SDCC: Everything we learned from Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. panel

Today’s lineup of panels at San Diego Comic-Con included one for Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD. Here’s everything we learned from the presentation.

At the panel for Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD, the cast and show’s producers showed up to give fans an excellent tease of what’s to come in the remaining episodes of Season Six, as well as a more in-depth breakdown of the past five seasons.

The most interesting tidbit was the reveal that Season Seven would wrap up the series. ABC only recently made the announcement, giving fans in attendance of the SDCC panel a reason to pause. That didn’t make the panel any less spectacular but audience reception to the decision wasn’t well-received. A loud groan could be heard from attendees when they learned that Agents of SHIELD would be canceled.

On top of the move being a shocking one, that means Cloak And Dagger is the last Marvel series still on network television. Legion is wrapping up its third and final season on FX and the various Hulu series in development are exclusive to the streamer. No exact cause has been attributed to SHIELD’s cancellation, though it’s probably due to Disney/Marvel’s launch of Disney Plus.

The Disney Plus streaming service will become the exclusive home to stream all Marvel series from — with the exception of Hulu’s original series like Ghost Rider, Helstrom, and their animated collaborations — once Legion and Cloak And Dagger complete their runs.

Warning! Spoilers for the upcoming episodes of Agents of SHIELD follow. Read on at your own discretion.

As far as what the panelists in attendance revealed, the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. team allowed Jeph Loeb to take the lead, moderating the panel in a speedy manner. He introduced a retrospective montage of prior seasons then asked the cast in attendance their opinions, looking back on all of it now.

The more tantalizing information was revealed towards the panel’s conclusion wherein Jeph Loeb unveiled a sneak peek at the Season Six Finale. Fans who viewed the promo for “Leap” know that Agent May (Ming-Na Wen) will be charged with Sarge’s murder but not everything is as it seems.

Apparently, Sarge (Clark Gregg) isn’t dead after all — he’s actually slowly regenerating, becoming stronger than before. The clip shown at SDCC revealed that Sarge also possesses some enhanced abilities of his own. The origins of Sarge’s powers are unknown, though our guess is he’s becoming an Inhuman as he was initially supposed to when Coulson caught the Terrigen crystal in his hand.

The newly released clip also confirms that Izel (Karolina Wydra) hasn’t perished either. She can be seen serenading her Shrike creatures, summoning them to her side. The strange thing is her siren song seems to be calling the newly powered-up Sarge to her. Is he one of her minions?

Dialogue in the recently released clip also hints at Izel unlocking Sarge’s old memories, presumably those belonging to Phil Coulson. Could it be that Sarge is, in fact, a parallel version of the Prime universe’s Agent Phil Coulson?

Lastly, here are a few highlights from the SDCC panel which didn’t fall into any particular category but are noteworthy. Check them out below:

• Season 7 nearing the end of production

During Jeph Loeb’s brief commentary about Season 7, he mentioned that they just wrapped on the final episode. They still need to complete season seven’s post-production process but that doesn’t change the fact that Agents of SHIELD’s producers are fast-tracking their final season for its’ release. Could this be a sign they’re trying to speed up the timeline so SHIELD can rejoin the Avengers in the MCU?

• Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Season 6 takes place before Avengers: Endgame

It was said very quickly but Jeph Loeb confirmed to audiences that the past season of Agents of SHIELD took place before the events of Avengers: Endgame. Loeb ran through the line quickly during a lightning round of questions from the audiences so he didn’t elaborate on the subject. However, this development implies S.H.I.E.L.D. could eventually feel the snap and its’ aftermath. Of course, we all know Thanos’ actions will be reversed at some point — unless the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. universe has diverged onto its’ own parallel strand of time due to the team altering history.

• Izel will reassemble the Monoliths

Despite their efforts to keep knowledge of the Monoliths from Izel, Simmons (Elisabeth Henstridge) and Fitz (Iain De Castecker) are more than likely going to help the Shrike queen reassemble them, evidenced by the images shown.

The problem is we have no idea what she could be planning on doing with them. Is she resurrecting an army of demons? Is she simply trying to go back in time to save someone? Or does she intend to destroy time altogether? All of these are distinct possibilities to consider.

• Next episode will add more to Sarge’s origin

When asked whether or not “Leap” would explore more of Sarge’s origin, Jeph Loeb gave a very vague response, saying that this week’s episode would answer that question and much more. And while his comments didn’t reveal much, the promo already gives us a good idea of what to expect. Plus, the episode is less than a day away so we shouldn’t have to ponder on it too much.

What did you think of the Agents of SHIELD panel at SDCC? Let us know in the comments section below.

Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. airs Fridays on ABC. Season 6 is currently streaming on Hulu. Stay tuned for more updates on everything Marvel-related as coverage of San Diego Comic-Con continues.

(Source: The Hollywood Reporter)