Supernatural forces and new faces haunt the fourth season of Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
The name drop of an ancient artifact tonight should send shivers among watchers once they learn its comic book origins.
This week’s episode is Meet the New Boss. We did. Jason O’Mara made his debut as the new Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. with a secret he’s keeping classified from Coulson.
But this could be Meet the Awesomely Evil New Threat With a Marvel-ously Sinister Comics Origin!
The aftermath of the opening of a mysterious box pits friend against friend, unleashes a supernatural enemy and artifact that could conjure connections to Doctor Strange.
Before we talk about the big revelations, the comic book connections and what it could mean for the series here’s a SPOILER ALERT!
If you have not watched this week’s episode stop reading now.
Seriously.
OK.
Here it comes.
Renegade Daisy was tracking down gangs working for the Inhuman hunting Watchdogs when she collided with the vigilante Ghost Rider. Robbie Reyes (Gabriel Luna) is tracking the bad guys too but can turns into a Spirit of Vengeance with a blazing skull and cruising the streets in a fiery demonic Dodge. The two bond with fiery chemistry over their different quests for justice. Quake’s power is killing her every time she uses it. After the first episode encounter, Daisy is sick and seeing everyone as ghosts.
A mysterious box unleashed ghosts. “Lucy” the apparition and her army of entities are on the loose while Fitz and Mack investigate her origins at the ominously named Momentum Laboratories.
Lucy was chasing after the Darkhold aka The Book of Sins when she was turned into a spirit. May is infected and a dark arc begins for the Calvary as the possessed agent haunted by ghostly visions fights her fellow agents.
What is the Darkhold?
In comics this is a book of pure evil written by the Elder God known as Chthon. You could call it Marvel’s version of the Book of the Dead. Chthon was Earth’s first practitioner of black magic, master of chaos magic and mystical powers. In comics the Elder God (ancient beings who ruled before Gods and Demons) has possessed Avengers Scarlet Witch and Spider-Woman and inspired a cult known as the Darkholders. The Darkhold led to the creation of the first vampire and curse of the werewolf in the Marvel Comics canon and was tied into the Conan stories once published by Marvel. The Darkhold Redeemers sought the lost pages of the book and starred in Darkhold: Pages From the Book of Sin.
Ghost Rider, Darkhold and the ghostly mystery will weave into the upcoming Doctor Strange movie. Will Stephen (Benedict Cumberbatch) of a member of his cast appear on the series? Will the events of the film in November have an impact on the current storyline? Earlier seasons had episodes that picked up immediately after huge events in Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Captain America: Civil War.
Supernatural forces have taken the lead on the series but the Inhuman story is far from over. The new Director Jeffrey is actually an Inhuman. What is his endgame and could it tie into the future plans for the race in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Homage! Clark Gregg delivers a line that made Peggy Carter fans cheer. “Most people know the legend of Peggy Carter. But there are so many stories that were never recorded.” Is this a dig as the prematurely cancelled but beloved Agent Carter series?
It’s a two week break as with May in danger, Quake on Team Ghost Rider plus a mysterious new S.H.I.E.L.D. director and the Darkhold taking a deep dive into Marvel Comics history and driving the supernatural future of the franchise.
Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. returns October 11th at 10 pm on ABC.
By Editor