Last night’s SHIELD brought back the superpowered Michael Peterson, as well as some earlier baddies for the mid-season finale. Frankly we were pretty happy to see some more of the larger story start to come together, and overall were a lot more impressed with this episode than the last one. Now, here are some comics you should read.
After seeing him again last night, we’re pretty sure SHIELD’s Michael Peterson just coincidentally has the same name as Slapstick’s Michael Peterson we pointed out after the pilot episode. That said, we did see some parallels with another character in the Marvel universe, and that’s why you should read:
SHIELD’s Michael Peterson reminds us of The Young Avengers’ Patriot, Eli Bradley. Yes, they’re both black men with super strength, but that’s their most superficial connection. Bradley, like Peterson, started his career as a hero through deception. He lied about the origins of his powers, saying they came from a blood transfusion with his grandfather, who was part of the Super Soldier program. In reality he got them through the use of Mutant Growth Hormone, which, like “Centipede,” artificially gives humans temporary powers.
Peterson’s entry into the world of heroics had a similarly deceptive start, with him hiding his powers in the first episode of SHIELD, and as the centipede/extremis in his system got unstable, so did he. Abusing MGH also has negative effects, though it doesn’t make you explode.
There’s also the Captain America tie-in. Patriot overtly modeled himself after Cap, and even tied his fake origin story to the Super Soldier program. Peterson asks a SHIELD agent at the training facility if he beat Cap’s time in one exercise.
Philosophically, both men are striving to prove that they’re heroes, and are willing to go to great lengths to do so.
It’s far from a one-to-one correlation, and we’re certainly not saying Peterson is an on-screen Patriot, but there are enough similarities that we think it’s worth checking out a few issues of The Young Avengers, especially because it’s a story arc we happen to love.
As for some other returning characters, The Girl in the Flower Dress finally gets a name — Raina. There is a Raina in Marvel comics, but unless SHIELD is about to get a lot weirder, it’s probably not the same Raina from:
This Raina is a villain from The Savage Land who is a mutant of the Saurid race. She has teeth, claws, super strength, and agility. The Marvel Wiki describes her as basically being an evil Beast. Since The Girl in the Flower Dress doesn’t seem to have any claws and has yet to do anything Beast-like, we’re assuming this is just another coincidence.
Whoever she is, she’s really into figuring out what Agent Coulson’s deal is. We predicted earlier that this was the episode where we’d find out what happened after he died, but it looks like they’re teasing it out a bit longer. Maybe when the show comes back?
(Images via Marvel)
- We had a tough time pulling comics from last week’s episode, also had a tough time watching it
- Not all Marvel adaptations are great. These obscure ones, for example, are terrible
- More live action Marvel shows are coming to Netflix and we’re pumped for Daredevil
