Elena “Yo-Yo” Rodriguez made her Agents Of SHIELD debut in the season three episode “Bouncing Back,” and she’s been a major part of the series ever since. She made her comic book debut, however, over a decade earlier in the Marvel series Mighty Avengers. Though she hasn’t had as many comic book appearances as someone like Mockingbird, there’s still plenty of content that inspired her television story arcs.
The television series, however, has very much created their own take on the character, resulting in a lot of differences between the comics and the television series. We’re taking a look at just what inspired the character - and what the show changed.
KEPT: Yo-Yo’s Place In The Caterpillars
The Secret Warriors are a group of heroes in the comics who are started, as their name suggests, in secret, so that no one else will get wind of them. The codename for the group is “Caterpillars.”
When Agents of SHIELD adapts their idea of a Secret Warriors team, the writers use the same codename for the group. Phil Coulson gives Daisy Johnson a file of potential recruits for her new team, labeled “Caterpillars.” Elena Rodriguez is one of three people that joins Daisy.
CHANGED: Her Name
For the television series, the character’s name is Elena Rodriguez. Yo-Yo becomes her codename because of her ability. That’s not the case in the comics.
Instead, Yo-Yo is the character’s first name in the comics, not her codename. Her codename eventually becomes Slingshot, which the team behind the show actually uses in a different medium. Slingshot is the name of the web series that focuses on the character during the events of Agents Of SHIELD season four.
KEPT: Daisy Trying To Recruit Her
Daisy Johnson is the person in charge of the Secret Warriors in both the comics and Agents Of SHIELD. She’s the person who also tries to recruit Yo-Yo for the team. Daisy only partially succeeds.
In both instances, Yo-Yo grows to trust Daisy and rely on her, but she’s initially convinced by someone else to join the team. Nick Fury is the one in the comics. The TV series mostly has Alphonso Mackenzie in that role, though even he can’t always convince her to stay with SHIELD.
CHANGED: Her Inhuman Heritage
The Inhumans are a large part of the Agents Of SHIELD television series. Much of Daisy’s story arc has revolved around the discovery of her Inhuman heritage. That’s also a large part of Elena’s character. Yo-Yo, however, is not an Inhuman in the comics.
Instead, Yo-Yo’s abilities in the comics are a result of her father’s mutated DNA. Just how she ends up with a completely different power set than him isn’t clear, but she’s not Inhuman.
KEPT: Her Power
Both versions of Yo-Yo have the same power set. She has super speed, but her speed comes with a catch.
Yo-Yo is able to move super fast - faster than the human eye can see. The catch is that she bounces right back to the spot she started when she’s done. Specifically, she can move as far as possible during the length of time it takes for a single heartbeat, according to the television series.
CHANGED: Yo-Yo’s Home Country
Elena and her family are from Colombia in the television series. That’s where she first meets the SHIELD team and begins to work with them on a common goal. She’s not actually from the same country in the comics. In the comics, Yo-Yo is from Puerto Rico instead.
Of course, the actress that plays the character in Agents Of SHIELD, Natalia Cordova-Buckley, isn’t from either of those places. The actress is originally from Mexico.
KEPT: Yo-Yo Earning Prosthetic Limbs
While the exact circumstances of Yo-Yo losing her arms are different, she does lose both arms in both the comics and the television series in an altercation with a member of Hydra (Gorgon in the comics, Ruby in the TV series). In both instances, she also ends up with not just prosthetic limbs, but cybernetic limbs.
Her cybernetic arms are stronger than the average human’s, but take her some getting used to. Once she recovers from her surgeries and learns how to use her new arms properly, in both mediums, she decides to stay with SHIELD.
CHANGED: The SHIELD Agent Who Trained Her
Like most of the female characters introduced in Agents Of SHIELD, Elena spends a lot of her on-screen training time with Melinda May. Agent May also teaches Daisy Johnson and Jemma Simmons how to hold their own in the field.
In the comics, however, much of Yo-Yo’s training is handled by a higher ranking SHIELD operative. Nick Fury himself trains her and encourages Daisy to bring her into the Secret Warriors.
KEPT: Her Connection To Prophecy
Yo-Yo can’t see the future herself. She does, however, run into people in both the comics and the television series who can - and tell her all about hers.
In the comics, she’s actually warned about becoming seriously injured during a confrontation from a prophetic teammate. She continues on to the fight, and ends up without her arms. In the television series, she meets herself in the future, a “seer” for the Kree who is only called that because she knows the events of the past, along with an actual seer named Robin. Her future self is the one who warns Elena about just what’s coming for television, but again, she keeps going.
CHANGED: Yo-Yo’s Father
In the television series, not much is known about Elena’s family. She was working with her cousin to fight a corrupt government when first introduced, but since then, her life has been devoted to SHIELD. In the comics, however, she’s the daughter of supervillain Johnny Horton, also known as the Griffin.
Interestingly, Horton exists in the series, at least as an Easter egg. John Garrett mentions the name to Grant Ward when the two are on their way to the SHIELD prison, the Fridge. He has lion’s paws for hands and was arrested by Garrett years earlier. As far as fans know, he has no connection to Elena Rodriguez.