5 MCU Plot Holes Fixed By Agents of SHIELD Without Most Marvel Fans Knowing

If Agents of SHIELD is somehow integrated into the official timeline of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, these five plot holes would finally be fixed. Marvel Studios has created a huge number of plot holes during the 17-year run of the MCU, many of which will likely never be solved. Some, however, would be able to be resolved if Marvel Television’s Agents of SHIELD was confirmed to be canon to the MCU. The series spanned seven seasons on ABC between 2013 and 2020, following the resurrected Phil Coulson (Clark Gregg) and his SHIELD team.

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While many Marvel fans enjoyed Agents of SHIELD, and some still consider it to be canon to the MCU’s main continuity, this is not the case. Agents of SHIELD could indeed take place in another timeline of the MCU’s multiverse, but, despite what some may think, it does not take place on Earth 616. Should the series, or at least elements of it, be integrated into the official timeline, however, several niggling MCU plot holes could finally be fixed. This would be game-changing for the MCU, but we’d love to see some of these plot holes addressed anyway.

5) The Existence of the MCU’s Life Model Decoys

You might remember back in The Avengers in 2012 that Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) dropped a line about being “the Life Model Decoy of Tony Stark” in an effort to avoid speaking to Coulson. At the time, this was a fun easter egg for Marvel Comics fans, but it also suggested the LMDs already existed in the MCU. In fact, they were later created by Holden Radcliffe (John Hannah) at the end of Agents of SHIELD season 3 four years later. If Agents of SHIELD was MCU canon, Stark’s line in The Avengers would actually mean something, but this would change the LMDs history in the MCU, too.

4) HYDRA’s Quick Disappearance in the MCU Was Much Slower in Agents of SHIELD

The villainous organization HYDRA was revealed to have been growing for decades within SHIELD in Captain America: The Winter Soldier, and Agents of SHIELD delved into the politics and impact of this reveal in great detail. The MCU proper, however, did not. Instead, the Avengers seemingly succeeded in defeating HYDRA in their next appearance in Avengers: Age of Ultron, ending the HYDRA narrative just as quickly as it started. Bringing Agents of SHIELD’s events into the MCU timeline would make HYDRA’s defeat more gradual, drawn-out, and believable, as Coulson’s SHIELD team fought the remnants of HYDRA for many years after the organisation’s members outed themselves in 2014.

3) The Avengers Activities in Sokovia Don’t Make Sense Without Agents of SHIELD

Avengers: Age of Ultron actually created a number of plot holes that were explained in greater detail in Agents of SHIELD, but not in the MCU itself. It was Phil Coulson who tracked the signal of Loki’s scepter and the Mind Stone within to Baron von Strucker’s (Thomas Kretschmann) Sokovia base, and the Avengers would not have found it had it not been for Coulson. Additionally, it was Coulson’s work on the Theta Protocol in Agents of SHIELD that allowed the rebuild SHIELD helicarrier to arrive in Sokovia and aid the Avengers with evacuating the city during Ultron’s (James Spader) attack. None of this would have happened without Coulson’s actions in Agents of SHIELD, so canonizing the series would make this make sense.

2) Asgardians on Earth Haven’t Been Explored Fully

It’s been well-established in the MCU that Asgardian figures have ventured to Midgard — Earth — many times over the millennia. Their visits most notably informed the stories of Norse mythology, but we’ve barely seen any of this actually take place in the MCU. In Agents of SHIELD, however, it was a regular occurrence to see Asgardians on Earth. In the wake of Thor: The Dark World, professor Elliot Randolph (Peter MacNicol) was revealed to be an Asgardian Berserker who stayed on Earth centuries ago, while Lady Sif (Jaimie Alexander) also made numerous returns to Earth to help Coulson and his team. Asgardians are now Earthbound permanently after Thor: Ragnarok and Avengers: Infinity War, but we’d love to know more about their history and influence on Earth.

1) The Growth of the MCU’s Powered Individuals

Back in Captain America: Civil War in 2016, Vision suggested that the number of powered individuals had grown exponentially since Tony Stark revealed himself to be Iron Man in 2008. This wasn’t exactly a huge shift in the MCU proper, however, but it indeed was in Agents of SHIELD. By the time Civil War rolled around, Agents of SHIELD had explored the evolution of superpowered characters using Centipede, being the subjects of random experiments, and even being Inhumans, bringing dozens of new powered characters to life. Vision’s line would have had a lot more significance if he’d been counting the numerous new characters in Agents of SHIELD, too, and it would be great to still see some of these characters folded into the MCU’s official timeline.

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