Gideon Albert Malick

Gideon Malick - Portrayed By: Powers Boothe

**Gideon Malick** was a member of one of HYDRA's most devout families as well as one of the heads of the organization. His family included his father whom helped bring forth the creation of HYDRA into modern times Albert Malik who would later change his name to Joseph McRooter Malick, his brother Nathaniel, and his daughter Stephanie. While HYDRA was still integrated into SHIELD Gideon had infiltrated the World Security Council, though he broke ties with that organization after it became defunct. Six months after the fall of Wolfgang von Strucker's HYDRA faction, Malick was contacted by Strucker's son Werner von Strucker, who was recently recruited to work for Grant Ward's HYDRA faction.

## Biography

### Early Life

As a Child, **Gideon McRooter Malick** and his brother, Nathan Malick were a part of an ancient form of HYDRA that worshiped Hive, an ancient HYDRA god that was banished to another planet called Maveth. When his father Albert Malik died, he and his brother were told to visit Daniel Whitehall who had something to tell them about their father. When the Malick brothers arrived at Daniel Whitehall's cell, he tried to convince them to abandon their "archaic" HYDRA traditions, but when he was unable to convince them he told them that if they looked in their fathers library in a book called Paradise Lost they would find something very interesting. After he and his brother got back home, they got ready for their up coming lot-drawing ceremony, but Nathan couldn't stop thinking about what Whitehall said so he looked in the library.

Nathan looked in Paradise Lost and found a notched stone that their father would use so he would never be chosen to go through the Monolith. When Gideon woke up Nathan told him about the notched stone and Gideon took his brother to the lake, he said they would not be like their father. He then threw a white stone into the lake that looked like the notched stone to make his brother think it was gone. That night at the lot-drawing ceremony Gideon used the notched stone because he was scared to be the one to draw the white stone. Even though he saved himself he also doomed his brother who drew the notched stone. He realized that Gideon had switched the stones and while he was being escorted to the Monolith his last words to his brother were, "I thought we had a deal".

### World Security Council

Gideon Malick would then become a member of the World Security Council who oversaw the daily operations of SHIELD. Secretly, however, he was also a high-ranking member of HYDRA and an old associate of Baron Wolfgang von Strucker. Along with his fellow councilmen, he was in favor of the plans to harness the power of the Tesseract to develop weapons as a deterrent against any hostile extraterrestrials. During the invasion of New York by the Chitauri, the Council overturned Director Fury's "Avenger's Initiative" decision with their own, and ordered the launching of a nuclear missile at Manhattan. But the Avengers were successful in preventing the nuclear detonation when Iron Man redirected the warhead through the portal and disrupted the Chitauri fleet.

### Fulfilling HYDRA's Purpose

After Hydra's exposure within SHIELD, Malick was able to escape suspicion and became an adviser to the president and the ATCU. Although he was supposed to lead the research into a cure for Terrigenesis, Malick secretly devoted his time towards creating new Inhumans, such as Giyera, to serve HYDRA. When Wolfgang's son Werner von Strucker failed to kill Andrew Garner, Werner ran to Malick for protection from his superior, Grant Ward. However, Malick contacted Ward and scolded him for playing a "bad game," and then gave up Werner's location, sacrificing a player to save the game.

Malick eventually had Ward brought to him, seeing Ward as a threat to his plans, as Ward coveted the Strucker family vault that was now solely in Malick's possession. Malick orchestrated a test for Grant Ward involving him make his way out of his HYDRA operatives and torture them into revealing the vaults whereabouts. Malick arrived at the vault minutes before Ward, and congratulated him on finding it. He then saw Ward as a "second head" growing next to him, and revealed the true origins of HYDRA and its purpose of brining the ancient Inhuman back to Earth.