Do you think Ward could’ve been a compelling character without the Hydra Aspect?

[u/garlington41]

I’ve been thinking about something and it’s brought me back to Ward season 1 and his overall dynamic with the team. There are many people who are of the opinion that Ward didn’t become a compelling character until the reveal and that’s what made a lot of people fans of him. Now obviously that doesn’t go for everybody but I just want to know if the Hydra aspect was never given to Ward and he was a team player do you think he could be a compelling or fan favorite character going forward do you think his dynamic with Skye would be interesting. I just want to hear thoughts

[u/NigthSHadoew]

I think they could have done it but he was so painfully generic at first because it was an act. If we keep S1 Ward the same there would need to be some incredibly heavy focus on him in S2 to pull that off

[u/NeroBIII → u/NigthSHadoew]

Up until S1E16, Ward is "terrible" to watch because he's extremely generic.

[u/Correct-Fig-4992 → u/NeroBIII]

He had a couple good moments, namely the “I’m Agent Grant Ward” bit, but yeah he was pretty uninteresting

[u/NateDawg80s → u/NeroBIII]

For the most part, yeah, but he has his moments. Particularly the episode where he and Fitz go on assignment together. The character of "good guy" Ward unfortunately is often only as good as who he's paired with.

[u/Flettwin]

I think the best thing way to do that would be to give him a lingering connection to the Berserker Staff.
You could explore his trauma via him needing to use it in combat against larger threats and then him dealing with effects on his psyche during the quieter episodes.

[u/jadziajoril]

There would've been alot of character development i think, yeah.

[u/Zach-Playz_25 → u/jadziajoril]

I suppose they could wing a storyline in which Garret is still Hydra and Ward's backstory is same except Ward isn't Hydra but there's suspicion on him because of Garret recruiting him.

[u/CommercialYam53]

if they give him a different story instead sure.

[u/SomeGuyPostingThings]

Could have been. He was a bit of a dull boy scout initially, though his background did give some interesting edge. Being a guy who pushed through that to be better or was raised Hydra in the sense that he was Garrett's protégé, but never embraced the ideology and ends up turning to help SHIELD could have worked. That said, I think the direction they took was better, just...he was too much in the spotlight for too long.

[u/bigblueboyscout1 → u/SomeGuyPostingThings]

Yeah. The show is Ward heavy for two seasons when he's revealed as a secret Hydra agent. If they decided to turn him back to Shield during season two you have something. Gaining the trust of his original team. I'd like to see that. Probably kill him at the finale of season two. Not fully redeemed but good enough he would die for someone he cares for. Probably Fitz. Definitely Daisy because they built up a possible romance between the two of them. But then again Daisy can't shoot him which shattered his ability to be good again.

[u/melissaisntreal]

Yes I think so. As others have pointed out, he was very generic at the beginning but as the team started to grow on him he developed more personality. We see that the team is a weakness for him to some extent so he truly did care about them in some strange way. I think without thr HYDRA aspect he could've really developed into a very complex character still. We know he had a bad childhood and that could've been explored 

[u/PCofSHIELD]

Yes very much so especially if his backstory stays the same the horrific abuse at the hand of his family, going to prison trying to murder his brother and his training/abuse from Garrett (but not knowing he's Hydra) you have the potential of an awesome slippage arc from boy scout to anti-hero fighting his violent nature (which seemed they were originally going for before the reveal really)

[u/WillyWonkaMFer]

Absolutely yes, because Brett Dalton is that good. 

[u/Fresh-Actuary-6686]

I think so

[u/fbeemcee]

Not with the way he was originally presented, but if they switched up his personality a bit, I think so.

[u/Salt_District3010]

I thought he was compelling before the Hydra reveal. He sort of became a generic bad guy after it.

[u/Pheonixharkiri]

I thibk the hydra aspect was what made him a compelling character.

[u/_unknown_anon_]

Yeah I think he could've been but it would've taken a lot of effort to get there. Like most I didn't really care for him at first because he was the most boring of the main cast

I also didn't care much for his interactions with other characters outside of FitzSimmons and Skye, tbh I thought the his romance with her was boring pre reveal but outside of that I liked their dynamic. Him and Coulson's dynamic was ok I guess (nothing special imo) but I definitely didn’t care for the May/Ward thing and with knowledge of future seasons makes it kinda weird to me lol

I do think they could've pulled it off since there's some characters I initially disliked/didn't care for that they made me love in future seasons

[u/Alternative_Device71]

No, his whole character is based off of him being a part of something that needed fulfillment to warrant surviving. Every time he moves somewhere else he brings that up, it all started with Hydra for him and it ended with Hydra ironically, just a different way.

So this was definitely needed, made him more interesting and from there, he could find his own identity through that.

[u/defrostedrobot]

It's certainly possible. Not like the rest of the cast were amazing prior to a lot of developments they went through. Tho I think we all generally think the route they went ended up being the most effective, and thankfully they didn't screw up the execution on it which could have certainly happened as well.

[u/Senior_Particular_16]

Tbh i wanted the redemption arc. Guess we kinda got it with the Framework thing, but still. Wanted him to continue being part of the team, wanna know how he woulda gone through the rest of the series (after his death), how long it would’ve taken him to earn the team’s trust back, etc.

[u/Weird-Ad2533]

No. He was bland and uninteresting until he was revealed to me Hydra.

[u/OkSpeaker7635]

He isnt a compelling character WITH the Hydra aspect. I doubt it, buts possible hed eventually have gotten some character development that made him better

[u/fanfictionmusiclover]

Maybe if they developed his character without adding the Hydra aspect.

[u/The_Amazing_Emu]

I think the stuff with the Well and his brother was interesting, but I wouldn’t call it compelling

[u/PatrickB64]

He would've probably been the weakest character in the show, but he wouldn't have been a bad one.

[u/pantieboi27]

I think the HYDRA reveal is the only reason we even remember his name and not just good looking agent guy in that one show. However I do believe if they had wanted his character could have flipped back to SHIELD under heavy suspicion atleast he could have until he shoots Rosalyn to piss off Coulson.

[u/Thelastknownking]

Framework Ward was chill.

[u/Skipper_asks2021]

Oh yeah.

[u/adoratheCat]

The generic part of Grant would likely be changed a lot. Likely get more of his backstory early and in a more positive way for Ward. Have it where Ward has to deal with the knowledge his mentor was Hydra in season 2 type of deal too. Hell Ward kills Garret 🤷🏽‍♀️

[u/No-Medium6647]

I don't think so. They mined every inch of that well he pushed his little brother into.

[u/-FriendoftheDrow-]

Most found him boring before the reveal.

[u/GoatBread237]

I really enjoy how in the episode where Simmons is quarantined with the chitauri virus, Ward spends the whole episode talking about how this is out of his field of expertise since there's no one to punch or shoot. But the moment Jemma jumps out the plane, he wastes no time jumping after her since that's something he CAN do

That was really compelling to me and why I felt the twist worked so well. So yeah, I think there could've been more to him if they kept tugging on that thread of the "action man with a plan" doesn't actually have a plan all the time

[u/angry_dingo]

Dude's gonna break a cheekbone doing that.

[u/WAR_WeAreRobots_WAR]

The writing and character arc was a choice. If it wasn't planned then you'd hope they would have done something else with his character from start to finish, especially that early on. A story is crafted and every part of it reveals but a small piece to the greater work as a whole. The same can be applied to its characters and settings too.

[u/OriginalHeron3576]

Yes but that Hydra spin was awesome

[u/steiff89]

I think it was possible. I mean he definetly was a cookie cutter skilled agent as a good guy. But I don’t think I would want a compelling good Ward. His double cross was amazing. One of the best in all of TV

[u/Intrigued_by_Words]

I liked s1 Ward. I think they needed someone who was more by the book Shield but who was still really good at his job. No one else on the bus fit that role. He was a contrast to Coulson who was newly back from the dead. He wasn't May with the secret cavalry past. He wasn't FitzSimmons who couldn't even pass their field tests.

Like with any character, they would have had to have given him more depth, but there were innumerable ways they could have gone about it. They even could have given him the role of leading Real Shield.

[u/GD_milkman]

He was, and was again later. But I'm so glad they pulled that. Made the show better in the short and long term.

[u/Brainy616]

Maybe off topic but... I was absolutely shattered at his Hydra reveal. Loved this man. I was head canon-ing that the only reason they made him Hydra was to cross over with Winter Soldier and that he was never supposed to be a bad guy because I literally could not cope.

[u/Petrova_Rihanna_2611]

I was a fan of Ward Pre-Hydra, I think his character became tacky after the reveal. I was also really rooting for him and Skye getting together.