How ‘Marvel’s Inhumans’ Connects to Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

There’s been some confusion about how the storyline of Marvel’s Inhumans TV series will synchronize with the Inhumans mythos that was established by Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. With the Inhumans premiere event now in IMAX theaters, we were able to learn firsthand how this new Marvel Cinematic Universe TV series will connect to its immediate predecessor.

For those who don’t know, Inhumans reveals that a colony of Inhumans, led by the Royal Family, is living in a secret city called Attilan on the dark side of Earth’s moon. After a series of dramatic events unfolds, the Royal Family finds itself under attack from a coup within Attilan’s walls, forcing the various members to flee to Earth. However, on Earth, the Inhumans find themselves powerless and lost, facing an uphill battle to get back to Attilan in order to reclaim King Black Bolt’s throne.

Read on below to find out how Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. affects the storyline of Inhumans. Obviously, there will be some MILD SPOILERS that follow.

No Inhuman Left Behind…

When Inhumans begins, the Royal Family and their subjects on Attilan have been living in purposeful isolation for years. That all ends when Black Bolt assigns Triton to head to Earth on covert missions to rescue new Inhumans that are emerging from Terrigenesis. During one of Triton’s missions at the opening of the series, the aquatic Inhuman is seriously wounded and presumed to be dead. 

It is later revealed that Maximus knew about Triton’s mission on Earth, and set up his cousin to be assassinated by a human militant under Maximus’ control. This is all part of Maximus’ campaign to undermine Black Bolt’s rule — which he accomplishes by fostering resentment and doubt against the idea of Attilan taking on “impure” refugees from Earth when the secret city’s population and resources are already at a breaking point. 

Agents Of Inhumanity

The connection between this opening storyline to Inhumans and the larger Marvel Cinematic Universe comes as a direct result of events depicted in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.’s last few seasons. 

In AoS, Coulson’s S.H.I.E.L.D. team uncovered the discovery of the connections between the Kree alien race and their living weapons the Inhumans, further discovering that team member Skye was actually Daisy Johnson, the child of supervillain Calvin Zabo and his Inhuman wife, Jiaying. We then learned that Jiaying was running a secret Inhuman colony on Earth called “Afterlife,” with malevolent intentions towards humans thanks to her encounters with organizations like S.H.I.E.L.D. and HYDRA. 

At the end of the battle with Jiaying, a stash of Terrigen Crystals (the source of the Inhumans’ superpowers) was lost in the ocean, contaminating Earth’s water supply and causing random incidents of Terrigenesis for individuals who are not at all prepared for the transformation process.

While Earth’s Terrigen contamination is still playing out in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., to Black Bolt, these recent developments create a bold new imperative for the once-neutral Royal Family. As a king, Black Bolt simply cannot ignore the plight of so many new Inhumans cropping up on Earth, and he wants to unite his people. 

With the Inhumans Royal Family now stranded on Earth, it seems like it’s only a matter of time before their very public (and often troublesome) encounters with humanity attract the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. who have experience in this area…

Marvel’s Inhumans is in IMAX theaters now and premieres on ABC starting Friday, September 29th. Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Season Five premieres this fall immediately following Inhumans‘ eight-episode run — so probably late November or early December.