In Season 4 of Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Holden Radcliffe (John Hannah) has built an android named AIDA (Mallory Jansen), causing tension between Holden, Fitz (Ian De Caestecker), and the rest of S.H.I.E.L.D., including new director Jeffrey Mace (Jason O’Mara). In a clip from the Season 4 winter finale “The Laws of Thermodynamics,” Mace learns AIDA is an android, prompting him to bring up an old wound: Ultron.
Built by a paranoid Tony Stark in 2015’s Avengers: Age of Ultron, Ultron was meant to be Earth’s most powerful “shield” against aliens, a fallout from the first Chitauri invasion in The Avengers. But Ultron went rogue, causing mass destruction in Sokovia that left hundreds dead.
Since then, the MCU has only gotten weirder: A not insignificant amount of the human population have gained superpowers as Inhumans, while Doctor Strange unlocked the multiverse and other paranormal realms. As Holden said last week when AIDA accessed the quantum realm: “I’m building an interdimensional gateway with an android I built. If this works, I could die happy.”
Now, in “The Laws of Thermodynamics,” which airs tonight on ABC, Mace and Coulson (Clark Gregg) argue over whether or not to work with “enhanced individuals” like Daisy (Chloe Bennet) and Ghost Rider (Gabriel Luna). When Mace suggests working with the science team — “AIDA specifically,” he says — Coulson reveals AIDA’s true nature as an android. “All cards on the table,” Coulson says, “AIDA’s an android.”
Holden (John Hannah) and his creation, AIDA (Mallory Jensen) in Marvel's 'Agents of SHIELD.'
“Had me fooled too,” May (Ming-Na Wen) says bluntly.
Mace, while taken aback because he was mildly attracted to a robot, says AIDA is a direct violation of the Sokovia Accords. “Doesn’t anyone remember Ultron?” he blurts out.
Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. may not be the center of the Marvel Cinematic Universe but it’s definitely dealing with all of its consequences.
Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. airs its mid season finale tonight on ABC at 10 p.m. EST.
