Latest Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. Potentially Ties Into 'Guardians' And 'Inhumans'

Though I gave up on Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D very early in season one, I hear from lots of people it gets better every single week. And this past week, it sounded like things took a potentially very significant step forward from even that. There were two specific references to upcoming and past Marvel Studios movies that may hint at what's to come not only in Phase Two, but Phase Three. One possibly links to Guardians of the Galaxy and the other definitely suggests Inhumans. Read the Agents of SHIELD spoilers below.

If you haven't watched the latest episode of Agents of SHIELD yet, beware of spoilers from here on out.

In this week's episode, the alien character who saved Agent Coulson's life way back when was finally revealed to be a Kree. That's the same alien race Ronan the Accuser was in Guardians of the Galaxy, and which signed a peace treaty with the Nova Corps in the film. That means the Kree know about Earth. Very interesting.

Entertainment Weekly asked showrunners Jed Whedon and Maurissa Tancharoen about the revelation:

Q: How early on had you guys decided that the alien was Kree?

JED WHEDON: We obviously showed this body a year ago at around this time. When we were breaking that and sussing out what this arc would be, we had to have a lot of the pieces in place from the get go. Yes, we had to talk to features about what their plans were and where they were going. It's been a while.

Q: Does this count as your tie-in to Guardians of the Galaxy?

MAURISSA TANCHAROEN: There's more to explore with the Kree.

WHEDON: It is a very far away other galaxy, so it's a little bit harder to have one of them walk into our set, so a direct tie-in is a little bit more challenging, but it's all one universe, so there's always opportunity for more.

Very interesting stuff but that's not all. There was also a significant tease to the Inhumans, a race of genetically modified humans that just so happen to have their own movie coming November 2, 2018. That's a long way away, but two characters who may fit into that world, Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch, will be introduced in Avengers: Age of Ultron.

However, in this new episode of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D the character Skye rescues a character named Raina. She tells Skye that they're both "human, but just have the potential to be more." That sounds very much like a reference to Inhumans. Here's what Tancharoen and Whedon said about it:

Q: What does the alien being Kree mean for the storyline in the future? Are we talking about Inhumans here?

WHEDON: That's why there's more episodes to come!

TANCHAROEN: You will see how this Kree fact that we all now know plays out.WHEDON: It also helps tie us into the cinematic universe. In Guardians, we saw parts in our universe that we hadn't explored yet, so it shows we're a part of that too.Q: Raina tells Skye that she's human, she just has the potential to be more. Would you say that's your "Aha!" moment or is there something more definitive coming in the midseason finale?

WHEDON: There's always stuff coming. Right now, we're on Skye's journey with her. Anything she learns, hopefully it resonates with the audience. She doesn't know what to think. She's gotten mixed signals. And Raina is not exactly the most trustworthy person, but it seems like she's telling what she believes.

TANCHAROEN: It's not like she buys everything. It's not that she wants to allow herself to believe everything that Raina says. She is listening to these discoveries with some doubt.

There's also a possibility the temple where Raina and Skye are is the Inhumans' city of Attilan. The showrunners didn't comment.

There seem to be a lot of potential threads here. Maybe even the very early seedlings that lead to movies like Guardians of the Galaxy 2 and Inhumans. Or – and this is frankly more likely – they're just tangential references that fit in, but don't directly tie in. Either way, it's cool to see Marvel planting the seeds.

What do you think about these Agents of SHIELD spoilers?