Earlier today Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. held a very busy and exciting panel at WonderCon. Much of the main cast and those in charge of the series were present before a packed auditorium, with everyone in attendance being treated to the first showing of the Season 6 premiere 'Missing Pieces' before launching into an extended Q & A session. As can be expected, there was a lot of S.H.I.E.L.D. news revealed to the audience and then subsequently shared on Twitter.
The first piece of news came at the very beginning of the panel, when the premiere date for Season 6 was announced: May 10th. This means the season will debut exactly two weeks after the release of Avengers: Endgame, something that is likely not a coincidence.
In the most hilarious way possible, Marvel released a montage of clips from the entirety of the series featuring Ming-Na Wen that celebrates the MAY premiere date for the season. Check it out below:
We also have our first clip from the upcoming sixth season, featuring May, Yo-yo and other S.H.I.E.L.D. agents coming under attack from forces that appear to be arriving from another dimension. These attackers include Butterfly (?) and Not-Phil Coulson, the latter of which debuts in a shocking, explosive and ruthless fashion. This is certainly a very different character for Clark Gregg to play.
Check out the jaw-dropping first clip from Season 6, below:
There was a lot more however revealed from the WonderCon panel, including details about the Season 6 premiere and the general reaction from those in attendance to the episode, as well as the future of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. While some of the premiere details below may include *very minor* SPOILERS, fans do not have to worry about seeing any major spoilers for the first episode of Season 6.
To take a look at these other key details revealed from the S.H.I.E.L.D. panel, hit the VIEW LIST (ONE PAGE) button below!
Season 6 Premiere Received A Lot Of Praise
There was widespread acclaim and praise online for the Season 6 premiere, with many people simply saying 'wow' or 'great' to describe the episode while others were at a loss of words to describe what they had just watched. At the very least, it sounds like Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. has once again raised the bar and reinvented itself.
Season 6 Premiere: Fans Highlight Excellent VFX
Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. has a reputation for making the most of its resources and budget and delivering cinema-level special effects on the small screen. Perhaps the one aspect of the premiere that was being praised the most was the special effects, with many fans pointing out how great of a job VFX Supervisor Mark Kolpack and his crew have done with the visuals this year. It also sounds like the series may have a larger budget this season, which means those cosmic scenes will look that much better. Speaking of...
Season 6 Premiere Is Also Weird And Cosmic
As teased in the first trailer for Season 6, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. is going to get very cosmic this year. Since Season 3, the series has been no stranger to exploring the cosmos, with past episodes featuring alien worlds, spaceships and, well, aliens. This year though the show will spend half of the time in deep space, with half of the Agents searching for Cryo Fitz and Enoch. It sounds like the series fully embraces the cosmos and all that has to offer, including the weird.
Season 6 Premiere: An Iron Man Villain Is Mentioned
Some people have already figured out who the namedropped villain is, but in the spirit of not spoiling anything that character's identity has not been included here. However, the reveal of an Iron Man supervillain potentially having a role in the season will make surely make fans even more eager to see what is going on in S.H.I.E.L.D. Season 6.
Season 6 Premiere: Logos Are Back...
This *spoiler* isn't really that much of a spoiler for people that have seen the Season 6 trailer, unless there is a deeper meaning to this tweet.
At the start of Season 6, S.H.I.E.L.D. as an organization has fully emerged from the shadows and into the light. While the organization tried to go public during Season 4, the LMD uprising destroyed these plans. In the Season 5 finale though, S.H.I.E.L.D. revealed it was still around and a force of good when Graviton attacked Chicago.
Picking up from where the series last left off, S.H.I.E.L.D. is now completely operating in the public sphere and this means that the organization's logo is being plastered on uniforms, vehicles, and other S.H.I.E.L.D. property.
Season 6 Premiere: Is Infinity War or Endgame Referenced?
Perhaps the biggest question many will have for Season 6 is how the series handles, if at all, the events of Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame.
As fans may remember, the last several episodes of Season 5 take place at the same time as Infinity War. Not only is the attack in New York quickly referenced, but Thanos and his forces invading Wakanda are mentioned to Graviton, who decides he needs more gravitonium to defend Earth from the Mad Titan. Of course we know that Graviton's efforts ultimately lead to the world getting quaked apart in the alternate timeline, and therefore the entirety of Season 5 is in effect an indirect result of Infinity War.
As has previously been reported, Season 6 features an MCU time jump, beginning one year after the Season 5 finale, Infinity War and, to some degree, Endgame. However, it sounds like that at least in the first episode, there are no references to the events of these two films. While later episodes may reference these movies, it would not be overly surprising if the season did not, considering that it begins AFTER the Avengers have avenged the fallen.
Season 6 Premiere: There IS A Tribute To Stan Lee
Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. has done a great job in the past honoring fallen actors that appeared on the series, including an in-episode tribute for Bill Paxton (John Garrett) and a title card for Powers Boothe (Gideon Malick). It is therefore not a surprise that the series pays tribute to the late Stan "The Man" Lee with an "In Loving Memory" title card at the end of the credits. Stan Lee had a cameo in the Season 1 episode 'T.R.A.C.K.S.'
Season 7 May Not Be The Final Season After All...
What is perhaps the most interesting Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. detail revealed at the panel today had nothing to do with Season 6. Jeph Loeb was answering fan questions and someone asked his thoughts about the series ending next season, something that has been rumored based on comments from Clark Gregg.
However, Loeb responded pretty defiantly that Season 7 is not being eyed as the end for the series, going as far as saying "we're not ending. Stop it."
Its possible that Loeb was just annoyed with the question and/or giving a misleading answer since Season 7 has not been officially announced by Marvel as the final season yet. But if we are to take Loeb's comments seriously, this means that the series may stick around much longer than previously thought (though then again, people have been claiming the series would get canceled since like the first season).
Taking both what Gregg and Loeb have individually said into consideration, is it possible that Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. could continue past Season 7 on something other than ABC, i.e. Disney +? Some people online certainly got this impression from Loeb's remarks...
WonderCon Photos