The End of SHIELD

I started watching Agents of SHIELD back when I was working grave shifts in 2015. I’ve rewatched it twice since (once before Infinity War and once last year to get my wife up to date). It’s bittersweet to see the series come to an end this month, so i wanted to do some Top 5’s for the series. I’ve tried to avoid any specific spoilers from the series finale, but tread lightly.

MCU Cameos
Especially in the early days of SHIELD, we got MCU heroes and villains crossing over into the television universe. I’m excited to see this again with the Disney+ shows, but there was something special about it happening during Agents of SHIELD and Agent Carter, tying the universe together. So here are some of my favorites.

1. Agent Sousa
   It was a privilege to see Sousa return after so many years and put his straight-arrow attitude to work with the present-day SHIELD team.
2. Fury and Hill
   SHIELD Season 1 was the only to feature the present-day SHIELD in its original form. As such, you can’t do the original SHIELD without Fury and Hill.
3. Peggy and Howling Commandos
   Flashbacks gave us a glimpse into post-WWII Hydra and Cap’s team taking them down (or so they thought). You can never have enough Agent Carter.
4. Lady Sif
   Back before she dropped off the face of Marvel, Lady Sif made a couple appearances, allying herself with Coulson’s team. Those were the days.
5. Malick
   It was a small appearance in The Avengers, but before he was the Season 3 big bad, he was on the security council ordering a missile to hit NYC.

Favorite Story Arcs
After seven seasons, not every story arc is going to shine bright. But I still enjoyed them. Sometimes it was because it was so action-packed. Sometimes it was because the story was so intriguing.

1. After SHIELD’s fall (S1)The race against time to take down Garrett and Ward after SHIELD fell, it was the best part of Season 1. In some ways it was a bigger SHIELD vs Hydra story than Winter Soldier was. Instead of lasting a few hours during the big battle, this one lasted for days.
2. Time travel (S7)The last season felt a lot like Legends of Tomorrow to me. There’s just something enjoyable about time travel shenanigans. Not every episode or time period was that great, but overall I loved how the time travel adventures turned out.
3. Agents of Hydra (S4)The Framework was intense. We got evil Fitz and conspiracy-theorist Coulson. And again it was a race against the clock as SHIELD tried to stop Hydra again, with cameos from old friends and foes.
4. Hive’s Inhumans (S3)How creepy was zombie Daisy? With her being my favorite character I was going crazy waiting to see how this all played out. I think her deception and betrayal is what made this arc amazing for me. Didn’t see it coming.
5. Dystopian Future (S5)I’m not a fan of how this played out in the present-day, but SHIELD against the Kree was a fun match up for me. It was different than any other arc that SHIELD had done and you never knew where it was going to go.

Characters to Keep
I’m honestly not sure how they’d do this, since the timeline from Agents of SHIELD doesn’t directly line up with how Infinity War/Endgame did things, but I’d love to see some of our Agents pulled into the movies and/or Disney Plus series.

1. Quake
   She may be off in space now (maybe working for SWORD?) but Daisy Johnson was my favorite in SHIELD. And I loved her in Earth’s Mightiest Heroes. I’d love to see her as part of the Secret Avengers in the MCU.
2. Ghost Rider
   He was supposed to have his own show (it’s since been scrapped) but Ghost Rider would be an interesting story for the MCU. And you could use another incarnation of the Rider too, not just Robbie.
3. Mockingbird
   I was so bummed that Bobbi never came back. Even Lance came back for an episode after their send off. Like Daisy, I’d love to see Bobbi come back for Secret Avengers or something.
4. Agent May
   It’s hard to imagine Melinda May as a teacher, so I would love to see Fury pull her out of “retirement” for a new adventure. Maybe once we see what’s up with the Skrulls?
5. Agent Sousa
   It could kind of be implied that I want him back, since he's off astronaut-ing with Daisy. But honestly I'd just love him coming back period. Besides Peggy he was my favorite in Agent Carter and I loved getting him back in SHIELD.

Villains
In many ways, villains make a show what they are. They test the heroes. They make the plot intriguing. And SHIELD had no shortage of interesting villains to choose from.

1. AIDA and the Doctor
   It is NEVER a good idea to have robots think for themselves. Every movie proves that. But not only did AIDA go crazy, but she took Fitz with her. I swear my heart stopped when Fitz shot Agnes.
2. Sybil and Nathaniel
   I thought we were done with the Malicks, but then Nathaniel’s death was prevented and he started his big villain plan. Throw in there a time-traveling psychic robot and it gets really crazy.
3. Hive
   Ever since he appeared on Maveth, Hive was freaky. And then bringing Ward’s body back to life and brainwashing Inhumans. And then his Watchdog Putty Patroller guys. Creepy.
4. Jiaying
   It’s hard to get freakier than a mom who’s ready to finish her daughter in order to preserve her way of life. Her final battle was an intense one and I loved how Daisy’s anti-hero dad stepped in to save her.
5. Raina 
   I was disappointed with her story’s ending in Season 2, but in Season 1 while working with Garrett, Raina was mysterious and creepy in the best possible way. I was sad to see her story dissolve.

I’m going to miss our little SHIELD team. It changed over the years, but I’m glad they got a solid send off. I can only hope this won’t be the last time we see them.