‘Agents Of SHIELD’ Almost Killed The Hulk In Season 7, Episode 5

The 1970s weren’t exactly groovy on “Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD” Season 7, episode 5. The Chronicoms sped up events and created Project Insight—the mass killings from “Captain America: The Winter Soldier”—nearly 40 years early, but they were still targeting major Marvel Cinematic Universe players.

[Spoiler Alert: Major spoilers for “Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD” Season 7, episode 5 ahead]

In the episode, Project Insight is revealed to be targeting eventual “threats,” just as it is in “Winter Soldier.” This time, the plan is to kill heroes like Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo in the films) decades before he becomes the Hulk and Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) long before he is even associated with S.H.I.E.L.D. They’re also targeting Peggy Carter, who—as seen in “Avengers: Endgame”—is currently the S.H.I.E.L.D. director.

Daisy Johnson (Chloe Bennet) explains that although they’re seeing through Project Insight without the killer helicarriers, they’re still targeting the good guys. “We found a dossier of mostly S.H.I.E.L.D. assets: Bruce Banner, Nick Fury—”

“Peggy Carter,” Daniel Sousa (Enver Gjokaj) offers. Since he was pulled out of 1955, he doesn’t know the significance of Hulk or Fury, but he definitely knows Peggy after working with her on “Agent Carter.”

The result would’ve completely changed the Marvel Cinematic Universe, with no Fury to put together the Avengers, no Hulk to bring everyone back after the Snap and no Peggy to continue leading S.H.I.E.L.D. The Chronicoms want to destroy the organization, but Coulson and co. stop them once again. They manage to directly hit the satellite launching, seemingly stopping Project Insight—at least for now.

Marvel’s first live action TV show has been referencing the larger MCU more than ever in its final episodes. Thus far, much of the references have been connected to Captain America, with the agents encountering the super soldier serum that creates the Red Skull and running into Sousa (who mistook Quake’s inhuman powers for “that super soldier serum”).

However, leaving off in 1976 at the end of episode 5 means there will be more opportunities to go beyond just Cap’s story. The 1980s could easily incorporate “Ant-Man” references since Hank Pym was a S.H.I.E.L.D. scientist at the time. “Captain Marvel” also revealed that S.H.I.E.L.D. was quite busy during the 1990s.

Fans will have to stay tuned to see just how many references to the MCU “Agents of SHIELD” can fit into its final season.

“Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD” Season 7 airs Wednesdays at 10 p.m. EDT on ABC.