Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: Easter Eggs and Marvel Comics References in "Providence"

Generally, when Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. hits the airwaves, you might find four or five subtle nods to the Marvel Comics universe on the show, but it's not like Arrow, where every week we can fill up an article ticking off little boxes and writing a few words about a dozen or more clever references. This week...well, that's a little different. Tonight's episode of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. broke the meter. Of course, some of the stuff we spotted is thematic stuff that's not overt and may just be us reading between the lines -- but in a dozen or so cases, there was an explicit callback to a previous episode or nod to Marvel Comics. As such, we're going to try and make it quick while we work down our list of all the cool stuff we spotted this week.

The (first) prison break) Again, we get a prison break that's all violence and gunfire, except around the object of the breakout, whose weird little quirk is revealed. This is a kind of quiet callback to when they broke Edison Po out, while he sat quietly eating and chaos erupted around him. Here, it's Raina being delivered her flower dress while making little origami flowers. It's also interesting that that Raina doesn't rate high enough on the food chain to know that Ward was working with them. Then again, she didn't know the nature of her employer, either, so it seems as though she's on a need-to-know basis about a lot of things. Captain America: The Winter Soldier Footage from Cap 2 on the news report toward the beginning of the episode, including the falling Helicarriers at the Triskelion. Coulson references the Triskelion battle as well.

"You didn't tell her?" There is no way this is intentional, but it is kind of fun. That scene where Ward scoffs at the realization that Raina hasn't been told Garrett's secret feels a lot like the one we had last week on Arrow, when Isabel Rochev similarly chuckled at Deathstroke having not yet told Brother Blood the identity of the Arrow. There's a list of similarly familiar beats the shows shared here. The Cube One of the facilities that Coulson references as still being active is a pretty familiar setting to many comics fans. A S.H.I.E.L.D. facility, The Cube is where Marvel Boy was imprisoned after his attack on the U.S. government. After the events of Civil War when S.H.I.E.L.D. fell and was under the control of Norman Osborn, and then the events of Secret Invasion, the base became the home base for The Thunderbolts.

Colonel Talbot Talbot is a longtime antagonist of The Incredible Hulk. At one point, he was married to Betty Ross, Bruce Banner's eventual wife. What about Ward? "It's not the first time my identity's been compromised." Not strictly speaking a reference to anything, but this has the potential to be a great Easter egg if we were to find out just WHO he used to be down the road, and it was somebody recognizable. Odds of that? Probably about 50/50. The badge coordinates The wilderness of Canada is pretty much exactly right as a location for where the badge told them to turn up:

Unnamed Rd Cochrane, Unorganized, North Part, ON P0L, Canada ‎ 13 km SE

Could that be Arnold Kaminsky? If so, we'll probably never find out, since that character probably belongs to the Fantastic Four's multimedia rights.

The Fridge Yeah, this one came up last week too but it's worth a refresher. It's been referenced a handful of times in the show, most notably when they sent a bunch of people and artifacts they never wanted to see again to the location. That comes up again later. Yeah, those weren't LMDs. For those who thought Ward only "killed" LMDs and that he and Agent Hand were working together, those guards at the Fridge stretch that theory well beyond believability. Johnny Horton Johnny Horton, known as Griffin due to his vague resemblance of the mythological gryphon, would be the guy Garrett said he was delivering to the Fridge when he first arrived. Apparently in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Griffin grafted lion paws onto his hands himself, whereas in the comics it was The Hood's Secret Empire. Of course, as Ward and Garrett note, it's not a particularly practical mutation. In fact, it makes a lot more sense for somebody else to subject you to it in order to make you their muscle than that a semi-intelligent person would do it to themselves... Slingshot program/toy store Again, a callback to the first few episodes, when S.H.I.E.L.D. ostensibly tossed the confiscated Gravitonium into space. This reinforces not only a theme from Captain America: The Winter Soldier that Fury isn't all that much more honest than the bad guys, but also the hashtag #ItsAllConnected, which showrunners have been using since midseason to convince fans that the early episodes will "count," even though the show didn't really pick up until March. Follow your dreams Garrett and Ward release everyone from The Fridge, including the unstable Asgardian cultists baddies from the Thor: The Dark World tie-in episode. He tells a familiar face to "follow your dreams." Old-school computer voice It appears as though the HYDRA infrastructure isn't the only bit of somewhat archaic technology kicking around S.H.I.E.L.D. That voice recognition with the computerized voice responses sounds pretty old, too. True believers Raina, of course, is a "true believer," as Garrett already admitted he was not. There seems to be a bit of that in Ward, too, although it's Garrett and not HYDRA that he believes in. That's arguably why Ward hasn't said "Hail HYDRA" yet -- Garrett seems dismissive of the gesture when others do it -- and the three of them seemingly working at odds could present problems for the bad guys as the season moves forward. Agent Eric Koenig Yep! The guy played by Patton Oswalt is an existing Marvel Comics S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent, too! Providence One of Fury's many hidden bases in the comics -- one that hasn't appeared much and about which little is known -- is located in Providence, R.I. Robo-Garrett No wonder he's involved with the Deathlok protocol. Dude has some metal bits himself. Again, just like the comics.