Agents of SHIELD Has Rewritten The History Of The MCU

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Season 5 has just rewritten the history of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Recent episodes revealed that the last remnants of Hydra were working with an alien Confederacy, a group of races who had promised to save humanity from a terrifying threat. The latest episode, 'The One Who Will Save Us All', finally gave that threat a name; Thanos.

It's been a long time since Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. had a direct tie-in to the movies like this. The last one was back in 2015, when Season 2 tied into the events of Avengers: Age of Ultron. Since then, the show has settled for thematic tie-ins; so, for example, when Doctor Strange added sorcery to the MCU, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. introduced the new Ghost Rider. Now, though, it turns out that every single event in Season 5 has really been building up to the day Thanos invades.

But here's the catch; this shocking revelation also transforms the history of the MCU. Because it reveals that, as far back as 2012, Hydra knew that Thanos was coming. This subtly rewrites every one of Hydra's acts in the MCU, from Project Insight in Captain America: The Winter Soldier to Daniel Whitehall's pursuit of Inhumans. This one little tie-in has subtly rewritten the history of the MCU.

This Page: Hydra's Preparation For Thanos

Just How Much Did Hydra Know About Thanos?

In the aftermath of the Second World War, Hydra had reinvented itself as what Arnim Zola called "a beautiful parasite." Hydra agents infiltrated governments, companies, espionage agencies, and most notably S.H.I.E.L.D., working to guide humanity to a place where it would willingly surrender its freedom. But everything changed in the aftermath of the Battle of New York. Hydra moved swiftly to secure samples of alien technology; according to tie-in comics, Loki's Scepter was stolen the day after the Avengers triumphed. One such piece of alien technology was a communications and transport device, and Hydra managed to get it working. They got in touch with the Confederacy.

The Confederacy are a loose alliance of alien races and business cartels, including the Kree House Kasius. They've lasted over a thousand years, and excel at manipulating others. It didn't take the Confederacy long to realize that they were speaking with people from a world Thanos had targeted; it's even possible Hydra described Loki's Scepter, and the Confederacy recognized it as an Infinity Stone. They knew straight away that Thanos would return to Earth, and they used the threat of this return to begin to manipulate Hydra. They offered to save Earth if Hydra delivered its most precious resources - including "enhanced" beings. It's important to note that the Confederacy had no intention of honoring this agreement; they knew full well they couldn't actually stop Thanos. Instead, the Confederacy simply intended to plunder Earth before Thanos razed the planet.

Hydra is divided into "cells," and cell leaders don't tend to share information with one another. Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Season 2 revealed that some of these cell leaders are actually antagonistic towards one another, each pursuing their own agenda. So this knowledge likely didn't reach every Hydra cell leader we've seen since 2014. But it probably did reach key leaders who moved within the same circles as General Hale; that means it's reasonable to assume both Daniel Whitehall and Baron Von Strucker were part of this.

The Real Reason for Project Insight

The Helicarrier crashes in Captain America: The Winter Soldier

Hydra, then, were the only ones who knew Thanos was coming. Hydra had played the long game for the last few decades, and it had paid off; but now time was running out, and they simply had to get the world ready to deal with an imminent alien invasion. The solution, to Hydra, was obvious; now was the time to rise up, to unify the world, and to begin preparing for Thanos's arrival. This new motive subtly explains why Hydra felt 2014 was the ideal time to step "out of the shadows, and into the light;" because they believed they simply didn't have any more time to wait.

Project Insight was born in the aftermath of the Battle of New York. Having had an up-close-and-personal look at a S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier turbine, Tony Stark offered some improvements; and senior Hydra agents in S.H.I.E.L.D. saw the potential. They manipulated S.H.I.E.L.D. into launching a controversial program that would send three Helicarriers into the atmosphere - and, in reality, these Helicarriers would be programmed with an algorithm to target every potential threat to Hydra. Had Project Insight been a success, all resistance to Hydra would have been destroyed the moment it went live. Hydra would have literally taken over the world, uniting the planet under their authoritarian rule.

The key players in Project Insight were Alexander Pierce and Gideon Malick (who supported it as a member of the World Security Council). While Malick doesn't seem to have known about the threat of Thanos - he was more obsessed with the legends of Hive and Maveth - it's possible Pierce did. But Project Insight failed, and Pierce was killed by Nick Fury.

The Creation of the Scarlet Witch

But the Thanos retcon actually reinterprets other parts of MCU history, too. For example, it suggests that Baron Von Strucker wasn't just experimenting with Loki's Scepter in order to create "enhanced" assets for Hydra; he was trying to create warriors who could serve on the front lines in the battle against Thanos. Little wonder Strucker was willing to allow other Hydra bases to be compromised, offering them up as sacrifices in order to keep attention away from his work in Sokovia.

Ironically, viewed through this light, Strucker's experiments were successful. Although Quicksilver died battling Ultron, Scarlet Witch became one of the most powerful members of the Avengers. During the Battle of Wakanda, she wielded enough power to hold Thanos at bay while actually destroying an Infinity Stone. Incredibly, at the time Wanda used her powers against Thanos, he was already bearing five Infinity Stones. Strucker created an Avenger who was arguably second only to Thor in terms of her power level. And she almost did save the universe from Thanos - if not for his smart use of the Time Stone.

Inhumans and Gravitonium

Daisy Johnson AKA Quake Destroyer of Worlds

In the aftermath of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Season 2, Terrigen was spread into the Earth's water supply, and anyone with the Inhuman gene began to spontaneously undergo Terrigenesis. The United States Government formed the Advanced Threat Containment Unit (ATCU) to manage Inhuman incidents across the world. But the ATCU was compromised, and was really just a Hydra attempt to capture as many Inhumans as possible. Season 2 suggested that Malick was gathering these Inhumans together as potential assets for Hive, but we now know that other Hydra cell leaders had different ideas. According to Season 5, the Confederacy offered to help in exchange for Earth's Inhumans.

Did Hydra actually intend to honor this bargain? It seems doubtful; more likely, they noted the Confederacy's interest in Inhumans and Gravitonium, and reckoned that these could be powerful assets to ensure global dominance and ultimately defeat the threat of Thanos.

At first glance, the reference to Thanos seems like nothing more than "name-dropping," a simple way of tying Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Season 5 into the story of Avengers: Infinity War. In reality, it's a lot more; it's a smart retcon that subtly rewrites the history of the MCU. In doing so, it places Thanos at the heart of the MCU's ongoing story, revealing that so many of the movies were actually driven by a fear of Thanos.