NO GUTS NO FURY

With AGENTS OF S.H.I.E.L.D. entering its final season, we prepare to say goodbye with a look back over its six years in the line of duty...

- Ed Fortune

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. has always been something of the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s weird relative. Launched on the back of the MCU’s Phase One and featuring Clark Gregg as his iconic Avengers Assemble character Phil Coulson, Season 7 will be the last instalment of the long-running show, finally putting to rest what has been a lengthy and rather unexpected journey for fans. What better time to kick back and remind ourselves where the story has taken us so far! (We’ll tread lightly around some of the juicier revelations, so if you’re planning on starting the show from Season 1, there will be still plenty to surprise you!)

It’s been a pretty weird ride so far. Season 1 was, at best, a little bit iffy. Though S.H.I.E.L.D. is a long-established part of Marvel comics, the first few episodes struggled to capture the ‘leather and bottled air’ super-spy vibe of the source material, leaning a little too hard on the movies to lend itself some credibility. But as it gathered momentum, it became rather awesome. It started off gently; the odd reference to Thor: The Dark World and a guest star or two. In the early seasons, they were more keen to pull audiences in with movie tie-in gimmicks, and more able to do so.

This meant that thing that happened in the movies affected the show’s plot. Back in 2014, it was entirely possible that you could go see Captain America: The Winter Soldier and then turn on the TV to discover that the events you just saw had twisted the plot of the TV show.