Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Confirms Victoria Hand for Next Week

As was previously reported on rumor sites around the Internet, Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. will import Victoria Hand--a sometimes-villainous member of S.H.I.E.L.D. and later H.A.M.M.E.R. from the comic books--into the show beginning with next week's episode. Hand will also be, by our reckoning, the first LGBT character to appear in the Marvel Cinematic Universe; her comic book counterpart is a lesbian. She'll be introduced, according to Marvel, in a capacity where she (along with Blake) will be giving Coulson a hard time after he disobeyed orders in the most recent episode. Back at S.H.I.E.L.D. HQ, Hand will be one of a number of characters not happy with the way Coulson has been running his little dream team.

Expect this to mirror the council of elders that hassled Nick Fury in The Avengers, and to play into Captain America: The Winter Soldier's schism within S.H.I.E.L.D. as an organization. Saffron Burrows will play the character.