WMG / Agents Of SHIELD Jossed

Clairvoyant's Identity

In "Turn, Turn, Turn" . It's John Garrett.

There is no Clairvoyant

Edison Po just pretends to meet a mystical person to make the organization look like a dangerous one.

• Jossed by the fact that the Clairvoyant kills him.

The Clairvoyant is Mentallo

This one seems to make the most sense. Mentallo is a rogue SHIELD agent who becomes a senior member of HYDRA, who have been confirmed to still exist in the MCU and can be expected to appear in Avengers 2 and very likely Captain America: The Winter Soldier, so hinting at them now would work to tie the show back into the wider Marvel verse.

Mentallo is a psychic who specializes in reading people's minds- definitely the specific power of the Clairvoyant, as he wanted Coulson to remember what happened to him specifically so the Clairvoyant himself would know-, and whose powers are usually enhanced with technology, which explains why he doesn't know everything already: he isn't always hooked to his tech; also, it makes it more convincing that the team would be able to take a guy like this out, if he can be weakened by severing him from his machine(s). Most importantly, Mentallo was one of two villains who controlled Deathlok, along with his partner the Fixer (who will likely also appear on this show in the same capacity, and who is also a senior HYDRA figure and probably the guy who is making this advanced tech Centipede keeps using, with the help of the Clairvoyant). Mentallo is D-list enough to fit into this show but is still a significant enough threat that he could convincingly serve as a major villain in it, and he is definitely the sort of villain SHIELD goes after as he is both HYDRA and ex-SHIELD himself.

Being a former SHIELD agent would also explain the lengths he goes to to protect his identity (letting nearly no-one see him, having a mans eyes gouged out for seeing him, etc.); SHIELD know who he is, and thus will be able to track him. He might even still be a SHIELD agent, as a cover.

The Clairvoyant is Arnim Zola

In the clip shown during Marvel Studios: Assembling A Universe, the agents find the Clairvoyant in a computer room with disembodied voice. Arnim Zola is part of Captain America: Winter Soldier, and possibly he lives to present day in robotic form hinted at the end of Captain America: The First Avenger.In the Captain America: The Winter Soldier trailer, Nick Fury said that SHIELD is eliminating threat before it happens. Arnim Zola may be working for SHIELD and his computation power and knowledge base from being with SHIELD gives him clairvoyant ability. This explains why the Clairvoyant knows so much about SHIELD.

• Possibly boosted by the events of Captain America: The Winter Soldier. Arnim Zola is indeed alive as a computer system, but he joined SHIELD in order to help HYDRA subvert them. It's also possible that the Clairvoyant is not Zola per se, but a HYDRA agent who is using his algorithm. HYDRA itself may be The Clairvoyant.

The Clairvoyant is Baron Mordo

They're doing a Dr Strange movie, so why not?

The Clairvoyant is Purple Man

Partially to tease him for the Luke Cage TV show, partially because he's able to kill people over the phone. Partially since he's a major villain.

The Clairvoyant is Claire Voyant.

Puns. Besides, a Golden Age of Comics character might as well be a Canon Foreigner for all the information we have on her.

The Clairvoyant is Samuel Sterns, a.k.a. the Leader

Samuel Sterns already exists in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and the comic tie-in Fury's Big Week establishes that he is still alive. However, there are no Hulk movies planned in the immediate future, so the Leader might be allowed to appear on the show. According to the character's Wikipedia page, "[The Leader's] ability to predict probable outcomes of tactical and strategic scenarios is so advanced that it borders on clairvoyance."

• Characters repeatedly say that psychic powers don't exist so it's almost certain that a genuine psychic will appear at some point.
• It's worth noting that one of the official MCU tie-in comics ^note Fury's Big Week, Issue 8, Sterns was revealed to be being kept◊ in a tube at some undisclosed S.H.I.E.L.D. research outpost. Whether or not the Agents writers have read it or would even bother with keeping the canon of a relatively hard-to-find comic remains to be seen.

The Clairvoyant is Ian Quinn

A clairvoyant is someone with vision. Quinn is a man with a vision, or at least he thinks he is. Simmons suggested the Clairvoyant was Centipede's "money man"; Quinn certainly has lots of that. So far everything the Clairvoyant has allegedly revealed is information that could be gathered by a good intelligence network; nothing required any actual psychic abilities. Centipede would certainly seem to fit into Quinn's agenda.

• Seeds reveals that Ian Quinn is allied with The Clairvoyant. It's unknown if he IS The Clairvoyant, though he may indeed be the wealthy benefactor to Centipede that S.H.I.E.L.D. has been wondering about.
  • TRACKS implies that Quinn might be working for the Clairvoyant against his will as he apologizes after shooting Skye. This would put another dent in this theory.
• Quinn flat-out states that he works for the Clairvoyant in T.A.H.I.T.I.. This is looking pretty well Jossed.

The Clairvoyant is Obadiah Stane.

Didn't He die at the end of Iron Man? Who says He didn't survive, this a comic book world after all. They Never Found the Body and The Clairvoyant is speculated to be the money. Stane is bank rolling them. Further evidence being The Clairvoyant used Stane's sonic device to kill Po.

The Clairvoyant is the Mandarin

The Marvel One-Shot short film All Hail The King reveals that the Ten Rings and the Mandarin are really still out there, and they're pissed about what Trevor Slattery and Aldrich Killian did, going as far as to kidnap Slattery from Seagate Prison to bring him before the Mandarin for punishment. If the Clairvoyant really does have mental powers, they could be a variation of one of the Mandarin's rings, which grant him telepathic abilities. This would also fit with modern comic depictions of the Mandarin, which portray him as a powerful businessman, fitting in line with the speculation that the Clairvoyant finances Centipede's plans.

Victoria Hand is the Clairvoyant

She was very adamant about getting Skye kicked off the plane, and while her review of Skye's performance up to that point was sensible for someone who was in her position, it was bizarre that she didn't follow up on the money trail despite it being a very sound strategy. Clearly she was attempting to keep several things under wraps.

1. Why is the 'only' thing the Clairvoyant can't see Coulson's recovery/resurrection? Because it's classified for Nick Fury's eyes only. A level 8 agent could easily get access to info on Garret's agents, Mike, the Night-Night gun specs.

2. If she is following her comic version, she hates the way Fury runs things by feeling and executive decision. She wants order, and knows Fury is on thin ice. The Avengers ended with him telling his bosses to go screw themselves. The Hub plot was because she knew Coulson would extract his team, she just wanted to know if Fury would let him get away with it.

3. While she was in charge of the search for Coulson, Po's death (for being TOO SLOW) coincided with Hand's realization that the team was zeroing in on his location.

4. Both the Clairvoyant and Hand seem to prefer predictable order. Every one of Centipede's projects (except the blizzard thing) has been about creating reliable, controllable super-soldiers.

5. The implications of the Previews for the Winter Soldier and The Uprising are that something H.A.M.M.E.R. like is going to go down. Every time the clairvoyant pushes Coulson into breaking protocol and he goes un-punishedm Hand is in a better position to take over from Fury. Assuming Hill's conversations with the Council in Avengers deleted scenes are canon, Hand and Sitwell are the only options for replacement, and Jasper is not so take-charge.

• The Winter Soldier reveals that SHIELD is infested with HYDRA agents and even Sitwell was one of them. Its certainly possible that Hand is the Clairvoyant or, at least, working with him or her.
• At the end of the April 1 episode, Agent Hand is shown to have remotely taken control of the bus and orders everyone on board to be taken out (minus Coulson, who is hers). Note that this is right after May has been outed as a mole, thought by Coulson to be working for the Clairvoyant, the latter part of which May more or less denies. If Hand isn't the Clairvoyant (side note: the creepy dude in front of the monitors from the previews is not the Clairvoyant, either), she's definitely working for him/her, and/or HYDRA.
• Similarly Jossed. Hand's actions are explained by her thinking that Coulson was in H.Y.D.R.A.

Skye is the Clairvoyant.

It could be a split personality thing or a self inflicted memory wipe (the phone conversations could be prerecorded if she really is psychic, not to mention her being conveniently exactly where she needs to be). She could be playing them all.

The Clairvoyant and the cellist are one and the same person

Because Chekhov's Gunman; wouldn't it make for a major twist to have the backround girlfriend as the big bad?

Clairvoyant - Other

Garrett doesn't have abilities, he has security clearance in S.H.I.E.L.D.

The Clairvoyant is using an Infinity Stone to be clairvoyant.

Possibly the Mind Stone or whatever it is called or form it is in the MCU.

• Jossed. John Garrett has no powers, much less and Infinity Stone.

The Clairvoyant is a master hacker

He doesn't have any actual psychic abilities, but the reason he seems to be omniscient is because he has hacking talents that are orders of magnitude above Skye's, thus effectively making him her Evil Counterpart.

The Clairvoyant will know what happened to Coulson.

If said character actually has supernatural/psychic abilities, chances are they will find out the truth (or already know it when they appear).

• Jossed. The Clairvoyant can see everything except how he was brought back, and has Edison and Raina investigate.

The Clairvoyant has genuine psychic abilities.

It's been stated multiple times in the season so far that psychic abilities don't exist, so it would make for great Dramatic Irony if the Big Bad turns out to have exactly that.

The Clairvoyant alone serves as the Evil Counterpart to each one of the six cast members

He appears to be omniscient because he is a master hacker, like Skye. He has developed machines like the eyepiece and the memory probe, showcasing his engineering talents, like Fitz. His talent to create the Centipede serum shows his capabilities in biotechnology, much like Simmons. He appears to be leading Centipede, much like Coulson. Finally, he may be an expert in combat, much like Ward and May.

Hand believes Coulson is the Clairvoyant.

Supposing that Agent Hand isn't the Clairvoyant, what reason would she have to reroute the Bus and order the extermination of all on board except Coulson? Because she thinks he is the Clairvoyant. Think of things from her perspective:

1. He hand picked his team and they have all become very loyal to him very quickly.
2. It was one of his agents that sent everyone out after the red herring Clairvoyant that resulted in Blake being critically injured while another one of his agents was spared.
3. There's no telling what Sitwell may or may not have been telling her in regards to Coulson. Considering the reveal that he was a part of Hydra, he could have been souring her against Coulson in case he needed to use them against each other.
4. The information about Coulson's 'death' and return are shrouded in enough mystery that someone as analytical as Hand may not believe that what the 'official' report says is wholly true.
5. Coulson is just as high up in the command structure of S.H.I.E.L.D. as she is, if not a bit higher due to his closeness to Fury, and has just as much access to classified documents and such.

For someone as by the books as Hand is, Coulson's behavior must be grating on its own. If she suspects there is a traitor in S.H.I.E.L.D. (though likely not to the extent revealed in Captain America: The Winter Soldier) then Coulson would seem like a very viable suspect. It appears as though Hand called for the Bus to be rerouted after Sitwell was kidnapped on the Lemurian Star, the ship Coulson knew Sitwell was ordered to go to seems to back this up. It boils down to, most everything that makes Hand a prime suspect to us, could be what make Coulson look like one to her.

• Sort-of confirmed. She believes that he's HYDRA at the very least, though she is proven wrong.

Skye is un-scry-able by the Clairvoyant, making her a potential threat to their plans.

That's what her 084-ness is about. We may have already had some foreshadowing in one of Coulson's lines: "We know nothing about her. Do you know how often that happens? It never happens." She also is the one that eventually finds Coulson after Centipede kidnaps him before he spills the beans on what really happened with his resurrection, and her efforts also contribute to bagging Raina, two things that may put a crimp in the Clairvoyant's Evil Plan.

• Jossed. She’s a threat because she un-personed herself, and so ‘’nobody’’ knows ‘’anything’’ about her.

Skye is the daughter of the Clairvoyant.

For the nature vs nurture conflict. On one hand, her manipulative and evil biological father and on the other hand, her inspiring and heroic surrogate father.

• Jossed, her father is Mr Hyde.

Ward's Betrayal

The Ward who killed Victoria Hand and freed Garrett

isn't the real WardWhen Ward left Skye in the closet and rushed out to fight the other SHIELD agents, the last we saw of him, he was getting beaten down by overwhelming numbers, then he inexplicably shows up to get Skye out of the closet. That was when the switch was made.

• We've seen enough of Ward's personality, background, and inner demons (the bullying of his older brother, his worries about the Asgardian staff making him more aggressive) that the apparent reveal that he's been a HYDRA agent all along doesn't make any sense.
• His last conversation with Skye before he left the closet is a Chekhov's Gun. Skye will use that conversation to Spot the Imposter.
• Further evidence in "The Only Light in the Darkness" when "Ward" is in THE Lie Detector. At the start, with the rudimentary questions (Name, family), "Ward" is moving around in his seat, claiming it's because of his injuries, while for the rest, he gets by with clever phrasing. At the start, where an imposter would have no choice but to tell Blatant Lies in THE Lie Detector, he's doing what he can to explain the discrepancies the machine is detecting.
  • Mostly Jossed. While it could be said that he’s not Grant Ward, that’s because Grant Ward is almost an entirely fabricated identity. It may not be his name or his real family history, but he’s still the same individual that has been on the team since day one.

Agent Ward is NOT a HYDRA agent

He's in fact a Double Agent for SHIELD. He made it look like he killed Victoria Hand to make Garrett think he's HYDRA, but he's now a deep mole within HYDRA. Ward is noted as being an undercover agent on par with Black Widow, and was trained to be "the whole solution". Right at the end of Episode 17, Hand informs Coulson that she and he are the the top ranking SHIELD agents left, while also noting that this does not mean much anymore. Ward's decision to kill Hand and her guards could be viewed as a way of proving himself to Garrett by killing the "highest ranking SHIELD agent", while knowing that it would have the effect of making Coulson the de facto leader of SHIELD. It's also worth noting that he never says "Hail HYDRA".

• Jossed. He’s entirely loyal to Garrett, and by extension HYDRA. And nobody on Garrett’s teams ays Hail HYDRA except for Kaminsky.

Ward killing Hand was a deliberate Thanatos Gambit on her part.

Look at her philosophy to this point: she has been fully willing to sacrifice agents to complete a mission. The current mission is defeating HYDRA. She made an agreement with Ward beforehand for him to use her death to achieve deep cover inside HYDRA — a la Snape killing Dumbledore to get in deep with the Death Eaters. "No single agent is that important." This statement includes herself.

• Jossed.

Ward isn't really with HYDRA

For one, the Ass Pull reveal seems insanely too out of character for him, considering the emotional arcs we've seen him take over the course of the season. Consider:

• His shooting of Victoria Hand was a major I Did What I Had to Do, so as to gain Garrett's trust. The tag for "Turn Turn Turn" has Ward looking very deep in thought as he stares at the corpse, as Garrett's voice gets tuned out.
• His motive? To gain as much information as he can on HYDRA. What better way to do that than to become the Clairvoyant's right-hand man? What better way to do that than to do the one thing a "hero" supposedly would not do?
• Who handed him the gun is also important. Some blanks, a squib, 2 Life Model Decoys acting as guards, and Ward is Agent Hand's man inside HYDRA. If Hand isn't Faking the Dead, then Ward's going to have to do something really impressive to be welcomed back into the team or is this a self-assigned suicide mission?
• Hand having Ward shoot Garrett seems out of character. Hand has been shown to be a by the books person. It seems odd she would authorize this without good cause.
• The look on Ward's face at the end of "Turn, Turn, Turn" was pure hatred. Also, if he is HYDRA, why would he kill Nash? Clearly, Garrett was planning on continuting to use that alias, and if Nash is alive, but in SHIELD custody, it lends credence to the 'psychic powers' idea. Dead, it just meant that the ruse was guaranteed to get discovered. Also, Garrett never inspected the bodies, and doesn't appear to know about ICErs ("The best agents keep the good stuff for themselves") so it's possible Hand and the others were just ICE'd or some other non-lethal weapon.
• Watch the end of "Turn, Turn, Turn" again: right as Ward and Hand march Garrett onto the plane, Coulson steps out from a hallway and gives Ward a strange look and a slight nod which Ward returns; Coulson may be the one pulling Ward's strings, not Garrett. The next episode promo has Garrett saying to Ward, "Welcome to Hydra," which at the very least implies Ward is "defecting," rather than a previously-placed sleeper agent.
• Do we actually see Ward killing anyone when he and Garrett storm the Fridge? (He does shoot some guys, but it could just as easily be the same situation with Hand.)
• When Garrett roughs Ward up to "authenticate" Ward when he'll meet up with Coulson's team, he's asking him for his identity a la an interrogation, saying Ward would have to say "Grant Ward, Agent of SHIELD" in a way that would convince even him. Ward doesn't seem to need much encouragement on that end, as he stares Garrett in the eye the second time....
  • There is the distinct possibility that Ward knew full well that Skye put a bug in the flash drive (hence his handing it over to Raina without a second thought). Either that or he bugged the drive himself and wants an excuse to hook up with his real team.
• Jossed: in Providence, turns out Ward was always in HYDRA and was assigned by Garrett to spy on Coulson. Also, Grant Ward is a fabrication created to get himself into the team. Who he really is is anybody's guess. He even faked liking the Patriots! The monstrous fiend! However, he admits that he's genuinely fond of Skye. (Lorelei confirmed it, or at least confirmed he was fond of someone on the Bus who wasn't May. He probably wouldn't lie to her.)

Ward isn't really Ward

That is, he's not Grant Ward. He's actually been the older psychopathic brother the entire time, playing the part of one of his younger brothers (who may in fact be dead).

• Jossed, we meet Christian Ward in season 2. Though the younger brother is still missing...

Coulson's resurrection

Tahiti the island was just a false memory, and T.A.H.I.T.I. was the name of the project by Nick Furywhich resurrected Coulson. His revival attempts are not mundane. The sheer skill of the surgeons who operated on him does not exist in real life, implying that S.H.I.E.L.D.-only biomedical technologies were involved in the surgeries, such as the robot that altered his memories. His body is still completely organic, and was brought back by organic means.

The Soul Gem was responsible for Coulson's resurrection

We already know that the Infinity Gauntlet is going to be a plot point, with the Space Gem and the Power Gem featuring in the Avengers and Thor Dark World. SHEILD used the Gem to put Coulson's soul inside the Soul World, allowing them time to heal his body without the worry of him dying on them. Coulson remembers his time in the Soul World as Tahiti, and, as SHIELD won't know how to use the Gem properly, the side effects he is experiencing will eventually culminate in the Gem attempting to reclaim his soul.

The Coulson that we see here is actually a clone.

There might be something to this one. Episode 3 has Coulson fumbling with handguns, a lot, and complaining "this should just be muscle memory." Which would be justified if the muscles weren't actually the original ones he started out life with. If SHIELD somehow had access to cloning tech and were able to grow a new body, then implant Coulson's memories- along with a cover memory of that "magical place" Tahiti- that would account for a lot, wouldn't it? OR- see the following WMG-

Coulson's memory was transplanted to a new body that was built with a Tesseract magic device.

It's been established in series canon as well as the movies that the Tesseract itself wasn't the only device using that type of magic/technology (or "sufficiently advanced technology" as A. C. Clarke would have said). Somewhere SHIELD may have a resurrection/reincarnation device based on Hydra/Tesseract tech that they were reluctant to even TRY using until their darkest hour- which, for Fury, losing his "one good eye" (Coulson) would certainly have qualified. The memory of his supposed 8-second death after being stabbed and his recovery in Tahiti had to be planted to account for the actual time it took to grow a new Phil body and transfer the memories to its brain- and the bugs in the process are just starting to become apparent.

Coulson has always been an android, so when he was stabbed, Fury just re-downloaded his AI into a new body. When Coulson finds out, he goes rogue and becomes Ultron.

Or maybe his 'fleshie' memories got put into an android. But anyway, this is an awesome idea and I really want this to happen.

Coulson is a Chitauri

The Chitari are based on the Skrulls, a race of shape-shifters. Coulson's memories, or even entire mind, was placed into a comatose Chitauri either on purpose or by accident. The Chitauri believes itself to BE Coulson, having no knowledge if its true self. This would explain why Coulson's "Muscle memory" doesn't work: That Chitauri body never practiced the disarming maneuver Coulson was having trouble with. It would also explain why Hill does NOT want Coulson knowing how he "survived", and why Melinda mutters "And you died" in response to Coulson noting that he once tangled with a Norse God, NOT "and you got beat" or "and you got your butt kicked".

Coulson is a LMD

He's a more advanced Life Model Decoy than normal, and doesn't realize he is one.

• Implied by two facts - the comments between Hill and the doctor about "he must never know", and the fact that Coulson doesn't blink at ALL during the episode. ^note  Maybe HE'S blinking when YOU'RE blinking. The Coulson we're seeing is an LMD into whom the first Coulson's memories and essence have been transferred while his true body recovers in stasis.

Coulson is literally Actually a Doombot

Created by Doctor Doom to be The Mole in S.H.I.E.L.D. (much like Akela Amador, but Coulson doesn't know it) Doom can make very convincing robots. Just ask the Scarlet Witch robot that Hawkeye slept with.

Coulson was resurrected by Thor

He was an honorable man and was Thor's friend so when he died a Valkyrie took him to Valhalla, when Thor found out about this he brought him back to earth, but if he dies again he is gonna be gone permanently.

Odin used one of the many devices in the vault to bring Coulson back.

Perhaps the Infinity Gauntlet? Or some as yet unnamed/unknown device. If he's half as powerful as in the comics, he wouldn't even need one of those. Thor does not know because it is meant to be kept a secret for one reason or another. Related: Erik Selvig knows and will make an appearance on the show in the future.

• A line used multiple times by Coulson when referring to his time in Tahiti is "It's a magical place.". The line almost seems to be an autonomic response to the word or reference of Tahiti. It's a magical place. Perhaps Tahiti really is a magical place?
• Thor: The Dark World shows that Odin doesn't think a dying human is any big deal as they live such short lives anyway so it's unlikely he would have bothered bringing Coulson back but it's possible that he was pressured into it by his son, meaning that Thor does know that Coulson is alive.

Coulson was brought back by Ghost Rider

He's a government agent neck deep in all sorts of dirty business. S.H.I.E.L.D. may protect the world, but they'd have to do some nasty things to do it. Ghost Rider went right into Hell and took him back out.

Coulson's body is robotic but his soul was retrieved through supernatural means.

Bolstered by "FZZT" in which Coulson says he's been to the afterlife. Also possibly bolstered by his 'high iron count.'

Melinda was brought back in the same way as Coulson

Whatever happened, she was brought back from the dead due to her skill, but she was so upset about her death that she quit being a field agent and took a desk job. THAT is why she was so upset about being tricked by Coulson in 0-8-4.

• Jossed by Maurisa Tancharoen.

Coulson didn't die in The Avengers

He could have easily fallen into a coma, explaining why he didn't appear in the rest of the movie, and Fury decided to tell the others he was dead in order to give them the push they needed. This obviously won't go down well with the other heroes, Tony especially, although that will most likely be discussed in their own respective movies. This concept would avoid the possibly cringe-worthy "resurrection" plot.

• He doesnt even need to have gone into a coma, they wanted to use his death to unite the team and the rest of the movie doesn't take too long. He could have been in surgery the whole time.
• Possibly jossed. It's hinted that what he believes, that he flatlined and was revived spending is recovery in Tahiti, is a big lie. Then definitely Jossed in "The Magical Place". He was dead for days.

Coulson is now like 616 Nick Fury

Whatever brought him back left him immortal and took an eye.

• Jossed in that he still has both eyes but the immortal part could be true.

The bowdlerization of Coulson's being stabbed in The Avengers DVD is canon, and allowed his survival.

In the theatrical version of The Avengers, Loki's spear stabbed right through his body, enough that it pierced his chest from the other side. No way he would have survived a wound that large; Loki would have at least punctured a lung and his pericardium. However, in the toned-down version of the DVD, Loki's spear doesn't poke out of his chest. Perhaps that retconned it so that Loki didn't stab Coulson as deeply as before, and thus gave him the chance for survival.

• Possibly jossed as this is only true for the UK DVD as the standards for theatrical and home release are different in The UK. It's unchanged in all other release markets.
• Fully Jossed as of "FZZT" - we see the scar on Coulson's chest where it exited, used by Melinda as a reminder that people change after traumatic events.

There will never be an real explanation of how Coulson survived.

I wouldn't put it past the Whedonator to just have Coulson utterly side-step any attempts to find out his secret of survival. But it'd be also be hilarious if he kept changing the story of how he survived a la the badass chef from Ratatouille who 'keeled a man with zis thumb!' or Ledger's Joker regarding his facial scars.

• Jossed: Coulson realized that something happened to him and is now actively trying to find out what.

Coulson knows full well how he survived; Hill's the one in the dark.

He probably has an even higher security clearance (being Fury's "One good eye"). It's entirely possible that Hill thinks he's Locked Out of the Loop when Coulson's the one who knows the whole truth (much in the same way Ward thought the big secret was that Coulson was dead, thanks to his puny level 6 clearance) and she's been given a cover story.

• Jossed as of "The Hub". He knows the truth about what he remembers happening is wrong and that it's being actively concealed from him.

Coulson's revival is mundane

He was clinically dead for a while, had a near-death experience, and was revived. It's just like Melinda May said. Any changes in his personality are due to him coping with the stressful experience. Having the fanbase go nuts speculating about the reason for his resurrection, and then having it just be something relatively mundane, is just the kind of Untwist Joss Whedon would pull on his viewers.

• The dialogue between Hill and the doctor ("He doesn't know"/"He can never know") was vague enough to mean any number of things. He was dead for anything between 8 to 40 seconds. The human brain can get pretty messed up from being without oxygen for that amount of time, hence why his muscle memory is a little off.

Coulson is Deathlok

In the Black Panther animated series, dead soldiers resurrected into Deathlok cyborgs are seen sobbing uncontrollably until they are lobotomized. This sounds very similar to Streiten's claim that Coulson lost the will to live after being brought back.

• Jossed. Deathlok is actually Mike Peterson.

Coulson's heart has been replaced by a Philosopher's Stone.

After Coulson was "killed" in The Avengers, he was taken to Tahiti where the Sabbath ritual was performed in secret ("its a magical place") to revive him. But Coulson is now a doll, only half-alive because Phantoms were used as the four pillars. For him to be revived fully the Sabbath must be performed again with Wizards serving as the pillars.

• Jossed.

'’How’’ Coulson died is how he was brought back.

In Norse mythology (and adapted for Marvel books) there are two main afterlives. Valkyrie (the better known one) takes soldiers, warriors, and heroic sacrifices. Hel (Loki's daughter) takes suicides, old age, sickness, etc. While Coulson died in battle (and in a heroic way) he also deliberately manipulated the fact that he would die (or at least knew it was incredibly likely and went forward anyway) and in such a way that his death would be not quite as altruistic (more for SHIELD than for the individuals) Hel and Valkyrie fought over his soul for so long (since both had a legitimate argument) they decided just to kick his soul back to his body and however he died next would get to keep him. The reason he can't know, though, is because he came back to his body several days after he died... in his coffin... at his funeral.

• In A Magical Place, we found out that Coulson was operated on for days to bring him back to life.
• Jossed. It was Project T.A.H.I.T.I.

Coulson was brought back by the Risen Mitten

The Torchwood resurrection glove, or rather its MCU counterpart. As such, he technically is dead, and the ones in the know understandably don't want him to know that.

• Jossed.

Coulson is actually Clark Gregg.

After he died, SHIELD hired the actor from The New Adventures of Old Christine to impersonate him and carry on his legacy.

• Jossed.

"Tahiti" was the Island from Lost.

Coulson was saved/brought back the same way Sayid and Ben were. In fact, Lost and Agents of SHIELD take place in the same universe - people like Miles Straum, Hugo Reyes, and Desmond Hume are all actually low-level supers.

• Jossed. Tahiti the island was just a false memory, and T.A.H.I.T.I. was the name of the project which resurrected Coulson.

Coulson knows how he was brought back

"It's a magical place": He knows he wasn't in Tahiti, but he knows he's being lied to, and is going along with the cover.

• Jossed. It takes him a while to suspect something odd behind his resurrection, and he finally learns what happened to him in A Magical Place.

Coulson was suspicious of his resurrection long before the first episode.

The whole reason he sought out and hired Skye was so that she could help him find out the truth, as stated in the above theory.

• Jossed, he doesn't start suspecting anything until "The Bridge".

Dr. Strange resurrected Coulson

Coulson did die from the stab wound he got from Loki, and Fury considered him a good enough agent that he went through great lengths to bring him back, including asking the Sorcorer Supreme himself. While Strange was successful in doing so, the process required to make sure Coulson did not come back wrong in any way required pulling a lot of strings and calling in favors with all the various magical beings Strange invokes for his magic since Coulson himself is completely and totally insignificant when compared with matters involving reality and creation itself. Coulson thinking he was decommissioned to Tahiti was either a fabricated memory by Strange, either at Fury's request or as a friendly bonus, or Coulson's version of Heaven looks exactly like Tahiti.They'll be an episode in the series after the first season which deals with the fallout of this, mostly from whatever mystical beings Strange made the deals with coming to collect their due...

• It's confirmed that Fury got the best surgeons he could find to bring Coulson back, and what did Strange do before he became a sorcerer?

Coulson was lying when he told the firefighter that the afterlife was wonderful.

It's heavily implied that the pre-series Coulson was not the nicest guy around. Agent Blake, for instance, implies that the old Coulson would have thrown Simmons out of the plane.

• Jossed. Couslon in both flashbacks and MCU movies is still the same nice guy.

Coulson thinks his Offscreen Afterlife was Heaven, but it's actually somewhere else entirely that looked like it to him.

Goes with many different theories as to what happened. Asgard? Somewhere in outer space? The Ancient One's sanctuary?

Coulson was revived with the help of NANOMACHINES!

That's the source of his increased levels of iron, and would keep in theme with S.H.I.E.L.D.'s use of hyper advanced technology.

• Jossed.

Coulson is Asgardian

Professor Randolph survived the staff attack cause he's Asgardian, and Asgardians recover much faster than humans, that must be why Coulson survived Loki's attack.

• Jossed.

Coulson's ressurection was a contingency plan by Nick Fury.

We know that Nick Fury has a tendency to make backup plans for his backup plans — as seen in Winter Soldier, he sets up the terrorist attack on the Lemurian Star just so Black Widow can get the McGuffin USB, shows Cap the Insight Helicarriers (allowing Cap to know something of what's coming) — and then stalls for time when he finds he can't access the USB's data. And there's the fact that he made sure he had both eyes registered in Shield's security system in case he was locked out. Now, aside from Maria Hill and Coulson (his "Good Eye"), it seems there's very few that even get close to being what passes for his "inner circle" (Cap and Natasha seem to "promote" to this in the film). Now, if Director Fury had suspicions that something rotten was developing in Shield, he'd want somebody he could trust, but also willing to get answers if pushed too far. The loss of Coulson would have been both a tragedy and an opportunity — tragedy in that a good man died (and upset some of his plans), opportunity in that once resurrected, a good chunk of Shield wouldn't know he was alive again, which would allow Coulson more freedom to act (and since he didn't want to come back, it's less likely he's a mole for somebody else.) Being given "The Bus" as a renovated mobile command center, and Lola that happens to make them very mobile — just the thing when you need to regroup when it's all falling down around you. A miniature science team (Fitz, Simmons, Skye) and two enforcers (May, Ward) — it's practically SHIELD in Microcosm!

• Partially Jossed: May is the one who decided who needed to be on the team, knew Coulson would ask her, and designed the team parameters Coulson used to pick. It wasn't to be mini-SHIELD, but a team designed around Coulson: May who knew what had happened to him and to watch for problems, a combat specialist to take him down if needed, a biology specialist if medical problems came up, and a tech specialist who would be able to use the equipment to erase his memory. However, the effort to do all this suggests Fury really wanted Coulson alive, functional, and out there, quite possibly for the reasons suggested.

The Framework

A virtual Alternate Universe introduced in Season 4 where HYDRA successfully took over the world.

Director of Framework!HYDRA:

• Pierce
• Crossbones
• Melinda May
• Jeffrey Mace relating to an above theory
  • Jossed. He's fighting against Hydra as the Patriot.
• All jossed. It's Aida, now identifying as Madame Hydra.

Other

Coulson will die for real in the first season, or be revealed Dead All Along

Because Joss Whedon is just that cruel.

• Jossed, he’s alive by the end.

Skye and Raina will become allies, in spite of their history.

It will start with Skye being presented with another opportunity to kill Raina, this time without Jiaying there to intervene. However, Skye will realize that she isn't a killer and will let Raina live (possibly even showing some Sympathy for the Devil. After all, this is the girl who couldn't bring herself to let Ward die and he betrayed her in the worst way possible). This will lead to a Heel–Face Turn on Raina's part and an alliance between her and Skye.

• Jossed.

Skye and Raina are related through Jiaying

It's not a stretch to say that Jiaying's likely been married a few times - one of those earlier times led to Raina's family.

• Jossed.

Coulson isn't lying. Nick Fury really is coming for the Toolbox.

He'll appear in the season finale to help resolve the conflict of having two SHIELD factions, ultimately ending in a single, unified SHIELD ready for anything. Plus, he'll put Gonzales in his place on top of it.

• Jossed. Fury in Age of Ultron doesn't care. Coulson did the merge himself and Gonzales is dead.

Vin-Tak won't be the last Kree we encounter this season

At the end of "Who You Really Are", Sif intends to return the now memory-less Vin-Tak to Hala. Surely someone in his faction will notice his lack of memory and fix him, resulting in the entire faction discovering that one of the Terrigen crystals was used and the rest were stolen, perhaps sending a more capable warrior to deal with the situation. Perhaps said warrior will show up toward the end of the season two finale much in the manner that Skye's father did in the season one finale. And even further, perhaps the warrior, a captain in the Kree military, volunteers to go to Earth out of a sense of responsibility due to one of his ancestors (Geheneris Hala'son, with whom he shares a name) being responsible for the original Terrigenesis experiments on humanity. True, it's a little unlikely that Marvel would introduce Captain Mar-Vell on television, but people said the same thing about the Inhumans. Plus, with the MCU Captain Marvel movie following the story of Carol Danvers, the film would almost benefit from having Mar-Vell introduced before it comes out, thus allowing the movie to focus on fleshing out Carol more. This means that, logically, Mar-Vell would probably be introduced either here or in the Guardians sequel.

• Jossed.

Sooner or later all the Ward siblings will end up in one place at the same time

This will result in a "Rashomon"-Style episode in which they argue about who was abusing who and how.

• Jossed.

Where are the Koenigs during the civil war?

They haven't been seen during and after Gonzales' faction took over The Playground. This is because their circuits were fried when Bobbi used EMP in "One Door Closes", so they needed time to recharge their batteries.

• Jossed. "Scars" reveals that they've been working on the very Hush-Hush Theta Protocol.

Coulson's attempt to TAHITI Ward will turn him into Taskmaster

War will accept Coulson's offer to remove his memories of being a bad person and make him a better person, but something will go wrong with the procedure. Taskmaster's powers are based on memory, so something in Ward's brain gets wired wrong and now he can remember and reenact anything he sees, but it's overwriting his own memories. Including the good ones.

• Jossed.

T.R.A.C.K.S. and T.A.H.I.T.I. Acronym

While it remains to be seen if there will be be an official explanation, it is possible that TRACKS and TAHITI may be acronyms for the writers' use more than they are code names in-universe. TRACKS was a shorthand for the episode To Reveal Agent Coulson's Kree Side. TAHITI was writers' code for This Alien Hold Information To Inhumans, but coud also work in-universe as This Alien Holds Information To Immortality.

• Jossed for TAHITI. It is "Terrestrialized Alien Host Integrative Tissue I". The last "I" is unknown, though.

Coulson is going to be the new Captain Marvel

He died and was brought back with alien/most likely Kree blood. He just needs something to kickstart it.

• Jossed. The announced movie will star Carol Danvers.

Simmons really did join HYDRA

She suffered a complete breakdown after the events of Season 1 and genuinely did sell out to HYDRA, possibly to try and secure better medical treatment for Fitz than Team Coulson had access to, or just to get revenge on S.H.I.E.L.D. for what she sees as a personal betrayal of the trust she put in them. Her characterisation in Season 2 has portrayed her as pretty much the polar opposite of who she was in Season 1: she's frequently unkind, secretive, reactionary, and increasingly comes across as borderline mentally unhinged - because she's now a Triple Agent for HYDRA within S.H.I.E.L.D., and is suffering incredible guilt and fear because of it, on top of her ongoing trauma from Season 1.

• Jossed.

One of the team's missions will take them to Portland.

At which point they need a back up man now that the Winter Soldier has gone off the grid, having saved Steve and all that...

• Jossed.

Bobbi and/or Simmons will have been brainwashed by HYDRA during their stint undercover.

They've been dropping hints about brainwashing since Making Friends and Influencing People, when Simmons encountered Donnie. Bakshi and Whitehall could have easily subjected either (or both!) to the Faustus Method without their or S.H.I.E.L.D.'s knowledge, since the brainwashed individual can't recall undergoing the procedure and is effectively a sleeper until they are activated. Simmons is the brainwashed person, as Bobbi (with Mack) seems to be involved in another major plot line.

The final Big Bad of season 2 will be The Doctor/Skye's Father/Calvin Zabo/Mister Hyde.

The previews for some of the episodes in the latter half of season 2 indicate that he is very interested in revenge on Coulson. It will be very fitting if the ultimate showdown will be him versus his daughter, both with real superpowers.

• Jossed. He makes a Heel–Face Turn.

Skye will seek help from Bruce Banner

Her powers seem to activate in times of stress and/or elevated heart rate, just like Banner's transformation into the Hulk. As the only person in the MCU with first person experience in powers with such a trigger that SHIELD knows about, he's the only person she can get advice from on how to control her powers.

• He'll explain how his secret, that he's "always angry", while also teaching her a new form of meditation (the kind shown at the end of The Incredible Hulk) so that she can become Master of Your Domain. While he's there, he'll throw in a reference to the stinger of Iron Man 3 by snarking about how he's been drafted to be a superhero therapist despite the fact that he's Not That Kind of Doctor.
• Jossed.

Simmons will die as she is trying to "vaccinate" or kill Skye

With Simmons viewing superpowers as an epidemic that must be wiped out and becoming more unhinged by the second, she will "try to vaccinate" Skye in the hopes of saving everyone. Out of fear and defense, Skye will accidentally kill Simmons with her superpowers.

• Jossed.

"Skyeward" will technically become canon...

Just not with Grant Ward, but with Thomas Ward. Thomas will have been revealed to have eventually escaped the abusive relationship of his family and the feud between his brothers—probably around the time Grant burned the house down—and managed to live his life since then in a more stable environment. Sooner or later, he'll wind up getting involved with SHIELD business, and it's anyone's guess how it goes from there, but...

• Jossed.

Ward told Cal about what Quinn did to Skye

When Cal finds the man who shot his little girl, the result is not going to be pretty.

• Jossed.

Cal will be called Mr. Hyde at some point

This will trigger a rage.

• Jossed.

The Guesthouse alien is the same species as Peter Quill's Father

Whatever species the alien turns out to be, both it and Peter Quill (Star Lord)'s father have been described as "angels". This is neither coincidence or oversight. From what we can see, just a small amount of its DNA can bring humans back to life, and being half-whatever makes one powerful enough to hold an Infinity gem. Perhaps it would lead into a Got G crossover?

• Jossed. That alien was a Kree and Peter's father is something "very ancient".

Daniel Whitehall will eventually, in some fashion, live up to his comic book codename as "The Kraken".

He may adopt the codename himself, or he may experience certain events in the series that very subtly allude to the mythological kraken, or at the very least a water motif.

• Jossed.

Lance and Bobbi broke up because of adultery

We don't know why they broke up, but its clearly something that's left a sour spot for them both. Either one of them, or even both, being unfaithful could be reason to cause such issues to crop up. When Lance said he was 'keeping [his] options open', Bobbi responds by mumbling 'you always do', which sounds like she's bitter at being cheated on. He also mentioned he became a merc because he 'met a girl', but its not specified this girl was Bobbi, and given she herself isn't a merc, its likely he left Bobbi for this mercenary girl only for it to not work out. With Bobbi, however, its very clear that Lance is far more bitter about the divorce and far less willing to speak highly of her (while Bobbi instead vouched for him, and so likely doesn't call him a "hellbeast" behind his back). Bobbi also mentioned Hawkeye, establishing that she and him know each other, and given their relationship in the comics, they were likely romantically linked, which could easily mean she left Lance for Clint. As such, its quite possible one of them (or, again, both) due to meeting someone and the already present issues they had, lead to them cheating and/or leaving them for someone else.

• Jossed.

Fitz isn't hallucinating his conversations with Simmons

They're now psychically linked, something that will freak out everybody when they figure it out.

• Jossed.

Skye and Ward will develop a Mistress And Servantboy relatioinship

Ward doesn't know what to do with himself if someone is not giving him orders. He lived and died on Garret's word. Now Garret is dead and so no one is giving him orders. That's why he made his deal with Coulson; he treats Skye's interrogation questions as "debriefing from his superior" because he's transfered his loyalty to her. S.H.E.I.L.D. or HYDRA makes no difference to him and eventually Team Coulson will recognize this and let him out of his cell (with a Restraining Bolt of course). Instead of Alexander Pierece ordering Garret ordering Ward it will be Coulson ordering Skye ordering Ward. Her telling him to run her errands or some other petty/demeaning task will be a Running Gag. None of this precludes him becoming a Psycho Supporter but he will always act in-line with what Skye wants/orders.

• The Psycho Supporter part is confirmed in "Writing on the Wall". He claims he wants to "be helpful" to Skye by sending "gifts" like a Bound and Gagged Bakshi but she didn't tell him to do this and the stinger implies he's going to try burning his brother alive again.
• Jossed.

Ward will have a Redemption Arc in the finale - and probably into season 2^note  Assuming he makes it out alive.

Ward's been acting sporadically, especially in 'Nothing Personal': it seems like his feelings for Skye, and the fact that Garrett was totally willing to kill off his Dragon in a gambit for the hard drive will lead him to a Heel–Face Turn.

• Jossed. He's still the same Manipulative Bastard.

The berserker staff will wind up in Bruce Banner's posession

Enormous green rage monster with an Asgardian rage weapon; it's too cool not to happen.

• Jossed.

Once it comes out that Ward is Hydra, there will be a Call-Back to the "porcupine"/"little poop with knives sticking out of it" on his people skills assessment.

Once Hill finds out his true allegiance, she'll either remind Coulson that she warned him Ward didn't play well with others or comment on what picture she should have used for the assessment, e.g., an octopus.

• Jossed.

Skye having bad luck with men will become a running gag

So far, the list of people she's been attracted to consists of a HYDRA deep cover mole, and a man who was bribed into betraying his principles by a HYDRA subsidiary. Her habit of picking guys who are secretly or unintentionally evil is not over yet.

• Jossed.

Akela Amador will join Coulson's team

At the end of "Turn, Turn, Turn" Coulson stated that their next mission is to "survive" which means he's going to need help. He previously rated Akela as equal to May in Agent caliber so she could definitely provide that help. Since he's the one who trained her and also saved her from the Eye Bomb (and the fact that CENTIPEDE felt it necessary to use one in the first place) he can be reasonably sure of her loyalty to him.

• Jossed.

Sif was going after the creature left behind at the end of Thor: The Dark World

Jossed.

Simmons will gain electricity-based powers

Simmons will gain these powers from her encounter from the Chitauri virus. She won't mention these powers until they are really needed for three reasons, 1) not wanting to become an experiment, 2) her natural pride/curiosity and wanting to be in control and running any experiments herself, 3) fear of being taken from the team, it's been stated that she was the one who was more interested in joining the team than Fitz and that she persuaded him to join.

• Jossed.

Lola used to belong to Howard Stark.

The hover tech is almost certainly Stark's design, but as sentimental as Coulson is, why not have another collectible from the very man who founded S.H.I.E.L.D. and practically helped invent Captain America?

• Lola was originally Stark's and the ownership of her has passed down to every succeeding Director of Shield. Fury gave Lola to Coulson as a "Welcome Back" gift since he was well aware of Coulson's collection. It would also double as foreshadowing.
• Given that Lola might very well have been the first vehicle that Stark was ever able to make capable of sustained flight, she isn't likely to have been sold for any reason, or really given away for that matter. That makes how she came to be in Coulson's possession all the more important. We know that Fury was on good enough terms with Howard before his death that the genius was willing to talk about Tony with him, so it would stand to reason that Coulson might have very well known the man too. If that's the case, and if the car was passed directly from Howard to Phil, the question becomes, "What did Phil Coulson do for Howard Stark to warrant such a valuable and historic bit of tech?"
• No matter how or why Coulson has Lola, there should be a scene for Tony's reaction to her being in Phil's possession. Even better would be that Howard babied her like Coulson does now.
• Jossed. Lola was originally Phil's father's car, which the two of spent a great deal of time rebuilding before his father's death. He keeps it for sentimental reasons.

Skye isn't The Mole; she's a Double Agent.

She's being run by SHIELD to find out more about the Rising Tide.

• Alternately, she genuinely is The Mole, but is slowly in the process of Becoming the Mask as she realizes that SHIELD aren't the "scary men in black suits" that she originally feared them to be. The look on her face before and after typing "I'm in" has subtle shades of "Am I really going to do this?" in it. He fully expects it. This is Coulson we're talking about here. The Story Arc addressing her being The Mole will reveal that much of the intel that Coulson has given her has simply been a case of choosing to Feed the Mole, as well as knowingly invoking Becoming the Mask to cement her loyalty to SHIELD.
• When Fury tells him that Skye is a risk, he calmly responds "I know, sir", implying that he has the same concerns that Ward was voicing earlier. Skye defends SHIELD when Quinn criticizes it in "The Asset"—while Quinn is holding her at gunpoint. Even if Skye really was a mole before, this incident might change her mind.
• Coulson secretly wants to break the masquerade and tell the world about the stuff SHIELD's hiding, and he plans on using Skye to do it for him. Another possible motive is keeping her in reserve in case SHIELD, or a significant portion of it, starts Jumping Off the Slippery Slope - she thinks differently from someone who is willing to "trust the system" and won't hesitate to shout What the Hell, Hero? from the proverbial rooftops if it needs to be done. In other words, she's Face–Heel Turn insurance.
  • All jossed. She was a mole for Rising Tide, but quickly became loyal to SHIELD.

There will be a cameo in every episode

So in the first one we got Maria Hill, Fury goes second, Clint or Tasha could go next, then Thor will be in a broadcast for the time Dark World hits, the final season will lead directly to Winter Soldier, when there are no cameos from the movies hopefully we will get direct differences to Strange -if he did resurrect Coulson- or Dr. Voodo, Cage or Matt.

• Jossed as of "The Asset". Though it does introduce a Marvel Villain.
  • Jossed in the fourth episode with no villain at all.

Mike Peterson will be Luke Cage

Think about it, they kept talking about having to invent a new identity for him, his powers are similar, and at the end of the pilot they were kept under control. Wouldn't it possible for him to return later in the season, recouped and using a new name to fight alongside the team?

• Jossed. He's Deathlok.

Speculation on contents of the Thor crossover episode: WARNING! MILD SPOILER FOR Thor: The Dark World concerning the second stinger involving the beast from Jotunheim at the end of said movie

recapturing the beast will be the focus of the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D./Thor episode. Even more awesome; they tame it.

• Jossed, sadly.

The black man in the teaser trailer who saves someone while jumping from a building is Luke Cage

Tying into the Heroes for Hire WMG above, they'll start introducing them early on in the series.

• Jossed, or at least somewhat Jossed. He's in the pilot as the guinea pig of a mysterious organization throwing all the superpowers of the MCU into a blender and strapping it to someone's arm/bloodstream. So he's not Luke Cage. However, that's not to say he couldn't become Luke Cage, as his identity was erased 3/4ths of the way through the episode.
  • Jossed. His name is Mike Peterson. Later in the series, he becomes Deathlok.

The black guy with powers in the trailer is Patriot

There's a joke in there that he interprets S.H.I.E.L.D as that he should carry a shield himself, just like comics-Patriot. He could also be related to the Super-Soldier program and tie into Captain America.

• We see a shot where some weird device with orange liquids is connected to a guy's arms. Assuming it's the same hooded guy, maybe that device is the show's version of the serum that gave Patriot his powers in the comics.
• Jossed. The device is a concoction of all the Avengers' super-stuff (serum, Extremis, gamma, alien tech) funded by a mysterious organization. He's just an unemployed factory worker. Who later becomes Deathlok.

The black guy with powers in the trailer is Luke Cage

• Marvel had said they had plans for the character in the MCU amongst others and this show could be how they do it.
  • Sadly, Jeffrey Bell, the show's executive producer, said in an interview that the superhero played by J. August Richards isn't Luke Cage. The black male is MCU's version of Michael Peterson.

J. August Richards is playing Elgin Haliday/Rage

From what little we see of him, his personality seems somewhat similar. I'd prefer Luke Cage or Cloak, but the former has already been shot down, and the guy in the trailer's powers don't look anything like cloak's.

• Jossed He is an original character.

Skye's parents were killed by a SHIELD agent

She's been looking for any leads, but the murderer hid everything using SHIELD protocols. If he killed 2 other agents, he'll be exposed and pull a Face–Heel Turn for Centipede.

• Possibly supported by Episode 7, in which the file concerning Skye's arrival at the orphanage shows several photos of dead bodies.
• In "Seeds", the Agents that were involved in her childhood were protecting her, but weren't her parents. They may have killed her parents.
• All of the above Jossed. Skye's mother was killed by HYDRA scientist Reindhart to restore his youth, while her father is still alive and is an active player in the show's plot.

Skye is the civilian girl Melinda May rescued from the cult.

The only information we have about what Coulson kept from Skye about the file on her parents is that it's heavily implied (if I'm remembering correctly) that there was a considerably large bloodbath surrounding the events. I looked up the Ao S wiki page for the episode ("The Hub") in which Coulson reads the file, and it said that Coulson asked May to help him uncover more information about what happened. I don't specifically recall this (I need to watch the episode again), but it could be that Coulson doesn't even know. Further, it's possible that Skye's parents were actually members of the cult, and that May killed them, which might cause some tension later.

• Jossed. Skye was found in a Chinese village as a child and as an 084.

The prisoner Raina visits at the end of Episode 5 is Baron von Strucker.

Related to the above theory that Raina is Madame Hydra.

• Jossed. Strucker is appearing in Avengers 2, and Po is dead.

Hand is with Hydra

Given that she is up to no good at the end of ''End of the Beginning’’, and The Winter Soldier make sit clear that S.H.I.E.L.D. has been infiltrated by Hydra from the beginning.

• Jossed. Not only is she entirely loyal to S.H.I.E.L.D., but she’s killed by a HYDRA agent by the end of the next episode.

This entire series will take place before The Avengers.

This way the base might not be so broken.

• Jossed by the Josser himself. It takes place after Iron Man 3 in fact.

"Rising Tide" is just a one-person operation that Skye runs

The trailer doesn't allude to Rising Tide being a massive villainous organization that opposes SHIELD, simply just as something that Skye presumably runs on her own to operate as a means to expose the organization's secrets. It may turn into a Myth Arc, but this seems to have been confirmed as of the pilot.

• Jossed. She gets a text at the end of "0-8-4" that the organization is going dark.
• Jossed evern further in "The Girl in The Flower Dress". Skye says Rising Tide "is a huge organization of hacktivists from all over the world." Miles is one of them and is not on the same page as her.

Ward lied about his childhood.

Does he seem like the kind of guy who's going to spill one of his Dark and Troubled Past to someone he neither trusts nor likes? Instead he told her he was abused as a child- it's a standard backstory for people who work in law enforcement, so she won't question it, and makes him more sympathetic, thus aiding in his goal of getting Skye to open up to him. Besides, Coulson's comment about his past in the Pilot gives the impression that his past is extraordinary in it's horror-something on par with Black Widow's past, instead of your average beat cop.

• Jossed in "The Well". We see a flashback where Ward's older brother put the youngest in a well and told Ward to leave him in the well or he would put Ward in there too.
• However later on in the series the authenticity of the memory might be put into question when we meet the older brother and he says that Ward was the abusive one, and Ward is massive liar who is to say that the flashback is how he chooses to remember something or created the memory for his own purposes. Though until the two of them meet and anything is officially confirmed, I am choosing to believe that they were both abusive and are just blaming the other one for all of it to make themselves look good.

Snooping through SHIELD's computers, Skye will be the first one to find out the truth about "Tahiti."

She won't know what to do because not only is Coulson not supposed to know (as if Skye cared about SHIELD protocol like that), but to tell would be to admit that she'd been hacking them. Eventually, every other member of the team will know before Coulson does.

• Jossed

The document Skye has is fake (or at least misleading).

How hard would it be to make a blacked out document and put the SHIELD logo on it, after all? Given at least one member of The Rising Tide has been tricked into stealing from SHIELD (for money), it's possible someone just steered her towards them with some goal or other in mind.

• Jossed by "The Hub" - the document in both its intact and redacted states is in S.H.I.E.L.D.'s files, confirming that it did, if nothing else, legitimately originate with them.

Mike Peterson survived the end of "The Bridge".

He was killed in the explosion, but S.H.I.E.L.D. brought him back the same way they brought back Coulson.

• Jossed. He was abducted by Centipede, who left his lost leg behind to be found.

Skye is the MCU's Scarlet Witch

Whedon's already talked about how Avengers 2 will have the Scarlet Witch in it, except that the X-Men movies means that he can't use Magneto... so he has to redo the backstory for the character anyway. Why not use the TV show to do that? Skye has powers that caused an entire town to die to protect her, but powers that haven't manifested yet. What if Skye is a new version of the Scarlet Witch, who's powers are insanely strong and dangerous (the sort that would make people die to protect her, and cause others to want to get her for their own use), but can also manifest subtly... such as Skye's hacking ability, being able to reshape reality on some level in order to pull off the Hollywood Hacking skills she has.

• Jossed. Elizabeth Olsen has been cast in the part for Avengers: Age of Ultron.

Coulson is the Marvel Cinematic Universe version of the Vision.

Not a new theory, to be sure, but it's just been revealed that Ultron will be the main villain of the second Avengers film (titled The Avengers: Age of Ultron). Maybe Marvel is blindsiding everyone who expects the Phase 2 movies will eventually introduce the new villain, when really, it's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. that's doing the groundwork. In which case, he's probably not the real Coulson, just an android with his brain patterns. This will be the source of much angst.

Skye: He's acting like a robot version of himself right now.

• Jossed: Paul Bettany has been cast as the actual Vision in ''Avengers: Age of Ultron."

The T.A.H.I.T.I. drugs alter the user's brain chemistry

This is why the Clairvoyant can't read Coulson. And since Skye was just given the same drugs, she's now outside his sight as well.

• There is another interpretation: that due to the alien nature of Coulson's resurrection, the Clairvoyant's sight could be blocked. Whatever that humanoid was in the tank, presumably everything related to it would work outside of whatever powers the Clairvoyant might have. So while Coulson and Skye themselves can be read by the Clairvoyant, the actual biological processes of their respective revivals cannot.
• Jossed. The reason the Clairvoyant doesn't know how Couslon was resurrected is because The details are classified Level 10, and his clearance level isn't high enough to allow him to access them.

Victoria Hand is a Double Agent

She really works for Norman Osborn. Had Marvel not been pressed for time, Os Corp Tower would have been part of the New York skyline in The Avengers. Until proven otherwise, this troper is taking that as a sign that The Amazing Spider-Man is unofficially part of the MCU, regardless as to whether the characters can appear. The guy doesn't have to be named.

• Adding on to this, maybe Norman is having her try and find out how Coulson was brought back so he can find a cure from whatever he's dying from in Amazing Spider-Man.
• If they can't go with Hand working for Osborn, then maybe she's working for Centipede instead, possibly as the Clairvoyant? Given that she's high up in the S.H.I.E.L.D. hierarchy, highly analytical, and seems to be developing her own interest in Coulson and why he seems to be so special, it would make sense. She would have access to a lot of classified intel, which could include Coulson's family history and the Cellist, not to mention she was there to hear the man catch himself saying that Tahiti was 'a magical place'. And that's only what she could know about Coulson. Someone who's got loads of information close at hand and has the smarts to use it could certainly seem to be clairvoyant, couldn't they?
  • Jossed. She's a loyal SHIELD agent.

Ward's brother will be The Dragon in a Big Bad who will be one of the known Marvel Villains listed above.

Giving some personal conflict (to Ward at least) in the struggle against an otherwise unpersonal threat.

• Jossed. Ward is The Dragon.

Zodiac will be the Season One Arc Villain

They're a criminal/espionage organization with ties to S.H.I.E.L.D. Throw in the Zodiac Key and they straddle a very interesting place between "espionage weird" and "didn't-there-used-to-be-a-building-here weird". In the comics, Nick Fury's brother Jake is a longtime associate of the group. And finally, the Iron Man 3 home release is the same day as the pilot, and includes a short in which Sharon Carter, Agent of SSR, fights the Zodiac in the 1940s.

• Jossed. First-season Arc Villain is the Clairvoyant (and Centipede group), all part of HYDRA.

May was unwittingly reporting on Coulson to HYDRA

.

• Jossed, she was reporting to Fury.

John Garrett (Bill Paxton's upcoming character) will be the last living member of the team that found Skye

.That's why he joins the Bus Team temporarily - either he's being protected from the group hunting him, he's helping the team track said group, or he's still trying to protect Skye from them.

• It turns out that he temporarily joined the bus team on orders to take Ian Quinn for interrogation, only to interrogate him on the bus and help the team find the guest house.
• Jossed, a totally different character had that role.

Fitz and Simmons are married

To be revealed casually a few episodes in when one of them (likely Leo) is kidnapped. Something along the lines of:

Ward: Calm down. We all want him back.

Simmons: I'm not calming down! That's my husband!

Ward: Sorry.... What?

• The official opinion of their actors is that they're in love with each other, but will never be able to openly admit it.^note This becomes a case of Exact Words in the Season 1 finale.
• Officially Jossed: Fitz hasn't told Simmons that he likes her. And they get married in the 100th episode.

Fitz is Simmons' brother

She doesn't know it. Think about the majority of the FitzSimmons ship teasing - most of it comes from Simmons' side. While Fitz does care for Simmons, it's always on the side of protection and not actual romance - he saves the latter for Skye. Fitz and Simmons were separated at birth, both of them going to different foster homes. While Simmons managed to get a nice family, Fitz was stuck with parents who simply didn't understand him (or worse - he might have just made his childhood seem a bit better in front of Donnie and his adoptive parents could've been highly abusive). As he got better at working with electronics, he managed to track down his sister in the hopes that the two could be real family. When Fitz finally met Simmons, he found out that not only did she have a happy upbringing, but she had no idea that she was adopted. Fitz couldn't bring himself to tell her, so instead he became friends with her and followed her wherever she went - even if it meant going through S.H.I.E.L.D. Academy and eventually having to follow her into the field despite his disdain for fieldwork itself. All this time it hasn't been love that drove him to guard Simmons, it was Big Brother Instinct. Unfortunately, since Simmons is totally unaware, this could lead to a very awkward Luke and Leia moment...

• Jossed: Fitz is in love with Simmons, and seems to have lost interest in Skye. Plus the writers are now overtly treating them as Love Interests, which pretty much rules out the possibility of them ever being revealed to be siblings on a show not made by HBO.

"Rising Tide" will be a Hydra remnant/successor

Jossed. In "The Girl in The Flower Dress" Skye says Rising Tide "is a huge organization of hacktivists from all over the world." One of their members had to be paid a large sum of money by CENTIPEDE to do something illegal and even then he researched them.

If Coulson dies in the series, the evil AI Ultron will upload his mind into a robot body to gain an advantage over SHIELD

Code name, Vision.

• Jossed; Paul Bettany is playing Vision in Age of Ultron.

The organization behind the Centipede project is the Guild of Super Evil.

• Jossed. They're part of HYDRA.

Rising Tide will play a crucial part in battling Centipede organization.

Since a member of Rising Tide has to be approached and hired with a hefty sum just for one hacking job, they probably are not affiliated with Centipede organization. Such a natural and anonymous position makes them an idea faction to break the tie between SHIELD and its adversaries.

• Jossed. They don't show up again after "The Girl in the Flower Dress".

Project Centipede is an AIM operation.

It's mentioned in the pilot that the Centipede module is partially fueled by Extremis, which is an AIM creation. It's a possibility that AIM worked to expand the efficiency of Extremis by adding other elements to it like an offshoot of the Super-Soldier Serum, plus gamma energy on top of it.

• Jossed, it's run by HYDRA.

Edison Po is the Red Skull.

Hugo Weaving has stated that he is not interested in reprising his role as the Red Skull and since the antagonist of the upcoming Captain America film seems to be SHIELD itself, it's unlikely that the Red Skull will be involved. His more subdued demeanor is due to the traumatizing experiences he had after being zapped into space by the Tesseract.

Edison Po is Poseidon.

This could potentially mean a Namor appearance in season 2.

• Jossed. Edison Po is dead as of "The Magical Place", and Namor's rights are owned by Legendary/Universal so he can't appear anyways.

Project Centipede is a subsiduary of RAID

After the fall of Killian the Mandarin and AIM, part of the organization broke off and became RAID, an even more technology obsessed organization, but one which also gives the organization's Modus Operatus of getting stuff and then pulling out, Raiding people's lives, it makes for an interesting alternate take on what is otherwise a rather minor organization in the marvel universe.

• Jossed, it's run by HYDRA.

Project Centipede is run by Zodiac

Edison Po will be Aquarius (his name is an anagram for "Poseidon", god of the sea) and Raina will be Virgo (flowers are often associated with virginity). And a Zodiac is used in astrology to tell the future, which is what a Clairvoyant does.

• Jossed, it's run by HYDRA.

Project Centipede is run by Ultron

The entire show is a forerunner to Avengers 2: Rise of Ultron and is his Origin Story. Skye is a Technopath who created an Artificial Intelligence as a child because she was lonely. The A.I. went rogue and built a cult around its self. a S.H.I.E.L.D. team including agents Melinda May and Phil Coulson were sent to asses the child's abilities for the inventory but as one of Ultrons primary objective was to look after Skye the mission went wrong and May had to clean up gaining the nick name The Cavalry. Thinking that the A.I. was erased May dropped the child of at a orphanage which and S.H.I.E.L.D. kept an eye on her until she was unpersoned by Ultron who was still running redundant programming to keep her safe. His entire wanting to conquer the world thing comes from an off hand comment that she made as a four year old child that she wanted to be queen and so she could make people be her friends. Skye will either die or Ultron will be able to break free of his program allowing him to attempt to rule the world.

• Jossed. Centipede is run by HYDRA, and Ultron doesn't make any kind of appearance in the first season.

The World Security Council is a backer of Centipede

The Avengers showed that the WSC was intending to create Tessaract-based energy weapons to combat any extra-terrestrial threats or beings that could come to Earth, after the Destroyer incident and Thor. The Tessaract's return to Asgard eliminated that possibility, since the original plans requires it as a source. One key point of interest is that the plan to create these weapons is referred to as "Phase 2" by S.H.I.E.L.D. and the WSC.

S.H.I.E.L.D. (or at least certain parties like Fury) seems hesitant or unreliable in supporting the WSC's decisions, especially after interfering with the decision to nuke New York to stop the Chitauri invasion. The WSC decided to take an extreme plan of action. They would create their own group of superheroes and highly talented individuals. They would redo the "Avenger Initiative" to their liking (assuming they originally scrapped the plan because SHIELD didn't approve their choices, like the Abomination instead of Banner). The WSC wants to make their group full of super-powered members, given the popularity of the Avengers and what they perceive as an escalating threat that may be more than standard armies can handle.

In Edison and Raina's conversations, they refer to their plan to create super-soldiers with the Centipede device as being in Phase 2, and further progress in making the method more effective (stabilizing the formula and making it less taxing on the super-soldiers' stamina, and apparently researching resurrection) as Phase 3. Implanting artifical eyes with kill-switches is just another part of the plan, to simultaneously give their soldiers an extra ability (assuming X-ray is standard) and control over them (giving mission orders, surveillance, and the ability to kill them if they goes rogue).

If the WSC has no qualms about gathering intelligence on SHIELD operations and agents, the Clairvoyant could end up being revealed as having access to all that information (assuming that the show continues to stand by the "psychic abilities do not exist until proven wrong" rule). This allowed Centipede to stay off SHIELD's radar for so long, know about all the previous methods that created Earth's heroes, and even the details of Coulson that Raina uses in "The Magical Place".

• Jossed, more or less. In The Winter Soldier, the entire Security Council sans one are killed. Plus, they are all different people from the ones in The Avengers, so even if those people were involved they aren't part of the WSC anymore.

Coulson is going to ask Skye to steal a copy of the file discussing his recovery for him.

Possibly offering her a chance to read the non-redacted file on her origins rather than just giving her a deliberately vague synopsis in exchange.

• Jossed. May does this, and she doesn’t need to be asked.

Coulson will perform a Heroic Sacrifice at the end of the season

Now that he knows what he's gone through, it will continue to gnaw at him and his will to live will slow fade away. By the time of the season finale some catastrophe will be occurring that requires a suicide mission to be stopped, and Coulson will opt for it because "he already got his second chance". It would explain why so far there's been no word of him appearing in Age of Ultron. Jossed, he's very much alive as of the season finale.

Others 2

The Guest House is run by HYDRA.

One of the guards was named Bob.

• As of "Turn, Turn, Turn", this is proven false because if it were run by HYDRA then Garret, a HYDRA agent, wouldn't have to manipulate Coulson into leading him to it..
• As of "Nothing Personal", it turns out that Coulson himself was the director for T.A.H.I.T.I before the events of The Avengers, and he's at least not HYDRA.

Skye is Coulson's daughter

He knows, she doesn't. It's why he's looking out for her so much and why Whedon is hiding her parentage.

• When Coulson finds out that her parents have a SHIELD file, he looks visibly shaken. He also says "Let me help with that." This is when he becomes aware that Skye is his daughter since she had previously changed her identity. However, once he reads the file, he finally remembers, which is why he can't tell Skye.
• Likely Jossed, since Skye is a 0-8-4 and her parents were reportedly killed by someone trying to get her.
  • DEFINITELY Jossed: Raina meets up with Skye's father at the end of "End of The Beginning".

Skye is Melinda's daughter.

Melinda conceived her during her early days as a spy, possibly while performing a Honey Trap. This would make Skye's biological father a dangerous man who likely wants his daughter back in his custody. Skye was put in an orphanage to protect her from being found. However, her activity with the Rising Tide allowed her father to find her so Coulson had her join S.H.I.E.L.D. in order to keep her safe. Also, Skye's actress is half-Chinese. Coincidence?

• This could be the reason why she retired from field work. She thought something happened to her daughter while on a mission. She did not and has not wanted Skye involved with the SHIELD agents. Would you want your daughter being put on dangerous missions on a regular basis?
• In "Repairs", Melinda tells Tobias to "Let the girl go". She then says that this is the same thing Coulson told her in Bahrain. Skye might be the girl she let go.
• A lot of her dialogue in "The Bridge" supports this theory.
• Jossed. Skye is an 0-8-4, and her parents are “monsters”.

Alternatively, Skye is Coulson and Melinda May's daughter

She doesn't seem to know who her real parents are, and her talking about May and Coulson as "Mom and Dad" wasn't just a cute note on the dynamics. It was a hint by the writers. It's also why she has such a good head for this kind of thing. She's got genes from the two best agents. Chloe Bennet is half-Chinese.

• The dialogue between May and Coulson implies they used to be close until something drove them apart and then May turned herself into a bureaucrat some time later. Some Glad-to-Be-Alive Sex, Morning after regret, and a kid would certainly do that to any two people. Especially if SHIELD has rules on inter office dating. Their banter at the beginning of Season 1, Episode 5 further strengthens the theory that Coulson and May were in a relationship at one point.
• Kinda Jossed, as it wouldn't explain why she's a 0-8-4.

Skye is Coulson and Hill's daughter

Because there were hints of a past relationship in the first episode, too.

• Jossed due to the reasons above.

Skye is Tony Stark's daughter

Genius with computers, unknown family past...Tony would have been quite young, more likely to make mistakes.

• Jossed due to the reasons above.
• Also it heavily implied in the pilot that she had at one time been one of his groupies. This ain't HBO.

Skye's parents were some kind of rebels/protesters

...and were black-bagged away when she was a child (possibly even while she watched, ala Evey)- though not necessarily by S.H.I.E.L.D., creating her vehement distrust of anything resembling The Men in Black. She erased her own identity when she was old enough to know how to do so, hoping to either avenge her parents or find out what happened to them.

• Jossed, Her parents were killed by someone trying to kidnap her, and SHIELD was trying to protect her.
  • Doubly jossed. Raina implies Skye's parents were the monsters who destroyed the village trying to get her.

Skye isn't human (but doesn't know it), that's why her parents' identity is classified.

She's a Skrull (shapeshifters, and Skrull text showed up in Eye Spy unless they meant for that to be Chitauri text) or Kree (some look just like humans, and the Kree will show up in Guardians). Alternatively she could be a Half-Human Hybrid.

• A clone or created individual. Regardless, product of an experiment of some sort seems like a good theory because it gives SHIELD clear reason to classify her records.
• Jossed. Simmons was doing all that blood testing on her, so she at least registers as a human to our medical science. She'd throw a HUGE red flag up if she were of true alien origin, since her body chemistry and inner organ composition would be drastically different.

Skye's father is the man behind the Centipede.

The same man is also behind the whole "Eye Spy" plot as well. Skye must have inherited her genius from somewhere, and it takes a genius to pull all this off. Bonus points if he's a former SHIELD agent (even more so if her mother is too) and SHIELD attempted to hide Skye from him.

• Adding to this, Skye's father is Edison Po, the prisoner Raina met with in "Girl in the Flower Dress."
• Jossed. Skye’s father is not related to Centipede at all. Though he is related to Raina somehow…

Skye was born either during/as a result of an earlier Centipede experiment

Coulson said that a S.H.I.E.L.D agent dropped her off at an orphanage, and that much was true, but we then get a glimpse of a couple of pictures depicting what appear to be a personnel photo and a crime scene photo depicting an unknown female victim. What if sad victim was the Agent that dropped off Skye? Lets say Agent X is investigating a possibly radical research group, finds a very twisted breeding program or some such. She grabs the first baby she can get her hand on in a bid to save the kids and get evidence to HQ, but gets herself caught in the process. In a last ditch attempt to save the baby, she drops the baby off at a nearby orphanage and keeps running, only to get herself caught and killed, her knowledge of the Research groups twisted plans dying with her.

• Jossed in regards to how Skye ended up in the orphanage at least.

Skye comes from a rich background

People are complaining about her casting and costume because she looks ridiculously conventionally gorgeous and well-groomed for an anarchist hacker who lives in a van, but it's actually a clue to her backstory. She's a Rebellious Princess who Unpersoned herself to hide her background and give herself street cred, as well as possibly prevent her family from finding her, but didn't think to change her dress or general appearance because, as has already been established, she's over-confident and over-reliant on her computer hacking skills and thought she was completely safe once her digital footprint was cleaned up.

• Possibly Jossed as we hear a little of her backstory in "The Asset". She hasn't worn anything that couldn't be found at thrift shops or garage sales. What’s more, some of those places don't even accept credit cards. A little creativity with discount make-up in the restroom of the nearest laundromat and done.

Coulson's team will go rogue by the end of season 1.

A running theme of SHIELD's depiction is that, while well-intentioned, it can be very shady or outright dark in its activities. If Coulson is putting together a team of out-and-out good guys, they might rebel against SHIELD's shadier directives (a la the Avengers) and strike out on their own. This would tie in well with Captain America: The Winter Soldier, which will come out around the same time as the first season finale and is supposed to get into a lot of murky territory when it comes to the government and SHIELD. For this to happen, it mean Nick Furry would have to occupy a place on the spectrum that Coulson and his team don't want to occupy (again, much like the Avengers decided in the film).

• With SHIELD dissolved as of The Winter Soldier and a second season confirmed, it seems likely they'll continue to work even after leaving SHIELD. Either that, or they'll decide to form a drug cartel.
• Jossed Coulson is promoted to Director by Fury and entrusted with rebuilding SHIELD.

Ghost Rider is in the pilot

In the trailer, Coulson is looking at what appears to be a floating flame thing and for a few seconds before that you can see what appears to be motorbike handles/throttle. It might be a possibility.

• Jossed. It's a piece of the lab that was blown up, and Coulson is looking at a freeze frame of it.

Coulson will go rogue (or at least be declared so) in the season finale as a result of what he finds out about what really happened to him.

His own team might be sent out against him but more likely, the Team will also go rogue alongside Coulson as a show of loyalty for him. The bonds that they have with one another has been one of the recurring themes thus far in the show.

• Jossed. The team stays loyal to S.H.I.E.L.D. even after pieces of Coulson’s resurrection start coming to light, and especially after the S.H.I.E.L.D. civil war. By the end of the season, they are actually all that remains of S.H.I.E.L.D., and even that is at an unofficial level.

Coulson has figured out that Hydra has taken over SHIELD.

Obviously he doesn't know everything, such as his best friend Jasper Sitwell being a HYDRA agent, but is having concerns. This why he formed a team of mostly young agents: they're unlikely to be HYDRA Agents.

• Jossed. He had no idea, and even if he did the age wouldn’t have mattered - according to Agent Weaver, even some of the students at S.H.I.E.L.D. Academy were HYDRA infiltrators.

Agent Triplett is with HYDRA and he's Garrett ace in the hole

• With Ward AWOL for now it looks like that Triplett has joined Coulson's team, his loyalty proven in Turn, Turn, Turn. However it turns out it's a trick and he's Garrett's man inside. A back up plan in cause the coup fails. A safety net just in case things fall apart. Garrett confided in his loyal protege who are loyal Hydra leaders at Level 8, so when Hand did her secret test of loyalty he saw right through it because he knew as one of Hydra's deep agents that she wasn't one of Hydra's level 8 Agents. So he has thrown in with Coulson, biding his time.
• Triplett was also one of the two people during the operation to find the Clairvoyant that used what seems to be a Hydra recognition signal - the conversation about 'being a Scorpio'. The other was Blake, the one that 'managed' to tag Deathlok so they could follow him to the faux-Clairvoyant.
  • Alternatively, he's a triple agent. Fury got to him before Garret, so he's a SHIELD agent, pretending to be a HYDRA agent, pretending to be a SHIELD agent.
  • Jossed. By the end of season one, Triplett has proven his worth to Team Coulson, and taken Ward's spot on the Bus as the finale ends.

Ward set up May to look like Koenig's murderer.

She's conveniently left the team. Coulson no longer trusts her. Ward took the Bus. It wouldn't be an illogical conclusion for Coulson to reach.

• Jossed Simmons performs an autopsy and determines it was Ward.

At the end of the season, the team will go their separate ways

They'll need to split up since SHIELD technically no longer exists.

• Simmons will work with Dr. Banner at Stark labs on numerous biological and gamma-ray related experiments.
• Fitz will work with Dr. Foster and her team in London, attempting to understand wormholes more thoroughly.
• Triplett and May will join Fury as he fights HYDRA in Europe
• Skye will go to China in the hopes of uncovering more about her identity.
• Phil will finally go to the real Tahiti.
• Jossed; the team are sticking together to rebuild SHIELD.

After the Stinger in "Ragtag", Ian Quinn's proposal for super soldiers will get rejected by the US Government

Because Stark Industries will present them the Ultron AI which will do all the work. This will be the seed that sets up Avengers 2, and may even get a special cameo appearance by Tony Stark himself in the Season 1 finale.

• Jossed. The military passes after Garrett murders one of them and imprisons the rest, the control hub for the Deathloks is dismantled, Quinn runs off as soon as he can without looking back, and Tony is nowhere to be seen.

Yondu knows the alien that Coulson found in the lab

While Yondu and his Ravagers were on Earth abducting Peter Quill, SHIELD appeared since, you know, aliens. SHIELD and Yondu's Ravagers get into a fight, where the end result is one of the Ravagers gets stranded on Earth. The blue one that Coulson found in the SHIELD lab years later. Yondu decides to leave him there, probably because "that guy was a jackass."

Fitz will have amnesia due to his brain damage and forget who Simmons and the rest of the team are.

It's both a Reset Button on the Fitz-Summons romance subplot and a way to milk it for drama.

• Jossed: Fitz has some memory problems but remembers who everyone else is, and is especially dependent on Simmons; the major consequence of his brain damage has been hallucinations of Simmons after she leaves the team.

Fitz is dead and Simmons is just in deep denial about it.

Because Joss Whedon.

• Jossed: But interestingly, almost the exact opposite is true. Simmons left the team shortly after the Season 1 finale, and Fitz is the one in deep denial, to the point where he hallucinates her constantly and doesn't seem to know that she left at all.

Simmons is based on Mockingbird

Their backgrounds are very similar, with them being scientists who then attending SHIELD Academy and, given that a Mockingbird TV show was planned at one point, and elements were incorporated into Agents of SHIELD, which could very well include the character herself, or rather the character's traits with a different name being used.

• Jossed with the introduction of Mockingbird in Season 2, played by a different actress.

Melinda May is the MCU version of Carol Danvers

Hardass female pilot, with a damaged past? She could entirely be Carol, just with a different name and appearance. If this is not the case, they could introduce Carol as an old friend of Melinda.

• Jossed with the announcement that Carol Danvers will be Captain Marvel in an upcoming movie. Still could be an old friend of May's, of course. (...or of anyone else.)

Lance's ex-wife was Asgardian

Him calling her both a goddess and a demonic hell-beast may not be exaggeration. She could be Encantress, or possibly Hel.

• Jossed. His ex-wife is Bobbi Morse.

A main character will die in 2x08: The Things We Bury

The episode is teasing to be "unforgettable", and "more shocking than last week's". The premise involves Ward facing his brother, while SHIELD and HYDRA have an all out brawl. Finally, the episode is called "The Things We Bury". Bury. Yeah...

• Jossed. Someone dies, but it isn't a main character.

At least one or both of Skye's parents were a threat to S.H.I.E.L.D. and were assassinated as a result.

The picture on the file implies that her mother was killed, and it would be a good reason for Coulson to stay quiet about it. The S.H.I.E.L.D. agent that dropped Skye off at the orphanage was the agent assigned to kill her parents.

• Jossed. SHIELD was trying to protect her and her parents, but according to Raina... Skye's parents are "monsters" and everyone knows that S.H.I.E.L.D. monitors monsters.
• Double jossed. Whitehall was the one that killed Skye's mother after extensive experimentation, and her father swore revenge on him. S.H.I.E.L.D. had nothing to do with either one's death, beyond HYDRA sleeper agent being involved.

Skye is Asgardian.

So far, she hasn't actually been in a real physical confrontation, so there's nothing to disprove the notion that she might have the Super-Strength or Super-Toughness that Asgardians typically possess. In addition, Asgardians normally live thousands of years. It's possible that theo Professor X, but they can still have a paraplegic central character.

• Jossed with extreme prejudice in "T.R.A.C.K.S.".

Skye's mother is the Project TAHITI alien

It explains why she's had no reaction so far to being injected with GH-325, and it fits in with Coulson's theory that she's an alien. Plus, The Doctor has stated that he just wants to bring his family back together, implying that he lost touch with Skye's mother a long time ago. Furthermore, Grant Ward claims that the village in Huan provience that was wiped out by The Doctor was filled with HYDRA agents, and that The Doctor killed them to save his wife and daughter. Given that S.H.E.I.L.D and HYDRA were mixed for a long time, it's possible that Sky's Mother was moved from China to where-ever the Guest House was located.

• Jossed. Skye's mother was revealed as of S02E08.

Isabelle Hartley is Victoria Hand's ex

Comics Victorita had a girlfriend called Isabelle.

• Jossed by Maurissa Tancharoen due to not wanting the show to be known to kill off two lesbians

Sharon Carter will make an appearance before or after showing up in Captain America: The Winter Soldier

Considering that she's played by Emily van Camp from Revenge, another ABC show, this might be a possibility.

• Jossed for before at least.

One story arc in the show will be about helping a female thief who uses a staff get off the streets

Recognizing her talents, they ask her to become part of The Team, and after several encounters, she'll finally relent. Her name? Bobbi Morse. Thus in an inversion of the typical dynamics, it'll be Mockingbird who was the ex-thief while Hawkeye was the legitimate one.

• Skye was an independent hacker screwing with SHIELD and she's already joined the team as of the end of the pilot but she's not Mocking Bird. The real Mockingbird is confirmed in the season 2 teaser as San Diego Comic Con to already be a well regarded agent. Thus Jossed.

Grant Ward is related to Terrence Ward

Terrence might be his younger brother, abusive older brother, or another relative.

• This could partly be related to the theory below that his brother is not the monster he was. The MCU's version of Terrence's powers are not that he has the power to change into a person's greatest fear (saving on expensive effects for a TV show) but has the ability to make them see their greatest fears. He was never a monster, but as a child he was not yet in control of his powers.
• Seemingly Jossed regarding Ward's brothers, as their names have since been revealed to be Christian and Thomas, and Christian is dead. It's possibile for there to be an Adaptation Name Change or him being another relative.

Bobbi Morse is The Mole for HYDRA within SHIELD

When she was extracting Simmons from the HYDRA facility, we saw her about to face a squad of guards led by Bakshi himself, but we never saw an actual fight between them. He may have reminded her "compliance will be rewarded" and sent her to rescue Simmons in order to gain SHIELD's trust and find their headquarters.

• If this is the case it's likely she'll end up having to fight the brainwashing and struggling to get free from it in a Fighting from the Inside or "I Know You Are in There Somewhere" Fight type scene. If so, then she'll be the one to kill Whitehall, because trying to control her is one of her biggest Berserk Buttons in the comics.
• Alternatively, they may end up thinking Bobbi is The Mole, but in reality she is as loyal as anyone else. Instead, someone unexpected will be revealed to have been brainwashed, with Bobbi as a Red Herring.
• Jossed.

Baskhi THINKS that Bobbi is his mole within SHIELD

When we saw her about to face him and his guards, she said some HYDRA code to the effect of "I'm going to infiltrate them". She tried to do something to this effect with that other guard before said guard saw Simmons and she had to knock him out. The purpose of this is to prolong her cover and Feed the Mole.

• Evidently Jossed (both this and the one above); When being interrogated by Bobbi on behalf of Coulson, he chooses attempted suicide rather than any other attempt at escape, which would be unlikely if the interrogator was someone on his side.

Coulson's cellist girlfriend will be killed threatened by HYDRA

They need to get Coulson out in the open, what better way than to endanger his loved one.

• Jossed. She's threatened by a gifted released by HYDRA, but ultimately survives.

The test subjects of Project T.A.H.I.T.I. were either dead or terminal

Given Coulson's morals, he wouldn't have approved of healthy, living people being used as test subjects for a project of this magnitude. It stands to reason that they would start out working on dead bodies or those who were going to die no matter what was done.

• Jossed. They were alive, and they stayed alive even after the project despite Coulson having to completely rewrite their brains and give them new identities.

Mack's appearance in "What They Become" will be as a corpse at the bottom of the hole.

• Jossed.

Skye's father is The Mandarin

Her actor is half-Chinese and there the controversy over the the real identity for the Mandarin from Iron Man 3, the real one might be revealed in 4. It is mentioned many times that she was born in a village Hunan province and her parents were "monsters".

• Jossed. He's Mister Hyde.

Agent 33 is a HYDRA Agent

In the new preview for 'Making Friends and Influencing people, Agent 33, is seen strapped by a HYDRA doctor asking her to comply. Couple that with Coulson's comment about losing S.H.I.E.L.D's best and brightest to HYDRA and voila! It fits perfectly.

• Confirmed, though she later manages to get through her brainwashing.

Skye is the MCU version of Sinthea "Sin" Schmidt, daughter of Johann Schmidt.

Schmidt definitely acts like a monster at times, and it would add weight to HYDRA wanting to get their hands on her.

• Jossed as of "What They Become." She's Daisy Johnson, aka Quake.

Raina is The true Mandarin

In Ragtag, she reveals her philosophy is something similar to what he would say, and her theme music is similar, alternatively, she works for him.

• Jossed, she was working for Skye's father Cal.

Gordon (the eyeless man from "What They Become" is Reader)

An Inhuman introduced the same time as season 2, who is blind and can read brail tags in order to warp reality in small amounts. We don't actually know Reader's birth name yet, so it could totally be Gordon.

• Jossed. Gordon appears in Uncanny Inhumans #0 as a totally different character, and hasn't demonstrated any ability related to Reader's Reality Warper powers on the show.

The end product of Project Centipede will be Wonder Man

After the shove all of their super-power-goodies into a single person, keep it constantly stable, and throw in whatever they get from Coulson, the Centipedes will have everything they need to create their own ultimate hero. Then they can have The Team encounter him and think he's a case similar to Mike, but in reality he's a sleeper agent like in the comics. Then, also like the comics, he becomes The Mole.

• Jossed. The end goal was Deathlok.

There's going to be a reversal of the confrontation from Girl in the Flower Dress once Coulson is rescued

Coulson was angry about Skye keeping secrets from him, and rightly so. Then, a mere two episodes later, he does the same thing to her on the limits of how much he's willing to help her on a project she's literally been working on her entire life. She is going to be angry. Especially since Coulson's lies started on the episode where he gave her a lecture on the importance of security levels, meaning he could have just said "The bulk of that file concerns a highly sensitive operation which I cannot discuss with an uncleared trainee." That would have allowed him to string her along for years by giving her gradually less and less redacted copies of the file as she works her way up the ranks without giving her false hope.

• Jossed.

Skye is Tarene/Thor Girl

It was never mentioned in "Seeds" how she got her name. Possibly it was randomly given to her by one of the agents that found her or the system itself, but it's also possible that those who lived in the village where she was found named her that because she literally fell out of the sky one day after falling from Asgard. The "e" could have been added as a translation error. As for her not exhibiting any special abilities, it's possible that they've been locked away somehow to protect herself and those around her.

• Jossed, she's Daisy Johnson.

Skye is a Kree.

And the ones that tried to kill her as a baby were Skrulls. Or vise-versa and she is a Skrull with stuck human form as her default and Kree were sent to kill her as a baby.

• Sort of. She's an Inhuman, who aren't related biologically to the Kree but were created by them. However, her parents were an an Inhuman and a regular human who later became enhanced.

Skye's father is also Peter Quill's father

Guardians of the Galaxy (2014) ends with the reveal that Yondu was hired by Peter's father to kidnap him, before electing to raise the kid himself as his father was a "jackass." One wonders if there's any connection to the other mysterious father from the MCU.

• Jossed. Her father is Calvin Zabo, who was 100% human when she was first born.

Skye and her dad never met, even before she was taken in by S.H.I.E.L.D., because...

...SHE HADN'T EVEN BEEN BORN YET. Skye's mother was pregnant with her when Whitehall killed her, and he kept Skye until she was somehow rescued. She was taken to her mother's village, and HYDRA destroyed it trying to get to her while placing the blame on her dad. S.H.I.E.L.D. managed to secure Skye before her dad could claim her, and the rest is history. Skye's mother was murdered in 1989, so it places Skye as being 24-25 years old, which fits with her apparent physical age. The reason her dad's so obsessed with her is because he's never even managed to see her in person.

• Jossed. He admits to having sung her lullabies when she was an infant.

Ward will return as a new Deathlok.

Considering his crushed throat, a Vader-like one, complete with Shout-Out. "I find your lack of faith disturbing."

• Jossed, he's still a regular Badass Normal.

Triplett will play a bigger role in the Second Season

His grandfather was one of the Howling Commandos, and it's been spoiled that he goes on to marry Peggy Carter. With an "Agent Carter" series in the works, no way he's not gonna be prominent in the plot.

• spotted on the set of Age of Ultron.
• Jossed. He dies in the midseason finale.

The Purple Man was the leader of the cult involved in the mission that traumatized Melinda May

Not only would his powers be able to affect a character that deeply, this would also establish him in the Marvel Cinematic Universe before the new Jessica Jones series starts, where he'll obviously have a big role since he's so tied to Jones' days as a superhero. Melinda is so traumatized because she was forced to kill innocent people who were attacking her due to mind control.

• Jossed, it was a little girl who couldn't control her Inhuman powers.

Melinda is a former Super Hero.

"The Cavalry" isn't just a S.H.I.E.L.D. nickname, it was her Super Hero name.

• Jossed. It was given to her after a mission in Bahrain.

Fitz will be confined to a wheelchair for the remainder of the series

The comicbook version of brain damage from oxygen deprivation made him paraplegic.

• Jossed, he's walking at the beginning of season 2. Though he does suffer from dementia and tremors still.

Scorch is a mutant.

They just couldn't say it.

• Jossed, he got his powers from a nearby nuclear reactor.

The series will introduce Wasp, (Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.)

And, perhaps, Hank Pym / Ant-Man / Giant-Man, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.

• Jossed, they're both debuting in Ant-Man.

The trauma of being nearly killed by Quinn will reawaken whatever ability got Skye classified as an 0-8-4

Just her body trying to reduce the odds that she will be shot again any time soon.

• Jossed, it doesn't come out until her Terrigenesis.

Skye is the daughter of Loki.

Loki is a pervert and a Norse God...He could be father or mother.

• Combine this with the above WMG stating that "Coulson is Fenrir", say they're long-lost siblings and the reason Coulson was immediately drawn to protect her becomes clear.
• Jossed. Her father is Mr Hyde.

The group that killed the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents trying to protect Skye as an infant was S.H.I.E.L.D.

Or rather, HYDRA agents within S.H.I.E.L.D. They were able to track Skye's protectors because they had the clearance to simply look up where they were going. Avery's desperate move to hide her worked because it made Skye's whereabouts a Level 8 secret and nobody in that cell had clearance that high.

• According to Raina, Agent of HYDRA, it was Skye's parents that killed everyone.

The eldest Ward brother sees himself as a Drill Sergeant Nasty

Instead of being a psychopathic bully, Grant's older brother saw his behavior as training his siblings for a cruel world. There will be an episode showing Ward (either in the past or the present) calling him on this and saying psychopathic "helpers" like him are the ones making it cruel.

• Jossed

One of the main six (probably not Coulson) will be killed off in 1x13.

The episode's promo seems to imply this, based on the narration "...and an astonishing, series-changing final act."

Coulson: *breathing heavily* Oh God...Hang on...Just hang on!

• Almost. Skye is shot twice but is put into a barometric vessel to keep her alive. As of 1x14, she is in a coma with the rest of the team racing to find a way to save her. In 1x15, she wakes up and seems pretty okay.

Ian Quinn is Baron Zemo

He's been recruiting characters like the soon-to-be versions of Graviton and Blizzard. Sounds a lot like the Masters of Evil are forming.

• Jossed. Zemo is set to appear in Captain America: Civil War played by a different actor.

Skye IS an Infinity Stone/Gem

An 084 designation is used to identify an unknown object, and we know from Thor that the stones don't have to be literal stones. There's been a lot of complaints about how things just work out for Skye, how people like her and talk about her in a glowing way. It's deliberate. She's probably mind, soul, or reality and she's unconsciously warping people and reality around her so that she is needed and liked by the Bus. Before that, it was the Hunan village where people were literally dying to protect her as a baby.

• Jossed. She's an Inhuman

Coulson doesn't actually know May, memories of her were implanted and she is his "Handler"

Basically, they screwed with Coulson's memories (we know this) and whenever Coulson is uncertain of what to do, he goes to May and talks to her (The Hub, The girl in the flower dress, etc) While May has verbally assured him that she knows him for a while, and that their friendship is true, there has been nothing physical to back it up. Skye hasn't shown cases of them working together. Sitwell hasn't talked about them going to lunch ages ago. What if Coulson had memories implanted of May, and she's there making sure he's "running right" so to speak. After all, they wouldn't just let him go out and wander the world if he just had mentally scarring surgery and a desire to die. Why not make him trust someone, then implant the idea to take her with him.

• Semi-confirmed. "Yes Men" has her reporting to someone that Coulson knows something. Everything but the memories being implanted were confirmed, but, when pressed, she didn't say that what he thinks happened actually happened.
• Ultimately Jossed in the flashback episode "Melinda", where we see pre-death Coulson and May working together. And they're May's memories, so they're legit.

The decomposing blue humanoid Coulson found inside the tank is either:

• A Kree. The Kree are a major part of the Guardians of the Galaxy (2014) film. It could also be used as a way to introduce Ms. Marvel into the Marvel Cinematic Universe, since her powers are based on contact with Kree DNA.
• G.H. could possibly stand for Geheneris HalaSon.
• A Jotun
• An Atlantean
• Gallowglass ^note Son of Thanos
• One of Skye's race ^note whatever that is...
• A Gnobian. (GH could stand for "Gnobian Humanoid".)
  • Confirmed as a Kree several tiems both in and outside of the show.

Skye and Coulson will respectively become Ms. Marvel and Captain Marvel.

Pretty straightforward - in the comics Carol Danvers becomes Ms. Marvel due to an infusion of Kree blood from Captain Marvel. Since both Coulson and Skye have undergone a similar set of circumstances, it's possible that they will therefore fill the roles in the movies/show in time to come.

• Potentially backed up, as both Ms. Marvel and Captain Marvel are LegacyCharacters, as is Deathlok; since Michael was made to be Deathlok in the series, despite himself never existing in the comics and thus never holding that name there, there's precedent set in the MCU for placing CanonForeigners in established Legacy Character roles.
• Jossed for Skye at least. She's Daisy Johnson/Quake.

Garrett enabled Ward to kill his older brother, which is why Ward is so fiercely loyal to him.

In "Ragtag", we see flashbacks to a teenage Ward being recruited by Garrett. If Garrett took Ward under his wing and taught Ward the skills necessary to deal with his terrorizing older brother, it would explain why Ward is on his side.

• Jossed, Christian is still alive in season 2. But Grant does kill him later.

Ultron will be a Cybertek creation.

The Ultron intelligence will evolve from the algorithm created by Arnim Zola, but his many bodies will be the handiwork of Quinn and Cybertek.

• Jossed, he's built by Tony and Bruce.

The Obelisk is actually an Infinity Stone.

Considering how the Soul Gem (Purple) was hidden inside an orb in Guardians of the Galaxy, no doubt the Power Stone (Yellow) or the Reality Stone (Orange) may be hidden within the Obelisk itself. And just like Star Lord, Skye has an invulnerability to it considering how the Obelisk has not turned her or anyone in her family into stone.

• Jossed, it's a case for a Terrigen crystal.

Simmons left to find a cure for Fitz' condition.

Promotion materials show her in some Black Ops uniform, so she's probably on the look out for some alien technology to help Fitz out.

• Jossed, she left because she felt guilty and couldn't bear to work with him any more.

Agent Mac is actually ...an undercover Luke Cage

He was sent by Fury to be the teams ace in the hole when the crap hits the fan. After all his back story is a connection to Jessica Jones. Plus, just take a look at the guy! There's certainly a resembalance. He will make The Reveal during a rescue mission for Coulson and announce himself with "Where's my money, Honey?" The difference will be a joking manner instead of a serious one.

• Jossed, Luke Cage will be played by Mike Colter.

Lance mentioning his ex-wife being a demonic Hell-Beast was NOT metaphorical

Turns out the ex-wife was actually some sort of demonic entity from Hell that was trying to conquer Earth, and Lance actually helped in saving the Earth. He probably suffered the same sort of mind rewiring Coulson did but using powerful magic, thus how he got divorced was distorted and thus has no memory of fighting off the forces of Hell, making him an offscreen Hero of Another Story.

• Jossed, his ex is Mockingbird.

Bobbi's hidden agenda is connected to Fury

Given Bobbi is likely not doing anything villainous, and Fury enjoys having an eye on everything, the hidden agenda she's keeping from the others is that she's been assigned (alongside Mack) by Fury to watch over Coulson and the new take on SHIELD for him. Given she seems to enquire about his decision making and compares it to Fury's, its likely she's actively making note of his operating procedures and the way he runs things. This will also help provide reason for Bobbi to leave at the end of the season and make the jump to the films; she can leave to go back to work with Fury.

• Jossed, she's still in the dark about Fury still being alive and is actively working against his goals by trying to steal the toolbox.

Cal experimented on himself before Skye was conceived

While it's generally thought that he did this after his wife was killed to give him a fighting chance against Whitehall and HYDRA, it will later be revealed that this actually happened much earlier, meaning that Skye may have inherited whatever he did to himself!

• Jossed, Jiaying confirms that his experiments happened after they lost her and were all to get her back.

Hunter didn't escape the ship

He fooled "real" S.H.I.E.L.D. by ripping out the GPS and jettisoned the ship to make them think he's gone. He does spy work of his own and will eventually call Coulson and warn them about Mack and Bobbi.

• Jossed.

Raina is Madame HYDRA/Viper.

If a resurgent HYDRA is indeed behind Project Centipede. Viper appeared in The Wolverine, but since Quicksilver will be in both Age of Ultron and Days of Future Past we know that it doesn't prevent her from showing up in the MCU.

• Jossed. She's an Inhuman with precognition abilities.

Raina is Monica Rappaccini, the Scientist Supreme.

Going off the theory that the organization running Centipede is AIM.

• Monica Rappaccini's name is a Shout-Out to "Rappaccini's Daughter", a story in which poisonous flowers play an important role. This might be referenced by her flower dresses.
• Jossed.

Grant's abusive older brother will become a supervillain.

He might be a candidate for Centipede.

• Jossed.

The "guest" Coulson finds in the Guest House has something to do with the Winter Soldier.

Since IMDB has confirmed that Sebastian Stan is reprising his role as Bucky Barnes/The Winter Soldier for the upcoming Captain America sequel, it could be that the season builds up to a giant cross-over with the aftermath of the new MCU instalment coming out in early April. Maybe the GH serums were experiments and the Winter Soldier is the first long-term success.

• Jossed.

Skye is the daughter of a time traveler

Which explains the lack of evidence about him. He left her here in the past (his past, our present) to protect her from his enemies. One day, one of those enemies finds her, and the episode is about a villain with weird powers going after Skye. Everybody has fallen, she's about to be killed, and the villain is suddenly killed by a blast from Kang the Conqueror, a man with a armor who tells her "Skye, I am your father"

• Jossed.

Skye's real name is a password.

Skye's father, the Doctor, has become furious whenever Skye is called such, because it's not her real name. However, he has yet to reveal her real name to fix the mistake. It's because it's some kind of password or part of a code, that allows access to the alien city, or possibly the machine that the Diviner reacts with. Either way, it's a word he can't risk revealing to Whitehall or Coulson.

• Jossed.

Skye's withheld real name is Jessica Drew

.Following the pile-up of reveals in Turn, Turn, Turn, Garrett and Ward will abduct the living 0-8-4 (Skye) and subject her for HYDRA experimentation. The alien blood used to revive her gunshot wounds will unlock her inherent powers as a new agent of HYDRA.

• That WOULD explain why people seem to like her for seemingly no reason. One of Jessica Drew's powers is being able to secrete a pheromone that makes people more attracted to her.
• Jossed; the orphange called her Mary Sue Poots but this is not her birth name. Her real name is Daisy Johnson.

Season 2 will feature at least some main movie characters in an episode.

Coulson's going to need technology in order to get his 6-man S.H.I.E.L.D. able to do what they need to do and if there's anyone Tony or Pepper would trust with new technology it'd be Coulson. Hill could potentially be Coulson's liaison with Stark Industries. It's also not unlikely that he'd want to contact Steve, Natasha and Clint, even if they don't join they'd still be useful as allies.

• Now that Mockingbird has been confirmed for season 2, a brief appearance at least by Clint definitely seems possible.
• Jossed. We got Dr. List, Sif, Maria Hill, Peggy Carter and some Howling Commandos, but none of these are main movie characters.

Raina will become the new Big Bad.

As far as we know, she still has Skye's flashdrive containing all that data from the Bus' exploits: weapons, blood tests, ops, she could be dangerous with that. She will try to recreate the GH-325 formula from something like it and continue her work in creating new supers. She could become The Leader of the first supervillain team in this series.

• Eventually Jossed.

Season 2 will see the Ten Rings replace HYDRA as the main antagonist group.

Word of God after Iron Man 3 reveals that the real Mandarin is still out there somewhere, and the Ten Rings are real, not just a front cooked up by the Big Bad of the movie. However, since there are no more standalone Iron Man movies currently planned, this will be dealt with in the show instead.

• Jossed.

Alternatively, Fitz will be restored to normal thanks to Terrigen Mists

In this case, the alien stuff that Coulson was etching on the wall, which will end up becoming the key to unlocking the MCU equivalent of the Terrigen Mists. As a result, this could likely make Fitz into a super-genius thanks to enhanced abilities.

• Or it could turn him into the MCU's answer to Maximus the Mad. He's got a limited degree of enhanced physical abilities and he's got a form of mind control that only works over short range. However, his real power is being a morally dodgy super genius and, as one character puts it, 'crazy as a bag of spanners'. Fitz has already shown a degree of ruthlessness and coldness, he's brilliant and he's even got the hair for it.
• Jossed.

Season 2's revamped and upgraded Bus will include...

• A fish tank.
• A revitalized variant of the Nick Fury contact phone - making it the only specific means of getting in touch with him.
• Anti-hijacking / abort codes that only the team knows, intended to prevent a repeat of Season 1's final arc.
• All Jossed, and the Bus is now gone.

Coulson will get a new set of Captain America Trading cards

Because Fury ruined his last one.

• Jossed.

The Guardians of the Galaxy (2014) stinger character will make an appearance in season 2

It's unlikely that marvel would have approved of Howard the Duck appearing as the focal point in the stinger unless they planned on doing something with him in the future. Obviously the character is not as well-known (or well-liked) enough to get their own film, but they could find a way to get him to Earth and meet with Team Coulson somehow.

• Jossed.

Morse and Mack's "real S.H.I.E.L.D." is backed by Stark Industries.

We know Stark Industries has been actively scooping up former S.H.I.E.L.D. agents (Maria Hill and others) since Captain America: The Winter Soldier and certainly has the resources to assemble a privately-owned edition of such an organization. We also know that, in the comics, Tony Stark became the Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. during Civil War.

• Jossed. Gonzales isn't happy about Stark himself.

Morse and Mack's "real S.H.I.E.L.D." is the revival or remnant of the Strategic Scientific Reserve.

Consider: S.H.I.E.L.D. was born out of the old S.S.R., which if they survived the transition, gives them a fairly legitimate claim to be the "real" S.H.I.E.L.D.. Since Howard Stark was heavily involved in the S.S.R., and Tony Stark has done the same with its successor, it may mesh with the WMG above that Stark Industries has been nurturing their own private version of S.H.I.E.L.D. all along. There's also the fact that the "real S.H.I.E.L.D." emblem could bring to mind a variation of the S.S.R. symbol, and even includes elements that call out to Captain America (the three stars at the centre), like how the S.S.R. symbol's eagle wings became the wings on Cap's helmet.

• Jossed. It's a remnant of S.H.I.E.L.D. from post-"Winter Soldier"

Dell Rusk is running the "real S.H.I.E.L.D."

Who is really Red Skull, and thus this SHIELD is a dummy version created by HYDRA.

• Jossed.

Howard the Duck is running the "real S.H.I.E.L.D."

The last person anyone would suspect, in-universe and otherwise, to be the man at the top, is the crude and perverted humanoid duck. With all the stuff in The Collector's broken collection, he'd have all he needed for seed money and equipment. In fact, an organization like S.H.I.E.L.D. is the perfect way to rebuild such a collection. Nick Fury was already doing something like this with the Fridge.

• Jossed.

Nick Fury's father is running the "real S.H.I.E.L.D."

He's Caucasian and immortal like the original one from the mainstream comics.

• Jossed.

The "real S.H.I.E.L.D." will be restructured into H.A.M.M.E.R.

Now that Norman Osborn is fair game for Marvel Studios, and Civil War is getting an adaptation, why not?

• Jossed.

Coulson's SHIELD and the "real" SHIELD will come to blows in the upcoming Civil War film

All evidence suggests that the fight is going to start in the series but it will get resolved in the film. Since the comic book Civil War was about a war between superheroes, not S.H.I.E.L.D. factions, is there any reason to think the movie won't be the same? Also, it seems unlikely such a big part of the movie's backstory would be explained in a TV series most moviegoers wouldn't have seen.

• Jossed. They merge by episode "Scars".

The "cargo" from the Iliad is an "enhanced" or a "gifted" individual

In the flashback it was never specified what the cargo was, only that they couldn't let HYDRA get their hands on it. The individual could now be working for the "Real" Shield

• Jossed. It's some sort of Kree artifact.

Fury will show up to resolve the issue of which S.H.I.E.L.D

It will be something like this, "Really?! Really, Gonzales? I give my damn toolbox to Coulson and you don't think that's legit?" Gonzales will fire back about how he was legally dead and no longer in command when he gave Coulson the Toolbox, and furthermore, that he stunk as a Director anyways. At this point he will get the one eyed Death Glare.

• Likely jossed. Gonzales is killed in "Scars".

Gonzales will be taken down by the TRUE 'real SHIELD'

The one on Captain America's arm.

• Jossed.

"Real" SHIELD is going to start a war with the Inhumans

"Real" SHIELD has shown they have a lot of fantastic racism. The Inhumans are a community of superhumans who have secretly lived among normal humans for thousands of years. "Real" SHIELD is going to freak out and go into afterlife with guns blazing, probably killing many of the inhabitants. The Inhumans will then retaliate, and Coulson's SHIELD will be stuck dealing with the conflict.

• Jossed. Jiaying fired the first shot.

Gonzales will let it slip that he's Hydra

He will be ranting that S.H.I.E.L.D. should be open with its secrets, and during that, will let out the phrase "Out of the shadows, into the light".

• Jossed.

Coulson will insist that any tribunal he face be public

He's already seen Gonzales blow off every explanation he's given, so his only hope to win the conflict between the original and "real" S.H.I.E.L.D. is to use Gonzales' claims of being more open against him so that everyone in the organization can hear his words. That way, his efforts to defend himself can't get summarily ignored, Gonzales' own hypocrisies can also be exposed, and both factions can get to understand that while Coulson has made mistakes, ultimately he is just trying to do his job, which he can't do while S.H.I.E.L.D. is tearing itself apart in a secret war about not having secrets. This will open the way to either "real" S.H.I.E.L.D. being taken down by people tired of the hypocrisy or being integrated with Coulson's S.H.I.E.L.D. through some compromise between members who understand that both sides have a point.

• Jossed.

Raina, Gordon, and possibly even Jiaying are not canon foreigners

Though in the case of Jiaying, she'd be a Composite Character of Kim Johnson and someone else.

• Raina and Gordon are commonly speculated to be the MCU versions of Naja and The Reader from the Inhuman comic.
• Will all three dead, it seems to be Jossed.

Jiaying once called herself Kim Johnson

It was an alias that she used when she had to spend time outside of Afterlife. She was using it when she met Cal and began her relationship with him, only telling him her real name later. This would explain Daisy/ Skye's last name.

• Jossed. "The Frenemy of My Enemy" revealed "Johnson" is Cal's original surname.

Gordon will attempt to remake Afterlife.

Gordon is clearly holding resentment towards Inhumans who gain powers without the cost of physical deformity, hence his interest in Raina. With so few changed like them, Gordon will attempt to engineer a mass Terrigenesis to create the fully powered Inhuman race.

• Jossed.

Lai Xi is on another planet.

HYDRA has machines that can detect the point of entry whenever Gordon teleports, but then why can't they find the one common location that Gordon always returns to? Because it isn't anywhere on Earth. Prior to the discovery of Gordon's unique gift for instantaneous travel, the Inhumans probably had to rely on ancient Kree technology to shuttle prospective candidates for Terrigenesis back and forth.

• Jossed.

The first season will focus on the recovery of Coulson's Cap cards

They were collectible! AND IN MINT CONDITION! Coulson will be so devastated when he gets a hold of them again only to find them ruined with blood stains. He tries to repair the damage only to find out...."There's no way—" "Don't ever tell me there's no way!"

• We'll just have one episode focusing on Coulson tracking down the famed Captain America trading cards. None of the other characters show up. It's just Coulson searching for his beloved cards.
• Possibly a background event until he is searching for that final ultra rare card... the episode will focus on an extra secret mission for the team and in the end the item they will have recovered is... the card Coulson needed to complete his set. "It is in mint condition, do you know how rare that is?" - also, whoever or where ever they recover the card from will be tied to some big bad organization so it won't need to be returned to anyone. "Now all I have to do is get them signed."
• As of 0-8-4 It has shown that Coulson is not just a collector of Cap cards but many things that are "old" and "collectible" (and seemingly useful to agents) so the possibility is still alive (Just like Coulson!).
• As of The Asset there has been an official mention of "the cards" by Coulson. He was not happy about the loss of them.
• Jossed.

Joss will write an arc based on the story of the comic book SHIELD 2010.

The one when it turns out most of our historical scientists are part of SHIELD, however he'll put his own spin on the story, and well this part is mostly wishful thinking (more so then the first part) but I also hope the writers look into what they were actually like, and therefore get the personalities and their life right. (I admit I hadn't read the comic books, the personalities being right is not a Take That! at the comic book, just a wishful wish, this troper is mostly only upset at what may have happened to Issac losing his mind.)

• Jossed.

Fitz and Simmons are/were one person.

That's why people tend to refer to them as Fitz-Simmons. They started out as one person who wound up getting split in two, either by an activating X-gene or an experiment gone wrong. They may still be linked and the reason they're not cleared for combat is because if one is injured/killed the same thing will happen to the other one.

• Alternatively, they were two people whose consciousness were merged into some kind of weird Hive Mind that only includes two people. Their bickering is truly externalized internal monologue.
• Jossed.

Agent Ward's seedy "family history" alluded to by Coulson is by way of the former being related to Tony Masters, aka Taskmaster.

Be he Grant's brother, father, whatever, Taskmaster has canonically frequently had dealings with (comics) S.H.I.E.L.D. in the past; and is in fact a current member of the newest incarnation of the Secret Avengers- working directly under 616's Fury and Coulson. He could easily be reworked in the show to be a former agent who went rogue or some kind of master criminal that screwed S.H.I.E.L.D. over in a big way, either ultimately leading to a young Ward witnessing this and deciding to dedicate his life to the straight and narrow. This also accounts for his humorless, business-only demeanor.

• Jossed.

An Enemy Mine between SHIELD and Rising Tide will happen at some point.

Skye will slowly warm up to SHIELD and she'll convince her fellow Rising Tide members that they can be allies with SHIELD rather than fearing them.

• Probably team up against HYDRA, with the Rising Tide helping to clear SHIELD's name as the RT seem to have gotten HYDRA confused with SHIELD. That could work.
• Jossed.

Skye is a telemechanic and possibly mutant.

Without any direct references to the X-Men or related FOX owned X-Folks, mutants are not out of the realm of possibility for use as long as they are not specifically X-Related. Whether she is an actual mutant or not, she will turn out to be a telemechanic and that is how she is so good at hacking things. She just "knows" how.

• Related to an above WMG she will be the replacement for the engineer side of Fitz-Simmons as she develops her possibly unknown to herself powers as the show progresses and Fitz gets written out by means of Rule of Drama for Simmons. Thereby replacing a needed part of the team and becoming the teams very own super at the same time.
  • Jossed. She's an Inhuman with vibration manipulation powers.

Melinda was exposed to the Super Soldier Serum

Surely S.H.I.E.L.D. would try another round of super soldier experiments if they've got formula samples. Melinda was in the first round of tests and was a complete success - all the powers of Cap in their very own field agent, who eventually gained the reputation of being The Cavalry. Except eventually she started going Blood Knight, realized she had to stop, and retired wholly from fieldwork until now. It would explain how she survived that strike from Mike, and why she's so adamant about not getting into combat again. She doesn't want to start down that path again because she's scared she won't be able to turn back.

• Alternatively, she may be one of the other Black Widows, since there have been several in the comics and even in one of the tie-in comics there are more than one products of the 'program' that produced Natasha Romanov. She might be from the Chinese equivalent, for instance.
• Jossed.

"This is just like Budapest!"

An episode will actually show what happened in Budapest in flashbacks, with the team now dealing with the eventual fallout. Bonus points if Clint and/or Natasha guest in the same episode.

Hawkeye: You and I remember Budapest very differently.

• Jossed.

Skye has been to Tahiti.

She'll make a comment about it, or Coulson will, and a) they realize that something doesn't mesh with their memories, or b) they don't notice anything wrong but May and/or Ward overhears them.

• Jossed.

Coulson is a psychic.

Coulson always seems to be one step ahead of everyone. He knows how people will react before they do, he seems to be able to avoid things that others can't (such as The Destroyer's blast). He is not just lucky, or really well trained, he is empathic and can at least sense what is about to happen, if not outright read it directly. He may or may not even know he is psychic, but it explains how he "just knows" all the time.

• Jossed.

Scorch will form an alliance with Graviton due to their shared hatred of SHIELD.

They will form the show's first true supervillain team. It's not clear from episode 5 whether Scorch was killed.

• Jossed.

HAMMER was formed after the Battle of New York

"The Hub" implies that HAMMER exists in the show's universe because "HAMMER" can be seen on a signpost in the background. When Nick Fury refused to follow the World Security Council's order to nuke NYC, the Council decided they needed an organization that reported directly to them. As we'll learn in Captain America: The Winter Soldier, HAMMER is run by Alexander Pierce.

• Jossed.

Asgard will continue to be relevant in this series.

Was it really Odin who sent Sif to recapture Lorelei? Or was it Loki in disguise, as seen at the end of Thor: The Dark World?

• The second explanation would certainly explain why Sif was ordered to bring such a dangerous criminal back alive: Someone like Lorelei would be a great person to have on your side if you were a trickster like Loki.
• There's really no other possibility than that it was Loki-as-Odin: the episode unquestionably takes place after Thor: The Dark World (Lorelei escaped when the Dark Elves attacked Asgard and freed the prisoners, and the team dealt with the aftermath of the events of the film several months prior).
• Jossed for old Asgard, as It's gone as of Thor: Ragnarok. Potentially could happen if Lorelai [[spoiler: survived Ragnarok and Thanos's attack on the Statesman, and made her way to New Asgard with Valkyrie. Loki's plan is unlikely to be relevant considering Thanos killed him in Avengers: Infinity War.

Wild Mass Guessing over Lorelei and Sif.

• Loki wants to recruit to Lorelei.
  • Sif says in the end of the episode that Odin wanted Lorelei brought back to Asgard alive, but we all know that Loki is currently masquerading as Odin, so maybe he's creating an Asgardian equivalent to S.H.I.E.L.D.
  • Another option: Loki has no plans with Lorelei, he is simply doing what Odin would do in this situation (since it is forbidden for Asgardians to go to another realm without permission and a reason, especially when they're criminals like Lorelei) and he doesn't want to raise suspicion.
  • Jossed with Loki's death in Infinity War.

Coulson is Fenrir.

Cast out of Asgard by Odin, bound in human form (possibly with his memories wiped), banished for his part in the bringing of Ragnarok, which is the confirmed name for Thor 3. Maybe found by SHIELD and made an agent when they discovered what he was. It would explain why he came back after his death and revival surgery. It would also explain why, when confronting Loki, he hesitated to use the Thorbuster instead of using it right away. It would also explain why he's so loyal to Fury - Fury reminds him of Grandpa. Oh my gosh please no.

• Jossed, Fenrir showed up in Thor: Ragnarok and had nothing to do with Coulson.

SHIELD will bump into Peter Quill's dad well before he does

Perhaps somebody decides to investigate the case of Peter's mysterious disappearance (complete with ramblings from his guilt-filled grandfather) at the same time Quill Sr. arrives to ask where the hell that son he's been expecting is. Eventually, one or more members of Team Coulson will say "you're a jackass" at which point he will say "I get that a lot".

• Jossed. Quill's father is Ego.

Thanos is angry at Coulson for cheating Death.

The tie-in to Avengers 3 or Guardians of the Galaxy (2014) will be Thanos sending one of his lieutenants after the team to "correct" Coulson's resurrection Final Destination-style.

• Jossed. Thanos' motivation is about overpopulation and finite resources.

Stark will be the first Avenger to know that Coulson's alive.

Considering that Maria Hill (who knows) is working for him, she might let it slip. Also, since he's still working on his "Privatize world peace" thing, he's bound to run into Director Coulson eventually.

• Jossed. There's no evidence that Tony ever found out about Coulson's resurrection before his own death.

In relation to the above, the blue alien will be revealed to be none other than Peter Quill's father

At the end of the movie, it's revealed that Star-Lord is part human, which explained how he was able to hold onto an Infinity Stone as long as he did, even without his team's help. His genetics imply he's part of a long-forgotten, near-mystical race. It could be that after his father didn't get his son delivered to him on time, he decided to make a trip to Earth himself and promptly got captured and dissected by S.H.I.E.L.D. While it could tie Coulson and Skye to the fate of the universe itself, it could also be a point of conflict between Team Coulson and the Guardians. Cos of, y'know, Peter's dad getting killed and harvested for his blood.

• Jossed. Quill's father is Ego.

Fury told both Coulson and Tony Stark that they were the new Director(s) of S.H.I.E.L.D...

... because he's still the genuine one. He'll be pulling the strings from behind the scenes. It would explain why there's so much confusion as to which one of them will be the new Director come Avengers: Age of Ultron (the Ao S season finale explicitly claims Coulson, but leaked spoilers for Age of Ultron suggest it will be Stark). Additionally, either Tony or Pepper will feature in a cameo role near the beginning of Season 2 due to this increasing confusion, or possibly Maria Hill will be back with some message from them to Coulson.

• Jossed. Tony had no position in SHIELD.

Coulson and Stark arguing over who is the Director will be a minor plot

According to Maria Hill, Tony is serious about "privatizing world peace" and it's unlikely that she's the only S.H.I.E.L.D. agent that he's hired. He may believe himself to be the "de-facto" Director because of this and his Fiction 500 status giving him greater resources. There will be Right Hand Versus Left Hand episodes such as racing to catch the latest hostile Gifted or recruiting new talent. They will resolve this plot by sharing; Stark will be the "public" Director and Coulson will be the "hidden" Director.

• Jossed.

The kree artifact is the Time Gem. Simmons wasn't killed, she was sent back in time.

She has been sent back to 1946 and will become a regular in the next season of Agent Carter. There will be a running gag of her fangirling Peggy like Coulson fanboyed Steve.

• Jossed. The Time Stone is in the Eye of Agamotto.

Coulson is an unintentional sleeper agent for Thanos

Akela's handler could see everything she could, this is similar to Coulson and Thanos. Thanos is watching and listening to everything Phil says, sees, and does. He may not have been involved with his resurrection, but dying via Loki's scepter forged a link between Thanos and Coulson that Thanos is taking advantage of right now.

Thanos is learning the innerworkings of SHIELD, what they do, who they are involved with, and just generally gathering intel so Thanos knows the best way to disable them in the future. Already Thanos knows that Nick Fury owes Coulson a debt, that SHIELD has a list of Gifted, that they are large in scope, that Melinda May and Grant Ward's are the team's heavies and by taking them out he could control the plane. That Coulson has so much internal information that he can search. That Skye can help him get other information that he doesn't have.

Later on in the series, Thanos will play his card... by taking over Coulson and attacking them from the inside. Coulson's got very high clearance, friends with many of the other agents, and guilt for the Avengers, if he showed up anywhere, it wouldn't be suspicious until he started killing them and making it easier for Thanos to invade.

• Thanos may have had a plan already in place, but as soon as he realized what he had with Coulson, and he knew that SHIELD and the Avengers were the main reason his first attempt was stopped. He can use Coulson as an added bonus instead of a new plan in it's entirety.
• Jossed by Infinity War.

Others 3

The movies are going to be of great importance to the universe next season

• Ant-Man plotwise might not hold that much effect on the war of spies and terrorist groups, but Scott Lang might make for a great agent for Coulson and Skye's new team. After all, he'd make for a perfect infiltrator. Perhaps bringing him on as a recurring character getting information for them, thanks to his criminal background in stealing things.
  • Jossed. He is recruited by Cap's team.
• There's Captain America: Civil War to consider. Considering what happened to SHIELD the last time we had a Captain America film, this film could serve in the same way Winter Soldier did for changing the show drastically.
  • For example, Coulson could finally reveal himself to The Avengers, letting them know he survived, creating a great guest star episode to get one of the big guys to do an episode. (Maybe have the new Avengers team work alongside Coulson's team for an operation?)
  • They could also use the whole season to help continue that "real SHIELD" issue, and show that the tensions aren't over yet. This would serve as a perfect metaphor for what Iron Man and Cap will be doing in this movie.
  • Perhaps they could eventually step out of the shadows to take control after/before the civil war and give the world some stability again outside the Avengers.
  • Ward's HYDRA building could lead to an Enemy Civil War, creating a new metaphor of the 2 heads going at each other, with Ward and Baron Zemo fighting each other for control of the organization.
    • Jossed. There's no indication the Avengers ever find out about Coulson.

The rest of the Avengers will learn of Coulson's survival very, very shortly

At the end of Captain America: The Winter Soldier, SHIELD's entire database is uploaded into the public domain by Fury and Romanoff to expose HYDRA's rebirth (Something Skye will undoubtedly find quite amusing). While the details of how Coulson survived might not be in those files, any mission reports submitted by Coulson after his death and resurrection will be. Sooner or later one of them is going to go through some of those files and realize that Coulson isn't dead (JARVIS on behalf of Stark is the most likely candidate).

• Jossed. As of Endgame, set nine years after Winter Soldier, there's no indication that any of them know.

Ward is truly working for Loki not Garrett

If Ward convinced Coulson of Undying Loyalty, then it's not out-of-the-question that he's fooling Garrett too. Besides, a warrior like him would right in with cold-blooded Asgardians. It all started during one of Loki's secret trips to Midgard. He'd heard stories about how the Tesseract was taken there and by bringing it back himself he could one-up Thor. Back then, Ward was not the Consummate Liar he is in the main narrative and was regularly beaten by Garret to make his lies more convincing under torture. Loki thought it would be fun trying to teach him to lie while learning about this organization and using him to find the Tesseract. They bounded over their horrible relationships to their older brothers and fathers. Thus, Ward feeds him information about certain things. If this were true, it would explain a few things.1. Ward goes after Lorelei despite knowing about her Compelling Voice because he believes she works for/allies with Loki. It's an excuse to work against Coulson (the one who blasted Loki) without blowing his cover2. In "Providence" he can be seen handling the Berserker Staff without trouble. Perhaps he's taken a liking to it because he's familiar with Asgardian weaponry.3. He's never said "Hail Hydra!"

• Jossed. There's no indication that Loki looked for the Tesseract before being found by Thanos.

Bobbi and Mack are working for Tony Stark in covert.

Their spying as it relates to Coulson's Toolbox is simply just so that Tony can keep eyes on whether S.H.I.E.L.D. 2.0 can stay afloat and not suffer the same fate that befell the old S.H.I.E.L.D. After all, he can hardly "privatize world peace" if history repeats.

• Jossed. None of the movies indicate Tony having such an interest in SHIELD.

The planet where Simmons was stranded in will appear in the future movies.

Most likely Guardians of the Galaxy 2, Captain Marvel, or Inhumans.

• Jossed for those.

The planet Simmons was on is Ego the Living Planet

• Will mentioned that the "Planet" had moods, like it was alive. Maybe its Ego's first appearance in the MCU.
• Ego "possesses vast psionic abilities"= The crew going mad and killing themselves
• Ego posesses "total control over its entire mass down to the molecular level"= The sandstorms and sun blocking atmosphere
• Ego "can heat up its internal temperature to destroy beings inside it"= the source of heat in Will and Jemma's underground camp
• Ego has "an immune system with which to create powerful antibodies to destroy beings which resist absorption"= "It" that keeps attacking Will and Jemma.

It would certainly be a feat for the producers to add A LIVING PLANET to the show!

• Jossed. Ego appears in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2.

The new Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. is Tony Stark

Following the events of Captain America: Civil War, Tony Stark will take the reigns of S.H.I.E.L.D, similar to the situation in the comics.

• Jossed. Nothing of the sort happens in Civil War.

The new Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. is Pepper Potts

Civil War implies that she's stepped down from Stark Enterprises CEO, at least partly in order to distance herself from Tony. What better way to do that than to join an agency that spends most of it's time operating under the Avenger's radar?

• Jossed. She's still Stark Industries CEO as of Far From Home.

Season 6 will be One Last Job

The season will be set after Avengers: Endgame, so they don't have to deal with the events of Infinity War. That being said, there's a good chance the the team will break up and go their separate ways after the combine trauma of season 5 and Thanos' actions. Furthermore, a reduced episode order in the summer has "final season" written all over it even moreso than a friday night airtime. Season six will pick up much later and have Coulson (or if he dies, Daisy) gathering up the other surviving members for a single mission that can be opened and closed in thirteen episodes.

• Jossed. The series has already been renewed for Season 7, there's only a single split between the team in space (looking for Fitz) and the rest of S.H.I.E.L.D. back on Earth, and there's been no mention of Thanos' actions.

Characters who will return for season 6

Since it airs in the summer the shooting schedule will likely be different, and as such some of the actors with prior commitments may actually find time to get on the show.

• Lady Sif: Jaime Alexander has been absent from the MCU ever since she started Blindspot, but might be able to make a guest appearance now.
• Maria Hill
• Vijay Nadeer: His plot line was one of the only ones not picked up again by season 5, so he could make another appearance.
• All of the remaining Koenig siblings, except Thurston since he isn't part of the whole S.H.I.E.L.D. situation.
• Calvin will return in the form of a cameo of some kind, most likely Daisy checking up on his life as "Doctor Winslow".
• May's parents.
• Hunter
• Donnie Gill: The Never Found the Body status of the character will exploited to bring him back, now a full-on villainous Blizzard.
• All Jossed, as none of the above characters appear, at least not in Season 6.

Some characters will be killed by Thanos's fingersnap

.Predictions:

• Either Simmons or space!Fitz, because let's be honest, the universe hates Fitzsimmons that much.
• An assortment of S.H.I.E.L.D. agents Back for the Dead — like Joey, Agent Weaver, at least one Koenig, Piper, Davis, or Cameron Klein.
• May. Coulson's already on death's door, so this would just be a punch in the gut for him.
• Coulson himself will probably not even live to see his mortal wounds finally do him in. Alternatively...
• Dr. Marcus Benson's husband. All that was ever established is that he fell into alcoholism after his husband's death, but no other details are given; perhaps said husband was a snap victim?
• Appears Jossed, with no mention of deaths-by-fingersnap.

Coulson will completely heal in Tahiti.

It is a magical place after all.

• Jossed, by all indications, as May vehemently confirms that Coulson passed away in her presence.

The season will take place over the course of a couple hours

Taking the time-compression of the last few episodes of the season to a new extreme. That said, by the point the season airs, Infinity War and its events are over a year old to audiences, and it will come on the heels of Avengers 4, which is dedicated to counteracting Thanos' actions in the previous ensemble film.

• Jossed, the time-frame of the season already appears to exceed the scale of a few hours.

The season will explore the MCU after the events of Avengers 4

Plenty of speculation centers on Avengers 4 having its plot revolving around time-travel in order to prevent Thanos from amassing the Infinity Stones in the first place. If the Space and Mind Stones, for instance, are removed from their original places in the MCU timeline, Loki might never come to Earth or deal Coulson his mortal wound in the first place, Ret-Gone-ing Coulson's gradual and fatal decline in the fifth season of the show. We might get to see what the team could have been like in a fully reconstituted version of S.H.I.E.L.D., free from the HYDRA infiltration and downfall that was dealt from Civil War onwards. If Thanos no longer comes to Earth to claim the Stones, it would remove the impetus for the Confederacy visiting the planet to claim its resources, or for Talbot to become Graviton in an attempt to stop all of the hostile forces.

• Jossed. The time travel did not modify any past events. As Hulk explains, "changing the past doesn't change the future." And even if they could, they traveled to after Coulson's death.

This all could potentially amount to a Cosmic Retcon that sees the team coming together years later than the series originally showed, but that would immensely cheapen and invalidate many of the past seasons of character development. More likely it seems that the "game-changing" events of the film would cause alterations to elements of the series in ways that allow it to continue and explore new narrative territory in the wake of whatever the Avengers achieve in-universe.

• Jossed, as Avengers: Endgame does not lead to a Cosmic Retcon.

The Coulson that appears in the trailer is actually...

• A Skrull. A common tactic for identity thieves is to use the identity of someone who's already dead. When you actually copy the guy's face, it becomes even more convenient to copy a dead guy since you don't have to worry about coming face to face with the guy whose face you're wearing.
  • Jossed.
• A Coulson from an alternate timeline who has somehow arrived in the main MCU timeline. He might be here by accident or his arrival may have been part of a plan.
  • This one seems the most likely at the moment, as we see this alternate Coulson, named Sarge, and his team arrive through a portal.
    • Jossed as of "Leap"; Sarge is a copy of Coulson created by the three monoliths, and then possessed by an incorporeal creature named Pachakutiq.
• The real Phil Coulson, alive and well and had faked his death with the assistance of May as part of some covert investigation. He may still be dying and wants his life to end doing something important rather than just passing away peacefully in paradise.
  • Jossed, he did indeed die, as the team mention burying him.
• A Life Model Decoy. Aida actually made two Coulson LMD units, with the second one mothballed somewhere and/or programmed to activate if an all-clear signal was not sent at regular intervals. The question is whether its mission is one of revenge or redemption. Or does it actually think it's the real Phil Coulson's mind downloaded into android form?
  • Jossed; this theory is actually brought up by Marcus Benson when he investigates the case of the new Coulson, but proven wrong when this other Coulson turns out to have DNA; something an LMD, no matter how human looking, wouldn't have.
    • And yet the idea does resurface, as in The Stinger of the S6 finale, Simmons reveals a LMD of Coulson.
• A clone of Coulson, constructed from a clandestinely obtained DNA sample and having grown up in a harsh alien environment somewhere (like Shinzon from Star Trek: Nemesis). Perhaps the mind of the Big Bad "Sarge" will be overlain with a copy of the real Coulson's brain patterns, possibly derived from a remnant of the Framework or from the cancelled LMD program.
  • Jossed, see above, although Coulson's brain patterns from the Framework are used in the creation of his advanced LMD.

The Chronicom homeworld was destroyed by Galactus.

Marvel has regained the Fantastic Four rights, so the big purple planet eater is fair game. He likely won't appear on screen until the FF get another reboot, but there will be enough clues for the audience to figure out that it was him.

• Jossed, Izel and the Shrike are the ones responsible.

The Shrikes' creator is Knull.

Sarge outright calls the creator of the Shrikes a god. In a setting without Klyntar symbiotes, the Body Horror that ensues when they tear out of their hosts, their potential for mass destruction, and the way they snuff out all life on any planet they infect could very well line up with Knull's desires for the universe.

• Jossed, it is Izel; a creature from a realm where the inhabitants have no physical form, but long to experience one. Since unwilling hosts are troublesome/dangerous for her and her kind to possess long term, the purpose of the Shrike is to create billions of hosts who have had their own will destroyed (making them in effect "willing" hosts).

The Chronicoms are going to build artificial bodies for Doctor Leopold and Monster Simmons.

The one who proposes using their downloaded minds seems to only intend on entering the uplink machine and getting the information they want directly. But if backups of Fitz and Simmons's minds are in there, the Doctor and Monster are there as well. They are more than likely to strike a deal with the Chronicoms if it means a chance to get revenge. The bodies and passage to Earth in exchange for all the help they need on their time travel project.

• Jossed, the Chronicoms simply read Fitz and Simmons' brain patterns which they kept on file, and use that information to invade S.H.I.E.L.D.

Sarge is Dystopian Future Coulson.

That's why their DNA is a perfect match, aside from some mutation. That mutation is from the Centipede injection with Jiyaying's Healing Factor, and that's why he lived for so long. After the team chose to save his life over killing Talbot with the Odium, the end of the world inevitably did happen, but something happened afterward that tore that doomed timeline Coulson across time and space and eventually put him at odds with Izel. After many, many years of vicious cat-and-mouse with her, Coulson gradually forgot who he was deep down and eventually became the Sarge we see today.

• Jossed. Sarge is a copy of Coulson created by the three monoliths, and then possessed by an incorporeal creature named Pachakutiq.

Ward will undergo the TAHITI process.

It's already been shown that Coulson is willing to pardon Ward if he undergoes the process. Eventually, he'll be captured and given a choice: Stay in a cell for the rest of his life or become someone else.

• Jossed; Ward chooses to remain a villain and then he dies as one.