History AgentsOfSHIELD / TropesSToZ

** By the beginning of Season Two, ''everyone'' in Team Coulson is dealing with some serious emotional trauma, but each individual is apparently dealing with it on their own. (Fitz, who's got plenty of emotional trauma ''and'' mental health problems related to serious physical injuries, but is still more or less left to his own devices by the rest of the team once they decide they can't help him themselves.) Possibly {{Justified}} in that they're technically criminals on the run, assuming that all the therapists on Old S.H.I.E.L.D.'s payroll either resigned, got captured by HYDRA or the army, or ([[NightmareFuel the most disturbing possibility]]) were with HYDRA all along.

* SuperSerum: The Centipede serum, a cocktail of gamma radiation, super soldier serum, and Extremis. It boosts physical ability and powers if applicable, but is unstable and causes the user to explode, in addition to making them crazy. They haven't quite worked out all the bugs yet.
* Cal developed a formula to make himself stronger. According to Simmons, the formula is a mixture composed of anabolic-androgenic steroids, a liver enzyme blocker, various metabolic enhancers, methamphetamines, what appears to be gorilla testosterone, and a drop of peppermint.
* SuperWeight:
** The whole point of the show is that all the leads are firmly Muggle Tier: Fitz-Simmons and Skye are Type 0, while Coulson, May, Ward, and later Triplett are Type 1 (on a sliding scale from -1 to 6). People occasionally shift around a little, though: Simmons briefly reaches Type 2 in "FZZT" when she's [[spoiler:infected with the Chitauri virus]], and the same thing happens to Ward and May in "The Well" after handling the berserker staff. Fitz, meanwhile, drops to Type -1 after [[spoiler:suffering brain damage]] in "The Beginning of the End".
** Averted as of "What They Become." [[spoiler:Skye and Raina undergo Terrigenesis and become Inhumans, which puts them at rank 2+. Skye is revealed to be Daisy Johnson, known in the Marvel Universe as Quake.]] It starts a trend of a more varied weight scale as the rest of the season introduces more Inhumans. In the 3rd season, the Secret Warriors are formed to fight for SHIELD. Then, in season four, Ghost Rider appears.

** It's played entirely straight with many villains, particularly those that get in any kind of fight with Agent May.

** Similar to Coulson, Hunter doesn't flinch at hitting a female HYDRA-aligned mercenary with a chair, even after just hitting on her. [[ComicBook/{{Mockingbird}} Given who his ex wife is,]] it's not a surprise he'd know not to take a female fighter lightly.
** Robbie's introduction has him fight with Daisy twice, and he's not pulling any punches.

* TranquillizerDart: The Night-Night rifle and its pistol equivalent the Night-Light gun, the latter able to fire multiple shots. It is later given the [[JustForPun cooler]] name ICER. In Season 2, while [=ICERs=] are still used, the team also increasingly uses fully lethal sniper rifles.

* UnholyMatrimony: [[spoiler:Skye's parents. Cal is an AxeCrazy [[OverprotectiveDad Overprotective]] PapaWolf {{Yandere}} with a PsychoSerum, ''and he's the nice one'']].

** The images of List and Baron Strucker seen in "The Dirty Half Dozen" are screengrabs from ''{{Film/Captain America: The Winter Soldier}}'', while Raina's visions of Loki's scepter consist of recycled shots from ''Film/{{The AvengersAgeOfUltron}}''..

** Baron Von Strucker is mentioned as one of the main heads of HYDRA, but SHIELD does not fight against him in the series[[labelnote:*]]Specifically because, as the last head of HYDRA, he has immense power at his disposal that the fractured and undermanned SHIELD forces can't hope to match. Indeed, the opening of ''Age of Ultron'' shows that even the combined force of the Avengers having a difficult time with his fortress[[/labelnote]]. He appears in Film/AvengersAgeOfUltron instead. [[spoiler:In case you want to know, his base is overrun by the Avengers, and his two superhumans, Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch, abandon him. He is captured and sent to prison, and Ultron killed him while he is in prison.]]

* TreacheryIsASpecialKindOfEvil: Even when there are wheels within wheels rolling and he holds many secrets (and understands other people have them), if there something that will drive Phil Coulson up the wall ''immediately'', is even ''thinking'' of stabbing the team in the back.

** Gideon Malick was a member of the World Security Council, while also being one of the most important heads of HYDRA. He was able to keep this alliance hidden for a long time,to the point that not even Coulson or the Avengers knew his true colors until he made the mistake of telling Rosalind about S.H.I.E.L.D.'s Tahiti program.

** Sibyl undergoes a suitably subtle one, discarding her statistics-based strategy and showing agitation when the Hunters can't find the Zephyr.

* TheFellowshipHasEnded: In the series finale [[spoiler: All the remaining members of main team are now heading up their own responsibilities within Shield or have retired from the game altogether. The group still keeps in touch and even send gifts to Fitz and Simmons' child, but it's unlikely that they'll ever all be together in person at once ever again.]]

-->'''Commander:'''Did you say ''biological?''

* WeaponOfChoice:

** Mack spends much of season 3 wishing for and making makeshift versions of a shotgun-axe. He finally gets a proper version in the finale, and it becomes his WeaponOfChoice from then on.

** In the Season 6 finale, [[spoiler: Enoch]] announces that Fitz and Simmons must do the hardest thing they have ever done and alter the natural course of their lives [[spoiler: This ends up meaning that Simmons goes back to the 1930s and Fitz is missing again]] [=FitzSimmons=]'s sole reaction is ''resigned boredom''.

* TreacheryIsASpecialKindOfEvil: Even when there are wheels within wheels rolling and he holds many secrets (and understands other people have them), if there is a BerserkButton that will drive Phil Coulson up the wall ''immediately'', is even ''thinking'' of stabbing the team in the back.

** As far as the plane is concerned. The fish tank has to be scrapped on orders.