“Welcome to S.H.I.E.L.D!” — The Marvel Cinematic Universe’s First Television Series

The show’s first season is well-situated in the timeline of the Marvel Cinematic Universe — the episodes are directly connected to films such as Iron Man 3, Thor: The Dark World and Captain America: The Winter Soldier. The latter is specifically relevant as the plot of the last episodes of the show is directly and brilliantly related to the Hydra infiltration within Shield. Some cameos are establishing features of the connection between television and film: Nick Fury and Maria Hill, relevant characters in Marvel crossover films, appear in a few episodes on Season 1.

Agents of Shield presents to the audience some important and captivating characters, including Coulson’s original team: Skye/Daisy Johnson, Melinda May, Grant Ward, Leo Fitz and Jemma Simmons. The characters follow the found family trope (common in the superhero television genre, e.g. Marvel’s Runaways, CW’s The Flash…) and protagonize standard superhero television episode scripts, where a threat appears and is contained in 40 minutes. Some of these episodes tie into the MCU, with appearances by characters such as Jaimie Alexander’s Lady Sif.

The show gives the audience just enough time to connect to the characters before one of the most impactful plot twists in Marvel — one of Coulson’s agents is Hydra. Upon watching this show, I felt that it brought an emotional twist to the Hydra infiltration in Shield, something that was not greatly explored in the MCU films such as Captain America: The Winter Soldier. The infiltrated agent had connections to everyone in the team (either platonic or romantic — sometimes, both), which is precisely what lacked to make Brock “Crossbones” Rumlow’s are more impactful. S1 E22 is a must-watch for anyone who loved the tension and plotline in Captain America: The Winter Soldier, especially since it features a cameo by the iconic Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury.

The television series features great characters whose arcs are developed well in the other seasons — I would highlight Leo Fitz’s character development, one of the most haunting and layered stories in the MCU. Phil Coulson also gets a much needed and deserved development, making the audience appreciate the Avengers character even more.