Is Maria Hill Really Dead?

At the time of “The Avengers,” Cobie Smulders was still in the midst of her nine-year sitcom run on CBS’s “How I Met Your Mother.” As Maria Hill, she immediately took the baton from Agent Phil Coulson (Clark Gregg), becoming Nick Fury’s new second-in-command. Coulson helped Fury round up the Avengers in Phase One of the MCU, and his death at the hands of Loki (Tom Hiddleston) united the team before “Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” resurrected him on TV.

Despite the comics version of Hill holding Fury’s job and being a fierce presence in her own right, the MCU version never really rose above the level of Fury’s lieutenant. As the Deputy Director of S.H.I.E.L.D., she was his right-hand woman. Even after S.H.I.E.L.D. fell apart, Hill and Fury continued to work together — they even turned to dust together at the end of “Avengers: Infinity War.”

But now she’s gone ahead of him into the great beyond. Seeing her fridged in “Secret Invasion” to move Fury’s story forward and motivate him, like with Coulson and the Avengers, might rub some fans the wrong way. It appears Marvel Studios is willing to die on that hill — by killing off Maria Hill.

If nothing else, Hill’s death does raise the personal stakes for Fury in “Secret Invasion.” And though her live-action self may have never eclipsed Fury, at least “What If…?” gave us an episode where an animated Hill variant (voiced by Smulders) did take over from Fury as the Acting Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. Maybe we’ll see an episode next season like, “What If… Maria Hill Survived to Become Queen of the MCU?”

“Secret Invasion” episode 1 is streaming on Disney+.