Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (2013 — 2020)

Created by Joss Whedon, Jed Whedon, and Maurissa Tancharoen for ABC, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (2013–2020) is an American television series based on the Marvel Comics organization S.H.I.E.L.D. (Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement, and Logistics Division). Set in the world of superheroes, it was the first to be part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) and maintains continuity with other films and TV shows in the franchise. The series follows agent Phil Coulson as he builds a team to handle unusual cases, investigating Project Centipede and its leader known as ‘The Clairvoyant’. They eventually discover that Hydra, a terrorist group that has infiltrated S.H.I.E.L.D., is behind it all. In the second season, following the events of Captain America: The Winter Soldier where S.H.I.E.L.D. is destroyed, Coulson becomes director and faces challenges as he rebuilds while navigating Hydra, anti-superhuman agents within S.H.I.E.L.D., and a newfound race of superhumans called Inhumans.

In the third season, Coulson embarks on a covert undertaking to form the Secret Warriors, a group consisting of Inhumans. Meanwhile, Hydra resurrects their former leader Hive, who is also an Inhuman. Following the defeat of both Hive and Hydra, S.H.I.E.L.D. is reinstated as a lawful institution with the ratification of the Sokovia Accords. Coulson’s return to the field in season four allows S.H.I.E.L.D. to have a public leader. His mission is to locate more enhanced individuals, such as Robbie Reyes/Ghost Rider. Meanwhile, Agent Leo Fitz and Holden Radcliffe are successful in developing their Life Model Decoy and Framework virtual reality projects.

In season five, Coulson and his team are forcefully taken to the space station Lighthouse in the year 2091 where they must rescue humanity and find a way back home. Upon their return to the present, they are branded as fugitives but they refuse to let the future that they witnessed come to pass. Their final enemy is a Gravitonium-powered Glenn Talbot, whom they defeat but not without cost – Coulson loses his life due to his previous encounter with Ghost Rider. As season six commences, the S.H.I.E.L.D operatives split into two teams: one ventures into space in search of the missing Fitz who got lost while time-traveling in the last season; while the other remains on Earth to confront a band of mercenaries led by Sarge – an individual who bears an uncanny resemblance to Coulson. In its seventh season, the team, with the addition of a Life Model Decoy of Coulson, travels through time to stop the Chronicoms from making Earth their new home, Chronyca-3, and erasing S.H.I.E.L.D. from existence.