Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD: Will Infinity War really affect our characters?

Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD name-dropped Thanos and his attack on Earth. But will season 5 show its effects or will they find a way around it?

Avengers: Infinity War could really do a number to Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD. And yes, beware, there are spoilers for Infinity War ahead.

Last week, the show made an off-hand comment about the “weird stuff” going on in New York (which is within the first half-hour of the film). This week, the Confederation just straight-up name-dropped Thanos and his attack on Earth.

Which means we’re about 20 minutes away from that finger snap with the Infinity Gauntlet and half of our SHIELD team disappearing into dust.

That puts us in an awkward position. The odds of our entire SHIELD team staying alive through the finger snap is insanely low. But to go through with it? That means we lose half our team until Avengers 4 next spring.

So if Agent of SHIELD gets picked up for a sixth season and goes through with Thanos’ snap, could we go through an entire season with only half the team? That honestly feels like how the who series started — having to wait for the next MCU film before it can move forward.

On the flip side, they can theoretically end this season before the finger snap. It would make it a lot easier on the writers (and any potential future seasons) and us viewers. If Agents of SHIELD doesn’t get renewed, we never have to see half our team dissolve.

But… that feels kind of like a cop-out. You can’t just say Thanos and not show any consequences. Plus it isn’t like he’s only wiping out half of Earth. Our SHIELD team isn’t space because they’re in space. Thanos’ plan is to take out half the universe.

We’re in some trouble.

Next: Infinity War director explains the heartbreaking process of choosing who dies in the movie

So does Agents of SHIELD have the guts to go through with killing half our characters? We’ll find out in these last two episodes of the season!