Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: Is The Doctor Mr. Hyde?

Season 2 of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. has already answered a major question leftover from Season 1: Who is Skye’s father? We know that it’s the Doctor, a mysterious character played by Kyle MacLachlan. Really, though, that’s about all we know. The Doctor seems to have some kind of connection the Obelisk, but that’s about it. So who could The Doctor really be? We have a theory: Mr. Hyde.

What connects the Doctor to the relatively unknown Marvel Universe villain? Name and origin, for one. “The Doctor” could be a play on Mr. Hyde’s literary alter ego, Dr. Jekyll, but more likely is a reference to the character’s surgical skills, which he now uses to augment normal humans, as seen earlier this season. This likely hints at a past in the medical field, just as Mr. Hyde’s alter ego, Calvin Zabo, was a medical researcher before becoming the monster he is now.

The Doctor also show’s very Mr. Hyde like fits of rage, as well has superhuman strength. For Mr. Hyde, these traits were gained after ingesting the fruits of his own medical research. It seems likely that The Doctor tried to augment himself, perhaps using the Obelisk.

This also could be a connection to Skye. It’s not unimaginable that someone as unhinged as the Doctor would experiment on his own daughter. Perhaps this previous exposure to the Obelisk is why Skye doesn’t have the same violent reaction to GH 325 that Garrett and Coulson did.

Mr. Hyde also has a daughter in the comics: Daisy Johnson, a.k.a. Quake. The names don’t match, but Daisy went by a different name – Cory Sutter – when she was adopted by foster parents. It seems likely that Marvel Studios would want to alter Quake’s alias in order to better hide her identity. Quake would fit perfect into Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., as she was, for a time, the director of S.H.I.E.L.D. – appointed by Captain America himself – and even joined the Avengers. She was a protégé of Nick Fury in the comics, and could be a protégé to Phil Coulson in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Skye hasn’t’ shown any signs of Quake’s earthshaking abilities as of yet, but perhaps she just needs her father – or the obelisk – to wake those powers up.

The only thing that seems a bit off with the theory is that, as of yet, The Doctor seems slightly less evil than Mr. Hyde. Yes, he’s just as deranged and maniacal, but he seems to be primarily motivated by a desire to help Skye, perhaps because he knows something about how GH 325 might interact with his previous experimentations. By contrast, Mr. Hyde is a character motivated entirely by self-interest and greed, who has shown little interest or compassion for his illegitimate daughter.

Still, we think the evidence for outweighs the evidence against. We’ll have to keep watching Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. to find out for sure.

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. airs Tuesdays at 9 p.m. ET on ABC.