History AgentsOfSHIELD / TropesFToH

** The same episode that [[spoiler:"]]establishes[[spoiler:"]] that Daisy Johnson destroyed the world also establishes that, thanks to the Kree destroying historical records, the Lighthouse inhabitants [[FutureImperfect aren't particularly reliable when it comes to history]]. [[spoiler:Sure enough, they turn out to have come to the wrong conclusion based on incomplete information divorced from context, as Glenn Talbot was actually responsible.]]

*** Fitz immediately proposes to Jemma in "Fun and Games" when he sees her again, only to find out that her hearing is [[ItMakesSenseInContext turned off]], so she can't hear it, but when she does get the chance to talk to him later, she immediately proposes to him. Fitz ([[or his temporal duplicate, anyway]]) later makes the exact same proposal to her under the exact same circumstances in "Inescapable", only this time Jemma can hear it and says yes.

** The Season 1 finale ends with Fitz in a coma after oxygen deprivation, and he gets permanent brain damage from the ordeal at the bottom of the ocean. The Season 2 finale sees Simmons transported to Maveth via the Kree Monolith, where she has to survive by herself (with help from Will) until "Purpose in the Machine". The resulting traumas from these two events are a major part of the respective character arcs throughout the next season, and for separate reasons, Fitz and Simmons are distanced during their respective traumas, leaving them to deal with them largely on their own.
** Simmons gains a new LoveInterest in Will Daniels in Season 3 ([[spoiler:post-humously, unfortunately for him]]) during her time on Maveth, and Fitz gets Ophelia/Aida in Season 4 during the agents' time in the Framework. [[spoiler:Both Will and Ophelia also played the role of BigBad for their respective season, though Will plays it, again, post-humously.]]
** Fitz immediately proposes to Jemma in "Fun and Games" when he sees her again, only to find out that her hearing is [[ItMakesSenseInContext turned off]], so she can't hear it, but when she does get the chance to talk to him later, she immediately proposes to him. Fitz ([[or his temporal duplicate, anyway]]) later makes the exact same proposal to her under the exact same circumstances in "Inescapable", only this time Jemma can hear it and says yes.

* HijackedByGanon: The identity of the Clairvoyant is revealed in "Turn, Turn, Turn". However, mere seconds later, it's also revealed [[spoiler:he wasn't just working towards his own ends, but also for HYDRA, albeit, he's mostly using HYDRA's resources for his goals]]. [[spoiler:HYDRA continues to be a major antagonistic presence into the first part of the second season, led by Daniel Whitehall.]]

** The ''very first thing'' we see in Season 5 directly tells us the events of the season finale: One of Robin's drawings on Enoch's fridge, depicting two people holding hands on a beach. [[spoiler:It's May and Coulson in Tahiti.]] Several other drawings, a van driving down the road and a large grey human shape with several smaller stick figures on its body, foreshadow [[spoiler:Hunter's van]] and [[spoiler:Talbot after absorbing the Gravitonium (and several other people into himself)]], respectively.

** The condition of [[spoiler:the Kree body]] discovered in "T.A.H.I.T.I." indicates that it died a very violent death as it is mangled, and its entire lower half is missing. This foreshadows the revelation two seasons later that [[spoiler:the Kree who were conducting the experiments on the Inhumans were driven off-world by a violent SlaveRevolt led by Hive.]]

** The ''very first thing'' we see in Season 5 directly tells us the events of the season finale: One of Robin's drawings on Enoch's fridge, depicting two people holding hands on a beach. [[spoiler:It's May and Coulson in Tahiti.]]

* FiveBadBand:
** The Centipede Group a.k.a. [[spoiler:HYDRA]] in Season 1
*** BigBad: [[spoiler:[[BigBadFriend John Garrett]]]] / The Clairvoyant leads the group.
*** TheDragon: [[MouthOfSauron Edison Po]], [[YouHaveFailedMe later replaced]] by [[spoiler:[[EvilAllAlong Grant Ward]]]]. Each of them served as the spokesman/pointman for The Clairvoyant.
*** TheEvilGenius: [[CorruptCorporateExecutive Ian Quinn]] is implied to be the R&D arm of the Centipede Group because his episodes focus on developing new technology: the gravitonium, the weather control device, the cyborg implants, etc.
*** TheBrute: [[spoiler:[[TrappedInVillainy Mike Peterson]]]] / Deathlok is forced to become The Clairvoyant's hitman and augmented with great physical strength and firepower to do this.
*** TheDarkChick: [[FemmeFatale Raina's]] role is to use empathy and manipulation to convince others to help The Centipede Group, such as convincing Gifted to join them.
** Hydra in the first half of Season 2:
*** BigBad: Dr. Daniel Whitehall/Werner Reinhardt, a head of Hydra who leads the hunt for the Obelisk and the ancient city.
*** TheDragon: Sunil Bakshi, Whitehall's second-in-command, who is seen the most of Whitehall's subordinates.
*** TheEvilGenius: Toshiro Mori, who designs the Splinter Bombs.
*** TheBrute: Carl Creel, who is the strongest of Whitehall's subordinates and somewhat of a BloodKnight.
*** TheDarkChick: Agent 33, a former S.H.I.E.L.D. agent who is brainwashed into joining Hydra and acts something like Whitehall's Secretary[=/=]BattleButler.
** The Ruling Council of [[spoiler:[[ShadowArchetype The "Real" S.H.I.E.L.D.]]]] in the latter half of Season 2
*** BigBad: Robert Gonzales, the aircraft carrier's commander and the "first among equals" as it were.
*** TheDragon: Tomas Calderon is Gonzales' right hand man and the one carring out tactical missions. He's a bit [[KnightTemplar too eager to cross off Gifted]].
*** TheEvilGenius: [[spoiler:[[TheMentor Anne Weaver]] is the former director of the S.H.I.E.L.D. Academy.]]
*** TheBrute: [[spoiler:[[GeniusBruiser Mack Mackenzie]] is a mole with great strength physically and in terms of firepower.]]
*** TheDarkChick: [[spoiler:[[TokenGoodTeammate Bobbie Morse]] leads on many tasks from spying and infiltration to take-down. She's also the one advocating for Coulson and his S.H.I.E.L.D.]]
** Hive and his Inhuman army in Season Three:
*** BigBad: Hive, an ancient Inhuman created by the [[spoiler:Kree to lead the Inhuman army they were creating.]]
*** TheDragon: Giyera, formerly [[spoiler:Gideon Malik's]] second in command before Hive [[MoreThanMindControl turned him.]]
*** TheEvilGenius: [[spoiler:Holden Radcliffe,]] is conscripted by Hive to create a process that would turn non-descendants into Inhumans so he can enslave them.
*** TheBrute: Hellfire AKA [[spoiler:James,]] an Inhuman with the power to destroy the things he touched. Took down a whole team of [[spoiler:Watchdogs and Lash singlehandedly.]]
*** TheDarkChick: [[spoiler:Daisy,]] turned by Hive to work against Shield and advocates the family-belonging that Hive has created.

* FleetingDemographicRule: Three years after [[Film/CaptainAmericaTheWinterSoldier SHIELDRA]] came within milliseconds of executing every threat on the planet to HYDRA's NewWorldOrder with drone strikes, conspiracy theorists are again a kooky minority; in "[[Recap/AgentsOfSHIELDS4E12HotPotatoSoup Hot Potato Soup]]", the fourth Koenig brother, Thurston, is a slam poet activist at a beatnik bar with no clientele.

** [[spoiler: Knowing that his time is at an end while the Framework is collapsing around him, Radcliffe pours himself a drink and watches the sunrise, waiting to be [[TogetherInDeath reunited with Agnes]]. He raises a glass and quotes Creator/TSEliot before being [[KilledMidSentence deleted mid-quotation.]]]]

** Same with Kasias and Sinara - usually he is the only one talking.

** In Season 2 three of the four actors who joined the lead cast are still credited as guest stars, despite appearing in every episode since their appearance and having more or less equal screen time with the leads: B J Britt (Triplett, introduced in 1x14[[note]]Only absent from one episode since - and that was the episode directly following his introduction, meaning he's still appeared in a straight run of seventeen episodes[[/note]]), Henry Simmons (Mack, introduced in 2x01), and Adrianne Palicki (Bobbi Morse, introduced in 2x05). {{Averted}} with Nick Blood (Hunter), who is credited with the leads right from his introduction in the Season 2 premiere.

** Simmons and Triplett apparently have complete trust in each other by "Providence", as a result of being trapped together at the Hub during the [[spoiler:HYDRA takeover]]. This doesn't extend to the rest of the team, though - Coulson eventually accepts her arguments that Triplett should be allowed to join the Bus for a while, but he and [[GreenEyedMonster Fitz]] at least still have their doubts.
** The flashbacks in "One Door Closes" suggest this is also true for [[spoiler:"real" S.H.I.E.L.D. - most of the council fought together to take back the Iliad, while the rest fought at The Academy, and this seems to have made their loyalty to each other pretty unwavering.]]

* FiveSecondForeshadowing: In the Season 5 finale, the twist that [[spoiler: due to temporal shenanigans, [[BaitAndSwitch the team has realized there's still a version of Fitz alive]]]] is hinted at by the team conspicuously not mentioning his name during a [[ToAbsentFriends memorial]] that ''[[BaitAndSwitch seems]]'' to be for him.

*** [[spoiler:Only Fitz registers her presence - when May comes up to the lab, she only answers Fitz and completely ignores Simmons. She also offers to stay and help with some DNA analysis - why would she do that if Simmons were actually there? What could she as a specialist contribute to a DNA analysis that the biochemist apparently standing right there couldn't?]]

** Similarly, Ward shoots Mike Peterson down with a sniper rifle (albeit non-lethally) even after Coulson is closed to talking him down. [[spoiler: Wouldn't want to risk damaging a valuable Centipede asset, would we?]]
** In "The Bridge", Ward is assigned to find a sniper position to oversee a prisoner exchange. He promptly picks a spot where the exchange is completely obscured from his view, thereby rendering him absolutely useless in the event the exchange goes south. [[spoiler: Of course it doesn't matter where he stands during the exchange- he's in on the kidnapping.]]

* ForWantOfANail: The reason the Framework is a CrapsackWorld - each of the five prisoners was calmed enough to accept it with a CosmicRetcon of "[[MyGreatestFailure their greatest regret]]" - which had world-shattering consequences;

** A meta example would be the official name for "the Bus" - the Mobile Command Unit, or [[Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse MCU]].
** Two episodes, "T.R.A.C.K.S." and "T.A.H.I.T.I.", are stylized as acronyms which are never explained. T.A.H.I.T.I. appears InUniverse, so it may get some explanation down the road - a FreezeFrameBonus [[http://40.media.tumblr.com/9504f416962cc70ee4d0fda7ab0107fb/tumblr_ne9n6hgnt41tlns7wo8_r1_1280.jpg reveals as]] partially [[MainliningTheMonster Terrestrialized Alien Host]] [[HealingPotion Integrative Tissue I.]].

** In "Ascension", [[spoiler: Lincoln flies the Quinjet with a Inhuman-conversion bomb (and Hive) into space, knowing he's not coming back.]]
** In "No Regrets", [[spoiler: The Patriot uses his SuperStrength to hold up a collapsing building in the Framework to save a child trapped under debris, long enough for Coulson, Simmons, and Agent Triplett (and May) to escape.]]
** In "Past Life", [[spoiler: Enoch sacrifices his [[RidiculouslyHumanRobots battery power]] to power the time machine and send the Agents back to their own past.]]

** Fitz's [[GreenEyedMonster irritation and snarky comments]] towards Simmons whenever she flirts with anyone is pretty funny, considering he spends the first few episodes blatantly hitting on Skye - to which Simmons is apparently oblivious, which just adds to the execution of the trope.

** Three of the four actors who joined the lead cast a while after the show premiered are still credited as guest stars in Season 2, despite appearing in every episode since and having more or less equal screen time to the leads: B J Britt (Triplett, introduced in 1x14[[note]]Only absent from one episode since - and that was the episode directly following his introduction, meaning he's still appeared in a straight run of fourteen episodes to date[[/note]]), Henry Simmons (Mack, introducedn in 2x01), and Adrianne Palicki (Bobbi Morse, introduced in 2x05). {{Averted}} with Nick Blood (Hunter), who is credited with the leads right from his introduction in the Season 2 premiere.

** Natalia Cordova-Buckley is also a fake guest star since she's a semi-regular character.
** In Season 4 Mallory Jansen (AIDA/Agnes/Ophelia/Madame Hydra) portrays the BigBad of the entire Season, featuring heavily in all three big story arcs while only missing two episodes, and appearing in more episodes than John Hannah (Radcliffe), who was a main cast member.

* FiveSecondForeshadowing: In the Season 5 finale, the twist that [[spoiler: due to temporal shenanigans, [[BaitAndSwitch the team has realized there's still a version of Fitz alive]] is hinted at by the team conspicuously not mentioning his name during a [[ToAbsentFriends memorial]] that ''[[BaitAndSwitch seems]]'' to be for him.

** "Aftershocks" has Coulson explictly stating that [[spoiler:Tripplet]] "died a hero" in the previous episode by destroying the Diviner's crystal.

* GoryDiscretionShot: At the beginning of "The Ghost," a group of white supremacists are massacred by Ghost Rider. One of the skinheads is dragged off-screen, and all the audiences sees is a large amount of blood splattering against the side of his vehicle after a short bout of screaming. A later conversation between Mack and Coulson reveals that Ghost Rider ''ripped out the skinhead's spine''.

--->'''Mac''': Do you know how many times Bobbi and Hunter pulled the "My comms are down" trick?

** The flashbacks in "One Door Closes" suggest this is also true for [[spoiler: "real" S.H.I.E.L.D. - most of the council fought together to take back the Iliad, while the rest fought at The Academy, and this seems to have made their loyalty to each other pretty unwavering.]]
** Robbie/Ghost Rider and S.H.I.E.L.D, especially Daisy and Mack. She started off thinking he was an Inhuman serial killer, and he found her to be a nuisance to his Ghost Ridering, and they actually fought twice before starting to work together to investigate his uncle's connection to Lucy Bauer. Likewise, Mack thought the same thing as Daisy and was less sympathetic as he doesn't really believe Ghost Rider to be a separate entity from Robbie, or that Robbie cannot always control it. Once the Spirit of Vengeance [[spoiler: went into him]], he started to bond with Robbie, knowing full well how terrifying being a Ghost Rider really was.

** The Centipede Group a.k.a. [[spoiler: HYDRA]] in Season 1

** The Ruling Council of [[spoiler: [[ShadowArchetype The "Real" S.H.I.E.L.D.]]]] in the latter half of Season 2

*** BigBad: Hive, an ancient Inhuman created by the [[spoiler: Kree to lead the Inhuman army they were creating.]]
*** TheDragon: Giyera, formerly [[spoiler: Gideon Malik's]] second in command before Hive [[MoreThanMindControl turned him.]]
*** TheEvilGenius: [[spoiler: Holden Radcliffe,]] is conscripted by Hive to create a process that would turn non-descendants into Inhumans so he can enslave them.
*** TheBrute: Hellfire AKA [[spoiler: James,]] an Inhuman with the power to destroy the things he touched. Took down a whole team of [[spoiler: Watchdogs and Lash singlehandedly.]]
*** TheDarkChick: [[spoiler: Daisy,]] turned by Hive to work against Shield and advocates the family-belonging that Hive has created.

** In "The Hub" Ward asks Fitz "How long can you hold your breath underwater?" [[spoiler: In "Ragtag" Ward drops the pod with Fitz and Simmons into the ocean.]] Fitz's reply is "Not very long." [[spoiler:He nearly dies from oxygen deprivation in "End of the Beginning" while escaping the pod.]]
** In "T.A.H.I.T.I." John Garrett says of Ward, "You wouldn't believe what I could talk this son-of-a-gun into." [[spoiler: Indeed, talking someone into joining an evil organization bent on world domination is no small task.]]
** In "T.A.H.I.T.I.", one of the facility's security guards eventually recognizes Coulson and asks of they've met. Coulson doesn't remember him but says they may very well have met, because he may have "spent some time" in the facility [[spoiler: being resurrected.]] His suspicion is correct, but the conversation takes on a whole new meaning when we learn that Coulson was also [[spoiler: in charge of T.A.H.I.T.I. before it was used to resurrect him.]]

** In "Turn, Turn, Turn" Fitz tells [[spoiler: Garrett]] that he will suffer for what he's done, and that he (Fitz) plans on being a very big part of that. [[spoiler: Four episodes later, Fitz uses an EMP device to short out Garrett's cybernetic components, bringing him to the edge of death.]]
** In "Turn, Turn, Turn", Coulson defeats [[spoiler: Garrett]] in battle after Fitz tosses him an EMP device, which knocks him out. But why would an EMP device hurt an organic being? [[spoiler: Later on it's revealed that Garrett is a cyborg, and Fitz himself nearly kills him with a second EMP.]]

** The big twist at the end of 'Shadows' [[spoiler: that the Simmons we have been watching was Fitz's hallucination, and that the real Simmons has left the team]] floored a lot of people, but if you think about it, there are subtle hints throughout the episode:

** In "0-8-4", Ward is seen reading ''Matterhorn'', a book assigned to him by Garrett. It's a novel where one of the arcs is about Marines in Vietnam building a firebase, being forced to abandon it, and struggling to recapture it from the enemy. This can be seen as a parallel to [[spoiler: Garrett's story of being trained by S.H.I.E.L.D. and Nicky Fury before being (by his own account) left for dead by his agency, his turning to HYDRA, and Team Coulson's subsequent fight to stop Garrett and the Centipede organization.]]
** As it turns out, Ward's status as [[spoiler: A HYDRA mole]] is foreshadowed as early as the first episode when he and Coulson are chasing Mike Peterson into a train station. Coulson's determination to try and talk down and save Peterson is objected to by Ward, who protests them going through so much trouble to save "some nobody." [[spoiler: Of course, that's exactly the kind of attitude one would expect of a HYDRA agent.]]
** In addition, Ward [[spoiler: explicitly tries to kill May in the episode "Yes Men", then tries to pass it off as just a product of brainwashing when the gun is empty. However, we just learned that the brainwashing was reversed ''before'' he pulled the trigger.]]

** In "The Patriot", Jeffrey Mace confesses that [[spoiler: he didn't actually do what everyone thought he did in Vienna, using his Inhuman super strength to save someone from being crushed under debris]]. This is ''exactly'' [[spoiler: [[HeroicSacrifice how he dies for real]] in the Framework.]]
** In the season 4 finale, Coulson wore in an unusual outfit (for him); a leather jacket, a pair of leather gloves, and he carried a chain around, basically seeming like he took some fashion cues from Robbie. These are hints that [[spoiler: he's harboring the Spirit of Vengeance that allows him to temporarily transform into a Ghost Rider in order to beat Aida.]]

*** Fitz speculates that [[spoiler: he had a mental split brought on by his brain trauma from the Framework and did things without realizing it.]]
*** No fewer than ''eight'' books on [[spoiler: mental health, brain trauma, and split personalities]] are visible in the stack of books his desk.
* FormerRegimePersonnel: This becomes a problem in season 2. With the dissolution of [[spoiler: S.H.I.E.L.D.]], a large number of highly trained people were out of work and seeking new opportunities. Most went into the private sector or were hired by various US government agencies. Some went underground like [[spoiler: Team Coulson]] in order to continue with their mission. However, many took whatever intelligence and/or secret technology they had and sold it to the highest bidder. In the worst cases, some were recruited willingly or unwillingly by [[spoiler: HYDRA]].

* FourIsDeath: Subtly used in the episode, "The Only Light in the Darkness." The group in total ends up splitting up into two groups of four, and while Coulson's group ends up okay, back at Providence [[spoiler: May leaves, and Eric is killed by Ward leading Skye to the realization that Ward is a HYDRA agent.]]

** For part of season four, the ''opening'' logo screen gets taken over, changing the title to "Agents of HYDRA," with an OminousVisualGlitch reminding us that [[spoiler: they're still in the virtual world]].

-->'''Fitz''': So, uh, when you get back, I'll show you my thing. Uh, thing, it's not...[[DiggingYourselfDeeper it's my hardware. My equipment!]] ''[to himself]'' Hang up...

*** In "Yes Men", when Coulson finds out that Sif has been blown out the hatch in the interrogation cell, he immediately responds: "She's an Asgardian! Open the hatch and let her back in!"

** In "Heavy is the Head", Coulson decides to cryogenically freeze [[spoiler:Creel, even though he's apparently been killed by the Obelisk]], since turning to stone is one of Creel's abilities, and he suspects it might not be permanent. [[spoiler: Turns out that it wasn't; he turns up in season 3 as Talbot's bodyguard.]]

** In season 2, we see this played out when [[spoiler: Hunter, who at times borders on comic relief territory, cold-bloodedly executes a HYDRA leader, clearly on orders from Coulson.]]

* TheGuardsMustBeCrazy: Averted when [[spoiler: Ward]] tries to talk his way into a S.H.I.E.L.D. facility. No matter what he says or does, even the usual 'call their superiors' trick, [[RealityEnsues they absolutely refuse to let him in and invite him to call up the chain of command.]] He does eventually get them to let him in, but he needs a helicopter shooting at him to do so.

** In "The Beginning Of The End", [[spoiler: Fitz ''tries'' to do one of these to save Simmons. She will have none of that and saves his life, but he's not in good shape at the end of the episode.]]
** "Aftershocks" has Coulson explictly stating that [[spoiler: Tripplet]] "died a hero" in the previous episode by destroying the Diviner's crystal.

** To some extent; Victoria Hand was a lesbian in the comics, and her actress confirmed she was playing her as such. However, they never address this fact, which greatly reduces the [[spoiler: BuryYourGays implications]] if you've not read the comics and/or had no idea about her sexuality.

-->'''Coulson''': [[spoiler:You were brainwashed!]]\\
'''Daisy''': So was Ward.

** In the season 2 premier "Shadows". [[spoiler: Izzy may be down an arm, but otherwise the mission was a success: everybody made it out and the obtained the obelisk and the Quinjet they were after. Then Absorbing Man shows up in front of Izzy's team's car and flips it in asphalt form. Izzy and Idaho are killed, and Creel obtains the obelisk.]]

---> '''Simmons:''' Fitz?\\

* FleetingDemographicRule: Three years after [[Film/CaptainAmericaTheWinterSoldier SHIELDRA]] came within miliseconds of executing every threat on the planet to HYDRA's NewWorldOrder with drone strikes, conspiracy theorists are again a kooky minority; in "[[Recap/AgentsOfSHIELDS4E12HotPotatoSoup Hot Potato Soup]]", the fourth Koenig brother, Thurston, is a slam poet activist at a beatnik bar with no clientele.

*** No fewer than ''eight'' books on [[spoiler: mental health, brain trauma, and split personalities]] are visible on his desk.

* FleetingDemographicRule: Three years after [[Film/CaptainAmericaTheWinterSoldier SHIELDRA]] came within miliseconds of executing every threat on the planet to HYDRA's NewWorldOrder with drone strikes, conspiracy theorists are again a kooky minority; in "Hot Potato Soup", the fourth Koenig brother, Thurston, is a slam poet activist at a beatnik bar with no clientele.

** In "Providence," Maria Hill states that she's working with Tony Stark [[Film/AvengersAgeOfUltron to privatize world peace]] in the wake of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s dissolution. Tony himself used the exact same words in [[film/IronMan2]], so this could well qualify as fore-foreshadowing.

[[/folder]]

* FridayNightDeathSlot: Starting with season five. And, given the nature of this trope, possibly ''ending'' with season five.