This episode left me pulling my hair out … because I’m going to have to wait until March to see what happens next. This has been the best episode of Agents of Shield this season, by far. I normally don’t like that they’ve answered questions with more questions, but the way in which they’ve been answered brings me back to the best episodes of Lost (and not the bad ones). So, let’s dive in.
The Pieces Come Together
So we found out that the monolith that Nick Fury was hiding was a portal to a desolate planet, and on that planet was an ancient being. We knew from Skye’s mother (I still refuse to call her Daisy), Jaiying, that the monolith would kill all the Inhumans. We assumed, incorrectly, that it was a weapon, not that it was the gateway to something that had been exiled long ago. We found out from Gideon Malick, Hydra’s new fearless leader, that Hydra had been founded countless millennia ago to rescue and serve what is on the other side of the portal. The little hints dropped all season have all pointed to one thing, that what is on the other side of the portal is Death. Not just a metaphysical death, but a desolation. In a lot of ways, this makes sense. Hydra is the ultimate evil organization, and now we know that at it’s core is a death cult. The word that has been associated with the chamber in which ancient Hydra used to send was “Maveth.” Malick tells us it’s Hebrew for Death. This was also in the scroll recovered by Fitz. The question has been whose death are we discussing.
Not That Death
I know what you fellow Marvel fans are thinking, and it’s not that Death. For those who don’t know what I’m talking about, there is a Eternal (ancient cosmic being) named Death, who Thanos desperately wants to love him. It would make sense if this was the actual Death Hydra is seeking, but I don’t think so. Namely because we know that the being they’re looking for is an Inhuman. Death is cosmic. I also don’t think that Thanos would fall in love, or even really care about anything that came from a presumed failed Kree experiment. Also, setting up something this big would probably not be allowed by the MCU heads. Besides, the evidence points toward something that makes way more sense.
The Unspoken
I was unsure about this until this very episode, but here’s my theory (based on the evidence). There is an obscure character from the comics, who is an Inhuman, who was exiled from their civilization, whose power is literally described as being able to do anything. This character is believed to be the living body of the terragenisis (the transformation process of becoming an Inhuman), so his power literally changed as he saw fit. In the comics he was deposed by Black Bolt (King of the Inhumans). He was then nursed back to health by the Alpha Primitives (human slaves of the Inhumans). I think that this is the same thing that was on the planet.
Hydra is an organization meant to serve this being, therefore they probably were founded by renegade Alpha Primitives. It would also jive with why they would build a temple to him on the alien planet (as seen in the latest episode). We see, as Fitz is leading Will to the portal off the planet, that there had been a civilization, and that this thing had killed them all, and Will begins discussing the downfalls of the original inhabitants and talking about how they became easily divided, and that they could have been great. He spoke like he had a ruler’s perspective (or a former King’s). The Unspoken is a big Inhuman’s villain (like Lash), and as a result Lash may be the only way to stop him, seeing as conventional weapons can’t. Plus, he’s so obscure that if he is the one being used it won’t interfere with the MCU that much.
At the same time, it still could be Death…
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