Every Time Agents Of SHIELD Referenced The MCU

It may not be considered official canon by many viewers, but Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. references the Marvel Cinematic Universe on numerous occasions throughout its long run. Initially created to tie into the MCU movies, S.H.I.E.L.D. mentioned important characters and events from the films while also tying them into how they affect the storylines in the show.

The earlier seasons of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. referenced the MCU heavily before delving more into original storylines that Coulson's team could be involved with. Seasons one through three mentioned events like the Battle of New York and Project Insight before introducing characters that haven't appeared in the MCU yet such as Deathlok and Ghost Rider. But given that Marvel has been able to bring in characters from their Netflix shows, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. characters could the MCU as well in future phases.

Phil Coulson

Agent Coulson on the Helicarrier in The Avengers

After being killed by Loki in The Avengers, Phil Coulson is resurrected and forms his own team that investigates unclassified cases. Clark Gregg reprises his role for all seven seasons, but he also portrays alternate versions of the character in the form of Chronicoms and an antagonistic alien that resembles Coulson. His resurrection is a pivotal storyline in the first two seasons as he discovers the truth behind it and how it drives him crazy in season 2 when he begins making carvings into the wall. Coulson's cellist girlfriend first mentioned in The Avengers also makes an appearance in a season 1 episode.

Maria Hill

Cobie Smulders returns as Maria Hill in season 1 to recruit Ward for Coulson's team. She returns later in order to try to persuade him to stay loyal to S.H.I.E.L.D. after learning he was a member of HYDRA. She also makes a brief appearance in season 2 leading up to Avengers: Age of Ultron when she speaks with Coulson about Loki's missing scepter.

Nick Fury

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. is incredibly popular, so it's fitting that one of Marvel's most popular characters, Nick Fury, would make an appearance. Fury appears at the end of the second episode of season 1 to reprimand Coulson for damaging the Bus that the team flies in. He returns in the season finale to save FitzSimmons from the ocean and goes on to appoint Coulson as the new director of S.H.I.E.L.D. It's also confirmed that Fury was the one who ordered Coulson's resurrection using untested alien tech, which creates a point of tension between the two.

Jasper Sitwell

HYDRA sleeper agent Jasper Sitwell appears sporadically throughout season 1. Sitwell also goes on to have a more significant role when helping search for the Clairvoyant. A younger version of Sitwell appears in a flashback in season 5 when he attended HYDRA Academy and was assigned to infiltrate S.H.I.E.L.D.

Sif

Months after appearing in Thor: The Dark World, Sif teams up with the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents to track down an escaped Asgardian enthraller named Lorelei. In season 2, Sif's mind is erased after fighting a member of the Kree that is seeking to kill Inhumans. After the Inhuman restores her memory, she seeks to help him hunt down Skye, but she changes her mind after witnessing Skye incapacitate herself to avoid harming anyone.

Battle of New York

As did Avengers: Endgame, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. also revisited the Battle of New York, focusing more on its aftermath. Coulson's team was formed in response to the battle, and season 1 references the event frequently. In episode 6, "FZZT," a New York firefighter was infected with a deadly virus after coming into with a Chitauri helmet that was recovered from the battle. It was a poignant scene that touched on the aftermath of citizens that were affected by the events of The Avengers, and it also saw Coulson comforting a man that was going to die by sharing his own experience with death.

Post-Battle Clean-Up

Thor in the middle of battle in Thor: The Dark World

After the final battle of Thor: The Dark World took place, Coulson's team was sent to Greenwich to help clean up the mess that Malekith's reign left behind. This was likely before Marvel decided to have the Department for Damage Control become a prominent part of the MCU. In season 1, episode 8 "The Well", the opening scene sees the team cleaning up and Jemma Simmons complaining about how there was a "ginormous mess to clean up" in the wake of the big battle.

Project Insight

Concurrent to the theatrical release of Captain America: The Winter Soldier, a story arc was featured in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. that saw the agents reacting in real-time as they learned that HYDRA had been infiltrating S.H.I.E.L.D. for decades. Footage was also shown of Captain America destroying the Helicarriers. Winter Soldier's twist ending altered Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s story moving forward due to wanting to acknowledge the organization being demolished. It also took a page out of Winter Soldier's book by having a member of Coulson's team reveal that he was a sleeper agent for HYDRA all along.

The Avengers

All the OG Avengers line up in the first film

In the early seasons, the Avengers were referenced in nearly every episode. The opening scene shows footage from previous Marvel movies and also sees a child staring at Avengers action figures through a store window. Maria Hill mentions in the pilot episode how much the world has changed since a billionaire began flying around in a metal suit, a superhero from the 1940s was unfrozen from a block of ice, and a god with a hammer fell from the sky. When Phil Coulson welcomed Ward to clearance Level 7, footage was displayed from battles seen in the first two Iron Man films and The Incredible Hulk. Coulson also later explained to Ward that when Tony Stark first ed the Avengers, it was only as a consultant before officially ing the team as Iron Man.

Agent Carter

While Peggy Carter's Endgame appearance linked to Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. in its final season, the character made appearances via flashbacks in season 2. Captain America's flame was seen apprehending and interrogating Daniel Whitehall, a former HYDRA leader. Season 3 also references Peggy's Civil War ing through a newspaper clipping. This was a great reference since she was a founding member of S.H.I.E.L.D. post-World War II.

The Agent Carter series was also tied into S.H.I.E.L.D. by bringing Peggy's love interest Daniel Sousa into the fold in season 7. While Peggy and Sousa ended up together by the end of her titular series, Avengers: Endgame and S.H.I.E.L.D. confirmed that it never worked out between the two since she went on to live happily with Steve Rogers in an alternate timeline, and Sousa himself mentions their break-up.

Sokovia Accords

To acknowledge the events of Captain America: Civil War, the Sokovia Accords were also brought into Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. The Sokovia Accords' known rules in the MCU were that any member of the Avengers or other enhanced individuals had to sign, or they would be forced to retire to avoid incarceration for using their powers without government authority. For S.H.I.E.LD., it required that Inhumans and other enhanced people were to sign. While it was a difficult choice whether to sign for some, this was also crucial for establishing S.H.I.E.L.D. as a legitimate organization once again.

Infinity War

While the aftermath of Avengers: Infinity War was never acknowledged on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., the final episodes of season 5 referenced the Black Order invasion of New York, and Glenn Talbot's Graviton was prepared to fight Thanos before he wreaked havoc on the planet. Thanos was mentioned by name, but he and the of the Black Order did not make a physical appearance.

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s season 6 canon issues completely ignored the events of Thanos' snap, and none of the agents were blipped out of existence. The season is set one year after the snap, but the world didn't seem to be in disarray after half of the planet's population was decimated. Even when the agents spend time in space, the other planets visited don't appear to have lost half of their people. The use of time travel could have created an alternate timeline that didn't see Thanos accomplish his mission, but it's never explicitly addressed.

Quantum Realm

The final season of Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. saw the team traveling through time in nearly every episode. In the final episode, Fitz reappeared from his temporary isolation to explain to his colleagues that the only way for the team to return to their original timeline would be by traveling through the Quantum Realm. Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s final MCU reference was a great way to tie the series back into the MCU since the Quantum Realm was a major aspect in Avengers: Endgame, which closed out the Infinity Saga. It explained how the longest-running Marvel television series could still be considered canon to the larger MCU through the Multiverse.

Next: Agents of SHIELD Beat The MCU To Its Phase 4 Multiverse Twists