Dr. Jemma Simmons is a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent who researches the field of biochemistry. She’s a science enthusiast and spends most of her time with Leo Fitz whom she trained with. Simmons has a very bubbly, cheerful personality, is confident and highly intelligent.

edit] Biography

Nothing is known of Simmons’ personal life save the fact that both her parents are still alive as of "1×08 The Well". As an extremely gifted child, she sped through her education very quickly, earning her first PhD around the age of 16, attracting the attention of S.H.I.E.L.D., which then recruited her into their Academy of Sci-Tech where she pursued her second PhD. While she specialized heavily in biochemistry, her paths crossed with that of another child prodigy, Leo Fitz, both in their freshman year at the Academy. The more adventurous and friendly one of the duo, Simmons quickly drew Fitz out of his lonely shell and the pair became close friends and research partners, with their collaborations impressing both classmates and faculty, and they are said to be the smartest students to ever graduate from the Academy of Sci-Tech. Their close partnership eventually led them to be nicknamed "Fitzsimmons" even by the highest echelons of S.H.I.E.L.D.. Simmons graduated alongside Fitz after only one year of study, earning her second PhD at 17, and they remain the two youngest graduates of the Sci-Tech Academy to-date.

Subsequent to their graduation, both Fitz and Simmons accepted a posting to a Sci-Ops facility where they conducted their research. They were fortunate enough to be advised in their second year at Sci-Ops by visiting S.H.I.E.L.D. Asset, Dr. Franklin Hall, whom both adored because he "was so enthusiastic" about science.

edit] Season 1

Sometime in September 2013, the research pair Fitz and Simmons were offered a transfer from Sci-Ops to a new mobile command unit spearheaded by Agent Phil Coulson. Simmons, thirsting for adventure and to be able to see the world, was immediately agreeable to the transfer, but her partner Fitz was less certain, preferring to remain at their safer lab at Sci-Ops. She finally persuaded him to accept the offer with her, and he finally, though very reluctantly did. Both reported for duty on The Bus along with Agents Grant Ward and Melinda May, despite not being cleared for combat or field operations.

As with Fitz, she was excited with and welcoming to new civilian recruit Skye, and the two hit it off very well. Simmons was the only one of the team to be understanding towards Skye’s divided loyalties between her new S.H.I.E.L.D. friends and her former Rising Tide boyfriend, and was also the one to forgive Skye the quickest after Skye permanently broke off with her former cohorts.

Simmons’ enthusiasm for outdoor operations was quickly tempered when the pair realize the full extent of the danger of their mobile command, particularly when they were taken hostage in their first week on The Bus. However, Simmons was still relatively undaunted by their new lives aboard the plane until she was by chance unknowingly infected with a Chitauri virus, giving her only a few hours to live while synthesizing an anti-serum. Though ultimately successful, the trauma of carrying through with a voluntary suicide attempt to save the team left her permanently wary of anything Chitauri in origin.

A self-professed rule-follower, Simmons found her belief in S.H.I.E.L.D.’s information compartmentalization challenged when the system prevented her from learning anything of an undercover mission involving Fitz as well as teammate Ward. Encouraged by Skye, she finally drew up the courage to put Fitz’s welfare before her trust in S.H.I.E.L.D. and aided in Skye’s "mission retrieval", a decision that was fortuitous as it led to the rescue of Fitz and Ward in the nick of time.

Despite this, she still held onto her optimistic beliefs and tries to see the best in every situation, even when team leader Phil Coulson was kidnapped and the Bus taken over by Level 8 Agent Victoria Hand, whose style of operations is not quite as bearable to the majority of her teammates (after being used to Coulson’s leadership), especially over the expulsion of civilian member Skye. Simmons chose to rally behind her friend over her organization when push came to shove, and secretly helped Skye maintain in communications with their core team, leading to the safe recovery of Coulson.

Funnily enough, Simmons has been shown to be an extremely bad liar and improviser, an anomaly for S.H.I.E.L.D. agents whom are taught to keep secrets even while being trained at the Academy. She makes up for this defect by elaborate preparations in cases of undercover missions. She is distraught when an undercover mission gone wrong led to Skye’s near death, and is deeply disturbed by her hands covered with Skye’s blood, finally breaking down in Fitz’s arms.

edit] Uprising Arc

While mindful of Skye’s dangerous condition, she was nevertheless morally conflicted on whether she should subject her friend to Coulson’s painful resurrection experience when she read the complete transcript of his Level 10 classified recovery file. She was forced to manually revived Skye a few times despite having little to no medical training when the young woman coded repeatedly, right before Fitz returned with Coulson’s GH325 drug from the underground Guest House facility, and injected the entire amount into a flat-lining Skye, saving her life without knowing the actual contents of the drug.

She was subsequently tasked by Coulson to investigate the properties of the drug – though the last remaining vial has been injected into Skye – by researching Skye’s and Coulson’s blood samples, something that rouse Skye’s suspicion, the only one who didn’t know that Coulson had changed his mind at the last moment about injecting it into her. Unfortunately, despite her talents in biochemistry, Simmons was unable to get the resources necessary for her research due to her low Level 5 clearance, and her requests to Coulson to upload the data to HQ were shot down by the team leader. She felt frustrated by Coulson’s stonewalling, believing that as a scientist she has a higher duty to successfully recreate the drug so that others can be saved as her own teammates have.

edit] Training and Abilities

Simmons is highly skilled in biochemistry, both human and alien life sciences, having not one but two PhDs in this field of study by the age of 17. Among her inventions and researches are:

• Instant sedating dendrotoxin (delivery mechanisms invented by Fitz include the Night Night Gun (rifle and pistol variations) and injector cuff)
• Instant Crystallization process (Crystallization delivery mechanism invented by Fitz)
• Research parameters of the D.W.A.R.F.S. drones (the hardware of the drones are designed by Fitz)
• Synthesizing an anti-serum for an unknown Chitauri virus (delivery mechanism invented by Fitz)

Though it is unknown if she has any professional medical training, she has also taken to running medical work-ups and first aid for the team on The Bus, implying that she has at least rudimentary knowledge of the medical field.

edit] Relationships

• Leo Fitz

Fitz has been Simmons’ best friend and research partner ever since they met each other at the S.H.I.E.L.D. Academy. They are almost inseparable, and even jointly referred to as "Fitzsimmons" by other S.H.I.E.L.D. agents. While they occasionally bicker in sibling-like fashion, their familial love for one another anchors them together, and they will willingly sacrifice for each other above all others.

• Phil Coulson

Simmons respects Coulson’s leadership greatly, and is not adverse to having him join the younger agents’ board games on occasion. She is able to partner with him on an undercover mission without any self-consciousness about their rank disparity.

• Melinda May

Simmons has a great deal of respect and awe for Agent May, and has been shown to shy away from asking for May’s help when she’d once gotten into trouble. However, the two has an otherwise cordial relationship.

• Grant Ward

After an initially rocky start, Simmons now gets along reasonably well with Agent Ward, with Ward not even minding that Simmons, along with Fitz and Skye, quietly makes fun of him behind his back on occasion. He considers her a teammate under his protection, though his regard for her increased after she has shown to be willing to sacrifice herself for the team’s safety.

Other than Fitz, Skye is possibly Simmons’ best friend despite Skye’s lack of scientific knowledge, due to the natural warmth shared between the two women. Simmons was the most understanding of Skye’s background, and in turn Skye took to spending most of her free time in Simmons’ and Fitz’s company down in their labs.

edit] Memorable Quotes

• Jemma Simmons: We have a couple of hours at most, there’s no way that we could…
  Phil Coulson: Don’t ever tell me there’s no way!
• Jemma Simmons:(examining strange artifact) It’s not of this Earth!

edit] Trivia

edit] Other Appearances

No appearances outside Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. at this stage.

edit] References