'Agents of SHIELD' Included an Avengers Easter Egg in "Rise and Shine"

Friday's episode of Marvel's Agents of SHIELD, "Rise and Shine," may not have had a direct connection to Avengers: Infinity War, but it did allude to the Avengers and Phil Coulson's history with the team.

SPOILERS for Marvel's Agents of SHIELD, "Rise and Shine," follow.

Phil Coulson agreed to go with General Hale so that he could see her side of the conflict between her organization and SHIELD. She admits that she's an agent of Hydra and basically all that remains of it beside her daughter and the other supervillains she's assembled.

While it isn't too surprising to know that Hydra has found a way to grow another head or two, what happens next is pretty shocking. Hale proposes an alliance between Hydra and SHIELD.

Coulson is, of course, skeptical, so Hale volunteers to show him what she's been working on. She takes him to a device used to chart stars and teleport throughout the galaxy. She brings Coulson to meet a representative of the Confederacy, an alliance of alien races from throughout the galaxy.

Hale introduces Coulson as one of "Earth's mightiest heroes."

That particular phrase is a deliberate reference to the Avengers, who are known as "Earth's Mightiest Heroes" and are at times advertised as such on comic book covers. It isn't just an Easter egg for the fans at home. It also alludes to Coulson being considered one of the Avengers by his former boss, SHIELD director Nick Fury.

Fury put together the original Avengers team and used TAHITI technology, a project that was developed specifically to bring an Avenger back from the dead, to resurrect Coulson after the Battle of New York. When Coulson found out and reminded Fury that the program was meant for an Avenger, Fury told Coulson that's exactly who he used it on.

The other Avengers still don't know that Coulson is alive, which is something ComicBook.com asked Agents of SHIELD star Clark Gregg about in November.

"It is an ever-present theme," Gregg says. "It's really touching to me how much the fans stay obsessed with the idea of when the Avengers are going to learn Coulson's alive. It's something that...I don't know, I find that so touching! I think the Avengers have moved on, they're busy.

"But also I think it's a great credit to the show and the characters and the actors who brought these characters to life and to our production team, to Mark Kolpack's visual effects and to the great writing of our writers, Jed [Whedon], Mo [Tancharoen] and Jeff [Bell], because I think there's a growing number of people who kind of feel like this feels like a part of that bigger world and they want to see the various worlds – whether it's the incredible Netflix world of New York, they just want at some point feel that this is one big story, which I still believe it is. And you know, when the time is right, who knows?"

Gregg will get to return to the movie side of the Marvel Cinematic Universe playing a younger Coulson in the 1990s-set Captain Marvel.

What did you think of last night's Agents of SHIELD? Let us know in the comments!

Marvel's Agents of SHIELD airs Fridays at 9 pm ET on ABC.