Last night’s episode of Agents of SHIELD seemed to pull a lot more from the film universe than the comics one, but we’ve still managed to dig up some recommendations for you. We also have some new evidence to support our Agent Coulson theory.
The Chitauri, you’ll remember, featured prominently in The Avengers as the invading force in the attack on New York. Though we don’t see any actual Chitauri in “F.Z.Z.T.” we do see one of their helmets, and it happens to be carrying the bad guy of the week — a virus.
We don’t get a name for the virus in the episode, and we couldn’t find a precedent for a Chitauri virus in any comics, but we did find the Transmode Virus, which seems to work similarly to the virus we saw in SHIELD last night. That’s why you should check out:
We tracked down this issue because of the tie in to the Transmode Virus, but it actually has a number of similarities to the attack on New York from The Avengers. The most obvious is that it’s set in New York, but it also features a dimensional gate opening up over the city. When the gate is open, demons swarm out and invade.
Swap out the pentagram and demons from New Mutants with the Cosmic Cube and Chitauri, and you’ve basically got the climactic scene of The Avengers.
From page 1 of New Mutants #72. Look familiar?
The story of New Avengers #72 has the first appearance of the Transmode Virus, which isn’t exactly the same thing we saw in SHIELD, but is similar in that it seems to work on electricity. The Chitauri virus from SHIELD was transmitted through an electrical charge and killed its victims through a severe electrical overload. The Transmode Virus is also electrically based, but seems to turn those it infects into some kind of cyborg.
Maybe this won’t be the last we see of the virus in SHIELD.
As for the Chitauri themselves, if you want to see more of them check out:
The Chitauri first appeared in The Ultimates #8. This issue, besides introducing the Chitauri, has them battling Hawkeye and Black Widow in New York. Again — sound familiar? There were some strong parallels between The Avengers and The Ultimates, so we think it’s a series worth checking out if you’re looking to delve deeper into the world.
Also mentioned in SHIELD last night was Fitz and Simmons‘ time on the Psi-Division of SHIELD. We don’t want to completely give away a story point of The Ultimates or a possible one for SHIELD, but we think it’s worth pointing out that it probably wasn’t a passing line. Their time in the Psi-Division is likely to come up again.
Agent Coulson Theory/Prediction Update!
We have a theory about what’s up with Agent Coulson, and “F.Z.Z.T.” provided loads of evidence to support it. Don’t want to know? Then stop reading right now and go about your day.
The Coulson in SHIELD is a Life Model Decoy.
This is the first episode where we see that Coulson himself is aware that something’s wrong with him. He’s ordered some doctor’s tests to try to figure it out. What he finds is that he’s not sick — he’s much healthier than he should be. Simmons tells him he has the body of a man half his age.
When we posted our theory, a number of readers countered with one of their own, saying Coulson isn’t a Life Model Decoy. Instead, they said, he was resurrected magically by Doctor Strange. To support that, many pointed to the repeating phrase “It’s a magical place” whenever someone mentions Tahiti around coulson. To that, we point to the word “rusty” being repeated a few times now as well.
We think the case for LMD is stronger than the one for a magical resurrection. Any magic we’ve seen so far in the Marvel Cinematic Universe has been explained through science. Thor even delivers a catch-all line about magic just being science we don’t understand in his first film. It also seems like an odd choice to have Doctor Strange provide such a huge event to the universe without being introduced to it first.
There’s a Doctor Strange movie in the works, so it’s likely we’ll see some kind of crossover eventually. We’re not ready to rule out the magic theory entirely, but we still think we’re right with Life Model Decoy.
In “F.Z.Z.T.” Coulson and May have a discussion about Coulson’s near-death/regular-death experience. He insists it was longer than eight seconds, and she tells him that he’s a different Phil Coulson than the one he was before.
(via Marvel Database, image via Agents of Shield)
- Here’s our case for the Life Model Decoy theory
- Get caught up on comics after episode 5 “Girl in the Flower Dress”
- Check out our recommendations after the show’s pilot as well
