Warning: The following contains spoilers from the season four premiere of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. If you haven't watched yet, proceed at your own risk. Consider yourselves warned.
Like Robbie Reyes in his Hellcharger, season four of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. just roared in aflame with almost more Marvel goodness and mysterious WTF-ery than we know what to do with. Key word being almost.
Picking up six months later, we learned that S.H.I.E.L.D. is basically an entirely new organization now that's been re-legitimized with this mystery director and his fondness for acronyms at the helm. With Coulson (Clark Gregg) in the field with Mack (Henry Simmons), Simmons (Elizabeth Henstridge) palling around with the director to keep her team safe, and Fitz (Iain de Caestecker) getting pulled into Radcliffe's (John Hannah) creepy new experiment, it was a whole new world.
And that's not even mentioning the gone-rogue Daisy (Chloe Bennet) and her new flaming foe Ghost Rider (Gabriel Luna). Or that freaky box and whatever the hell it unleashed onto those Chinese smugglers and poor May (Ming-Na Wen). There was so much stuff, you guys.
If you're like us, you're full of questions after watching the premiere. And if you are, then you're in luck, because we've got some answers straight from the cast and producers themselves. Of course, some answers only lead to more questions. This is Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. after all.
The Box
What exactly was released when that box was opened, calling itself a "breath of fresh air" before driving the people it came into contact with mad? Naturally, no one's saying. But you might want to brush up on your Doctor Strange comics for some clues. "We are introducing, with the addition of young Mr. Ghost Rider over there, we are introducing sort of a different supernatural element of the MCU to coincide with the release of Doctor Strange," S.H.I.E.L.D. co-creator Jed Whedon admitted during a Q&A following the episode's big premiere. "Coincidence? Yeah, it's a coincidence. [Laughs] Yeah, so that's what's in the box. Something we can't tell you, but something along those lines."
So, how worried should we be for May now that we know she's beginning to feel the box's effects? Very. "It's obvious she is affected by it, and you saw what happened to the other Chinese characters," Wen told the crowd.
The Uncanny Valley
If you're immediately concerned that Dr. Radcliffe's newest creation, the first Life Model Decoy named Aida, isn't meant to simply act as an un-weaponized shield, as he programmed it to describe itself, you might be onto something. When asked if he might have any ulterior motives, Hannah simple said "Nope" and shook his head, while the rest of the cast burst into laughter. Do with that what you will.
Daisy's Death Wish
Ghost Rider ultimately spared her, but what was up with Daisy begging with him to kill her? "She has a new van, you guys. I'm not even kidding, out of all the stunts I did in that fricking episode, driving the van at the end was the most dangerous and I was completely incapable of doing it," Bennet joked. "I think that van is the reason she was ready to die. She's like, ‘No more van.' No, yeah, she's not doing well…She's taking some time. I think it's kind of her way of protecting the people that she cares about. Everyone that she's gotten close to, something bad has happened to them, so I think this is her weird, selfish way of protecting them."
QuakeRider?
They might not have gotten along so well tonight, but look for Daisy and Robbie to join forces. "She's trying to figure out what's going on with certain—I'm not sure how much I can say about that, but she's in pursuit of answers. And it turns out, we're kind of on the same track, looking for the same answers," Luna told E! News prior to the premiere screening. "So we kind of saddle up next to each other and we start to seek this out."
"They're definitely intrigued with each other. I think they something in each other that they can relate to," Bennet added. "I think they're both similar in certain ways. They recognize that pretty early on."
More Toys For Mack
What do you get the S.H.I.E.L.D. agent who already has a shotgun axe and now an exploding pen? "You get your holster this year," Whedon reminded Simmons. "You get your shotgun axe holster."
"Don't tell them that! Just wait until you see it this year and how they have me use it," Simmons replied. "It's incredible. It really is."
And might there be more flirting in store with the hunk and his pal Yo-Yo (Natalia Cordova-Buckley)? "Listen, I'll tell you this. I think that any time we're on screen together, I'll go out on a limb and say there's some spark. I love working with her," Simmons told E! News before the screening began. "I told the producers—this was last year—'If you intend on bringing her back, please let me have as many scenes as possible with her.' She's amazing."
What did you think of the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. season four premiere? And what do you think was in that damn box? Hit us up with your best theories in the comments below.
Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. airs Tuesdays at 10 p.m. on ABC.