Claire Weiss

Claire Weiss is a fictional bank robber and scientist featured in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Played by actress Lizzy Caplan, she appeared in the 2012 mini-movie Marvel One-Shot: Item 47.

Biography
Claire Weiss was a low-level thief who was romantically involved with a man named Benjamin "Bennie" Pollack. They discovered a piece of Chitauri alien technology left behind from the alien invasion during the Battle of New York. This miraculous piece of weaponry, which seemingly fell into their laps was one of the few unaccounted items that had not been recovered by S.H.I.E.L.D. and Benny managed to reverse engineer it to get it to work. Claire took this as a sign and stated that she did not want to wait for someone else to hand them an opportunity and that it was time to take a chance for themselves.

They executed a series of bank robberies all across the country and ultimately found themselves in Allentown, Pennsylvania. Donning masks, they broke into the bank and Bennie blasted the vault with the alien weapon, while Claire gathered the money. After successfully avoiding capture, they drove to South Florida, where they rented a room at a motel. They were overjoyed at their recent good fortune and Claire counted all of the money, declaring that they had enough to do whatever they wanted.

They suddenly head a lot of loud music and partying coming from the room next door. Bennie went to check it out, but it was actually a trap set for them by S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Jasper Sitwell. Sitwell captured Bennie, but he managed to shout a warning to Claire in the next room, who picked up the alien hardware and fired two shots through the wall into the next room. Sitwell grappled with Claire, during which time, the weapon flew from her grasp and went off, incinerating all of their money. After a brief interrogation, Sitwell determined that Bennie's intellect and Claire's resourcefulness would be better served in the service of S.H.I.E.L.D., so he recruited them. Claire became the personal assistant of another S.H.I.E.L.D. agent named Blake.

Notes & Trivia



 * is exclusive to the continuity of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. At the time of his first appearance, he did not have a counterpart in the mainstream Marvel Universe.


 * The names Bennie and Claire are taken from Bonnie & Clyde (Bonnie Elizabeth Parker and Clyde Chestnut Barrow), two infamous American outlaws who committed a series of bank robberies during the Great Depression.


 * Actress Lizzy Caplan is best known for playing the role of monster parasite victim Marlena Diamond in the J.J. Abrams film Cloverfield. She also played Tina Greer on two episodes of Smallville.