Benjamin Pollack

"What makes you so sure that the sign is pointing in the right direction?"
"You made me sure, because you got it to work."

―Benjamin Pollack and Claire Wise^[src]

Benjamin "Benny" Pollack was recruited to S.H.I.E.L.D. after he and his girlfriend Claire Wise found a Chitauri weapon after the Battle of New York.

Biography

Using the Weapon

"I can just feel you about to say it just don't say it."
"I think we should bail."

―Claire Wise and Benjamin Pollack^[src]

Pollack was an unemployed scientist, with a pronounced talent for technology. When an inactive Chitauri Gun fell into his lab, Pollack is able to repair it and make it work again. Claire Wise, his girlfriend, convinced the hesitant Pollack to use the gun to rob some banks. In a few days, the two of them collected a large amount of money from every bank they robbed.^[1]

Attacked by Agent Sitwell

"Just anything but, we can't, we can't go to jail"
"Look at him, he can't go to jail."
"Who said anything about jail?"

―Benjamin Pollack, Claire Wise and Jasper Sitwell^[src]

While in a motel to take a break from "work", Pollack is sent by Wise to the room besides theirs, so that he could ask the guys in there to turn down the volume of the music they were playing. In the other room, though, Pollack found a secret agent who had been following them, who easily knocked him out and tied him up. Pollack managed, anyway, to break the stereo with the music and to warn his girlfriend of the agent's presence; Wise used the gun to try to save him. During the fight, Pollack charged the agent to save Wise, but, in the process the gun is broken, and it shoots by itself destroying the room.^[1]

Joining S.H.I.E.L.D.

"Benjamin here is the latest addition to S.H.I.E.L.D.'s R&D think tank, he's going to help us reverse-engineer some of the alien tech."

―Jasper Sitwell to Felix Blake^[src]

When Jasper Sitwell, the agent who arrested them, realized that Pollack was the one who repaired the gun, he chose to enlist him instead of killing him. Pollack entered S.H.I.E.L.D. in the "R&D Think Tank" section, so that he could work for them reverse-engineering Chitauri technology recovered from the Battle of New York.^[1]

Abilities

Scientist: Pollack managed to reactivate a Chitauri gun with no prior experience with that weapon.

Relationships

Allies

Claire Wise - Girlfriend
S.H.I.E.L.D. (First Incarnation)
- Jasper Sitwell † - Enemy turned Colleague
- Felix Blake - Enemy turned Colleague

Trivia

Benjamin Pollack wore an Empire State University shirt during one of the robberies.
It is hinted during the credits of Marvel One-Shot: Item 47 that using Benjamin Pollack's knowledge, HYDRA was able to reactivate the Chitauri Guns and upgrade them into the HYDRA Tanks and weapons seen in Avengers: Age of Ultron.
Benny and Claire's names are very similar to the famous outlaws Bonnie and Clyde.