With the closing to a chapter of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) dawning on us, lots of people were talking about how all the previous 22 films drew us to an epic conclusion. With a whopping initial plan of 3 hours 2 minutes run, ‘Avengers: Endgame’ could make history in a short period of time. However, with all these talks going on, people might have forgotten the MCU’s link in the television space. For that I was not referring to the ill-fated but occasional critical hit series on Netflix, but ‘The Agents of SHIELD’ on the Disney owned ABC.
As a spin off series from the MCU featuring the #SaveCoulson SHIELD agent Phil Coulson, ‘The Agents of SHIELD’ had initially acted as a bridging device for some of the plot points in the movies that cannot be elaborated on screen. In the first seasons the series was tightly knitted with the Avengers movies, including the resurrection of Coulson from the Battle of New York in the first Avengers movie, the fall of SHIELD in ‘Captain America: The Winter Soldier’, the repair of the Hellicarrier for Nick Fury in ‘Avengers: Age of Ultron’ and the aftermath of the ‘Sokovia Accords’ in ‘Captain America: Civil War’ etc. Throughout its initial 3 seasons, ‘The Agents of SHIELD’ while pursuing its own stories provided significant continuation of background stories for their MCU counterparts.
However, this doesn’t mean that the series is nothing more than a bridging device. While the MCU continued the Infinity Saga in a large-scale about those much love superheroes, ‘The Agents of SHIELD’ deals with how what happened in the movies had an impact on the ground level, when not everyone has superpowers. It was this point of difference that initially drew me to the series. It was about technology, science, and strategies because these agents do not have photon blasts or super serum to make them invincible (well until ‘The Infinity War’ at least). What they were dealing with, initially with Hydra were really about battle tactics.
Nonetheless, as the series proceeded, ‘The Agents of SHIELD’ sprung into its own life. The major plot twist provided in the first season with Hydra might have gotten the series the much needed exposure and attention, but it was what they introduced, and successfully, to the MCU that the movie could not dealt with that built its own unique Identity. From season two, the Inhumans were introduced (not the ill-fated God forsaken movie turned TV series turned disaster), whom in season 3 led a huge charge for the storyline to move forward. Season 3 of ‘The Agents of SHIELD’ was practically Inhumans in the MCU did right. From Season 4 onward, ‘The Agents of SHIELD’ excelled with its ground level approach under the influence of the bigger picture. The clouds of the Sokovia Accords had hugely impacted the existence of Inhumans, both politically and socially but it was because of this with the introduction of the Life Decoy Models (LMDs) that brought the series to a different direction. The introduction of a proper Ghost Rider that tied in to the LMD and later the Framework storylines demonstrated that ‘The Agents of SHILED’ had successfully established itself as a grounded series within the grander universe in the MCU. Season 4 of the series delivered some of the best narratives within the MCU. So I was not surprised that fans were up in arms and fired up when initially ABC wanted to cancel the series. The series had established its own cult following. While being more demanding for the audience to follow the stories than its movie counterparts, ‘The Agents of SHIELD’ continued to lay groundworks for the movies when telling their own stories.
Disney’s direct intervention to ABC resulted in the 5th Season of ‘The Agents of SHIELD’ though ABC had cut the budget significantly for the production. As a result, the producers brought the series to a confined space station in the outer space to save cost. The sadistic tyranny displayed by the Kree introduced in this season laid the groundworks for the Krees in ‘Captain Marvel’ as the audience who had follow the series would have had no doubt questioning the motivations of all the Kree members in Captain Marvel’s team.
By Season 5, the Inhumans are already firmly established in the world of ‘The Agents of SHIELD’. Despite having all that power, what I liked about how the series is how they treated the Inhumans storylines. Inhumans in the series were individuals who happened to have those powers that they did not ask for. Their struggles and identity crisis and the discrimination against them were fully and thoroughly explored. That made them a lot more human than superheroes as compared to the movie counterparts. And for me, it made me feel these characters are more real, and I would care about them.
The fate of the series was thrown into uncertainty when ABC decided to just renew it for a shorten season for 2019. A lot of followers considered this as a signed of rebellion from ABC against Disney to cancel and wrap up the show, despite having delivered solid storytelling and further following for the series in Season 5 by the show. Reassurance of commitment to the series came after the Marvel Studio and ABC explained the reason for the shorter season was to avoid providing any spoiler for ‘Avengers: Endgame’ because if the season continued during from the Fall to April, it would have no choice but to talk about and show the aftermath of the Decimation as Season 5 finished right before the Decimation. This could spoil a lot of stories for ‘Endgame’. Fans were treated an early Christmas when ABC announced the ordering of the 7th Season as they debut the trailer for Season 6.
With the current MCU story arc finishing in April 2019, it is unknown what direction ‘The Agents of SHIELD’ would go or what role it would play in the bigger MCU. The show’s integration with the movies were too tight to just completely separate it. Only time will tell what would happen but the fact that Phil Coulson re-appeared in ‘Captain Marvel’ it was a timely reminder for people who once loved this SHIELD agent and demanded his resurrection. In a time when Disney is preparing for its own streaming channel with MCU tied in original series on its own platform, and the demise of the Netflix series, how ‘The Agents of SHIELD’ would move forward would be the most interesting to see.
