“Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” shocked fans in episode 16 by bringing back Deathlok/Mike Peterson (J. August Richards). The hero hadn’t been seen since Season 1, but Coulson (Clark Gregg) made it clear that they’d been in touch. He was even responsible for Mike’s new suit.

Coulson called Mike in to help him and Hunter (Nick Blood) escape from the new S.H.I.E.L.D. team. But Mike isn’t going home any time soon. "This is an ongoing storyline for what you're about to see," Richards told E! Online. "I can't really speak to the future of it because I literally find out just a few weeks before things happen. I know, as it was left in Season 1, there was a lot of unfinished business with the other team members. I think you'll get to see that played out a bit."

While we don’t know exactly how long Deathlok is going to be around, it looks like he’ll be in at least a few more episodes. In the coming installments, viewers will find out more about his relationship with Coulson. Apparently, the two have kept in touch since Mike helped take down Garrett in the Season 1 finale.

“Fans will find out that Coulson and Mike have actually been secretly working together since we last saw Mike,” Richards explained to Variety. “I always think about this character’s humanity, so I feel like Coulson is someone that Mike doesn’t want to disappoint and someone that he really looks up to. I also feel that from the very beginning, he’s been looking for redemption and seeing Coulson as a key to that. Coulson can help him be the hero he’s always wanted to be for his child.”

When viewers last saw Mike, the newly empowered hero decided that he couldn’t be around his son Ace. He watched Ace go off with his aunt and claimed that he needed redemption before he could be a father. Mike also rejected Skye’s (Chloe Bennet) offer to join the team. Coulson clearly made him reconsider the offer and also gave him considerable upgrades to his cyborg hardware — upgrades that will be explained more in future episodes. It seems those rockets in his arms aren’t the only new feature Deathlok acquired.

“I was really excited [because] in one episode Mike [goes] under an X-ray and we get to see that underneath it all he does look a bit like the comic character,” Richards said. “[He's] constantly evolving, as you can already see!”

“Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” Season 2 airs Tuesdays at 9 p.m. EDT on ABC. Are you excited to see more of Deathlok? Sound off in the comments section below!

RELATED STORIES