THE
MARVEL UNIVERSE is big. Like really, really big. And
S.H.I.E.L.D. stands right at the center of it, the singular dot that connects
the Avengers, Agent Carter, the Howling Commandos, the Inhumans, and a whole
lot of extremely weird alien stuff.
On the books, S.H.I.E.L.D. means the “Strategic
Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division.” But in the words of
Director Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson), “The principle S.H.I.E.L.D. was
founded on was pure … Protection. One word. Sometimes to protect one man from
himself, other times to protect the planet against an alien invasion from
another universe. It’s a broad job description.”
S.H.I.E.L.D. has been a part of the Marvel Universe
since 1965 and is now essentially the FBI of the MCU. Founded by Peggy
Carter and Friends in the aftermath World War II and the apparent defeat of
Hydra, S.H.I.E.L.D. was intended to be humanity’s last defense. Under the
watchful eye of Director Fury, S.H.I.E.L.D. defuses threats in the present day
with an army of agents, an arsenal of really cool(/deadly) toys, and a little
something called the Avengers Initiative.
In Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. TV
show, though, we follow the goings-on in the outfit via Phil Coulson
(Clark Gregg): friend of the Avengers, exemplary S.H.I.E.L.D.
agent, and actual dead man. Following an eight-second foray into the
afterlife courtesy of Tom Hiddleston’s Loki (Asgard’s Draco Malfoy) in The Avengers, Agent Coulson finds himself miraculously
alive and returning to S.H.I.E.L.D. to assemble a carefully curated team of
agents to tackle mounting threats both domestic and international.
With the exception of Agent Coulson, all of the
characters in the show’s ensemble are original, and new to the Marvel
Universe. Well, kind of, but more on that later. Agents Melinda May
(Ming-Na Wen), Grant Ward (Brett Dalton), Jemma Simmons (Elizabeth Henstridge)
and Leo Fitz (Iain De Caestecker) make up the original team, but are soon
joined by Skye (Chloe Bennet), a hacker-turned-S.H.I.E.L.D. asset and consultant.
For much of the first season, they chase down alien artifacts, lock up
superhuman bad guys, and track down the ultra-sketchy origins of an influx of
“gifted” individuals playing host to an unstable compound known as “Extremis.”
Like most shows, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. used its first episodes to find
its footing and develop its tone. Unlike most shows, however, it was
also tip-toeing around the complex and devastating plot line of one of Marvel’s
biggest films.
In Episode 17 of the first season, the
show’s plot makes direct contact with that of Captain America: The Winter
Soldier. Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. was a
fundamentally different show after that, and not just because (spoiler)
S.H.I.E.L.D. all but burned to the ground while Hydra held the match (or helicarrier,
as it were). After Winter Soldier, it
seemed as though Marvel removed the leash, leaving Agents of
S.H.I.E.L.D. free to explore some of the dark, strange and
poorly-lit corners of the Marvel Universe.
Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. is, at its
core, easy to love. It’s fun and dark and bizarre and deeply Marvel. It’s also
got some of the niftiest gadgets on TV, enjoys an origin story that spans
decades, and has some seriously stellar guest stars and tie-ins.
Suit up and grab a Night-Night gun—wheels up in five.
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