Every Time Marvel Killed Agent Coulson In The MCU

Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. has killed Phil Coulson - again. Death has always been something of a revolving door in superhero comics, and that's been true in the Marvel Cinematic Universe as well. Marvel Studios has become famed for its "fake deaths," with Loki (Tom Hiddleston) proving particularly resilient. Technically the end of Avengers: Infinity War was Marvel's biggest fake death gambit ever with half the living creatures in the universe killed at a snap of Thanos' (Josh Brolin) fingers.

Marvel Television has hardly been averse to the idea of death and resurrection. Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. season 7, episode 6 riffed on this in a conversation between Coulson (Clark Gregg) and May (Ming-Na Wen), where May told the LMD Coulson she was tired of it all. "You never die," she observed. "You always come back. I can't mourn you again." This turned out to be foreshadowing, with Coulson sacrificing himself once again; it's reasonable to assume May's observation is correct, and another Coulson LMD will soon be working with the S.H.I.E.L.D. team on the Zephyr.

Of course, as May's dialogue suggests, this isn't the first time Phil Coulson has died, and at least this time his resurrection will be pretty simple. Here is the entire MCU and Marvel Television history of Coulson's deaths and resurrections.

Coulson's First Death & Resurrection

Agents of SHIELD Season 7 Episode 4 Coulson Avengers Death

Coulson's first death was still his most spectacular. The S.H.I.E.L.D. agent had played a key role in assembling the Avengers, but he fell foul of Loki when the Trickster God broke out of his cell on the Helicarrier. Coulson aimed a powerful energy weapon at him, but Loki teleported behind Coulson and stabbed him through the heart. Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) used his death to help bring the Avengers together; he bathed Coulson's Captain America trading cards in his blood, then dropped them on the table in front of Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) to guilt-trip him.

Coulson was resurrected using Project T.A.H.I.T.I., a process Fury had pushed for in case of the death of an Avenger. This involved the using a drug called GH.325, which was derived from Kree blood. Unfortunately, the process was dangerously unstable, and Fury was forced to conduct a memory wipe on Coulson in order to ensure he retained his sanity. His plans almost fell apart when Coulson began to figure out the truth.

Coulson Faked His Own Death

Coulson't next "death" was in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. season 2, when he and May transported a high-ranking Hydra prisoner named Sunil Bakshi (Simon Kassianides). Hydra agents attacked the prison transport, and Coulson and May were shot in the shootout. In reality it was all a deception, with Bakshi unwittingly leading a S.H.I.E.L.D. strike team straight to Hydra superiors. Worse still, Bakshi was given misinformation during the escape, and launched a strike on other Hydra leaders. S.H.I.E.L.D. allowed him to kill off several major Hydra figures before bringing him back in, and shocking him with the knowledge he'd been played.

Coulson Died Again In Agents of SHIELD Season 5 - Several Times

The climactic season 4 finale saw Coulson strike a deal with Zarathos and briefly become the Spirit of Vengeance. Although that was only temporary, the power-up came at a terrible cost, because the dark magic reversed the healing effects of GH.325. He almost died twice - once when punched by an LMD and again due to heart failure. S.H.I.E.L.D. went to desperate lengths to find a way to keep Coulson alive, but in the end he chose to sacrifice his one shot at life in order to save the Earth. Appropriately enough, Coulson died peacefully on the island of Tahiti, with Agent May at his side - the woman he finally admitted he loved. A twisted version of Coulson returned in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. season 6, but Sarge was really just a temporal echo of the real deal.

The Coulson LMD in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Season 7

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. season 7 saw the team engage in a Time War against the Chronicoms, and they needed Coulson's fanboy knowledge of S.H.I.E.L.D. history. To that end, Simmons (Elizabeth Henstridge) constructed a Coulson LMD to work alongside them, programming the LMD with Coulson's memories. Even that proved short-lived, and in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. season 7, episode 6 the Coulson LMD sacrificed himself to destroy the Chronicom ship. Given S.H.I.E.L.D. possesses LMD technology and records of Coulson's brainwaves, there's no reason they can't bring him back once again.

More: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Officially Changes The Marvel Timeline