What will Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD’s season five have in store?

“Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD” left its fourth season on a fun cliffhanger. With comments from the show runners, let’s discuss what might be in store.

Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD was renewed for a fifth season.

And thank goodness, because that post-credits cliffhanger is a bit of a doozy. Spoilers ahead if you have yet to watch the finale.

In case you’ve somehow forgotten, Coulson wakes up in what looks like a barracks, and looks out the nearby giant window. To an asteroid field.

So yeah. Agents of SHIELD goes to space in season five. And while my initial thought was that we’re getting Asteroid M, that’s probably far from reality. Since, you know, Asteroid M is Magneto’s creation, and Marvel doesn’t have access to that. …Yet.

Finale questions

Executive producer Jeff Bell and showrunner Jed Whedon spoke with IGN just after the finale and  asked a fair amount of questions. Let’s just start with the one you’ll want to know:

"IGN: Can you say how long it’s been in the show between when the team gets taken and when we pick back up with Coulson at the end?Whedon: [silence] We can’t say.Bell: We acknowledge there’s a time jump."

It’s such a Marvel response. Hesitation, knowing they can’t say too much, followed by a generic answer that can be taken a million ways.

So that begs the question: How much time has passed since our SHIELD friends were taken at the end of season four and where season five picks up? They did a time jump to start season four as well. But this feels like it will be bigger.

I don’t think we’re talking years, but eight to twelve months seems plausible. That would give enough time for emotional baggage from the Framework to lighten so it’s less they have to work through. Maybe FitzSimmons won’t be on the rocks anymore. They’ve dealt with enough of that.

And another good question:

"IGN: […] Is Coulson’s deal with the Ghost Rider directly related to the team being taken at the end of the season, or unrelated?Bell: [silence] That’s a good question.Whedon: We can’t say. Yeah, good question. Tune in! [laughs]"

I’m more curious to know if Coulson’s deal with Ghost Rider leads them to be in space! Which is kind of what this question was getting at, just less directly. Is it penance for killing Ward? Or any of the other casualties that have happened in Coulson’s SHIELD tenure?

The possibilities are endless. We can go in circles all day trying to figure out where this next season will take us.

Next: Should you be worried about Agents of SHIELD’s Friday move?

Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD returns to ABC in the late fall!