Over the years, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.’s allusions to the larger MCU became fewer and farther between. Regardless, the show’s recently-concluded final season included a few Easter eggs as a nod to fans. The last round of episodes contained references to the Quantum Realm, Project Insight, and even Bruce Banner. But according to showrunner Jed Whedon, they came close to name-dropping an MCU heavy-hitter in the series finale.
Whedon and his wife/co-showrunner Maurissa Tancharoen recently spoke to The New York Times to discuss last week’s final episode. As anyone who tuned in can tell you, the agents used the Quantum Realm to leave the branched timeline they spent the entire season exploring and return to their normal reality. Not surprisingly, this invited a number of comparisons to Avengers: Endgame. So it begs the question of whether the writers ever planned to address Thanos’ decimation in the finale. As it turns out, there just wasn’t enough room for it.
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“Some of the stuff they did with time travel in Endgame indicated that there are other timelines where other adventures are occurring,” said Whedon. “We’re following the multi-verse rule. The only way that someone survives Thanos’s snap in the movies is go into the quantum realm, and we originally did plan to give that a mention — because we used the quantum realm to move between timelines — but it got cut for time.”
Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. actually did reference Thanos’ impending assault near the end of season 5. However, viewers never got to see any of the show’s characters turn to dust, making it unclear where the last two seasons have fit in the MCU’s timeline.
Do you think Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. should have referenced Thanos in the finale? Let us know in the comment section below!
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