Agents of SHIELD Fixes Ghost's Confusing Backstory

Warning: Spoilers for Ant-Man and the Wasp.

Ant-Man & the Wasp introduces a new character into S.H.I.E.L.D. lore - but how does Ghost's story connect to Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.? As any Marvel viewer knows, "it's all connected," or at least it's supposed to be. The TV shows exist in the same shared cinematic universe as the films themselves, although in practice the relationship tends to be rather one-way - the movies affect the TV shows, not the other way round.

The story of S.H.I.E.L.D. and Hydra has been explored in detail in the ABC TV series Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., which launched in 2013, and introduced viewers to the organization's rich history, sophisticated technology, standard operating procedures, and sometimes explains what happens between movies. But that introduces a lot of potential problems when Marvel Studios choose to insert a character into S.H.I.E.L.D.'s history, because that could very easily contradict Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Fans of the series are particularly concerned over next year's Captain Marvel, which charts an early adventure of Clark Gregg's Agent Coulson, and could easily cause massive continuity headaches.

Fortunately, in the case of Ghost, the character's backstory is actually deepened by a little Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. knowledge. Marvel Studios has kept everything just vague enough to allow viewers to put the pieces together. Let's explore Ghost's history, and show how she fits with everything we know of S.H.I.E.L.D.

This Page: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Fills in Ghost's Origin Story
Next Page: Where was Ghost During Phases 1 and 2?

Ghost's Origin Story Clashes With SHIELD

Ant-Man and the Wasp - Hannah John-Kamen as Ghost

As we saw in a flashback scene, the young Ava Starr was exposed to a wave of quantum energy when her father's experiments went catastrophically wrong. It's difficult to pin a precise date on this event, but it's likely sometime around 1998 - the young Ghost is played by an eight-year-old actress, RaeLynn Bratten, while the present-day Ghost is played by 28-year-old Hannah John-Kamen. Regardless of the precise dating of these events, the exposure to quantum energy rendered Ava intangible. She was taken to a shelter, and it was there that Ava was approached by Bill Foster.

According to Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., the organization kept a database of all powered people and objects, known as the Gifted Index. When a powered individual is located, a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent is sent to conduct what's known as an "Index Asset Evaluation and Intake Report." It seems likely Bill Foster was actually the agent sent to conduct that assessment. He'd be a logical choice; not only is he already connected to S.H.I.E.L.D., but he's also one of the few people in the world who could possibly understand what it means to be exposed to forces from the Quantum Realm.

As revealed in the Season 1 episode Girl in the Flower Dress, once an assessment is complete, S.H.I.E.L.D. often assign a case worker to keep tabs on a Gifted individual. It's reasonable to assume that Foster was assigned to Ava, and that much of his research - including his building of the initial quantum chamber - was actually supported by, and even funded by, S.H.I.E.L.D.

Ghost Becomes an Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.

S.H.I.E.L.D. has never been averse to deploying Gifted individuals in the field; the first Ant-Man film proved that, revealing that S.H.I.E.L.D. worked with Hank Pym and Janet Van Dyne during the Cold War era. So it's no surprise that S.H.I.E.L.D. approached Ava with an offer once they deemed her old enough. They would continue to try to heal her "condition," if she agreed to work for them.

Dipping into lore from Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., it looks as though Ghost was trained as a Combat and Espionage Specialist. This kind of Specialist is typically something of a "lone wolf" operative, working without support or backup; classic examples include Black Widow and Grant Ward. If that's the case, it's likely only a handful of senior S.H.I.E.L.D. operatives even knew of her existence - and Fury may have chosen to restrict that knowledge due to his own agenda. Nick Fury isn't a man who trusts easily, and Ghost could be a useful asset for identifying traitors within S.H.I.E.L.D., or learning secrets that would give Fury leverage over his masters in the World Security Council. There's no explicit evidence to support that idea, but it's the most plausible scenario and certainly fits with Fury's character.

Page 2 of 2: Ghost's Story During Phases 1 and 2

Where Was Ghost During Phases 1 and 2?

But if Fury had his own Gifted operative all along, why wasn't she involved in the Avengers Initiative? The simple fact is that Ghost probably failed the psychological assessments. We know from Iron Man 2 that Fury conducted careful assessments of all potential Avengers, and psychological issues initially ruled Tony Stark out. Any assessment on Ghost would have identified that her powers were causing her increasing pain, and that she was becoming bitter and withdrawn, beginning to believe S.H.I.E.L.D. was only using her - and had no intention of curing her. This seems to have caused Ghost to become increasingly violent and unstable, and as a result Fury would have discounted her from the Avengers Initiative.

It's also possible that Fury didn't want the World Security Council to know about Ghost. As evidenced by the Marvel One-Shot The Consultant, the Security Council had their own ideas for the Avengers Initiative, even briefly pushing for Emil Blonsky to be part of the team. If Fury had kept Ghost's existence secret in order to use her powers to support his own agenda then he'd be keen to keep her name out of the Initiative.

Moving on to Captain America: The Winter Soldier, it looks as though Foster and Ghost were sidelined during the Hydra uprising. It seems likely high-level Hydra operatives would have wanted Ghost out of the way; she'd have been a real threat to Project Insight, and even the Hydra Helicarriers may not have been able to kill her. So they probably sent Ghost on a mission out of the way, possibly with Foster as her handler. Meanwhile, when Fury learned there were traitors within S.H.I.E.L.D. he probably decided he didn't trust Ghost, whose violent streak may have hinted at her being a Hydra agent. That explains why we didn't hear about Ghost in Captain America: The Winter Soldier.

Did Phil Coulson Reach Out to Ghost?

Agents of SHIELD Season 4 Episode 4 Coulson

As viewers of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. know, Fury assigned Coulson with the task of rebuilding S.H.I.E.L.D. in the aftermath of the Hydra uprising. He gave him a unique device known as "Fury's Black Box," a Vibranium datacube that contained almost all of Fury's greatest secrets. Assuming Coulson didn't already know about Ghost, it's safe to assume the Black Box told him all about her.

During Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Season 2, one of Coulson's top priorities was to recruit Gifted individuals before Hydra got to them. He possibly tried to track down Ghost by approaching Bill Foster. It's actually quite easy to insert that into the season 2 timeline; Coulson spent much of the first half-season traveling, and he even lied about his movements to Agent May. In fact, Coulson was so good at deceiving his team that he was even able to hide a Helicarrier from them. So it really wouldn't be hard for him to have taken the time to pay a visit to Bill Foster, as well.

There's no way Foster would have signed up to Coulson's S.H.I.E.L.D.. Where Coulson was focused on rebuilding S.H.I.E.L.D. and waging war on Hydra, Foster was only interested in curing Ghost of her "condition." Frankly, Foster may have been hoping to forget all about S.H.I.E.L.D. for a while; the organization was thoroughly discredited, and its remnants were being hunted down as illegal terrorists. If Coulson didn't reach out to Foster until after Episode 6, 'A Fractured House,' then it's possible Foster wouldn't even know whether to trust this new S.H.I.E.L.D. anyway. Hydra successfully framed them for an attack on the United Nations.

Ant-Man & the Wasp is deliberately vague when it comes to Ghost's backstory, keeping dates and precise details as sparse and generalized as possible. But, with a little knowledge of the wider Marvel Cinematic Universe, it's actually possible to work out how Ghost's story probably developed throughout the history of the MCU. Marvel Studios and Marvel Television don't always complement, but in this case, they synergize quite effectively.