Published May 6, 2026, 5:50 PM EDT
Cooper Hood is the Associate Editor for all new movie releases, in theaters and on streaming. In addition to writing articles about these titles and upcoming releases, he also oversees content planning for each, ensuring that ScreenRant continues to cover major releases for months after their release.
He has written various reviews for ScreenRant that appear on Rotten Tomatoes, coordinated Oscars and San Diego Comic-Con coverage, appeared on CNN to talk about Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning, and done select interviews with talent over the years.
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Warning: Contains spoilers for Daredevil: Born Again season 2!13 years after its premiere, the Marvel Cinematic Universe has finally, officially, irrefutably made Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. canon at last. In the wake of The Avengers' success, Marvel Television and Joss Whedon conceived a plan to expand the universe to the small screen. Agents of SHIELD brought Phil Coulson back from the dead to headline a SHIELD-focused series that premiered on ABC in 2013 and ran for seven seasons before concluding in 2020.
It predates fellow Marvel TV shows of a previous era that included Agent Carter and the entire The Defenders-verse and was originally made with no debates about its MCU connectivity. Between cameos from Nick Fury, Maria Hill, Lady Sif, and others, it also featured tie-ins with multiple movies, most notably Captain America: The Winter Soldier. But as the show's story expanded and the movies kept ignoring the show, whether the series actually exists within the main MCU canon has become a hotly debated topic.
Arguments have been made that it cannot fit into the MCU timeline based on how it (tried to) connect to Avengers: Infinity War. Some will say that Coulson, Quake, May, Fitz, and Simmons' stories began in Earth-616 but ended in a different universe entirely. But no matter what side of the Agents of SHIELD canon debate one fell on, it was irrefutable that Marvel Studios never referenced it in one of their projects.
Considering they did so with Agent Carter in Avengers: Endgame and The Defenders-verse in Spider-Man: No Way Home, Hawkeye, Echo, and Daredevil: Born Again, the lack of connection to Agents of SHIELD really stood out. Now, that has changed thanks to Daredevil: Born Again season 2 including a subtle Easter egg that legitimizes Marvel's first TV as part of the MCU canon.
Daredevil: Born Again Season 2’s Agents Of SHIELD Reference Explained
Marvel Studios waited until almost the very end of Daredevil: Born Again season 2 to deliver this reference. After Daredevil and Kingpin's showdown in episode 8, "The Southern Cross," the show offers glimpses of what the rest of the characters are up to in a new-look New York City. This includes BB Urich taking a job at The New York Bulletin and occupying the same office that belonged to her uncle, Ben, in the original Daredevil series.
It's in the background of this scene that the Agents of SHIELD connection comes. The office wall includes framed newspaper pages that include references to The Incredible Hulk and The Avengers. The front page above and behind BB's head has the headline "Cybertek Settles." Cybertek is a technological company featured in Agents of SHIELD that was responsible for creating Deathlok.
Cybertek has only ever been part of the MCU through Agents of SHIELD. This newspaper clipping was included in the original Daredevil series as a way for Marvel TV to reference its ABC production. Now, Marvel Studios has brought it back and confirmed that Agents of SHIELD is firmly part of the main MCU timeline, at least through the events of season 1.
This marks the first time that a Marvel Studios production has directly connected to or referenced the events of Agents of SHIELD in any way. Other potential connections do exist, but they are less concrete than this Daredevil: Born Again season 2, episode 8 Easter egg.
With Born Again reusing Ben Urich's office and The New York Bulletin seemingly not changing a thing about it over the years, Marvel Studios' options here were limited. They could have opted out of the Cybertek Easter egg to avoid an Agents of SHIELD connection, with such a decision sure to upset some viewers. Instead, Marvel has now embraced its first show as canon in a long-overdue fashion.
The MCU Has A Complicated History With Agents Of SHIELD
The acknowledgment of Agents of SHIELD in a Marvel Studios production is something that fans of the show and those involved in the series have waited more than a decade for. Not that the series is any less great or important if it were de-canonized from the MCU, but there is an extra bit of joy that such a connection can bring.
For the eight years that Agents of SHIELD was on the air, its relationship to the MCU was completely one-sided. Showrunners Jed Whedon and Maurissa Tancharoen found many opportunities to weave the show's story into what was going on in the movies. Sometimes they had no choice in the matter, such as with The Winter Soldier bringing the downfall of SHIELD and completely wiping away the core premise of the series.
But beyond that, Agents of SHIELD worked in connections to Iron Man 3, Thor: The Dark World, Avengers: Age of Ultron, Captain America: Civil War, and more. In the case of Age of Ultron, the series was even responsible for setting the whole movie into motion. Despite all those efforts, Marvel Studios never validated its approach and brought the show's characters into the movies or even referenced the events directly.
This became difficult to fully explain as Agents of SHIELD started to worry less about MCU connectivity and just tell the best stories it could. Introducing Inhumans, tackling Ghost Rider, and including a whole time travel story are but a few examples of the series charting its own course but failing to have any payoff in the films.
Daredevil: Born Again's Cybertek reference might not seem like much, but it is for Agents of SHIELD. The MCU already ignored the show's use of the Darkhold when it came time to include it in WandaVision. Captain Marvel included the same actor who played a SHIELD villain, but the character is never named. Meanwhile, official Marvel Studios products, like Marvel Studios: The Marvel Cinematic Universe: An Official Timeline, do not mention the series at all.
The MCU has never made any reference to Phil Coulson still being alive, the existence of Inhumans, a history of multiple Ghost Riders, Hydra's return, and so much more. Now, Daredevil: Born Again is responsible for setting the stage for all those events to be confirmed as part of the Earth-616 canon.
Will The MCU Fully Embrace Agents Of SHIELD Now?
The question now becomes how much Marvel Studios will come to accept Agents of SHIELD as part of its universe. The odds of that happening have felt near-zero for so long that this mere connection is a step in the right direction. Whether that leads to Quake being in Shang-Chi 2, Coulson returning through a government agency, or Ghost Rider taking on a role in the MCU's supernatural story remains to be seen, but the chances are more real than before.
After all, Agents of SHIELD is in a similar place as Daredevil was before Born Again. Marvel Studios elected to completely retool that series to make sure that the original series was fully embraced. There's no reason they can't do the same thing again with Agents of SHIELD, so long as that is something Kevin Feige and others at Marvel Studios want.
Thankfully, that does appear to be under consideration. Marvel Studios' Head of TV Brad Winderbaum told ScreenRant in 2024 that he loves the show. A few months later, in another conversation with us, Winderbaum said he needed the full timeline for how Agents of SHIELD fits into the MCU after saying he'd have fun figuring out how to make the ABC shows canon.
Since Winderbaum is in charge of the MCU's TV productions, his expressed adoration for and interest in Agents of SHIELD is a promising sign that more connections can come. A full-on revival like Daredevil got with Born Again may not be likely, but Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. characters popping up in future projects and continuing specific storylines would be a sweet victory for the show after more than a decade.
Release Date 2013 - 2020-00-00
Showrunner Jed Whedon
Writers Monica Owusu-Breen, Sharla Oliver, Lauren LeFranc, James C. Oliver, Rafe Judkins, Matt Owens, Mark Leitner, Iden Baghdadchi, Shalisha Francis, Chris Dingess
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Daisy 'Skye' Johnson / Quake
English (US) ·