DEEP DISH THEMES:

ORIGIN: Maria was born in Chicago, Illinois. Her mother died during childbirth, something her father always resented her for. When she grew older she joined the armed forces then went on to join S.H.I.E.L.D. Maria Hill was elected into the Directorate position by the President after Nick Fury went AWOL at the end of Secret War. Though there were others more suited for the position, Maria was chosen for not being a “Fury Loyalist” (Which was seen as highly unfavorable).She has very little respect in the Super-human community for many reasons, such as trying to prohibit the Avengers reforming, and blackmailing Wonder Man to work for SHIELD.

Maria Hill became a mayor player soon after Nick Fury left S.H.I.E.L.D. She was adamantly in support of the Super-human Registration Act, nearly forcing Captain America into the Resistance after attacking him (Since he would not sign the act). Maria's allegiances lie more towards the United States, than to the international community as SHIELD is supposed to.

As the 50 State Initiative was set in motion, Maria passed the mantle of leadership to Tony Stark, realizing she was not the right person for the job. She became Stark's deputy director. During her time as his deputy, she grew to trust Stark more and her methods became much more in-conventional then they had been before.



PROS: This figure was the first Maria Hill that we ever got in the game. Thankfully, they did her justice and made her just as awesome in clix as she is on the page. I'm actually a little surprised at how good they made her. Most of her dial is pretty standard issue for a high level SHIELD agent/director...Stealth, Mastermind, Penetrating/Psychic Blast (To represent high level tech), and a dash of Willpower, but it's her special power that is where the points mostly come from. It is called S.H.I.E.L.D. DIRECTOR, FOR NOW and it says: Once during your turn as a free action, choose the highest point friendly character with the S.H.I.E.L.D. keyword. The chosen character can use Enhancement until your next turn, but only to affect characters with the S.H.I.E.L.D. keyword or team ability. She can stand back and direct your troops and give a character of 73 points or more with the SHIELD keyword Enhancement or if SHE is the highest point character with the keyword on the team, she can give it to herself. Combine that with her SHIELD Team Ability, and she is not giving out a +1 to range as well as +2 to damage with a ranged attack (Assuming you have activated said Team Ability). She is not without her own teeth and can be a great back-up attacker herself, but she is going to be best at giving out all kinds of stat bonuses to your SHIELD teammates.

CONS: 72 points is a little hefty by today's standards. I would like to think that if she had this exact same dial these days that she would top out at 50 points at the most. She'd probably also have a few less clicks of life as well, so there is that trade-off, but she is taking up almost a fourth of a standard 300 point team, and these days there are just so many better options. So, basically I'm saying Ms. Hill hasn't aged too gracefully. It would be fully possible to get two figures who are nearly as good each on a team for what this one figure does. None of them are Maria Hill, though, so if you're looking for comic accuracy over game effects, you may have found your leading lady.

THEME: With her special power that directly effects SHIELD characters and then after use, the Enhancement it gives can only effect SHIELD characters, you BETTER be playing her with some SHIELD characters. Have I said SHIELD characters enough at this point? This is still the first entry of Maria Hills, so I'm probably not done yet...SHIELD CHARACTERS. I have a quota to fill. She does have the Avengers keyword and is the only Maria Hill to feature that keyword, and there are CERTAINLY some Avengers that also have the SHIELD keyword. She can also choose herself in lieu of any other option, but I think she is still going to be best with...you guessed it...SHIELD CHARACTERS.



PROS: Our next entry of Maria Hill figures came in the form of the Avengers Movie set. She was Nick Fury's right hand, and was played perfectly in the movie by Miss Cobie Smulders. They encapsulated her pretty well in Clix form, and she has the power set and stats to show for it. She is not quite good enough to be the SHIELD director at this point, but she is the point woman on many fronts. She has Leadership to prove it (Something that the last Maria Hill was missing). Though the original figure was a better attacker overall, this Maria Hill is more mobile while doing it with her Running Shot. She has her SHIELD team ability to assist her adjacent friendly characters, of course, but what might help them out just as much or if not MORE, is her special power called S.H.I.E.L.D. Coordinator that says: Maria Hill can use Willpower. Each friendly adjacent character with the S.H.I.E.L.D. keyword that's 50 points or less modifies its attack value by +1. So now, not only is she able to give lesser point SHIELD CHARACTERS a +1 to attack, but she can also use her SHIELD team ability in two consecutive turns to give a +1 damage and +1 range. If you're a 50 point or less SHIELD CHARACTER, you're almost getting a +1 to all your combat values at this point.

CONS: The Running Shot is cool and all of that, but it's not going to be of much use if the target of the attack has heavy damage reducers. With only a two base damage she isn't going to be putting too big of a dent in anything unless they have zero reducers, and even then, she'll likely need some assistance from other characters' buffs to give her a shot of making much headway in battle. Defensively she is very weak herself unless you happen to shoot her from range on her first two clicks or hit her with a close attack on her last three clicks. Most people won't opt to give you your most defensively sound option when attacking if possible, so I don't see her sticking around for very long. When she first came out I would have said that her ability to give that +1 to attack out for SHIELD CHARACTERS of 50 or less points wasn't great as the point totals were still pretty high at the time. The pool of options wasn't quite what it is today now that we're getting characters that are generally lower points. Her stock has actually risen a bit with age, and that doesn't happen very often.

THEME: I just don't ever see myself using her on a Politician team. Her home, like her earlier counterpart, is with SHIELD. When you have a power that directly effects characters with a certain keyword, you're likely leaving valuable things on the table if you're not using them. You're also missing most of the point of the character and paying for options that aren't going to come into play. Sure, there are politicians that also have the SHIELD keyword, but most cases, I don't usually build like that. If I'm wanting to use an effect that works on a certain keyword?...chances are I'm just straight out playing that keyword.



PROS: Believe it or not, your death will not come to you in the form of a Maria Hill that is strapped with weapons or is in a standard issue SHIELD uniform. Your death will come to you choosing it's form as an almost Librarian-esque Maria Hill and her business attire. See, it's the Maria Hill that you're NOT expecting that turns out to be the deadliest. Since she's "Playing Both Sides" she is able to use Outwit normally, or you can take a power action and use it counting squares and drawing line of fire from any opposing character's square. Yeah...that's awesome...especially since it doesn't say once that the opposing character has to be with range and line of fire from HER! Somebody please correct me on this if I'm wrong about this or if it was errata'd and I never saw the errata, but being able to get "Eyes" on just about anyone on the board at any given time is WELL worth the points that you pay for her. With the Willpower she has at the same time, she's able to do it twice in a row, too! She doesn't start getting offensively capable until her last few clicks of life where she picks up some Running Shot, Energy Explosion, and some Close Combat Expert, but as far as I'm concerned, that stuff is just icing on the cake. I'm paying for her special power and her SHIELD team ability. Anything else she has to offer is just a bonus.

CONS: The points you're paying for her are all essentially for her special power. Granted, I'll GLADLY pay those points for that, but she's not going to likely do much in the game besides that. By the time she gets her more offensive powers, her attack and damage values are average at best...if she even gets to see them without getting blown past them. Again, I'm happy that she is going to provide that cover for my team, but if you're looking for a great support piece that can also double as a secondary or tertiary attacker, you're not really going to get it with this piece. For some, 60 points is too much to pay for what she brings to the table, but I'm not that person. She is just right for me, but I could totally see more competitive players turning their noses up at her.

THEME: In an attempt to go beyond my myopic theme teams that I've been putting her on so far, I'm likely to play her in a Spy theme team. It also makes the most sense when you consider that her biggest ability is called "Playing Both Sides."
She will be a valuable asset with both her SHIELD team ability and her special power. It's exactly the kind of team that this kind of figure is built for.



PROS: She has a pretty basic dial once again with most of the things that you'd expect for a special operative that it just a normal human. Thankfully they gave her a few different tricks than the ones that previous versions had so it doesn't feel like we're just getting the same Maria Hill over and over again. This time she has Defend on her top dial for example. Though giving out a 17 defense isn't exactly making anyone unhittable, that little boost in defense is JUST ENOUGH at times to make a hit a miss instead. This version also has Empower. This is especially important to note since her first trait called Changing the World: Cracking your Defense says: Opposing characters adjacent to two or more friendly characters with the S.H.I.E.L.D. keyword can't use Willpower or Energy Shield/Deflection. Now, usually you don't want to get most SHIELD CHARACTERS adjacent to opposing characters as most of the time they are best at making ranged attacks. When she and another agent get up close and personal, you're able to shut off Willpower and/or Energy Shield/Deflection on them making them a bit weaker. If you leave a hole open for attack, you can also get in a shot from those SHIELD CHARACTERS that excel at those ranged attacks. Meanwhile Maria is possible giving that other agent a boost to close damage value. I would be remiss if i didn't talk about her Drop Zone trait as well. It says: When Maria Hill occupies your starting area and is given a move action, she has "wing symbol" for this action and may carry up to 4 friendly characters with the S.H.I.E.L.D. keyword. When she does, roll a d6 and replace her speed value with her printed speed value plus the result. If you can roll at least a three on this power, you'll get AT LEAST her printed movement value to do this with. As a player of swarm teams quite often, there is nothing like getting a Swarm highly mobile early on. It's especially awesome when the characters she is carrying might be able to shut off abilities like her with her first trait. There are a lot of characters in the Nick Fury set that have a similar trait, and you can REALLY nerf some people if Maria carries them right up to the front door.

CONS: This dial has just never really done much for me. It doesn't have anything that really makes me want to play it over other Maria Hill dials. The traits are nice, but the Changing the World trait tries to make me play SHIELD teams differently than I have ALWAYS played them, and that just makes me itchy and anxious. I don't LIKE getting SHIELD CHARACTERS up in people's faces where their attacks are generally not as effective as they'd normally be. It's not often something that I hate on, but the sculpt on this figure bothers me as well. The "Just standing there" sculpt is tired and worn out for me. Give the poor woman SOMETHING to do besides looking like a double-amputee from the front. Seriously, who holds their arms behind them like that and to that extreme?!

THEME: Again I'm going to suggest a SHIELD team for her since she again has a major ability that is dependent on using SHIELD CHARACTERS. Hey, maybe you can play a team of all Maria Hill figures? They can all help each other out with all of their various SHIELD related abilities! But seriously, though, she has no shortage of SHIELD teammates these days...be they powered or just regular agents. It's one of the strongest keywords in the game, and Ms. Hill here should be a cornerstone to nearly any team that you would field using it whether it be this one or any of the other various ones...well...unless it's the NEXT one that is...



PROS: In Secret Wars, Maria Hill remained a part of the law-keeping community, but now she wasn't a member of SHIELD, because the police force of Battle World is the THORS. This gave us our first ever SUPER powered Maria Hill...complete with a giant hammer, armor, and best of all...she's also a Baroness! One of her powers allows her the use of Battle Fury, Sidestep, and Hypersonic Speed (If a friendly character has been damaged by an opposing character's attack since last turn). This means that she can be the cavalry if your main attackers take some hits. At the VERY least she is a back-up attacker caliber character if not main attacker depending on your point limit and force. She is a SOLID leader, a SOLID attacker, and very SOLID defenisvely. For 85 points, this figure is a steal! Look at all you get for 85 points!...and she STILL leaves 215 points for a standard 300 point build.

CONS: I wished she had the same "Crack the Case" trait that the other Thors of this set had. I haven't personally read the story that she was part of, but it seems to me that she should have that too...unless she wasn't really active in the law enforcement so much anymore now that she was a Baroness...but then that voice in the back of my head says...but why does she have the Police team ability and keyword then?! I just chalk it up to either an oversight or something that was an oops omission. This piece is plenty good without it...maybe it was a cost saving measure for her point value? Another thing to look out for as well is that her Baroness ability isn't a trait like other Barons/Baronesses. It is a Special Power that can fully be Outwitted! There really isn't much to hate with this figure besides that, though.

THEME: Being a Baroness of Battleworld, I would definitely be inclined to play her in her Barony of choice. With the Battleworld: Other keyword, there are several other Barons as well, so you could get all kinds of other Perplex opportunities. You could MAYBE get some use out of that trait if you're NOT playing her in that keyword, but in constructed, the chances of coming up against a different Battleworld keyword has been vastly watered down. She has a very serviceable dial even if you're not playing her on a Battleworld: Other theme team, but your best bet to get the most bang for your buck is to play her with that keyword.

KEYS TO THE KINGDOM

Now that we have had a little glimpse into the aspects of all the different versions of this figure, let's take a quick look at their keywords and I will tell you my number one picks to use for each keyword theme available (Named keywords are bolded):

Avengers: ca018 Maria Hill
Politician: ca018 Maria Hill
S.H.I.E.L.D: nfaos002b Maria Hill
Soldier: nfaos002b Maria Hill
Spy: catws011 Maria Hill
Asgardian: swb054 Big Boss Hill
Battleworld: Other: swb054 Big Boss Hill
Police: swb054 Big Boss Hill
Ruler: swb054 Big Boss Hill

WHO NEEDS KEYWORDS?!

In this section, I'm going to list some possible theme teams that you could play this figure on that are definitely comic accurate but don't require keywords and provides links using Comic Vine and/or Wikipedia to tell you more about them. Unfortunately, using these teams mean you are going to forego keyword bonuses, but every once in a while Judges might let you slip by with one of these teams:

Avengers Crew
Secret Avengers
Thor Corps

This wraps it up for this edition of Deep Dish Themes! Thank you for reading! Feel free to post what you think about the article and feel free to nominate a character for an upcoming edition of Deep Dish Themes. Join me next time when I bring you the Queen of the Royal Family and a major player in the Earth X storyline...MEDUSA!

Scherbatsky FTW!!!! Need I say anything more?

Robin Sparkles FTW

I wouldn't have thought, that they made so many versions of her.

Do you have any plans to make an article about Nick Fury?

Just saw there is an error in the unit section. #011 Unique Maria Hill power is 'Field Coordinator' on the card, not 'S.H.I.E.L.D. Coordinator'. :-)

At this point there are just TOO MANY of him to do a Deep Dish on (Which is a weird thought given how few there were for so long). His Dish is a little TOO deep. Maybe at some point I'll do a series of "Top 5" articles or something and I can do the characters that are very plentiful in the game.

Great article.

Nice Article..i am not sure do i ahve any Maria hill but if i do i could play her on my Shield team..or maybe a All Female SHIELD team? there should be some to do that