ABCFrom the minute we heard that new life had been breathed into the Marvel's Most Wanted pilot at ABC, we knew our time with potential spin-off stars Bobbi (Adrianne Palicki) and Hunter (Nick Blood) was limited. The two would have to sneak away to shoot the thing on its own set, after all. We just didn't have any idea that their departure would come so soon—and that it would feel so final.
In last night's episode of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., the pair found themselves disavowed by S.H.I.E.L.D. and the U.S. government—in an effort to spare their lives—after following Malick (Powers Boothe) to Siberia, where an attempt to save the Russian Prime Minister lead to the deaths of three Russian government officials, including the Inhuman Minister of Defense (who, it should be noted, was attempting to murder the Prime Minister as a part of Malick's coup). Allowed to walk free, Bobbi and Hunter can no longer be agents, leading to one of the saddest things we've ever seen on the series: a spy's goodbye. (No, we're not crying again, thinking about Mack [Henry Simmons] holding up that final shot glass. You are.)
So, what is Marvel's Most Wanted all about? The spin-off centers on the couple, now on the run with a laundry list of enemies eager to claim the bounty on their heads. They find themselves in a shaky alliance with Dominic Fortune (Delroy Lindo), who agrees to protect them in exchange for their help with his agenda, whatever that may be. S.H.I.E.L.D. exec producer Jeff Bell, who's also overseeing Most Wanted, wants fans to understand that this isn't a straight continuation of the series it's being spun from.
"Part of what we're hoping to do with Bobbi and Hunter in the new show is to stake out some new territory and not make it a S.H.I.E.L.D. show," he told EW. "If the door was too wide open, I think it begs too many questions of, 'Well, why don't they call Coulson every week for this?' 'Why didn't these people come in?' Not that we can't hopefully find ways to tie things together, but you didn't want to leave it with such a wide open door that it was a separate branch of S.H.I.E.L.D. doing other S.H.I.E.L.D. stuff, that would ask you why these other characters weren't involved in the day-to-day episodes."
And if you're wondering if Bobbi and Hunter may ever cross back over into the world of S.H.I.E.L.D., Bell's not making any promises. "That's fun when that can happen, but let's get the show picked up first," he said in the same interview. (Although, let's get real—should the shows find themselves on ABC's schedule at the same time, expect a sweeps run-in with S.H.I.E.L.D.)
The pilot, which has already been shot, will feel tonally different from much of what Marvel's been doing on the small screen thus far. "I think it's a little less based, at least in the pilot, in the mythology of the Marvel world and more about these two characters, and how they drive each other, and their adventures, like a Mr. and Mrs. Smith-type," Palicki said in a separate interview with EW. "There's a lot of banter, there's a lot of humor, there's a lot of action."
As ABC isn't expected to make a decision on Marvel's Most Wanted until May, we'll have to tide ourselves over with the immediate fallout from Bobbi and Hunter's departure. With Mack's struggle to say goodbye to his friends at the end of last night's episode, it should come as little surprise that the next episode will be quite Mack-centric. We'll get to know his brother (played by Gaius Charles) as the siblings find themselves caught in the crossfire as a radical group called The Watchdogs emerges with plans to eliminate the Inhumans.
Are you sad to see Bobbi and Hunter leave the series? Is Marvel's Most Wanted already on your ABC wishlist? Sound off in the comments below!
Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. airs Tuesdays at 9 p.m. on ABC.