Phil Coulson

*"I swore an oath. We all did. To serve when everything else fails, to be humanity's last line of defense, to be the shield."*
―Phil Coulson[src]
**Phillip J. "Phil" Coulson** was a highly decorated agent and former Director of S.H.I.E.L.D.. Coulson was Nick Fury's right-hand man for many important missions and his liaison to the Avengers. He served as the primary operative in the Avengers Initiative following a Skrull Invasion of Earth in 1995 that led to the surfacing of Captain Marvel. Coulson later ran ground interference, surveillance and tactical operations in Puente Antiguo, New Mexico as part of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s investigation surrounding an incident with Thor and the Destroyer. He was also the primary S.H.I.E.L.D. operative in the investigation into Stark Industries.

During the Attack on the Helicarrier, Coulson was killed by Loki. His death gave the Avengers the push they needed to band together and stop the Chitauri invasion. On Fury's orders, Coulson was brought to the Guest House, a secret facility where he was brought back to life using treatments developed by Project T.A.H.I.T.I., which Coulson had formerly presided over. To preserve his sanity, it was necessary to erase all his memories of his own death and resurrection.

Coulson returned to S.H.I.E.L.D. to lead a new team to investigate the cases S.H.I.E.L.D. had not yet classified. While on this team, Coulson discovered that he had been killed and brought back to life. During the HYDRA Uprising, despite the dissolution of S.H.I.E.L.D. and the betrayal of Grant Ward, he led his team against the forces of HYDRA. He then led the charge in the final battle against John Garrett, in which Garrett was ultimately defeated. After the battle, Nick Fury appointed him the new Director of S.H.I.E.L.D., ordering him to rebuild the organization from the ground up.

As director, Coulson led the new S.H.I.E.L.D. in many battles against HYDRA, crippling that terrorist organization. He made some contacts with the United States Air Force via Glenn Talbot. However, he became a fugitive when another faction of S.H.I.E.L.D., led by Robert Gonzales, attacked and occupied his base. Joining forces with a few loyal friends, Coulson fought to reclaim S.H.I.E.L.D. He eventually made a deal with Gonzales, and they worked together against HYDRA, finally reunifying the two factions into one organization with Coulson as its rightful director. A new threat soon arose, the Inhumans led by Jiaying. In the ensuing conflict, both S.H.I.E.L.D. and the Inhumans suffered casualties. Coulson paid a high price for victory, having his left hand cut off. He was resilient. He started a new project that would ensure the safety of humanity.

The mission of recruiting Inhumans for his team became difficult, as the Advanced Threat Containment Unit, led by Rosalind Price, was also going after the new Inhumans. Coulson developed a relationship with Price while facing threats from Ward's new version of HYDRA, from Lash and from the Inhumans. After Ward killed Price, Coulson followed him to the planet Maveth and killed Ward to avenge all the people he had murdered. Believing that Gideon Malick was the last remaining leader of HYDRA, Coulson discovered that the Hive had returned to Earth from Maveth, using Ward's body as host. With Malick's death, Coulson felt responsible for the new threat. He fought to prevent Hive from accomplishing his plan to change all humans to Inhumans and make them part of Hive. After Lincoln Campbell sacrificed himself to kill Hive and save humanity, the directorship of S.H.I.E.L.D. passed to Jeffrey Mace, while Coulson and Alphonso Mackenzie went in pursuit of the former agent turned vigilante, Daisy Johnson.

With the revelation of Lucy Bauer's ambition to find the Darkhold, Coulson created an alliance with Johnson and Ghost Rider to find the book before Bauer did. He was caught in an explosion with Ghost Rider and Leo Fitz, caused by Eli Morrow, and was temporarily trapped in another dimension. He returned with the help of Holden Radcliffe and his Life-Model Decoy assistant, Aida. Coulson then led the last fight against Morrow. Following the revelation that Mace was not actually an Inhuman, Coulson assumed the position of *de facto* Director while Mace remained *de jure* Director. Under Coulson's directorship, S.H.I.E.L.D. continued fighting the anti-Inhuman hate group known as the Watchdogs, led by Anton Ivanov, who targeted Coulson. Holden Radcliffe kidnapped Coulson, replaced him with an LMD, and plugged him into the Framework, where Coulson lived as a history teacher. With the help of Daisy Johnson and Jemma Simmons, Coulson escaped the Framework, only to face off against Aida's threat in the real world.

Coulson killed Aida by temporarily bonding with the Spirit of Vengeance and afterward was sent to the year 2091, along with other S.H.I.E.L.D. agents. The team discovered that Earth had been destroyed, and the surviving humans were enslaved by the Kree. He and the other agents eventually returned to the present day, although Coulson revealed that he was dying from his old injury, due to his deal with the Spirit of Vengeance. In order to learn more about the destruction of Earth, Coulson was imprisoned by Hale, who not only revealed that HYDRA still existed under her leadership, but also that there was an impending alien invasion. Following his escape from Hale, S.H.I.E.L.D. entered into a conflict with the Confederacy. As Coulson was trying to negotiate with the Confederacy, Glenn Talbot attempted to become a savior but instead became bent on becoming more powerful. Coulson, despite knowing that this meant sacrificing himself, aided in defeating Talbot in the Battle of Chicago and stopped him from amassing the planet's Gravitonium, successfully averting the destruction of Earth. Accepting his impending death, Coulson retired from S.H.I.E.L.D. and lived out his remaining days in Tahiti with Melinda May, eventually succumbing to his illness.

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30. ↑ 30.0 30.1 *Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: 6.02: Window of Opportunity*
31. ↑ *Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: 6.07: Toldja*
32. ↑ *Loki: 1.01: Glorious Purpose*
33. ↑ Phil Coulson's S.H.I.E.L.D. Badge