Victoria Hand is a character with a history of being both lawful neutral, believing that Norman Osborn’s team of “reformed” villain Avengers could bring order and peace to the world, and of being an off again on again antagonist (although she was in the end shown to be working for the good guys and has the respect of Captain America). It’s not particularly surprising to me that SHIELD would choose to simplify (or appear to simplify, anyway, barring further plot developments) that back story to strategic and canny final villain. Though I wouldn’t mind seeing more stories where the hard headed, rule-minded pragmatist superior officer turns out to be working for the good of the hot headed main characters, instead of being both restrictive and a bad guy (see: Pacific Rim). No way to tell at the moment whether the show has also declined to establish her character’s canonical homosexuality because they didn’t want to make their first confirmed LGBTQ character a villain, or because they simply haven’t prioritized the representation of LGBTQ characters.
Agents of SHIELD Recap: “The End of the Beginning” | The Mary Sue