Agents of SHIELD season 7 could help set up the Falcon & Winter Soldier Disney+ series. When Marvel Television launched Agents of SHIELD back in 2013, the series took every possible opportunity to tie into the movies. Individual episodes explored the Extremis serum from Iron Man 3 and the aftermath of Thor: The Dark World. Agents of SHIELD's first season was then transformed by the Hydra twist in Captain America: The Winter Soldier, which added a new dynamism to the show.
The explicit tie-ins became a lot less frequent after 2015, when Disney forced a corporate restructure that pulled Marvel Studios out of the wider Marvel Entertainment group. There were throwaway references and thematic nods - Agents of SHIELD season 4 embraced the supernatural to coincide with the release of Doctor Strange - but direct connections came to an end. All that changed when 2018's Agents of SHIELD season 5 attempted to join in the MCU's 10-year anniversary celebration, with explicit links to Avengers: Infinity War. Unfortunately that tie-in proved problematic when the show was renewed for two more seasons, and avoided dealing with the implications of the snap. Viewers began to conclude that Agents of SHIELD and the MCU had gone their separate ways.
It seems that conclusion may be premature, however. While it's still unknown how - or even if - Agents of SHIELD will deal with the snap, showrunners have confirmed season 7 will connect to the MCU somehow. "We're going to bump into something," Joss Whedon promised, echoed by the rest of his creative team. The first two episodes of Agents of SHIELD have indeed linked to something from the MCU's past: the super soldier serum, which may well point the way to the future of the MCU.
Agents of SHIELD's Super Soldier Revelations Explained
The SHIELD team is caught in something of a Time War right now. They're dealing with an alien race called the Chronicoms, who are attempting to rewrite history in order to ensure Earth is defenseless in the face of an invasion in the present day. The first stop was 1931, with SHIELD discovering the origins of the super soldier serum. German-born scientist Abraham Erskine began work on the super soldier serum in 1930, but it seems he was unknowingly dependent on Hydra agents who acquired rare key ingredients from across the globe. The Chronicoms attempted to disrupt delivery of one such key ingredient, but fortunately SHIELD intervened.
As enjoyable as this arc may have been, the most interesting twist was the fact Simmons was able to recognize key ingredients of the super soldier serum. Erskine was killed during the Second World War, and the secret of his super soldier serum was lost. The Incredible Hulk established that, since 1945, the US government has been secretly attempting to duplicate the serum, with little success. Agents of SHIELD season 7 has subtly recast this failure, though, confirming the ingredients were recorded by history. The problem must either be a failure to understand how to combine these ingredients, or an inability to generate the Vita-Rays that made the process safe.
Falcon & Winter Soldier Deals With The Legacy Of The Super-Soldier Serum
The MCU is expanding once again, with Marvel Studios producing a range of big-budget TV shows for the Disney+ streaming service. There have been recurring rumors that Falcon & Winter Soldier will explore the legacy of the super soldier serum, and these were apparently confirmed by reports the series will introduce Isaiah Bradley, the black Captain America. In the comics, Isaiah Bradley's story was inspired by the infamous Tuskegee Study, in which African Americans were secretly exposed to syphilis. Bradley was one of 300 black soldiers who were essentially kidnapped by Military Intelligence during World War II, and subjected to experiments with the super soldier serum. He was one of only a handful to survive, and was never celebrated like Steve Rogers. After all, he was black.
The story of Isaiah Bradley is an important one in Marvel Comics history. Comics have always been socially aware, and Isaiah Bradley became controversial as soon as Marvel released a promotional image showing the silhouette of an African-American man in a Captain America costume. There were initially fears this would damage Steve Rogers' legacy in some way, but those concerns proved unjustified. In an interview with CBR, then Editor-in-Chief Axel Alonso remembered the comic with pride. "One high-profile reviewer even wrote a column admitting he'd unfairly pre-judged the series," he recalled, "that he now saw it was about building bridges between people, not burning them - which I deeply respected. It's especially meaningful when you edit a story that functions as a little more than pure entertainment." Given the importance of this story, it's reasonable to assume Marvel Studios intend to play it fairly straight.
The Super Soldier Serum Could Return In Falcon & Winter Soldier
Assuming the reports of Isaiah Bradley's presence are accurate, it looks as though Agents of SHIELD and Falcon & Winter Soldier are subtly rewriting the history of the super soldier serum. The American super soldier program operated on a greater scale than Captain America believed, and its key ingredients are known by SHIELD. This has important consequences, because the more that is known about Erskine's project, the more likely it can be reproduced in the future. This fits with consistent rumors Sam Wilson and Bucky Barnes team up when they discover someone has successfully duplicated the serum. It's even possible US Agent, the government's chosen replacement for Steve Rogers, is a super soldier; if so, he will be dangerous, because in the comics US Agent is extremely unstable. Erskine said the super soldier serum amplifies whatever is within - and it's not pleasant to imagine what it could do to US Agent.
There's even been some speculation Falcon will ultimately take the super soldier serum himself. One of the first shots from Falcon & Winter Soldier showed Sam practicing with Captain America's shield, showing him tossing it with impressive skill. What's more, Falcon's strength was also notable, because he was able to throw it across a large yard with enough force to lodge the shield deep into the side of a tree. This at least raises the possibility Sam's strength has been enhanced, and he is now operating at the same level as Steve Rogers.
This increasing focus on the super soldier serum would fit well with Whedon's comment Agents of SHIELD season 7 will "bump into something." Marvel Studios would no doubt be wary of any explicit tie-ins, simply because they'd fear plans could change and something important could unwittingly be revealed by Agents of SHIELD. That attitude explains why they refused to tell the Marvel Television team about the post-snap world, and it would be a prescient concern given the reschedules caused by the coronavirus pandemic. But in this case, the thematic connection would only become evident when Falcon & Winter Soldier airs, and nothing would be given away.