Full Disclosure: I am writing this as if I have not seen Captain America: The Winter Soldier. It is being written from the perspective I had when saw the most recent episode of Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. prior to seeing the film. So this article only features spoilers on the show, not the film.
“Don’t trust anyone”
If you have seen some of the clips released of Captain America: The Winter Soldier, you know that these are the last words Nick Fury spoke to Steve Rodgers prior to the director of S.H.I.E.L.D. being sent to the hospital by the Winter Soldier. Tonight’s episode of Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. shows that Coulson and his team need to take that mentality as well.
During the “Uprising” story arc, the publicity folks keep reminding us that “it’s all connected”. But I believe that extends beyond the show and that the series and the small picture coming out this Friday are connected as well. They have made it clear that the series take place in the same universe. With S.H.I.E.L.D. taking a big role in the movie, let’s take a look at tonight’s episode of the series, “The End of the Beginning” to see if where it left us can provide clues as to what the world will look like in Captain America: The Winter Soldier. So far, it looks like in the world of Marvel, no one can be trusted.
Anyone familiar with the comics knew not to trust Victoria Hand (played by Saffron Burrows). She rose to prominence during a dark time in S.H.I.E.L.D.S. history by working with Norman Osborne to subvert our favorite heroes. In the end, she ended up being a triple agent and died a hero’s death. But while she proved herself in the end, she was never the trustworthiest character. In tonight’s episode she show us that she wants to kill everyone on “the bus” except Coulson, it is implied she is not on the right side this time. But we have to wonder why does she want to kill the team? Does it have anything to do with the events of Cap 2?
But the major question is if she the Clairvoyant? There are many other prominent S.H.I.E.L.D. agents who could fit the bill. During the episode we see Jasper Sitwell (Maximiliano Hernandez) being sent from the TV story to a vessel in the sea. He received his orders from the Triseklion, S.H.I.E.L.D.’s headquarters that feature prominently in Captain America: The Winter Soldier. In the comics Sitwell can be trusted for the most part. However at a point Hydra brainwashed him as part of a plot against Nick Fury. He was deprogrammed and was loyal until his death by a brainwashed Black Widow. That’s a lot of brainwashing. Perhaps someone is brainwashing S.H.I.E.L.D. agents. What role will he play in the movie? He must have an important role if S.H.I.E.L.D. is willing to move him from the Clairvoyant manhunt to a boat in the middle of the ocean.
Another S.H.I.E.L.D. agent we are wondering if we can trust is Bill Paxton’s John Garrett. A cyborg in the comics, we know little of his past except the tall tales he spins, but he has not given us any reason not to trust him. Despite Paxton being a movie star, he has yet to appear on screen. We have no reason to believe he will play any role in Cap 2, but that doesn’t mean he won’t have to deal with the repercussions of the movie and today’s episode of the series.
An agent that we are not trusting right now is Melinda May. She has a secure phone line and is providing updates to someone. We do not know who she is leaving those messages for. Throughout the series we have learned that even good guys keep secrets, so it is plausible that she is keeping a secret to protect someone or something, but her actions do give us doubt. As a Disney fan, it is hard to think of Mulan as a villain. I do believe she is able to keep a secret for the right reasons. Perhaps she is on the right side after all.
Fury designed S.H.I.E.L.D. to hold secrets. He has reasons to, as apparently there are less than trustworthy people in his organization. But when he keeps these secrets from folks like Coulson, it makes him untrustworthy. Yet the one person who does not seem to be involved in the conspiracy is Fury. The Clairvoyant does not know how Coulson came back because Fury kept that a secret from the rest of S.H.I.E.L.D.. Perhaps Fury’s trust-issues and secret keeping turned out to be a good thing. The comics have shown that the superspy organization is never beyond reproach. While its goals may have humanities best interests at heart, whenever you create a bureaucracy as S.H.I.E.L.D. bad seeds get in and the organization tends to get too big to even notice. By keeping something off-grid Fury is able to go around the system. I am sure that is against the rules, but Fury is the model of breaking the rules for the right reasons. Remember, he ignored the order from the World Security Council in The Avengers in order to prevent a nuke hitting Manhattan.
After tonight it is clear that there is at least one person in S.H.I.E.L.D. that is a “bad guy”. What does that mean for Captain America? He joined S.H.I.E.L.D. to continue serving his country. The fact that it was co-founded by his “best girl” Peggy Carter probably help him pledge his allegiance to the organization. And as Coulson proves, there are good people in S.H.I.E.L.D. but as with any organization there are bound to be some bad eggs. What we will have to figure out is who those bad eggs are and how many there are.
When Nick Fury says, “Don’t trust anyone,” it implies that the bad guys have either infiltrated the highest levels of S.H.I.E.L.D. and/or are throughout the organization. While I am sure we will Cap will save the day in his film, the nature of television means the ramifications of whatever is going on with S.H.I.E.L.D. will take some time to resolve; at least until the season finale. But with a series called Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. the one thing we can count on is that the organization isn’t going anywhere. After all, they wouldn’t want to change the name of the show.
Right?
Get some clues as to what is going on within S.H.I.E.L.D. in Captain America: The Winter Soldier. Find out what ramifications this has for our favorite ragtag team of S.H.I.E.L.D. agents in next week’s episode. “Turn, Turn, Turn” airs April 8 at 8/7c on ABC.