S.H.I.E.L.D.'s second in command
Maria Hill is the person who actually keeps S.H.I.E.L.D. running while Nick Fury makes the big, risky calls. In The Avengers she is introduced at a secret research base just as it starts to fall apart, and she spends most of the film on the bridge of the Helicarrier, coordinating agents, tracking threats and quietly questioning whether Fury's plan to gather a team of heroes is wise.
What makes her stand out is how little she wastes. She has no powers, no special suit and very few lines that are not about the job, yet she reads as one of the most competent people in any room. She is also one of the few agents willing to push back on Fury to his face.
Her appearances in order
- The Avengers (2012, film, essential)
- Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (2013, series, optional): guest appearances
- Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014, film, essential)
- Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015, film, essential)
- Avengers: Infinity War (2018, film, essential): the post-credits scene
- Avengers: Endgame (2019, film, essential)
- What If...? (2021, series, optional): an alternate-universe animated appearance
- Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019, film, recommended)
- Secret Invasion (2023, series, optional)
The Avengers and The Winter Soldier hold her biggest story beats. Most of the rest are central chapters of the Infinity Saga, so Hill's appearances come along naturally with any main-route watch.
What changes for her (minor spoilers for older films)
In The Avengers, Hill is an institution person. She trusts the chain of command, and she sees a team of costumed individualists as a gamble. The film also gives her a front-row seat to Loki's attack, and she keeps the bridge working while the Helicarrier comes under fire.
Captain America: The Winter Soldier puts that trust under strain. S.H.I.E.L.D. turns out to be far less clean than its agents believed, and Hill has to choose between the organization she has served and the people she knows are right. Her part in the third act is small but decisive, and it shows where her loyalty really lies: with Fury, not with the agency's logo. The end of the film also hints at where she goes next.
The agents and heroes around her
Hill's closest professional bond is with Nick Fury, and their brief, dry exchanges show years of shared work. In The Winter Soldier she fights alongside Captain America (Steve Rogers) and Black Widow, while the same story exposes Jasper Sitwell, a fellow S.H.I.E.L.D. officer, as someone whose true allegiance lies elsewhere. Browse more S.H.I.E.L.D. figures in our MCU character directory.
Cobie Smulders in the role
Cobie Smulders plays Hill with clipped efficiency and a sense of humor that only slips out in small moments. She makes a character with limited screen time feel like someone with a full career behind her, which suits an agent who is always on duty.
Most TV viewers know Smulders as Robin Scherbatsky, the Canadian news anchor in How I Met Your Mother. She also led the detective series Stumptown and played Major Susan Turner opposite Tom Cruise in Jack Reacher: Never Go Back.
How to watch Maria Hill's story
Watch The Avengers first, then Captain America: The Winter Soldier, which is both release order and story order, then follow her through the later Avengers films, Spider-Man: Far From Home and Secret Invasion. Between the first two sit other Phase 2 films such as Iron Man 3 and Thor: The Dark World, but neither involves Hill, so you can follow the main timeline without worrying about missing her.
The order matters more than it seems. Seeing how firmly Hill believes in S.H.I.E.L.D. in the first film is what gives her choices in the second one their weight.