthouse, Fitz and Simmons were forced to retreat. With help from Enoch, Fitz and Simmons worked on a plan to prevent the Hunters to take over the Earth. To that end, they used a fragment of the Time Di'Alla to use all the time they needed, and also took some time for themselves to live some years of a peaceful life, during which Fitz fathered a daughter, Alya. Fitz then remained isolated while Simmons went to help the rest of the team travel through time and he would ensure their success by remaining hidden from both S.H.I.E.L.D. and the Chronicoms. Eventually, Fitz was reunited with his team after traveling between timelines through the Quantum Realm, and took part in the final victory against Sibyl. He and Simmons then retired from S.H.I.E.L.D. so they could raise their daughter and live a peaceful life.

## Biography

### Early Life

#### Raised by his Mother

*"He walked out on them when Fitz was 10. He hasn't seen or heard from him since."*
―Jemma Simmons[src]
Leopold James Fitz was born in Scotland, United Kingdom on Wednesday, August 19, 1987. In the second grade, Fitz managed to break his arm in two places.  Fitz's only relative was his mother, after his father, Alistair Fitz, left him at age ten. As a child, Fitz joined the Scouts, where he learned to make compasses.

### S.H.I.E.L.D.

#### S.H.I.E.L.D. Academy

Leo Fitz started attending the S.H.I.E.L.D. Academy of Science and Technology, where, when he was 16, he met and would become best friends with biochem genius, Jemma Simmons. The two were the youngest ever enrolled. However, originally the two were rivals, due to both being the smartest in their classes.

They would constantly compete with each other, never speaking to each other until they were paired together in chem lab, where they realized that together they were twice as smart. Among their instructors were Vaughn and Franklin Hall, who taught chemical kinetics during their second year.

#### Working with Jemma Simmons

*"Thanks for coming over.""Yeah, you wanted me help on a problem?""Ah, yes, sort of, well I mean I don't really need your help, I can solve it by myself, it's just in the lab you seem like a good Sounding board."*
―Leo Fitz and Jemma Simmons[src]
One night, the two planned to meet together in Fitz's room, but Simmons was twenty-four minutes late due to a conversation with Professor Anne Weaver, When Simmons arrived, Fitz addressed her lateness, which he feared was because she had blown him off.

The two then awkwardly talked about each other's rooms until Simmons brought up the reason Fitz called her to his room, which was to help out with a problem he had. But, due to him trying to play cool, Fitz told Simmons that he really didn't need her help but thought it would be good to bounce ideas off her, which she interpreted as him seeing her as "thick wall". Fitz then tried to correct what he meant by saying she was good at clarifying good ideas and mapping out consequential results. That night, Fitz would feel at complete ease around Simmons.

Fitz would come to despise Simmons' boyfriend Milton, but they would eventually break up. Fitz and Simmons graduated from the S.H.I.E.L.D. Academy three years early in 2004. Wanting to see more than the inside of a lab, and against the advice of Professor Vaughn, Fitz was convinced by Simmons to seek out a field assignment claiming it would be the perfect opportunity to see the world.

* Fitz's favorite sandwich is prosciutto, buffalo mozzarella, and a touch of pesto aïoli on what looks like a baguette and is made by Jemma Simmons.
* Fitz is apparently a fan of *Doctor Who*.
* Fitz is a football fan, and a supporter of Manchester United.

## Personality

*"I know you're not a cold-blooded killer. Every light needs a shadow. You just have to learn how to control it, use it when you need it."*
―Lance Hunter to Leo Fitz[src]
Like Jemma Simmons, Leo Fitz is known to be an attractive nerd on his profile for S.H.I.E.L.D., though he is somewhat socially awkward. Fitz also has a strange affinity for monkeys. He also has a great sense of humor, teasing Ward behind his back (in a mockery Southern accent), and planning to prank Skye. He is also a good actor, and easily impersonates an American tourist.

In spite of his lack of combat skills, Fitz impressed the more experienced Ward with his remarkable bravery and quick thinking during their mission together in South Ossetia. Fitz believes deeply in the friendships he creates: being upset when Skye appears to have been secretly working with Miles Lydon, actually crying when John Garrett revealed himself as HYDRA, as well as having a rare angry fit and emotional breakdown when Ward was revealed to be a murderer and a HYDRA mole. In return, Fitz is very loyal to his friends, is miserable when he was unable to save Skye from Quinn, and trusts Simmons with his life. Another instance of his loyalty was his refusal to serve Gonzales, deciding to leave rather than betray Coulson.

While Fitz is devastated at Ward's betrayal, he is the only one on the team that still insists that Ward is redeemable, as Fitz believes that people are never "born evil." He is the only one who still tries to reason with Ward and implores him to let Garrett die and abandon HYDRA. Despite that, Fitz later on became very bitter against Ward after he dropped him and Simmons into the ocean to die and for betraying the team, even going on to torture him by suffocating him inside a cell as he did him, and later, attack him. However, Fitz is also very forgiving and understanding of others' problems, shown when he quickly forgives Skye for being so secretive about Miles Lydon, claiming that everyone "makes mistakes." He also instantly forgives Coulson for knocking him out with a punch, understanding the situation. As Simmons grows closer to Triplett, Fitz remains suspicious of him, though he does learn to trust him later on.

The brain damage Fitz suffered has caused him to become withdrawn after Simmons opted to be a part of an undercover mission. Fitz had hallucinations of Simmons and talked to her, claiming that those conversations calmed him. Billy Koenig had replaced him in many aspects, raising Fitz's jealousy. No one other than Skye and May interacted with him until Alphonso Mackenzie approached him, creating a new friendship between the two.

Since nearly losing Simmons to the Kree Monolith, Fitz has exhibited a tougher and more determined personality. His actions often put himself directly in harm's way, in order to protect those he loves. In order to find a way to get Simmons back, Fitz traveled to Morocco and negotiated with terrorists, risking his own life for a piece of parchment with the secret of the Monolith written on it. Once he returned to the Playground, he found out that the only word on the parchment is "Death". In his desperation, Fitz blasted the Monolith's container open with a shotgun and started beating on the rock furiously demanding that it swallow him.

Whilst inside the Framework, Fitz's personality was radically different to the point where he was the polar opposite from who he was in the real world. Ruthless, cruel, cold and sadistic and claiming to enjoy torturing people who HYDRA would capture. "The Doctor", as he was nicknamed, was willing to use his intelligence and scientific ability to further promote HYDRA's ideals, developing an agonizing experiment to find out an Inhuman's powers without triggering Terrigenesis. According to Fitz, victims of this experiment never survived, yet The Doctor had no qualms about carrying it out. This radical change was achieved when Aida removed Fitz's greatest regret, which was never having made amends with his father. In the Framework, Fitz's personality was deeply influenced by the education provided by his cold and ruthless father, who in turn was proud of his son's achievements within HYDRA. However, Fitz still had doubts about doing the things he was doing like the killing of Agnes Kitsworth, even if his father dismissed these doubts as ""womanly sentiment". After escaping the Framework, Fitz was horrified by his behavior inside the alternate reality since it had led to the deaths of Kitsworth and Jeffrey Mace, and was afraid that his profound nature could be evil. Fitz was so wracked with guilt that he was unable to look at Simmons once he was out of the Framework without breaking down into tears. He also offered to sacrifice himself for the team by taking full responsibility for what had happened since the creation of Aida and the Framework. Moreover, being responsible for Mace's and Kitsworth's deaths was such a trauma to Fitz that he was unwilling to kill Aida and thus causing him to have another death on his mind, even if Aida had become a crazed, lethal enemy to S.H.I.E.L.D. Instead, Fitz tried to stop her by attempting to reason her and to have her express her pain by means other than violence, but his attempts failed as Aida was keen on making him suffer.

Despite his expressed guilt and shame toward his actions in the Framework, minor traits of his alternate dark personality stayed with him, with an example being when Fitz forcefully threatened Enoch by holding him at direct gunpoint. Fitz initially rejected these remnants, stating that he could not accept it and was trying to bury it within him. However, after his friend Lance Hunter told him that all he had to do was do his best to control it.

Above all of this, Fitz is genuinely a good person who desire to help others, no matter who or what they are, as long as he don't hold some significant hatred toward them. Even after Grant Ward was, by all the facts, an HYDRA agent and traitor, Fitz refused to believe in that until he saw him, and even when Ward chased him and Simmons he continued to believe in the relationship between them, and yelled to him, keep trying to make Ward to do the right thing. Even when it comes to his enemies, which threaten his and his friends’ lives, he can be very compassionate, as shown when he keeps trying to justify Ward, or make Aida back out of her rampage, or tried to save his fellow workers at Viro's spaceship at the cost of his own life, despite the latter are those who revealed and uncovered his true identity as earthling at first place.

## Abilities

*"You make things from the genius of your mind and the goodness of your heart to help people."*
―Jemma Simmons to Leo Fitz[src]
* **Genius-Level Intellect**: Fitz has become a very well known agent in the S.H.I.E.L.D. tech community for his technological expertise. Grant Ward's attempt to kill him damaged his temporal lobe, and he temporarily displayed aphasia as a result, a difficulty remembering or explaining words. However, this condition did not affect his intelligence, and Fitz continued being a genius. Over time, Fitz recovered from his brain troubles until he was released from the Framework and his intelligence was used by The Doctor, Fitz's evil self, to devise clever but harsh plans Fitz's true self was unwilling to come by. When Jemma Simmons was sent away by the Kree Monolith, Fitz tried his best to get her back, going on expeditions for answers. He was finally able to get a reading and found sand. Through carbon dating, he was able to figure out that the sand predates the Earth by a billion years. This allowed him to learn that Simmons was still alive. He was then able to figure out that the room holding the monolith in the HYDRA Castle was designed to open the portal. He used this to open it up and save Simmons. He also took part in creating the Life-Model Decoys with Holden Radcliffe.

*"Quantum Field Disruptors. Should contain him here if he comes back.""Of course. Why didn't I think of that?""That's okay. You've been busy, and you're not a quantum physicist. It's completely understandable."*
―Leo Fitz and Alphonso Mackenzie[src]
* **Master Engineer**: Fitz has designed and created many of the equipment commonly used by S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, including the Night-Night Guns and I.C.E.R.s, the Mouse Hole, the Magic Window. He has also created many of the tools used for analysis and scientific work, especially the D.W.A.R.F.s, the Golden Retrievers, the Full-Spectrum Goggles or the Magic Window. The sensitive nature of many mission has made him to develop devices against the clock that needed to be adapted to the parameters of each mission. As such, John Garrett was willing to recruit Fitz into HYDRA to benefit from his engineering abilities. Fitz's expertise also extends to artifacts of Asgardian origin, as his previous experience with the Berserker Staff allowed him to fully repair Lorelei's Asgardian Collar, greatly impressing Sif who considered him "quite clever". Fitz's intelligence was so great that he developed a quantum bridge to traverse the Quantum Realm without the need of Pym Particles in the war against the Chronicoms.
* **Combatant**: When Fitz first joined Coulson's Team, he was not a capable fighter. However, through his years of training with the team after joining, he became an adept combatant, as he fought against members of the Watchdogs using hand-to-hand combat. Fitz was also able to hold his own against Hive possessing Will Daniels' body briefly before being subdued, due to the creature's strength and further experience. He later was able to fight against a Primitive with great skill.
* **Expert Marksman**: Fitz was taught how to handle a handgun as per his S.H.I.E.L.D. training, when he refused to accept Simmons' apparent death, he accurately shot off the locks of the case containing the Monolith with a shotgun. He later resorted to use them to repeatedly shot Hive while possessing Will Daniels' body on Maveth, or to kill R. Giyera using a Cloaked Gun. Fitz greatly improved his marksmanship abilities after his time in the Framework, as shown when he and Lance Hunter reclaimed Zephyr One. Before this, he possessed enough accuracy to shoot Holden Radcliffe's LMD in the head.
* **Spy**: When first joining Coulson's Team, Fitz was not ready for the field. However, as time went on he became a very good spy. He was able to convincingly pass himself off as a Sivian for months while in space, successfully blending in among extraterrestrial lifeforms. He did this by injecting himself with a chemical to change his eye color. He also learned the alien's language.
* **Multilingualism**: Fitz is able to speak some Arabic and to read Hebrew, aside from his native Scottish-dialect English. He spoke Arabic when he confronted gangsters in Morocco to get to Yusef Hadad. When Fitz opened the scroll casing he had taken from him, he was instantly able to identify the symbol on the scroll as the Hebrew word for "death". However, he did not know that the word also had the meaning "death by punishment". In deep space, Enoch taught Fitz to speak the Sivian language.