Agents of SHIELD is back with a new episode, and this time they have actual references to actual Marvel comics and characters! That makes my job of recommending some comics to read after last night’s episode “Seeds” a lot easier. Let’s get started. (Spoilers. Obviously. Come on.)
First off, the villain-of-the-week this time around is none other than kind of obscure Iron Man B-lister Blizzard. If you want to know more about him, check out:
Iron Man #223
L’il Donnie Gill has a revamped origin story in Agents of SHIELD MCU timeline compared to the comics, but Donald Gill made his first appearance in Iron Man #223 as Blizzard. If there’s any question as to Blizzard’s second-class-villain status, he makes this initial appearance as a member of Justin Hammer’s “B-Team” made up of himself, Beetle, and Backlash.
This is where the character gets started, but Fitz’s insistence that he’s a good kid who can be reformed has roots in comics as well. He’s made some efforts to change his second-string bad guy ways a few times in the past but always seems to go back to a life of crime.
Besides introducing Gill and giving him a Blizzard backstory, the episode also made a passing reference to someone who’s about to become very relevant to the MCU. Did everyone catch the name Skye read off the “Wall of Valor”? It made us want to read:
Avengers #4
…and Avengers #56
Captain America’s sidekick Bucky’s death was a big deal in comics, but it was only seen in flashbacks. Avengers #4 came first, but it was a bigger event in #56. Bucky was seen in Captain America: The First Avenger and will be a key player in the sequel — not to give too much away.
Agents of SHIELD did a retroactive mention of Thor 2, but the mention of Bucky could be the first example of the show setting up (or at least mentioning) upcoming MCU movies. If you really want to be prepared, go read up on The Winter Soldier before the movie comes out in April.
(Image via Marvel Comics)
- Try some of this delicious SHIELD bread from The Kitchen Overlord
- Last week’s episode was a lot more difficult to draw picks from
- But it did show us our Agent Coulson theory was wrong
