SPOILER WARNING: This article contains major spoilers for “A Life Spent,” the latest episode of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. have traversed time and space — and now, maybe the multiverse. In “A Life Spent,” the latest episode, Deke suggested that Daisy doesn’t remember blowing up the Earth because of multiverse theory.
After Deke suggested she destroyed the Earth, Daisy flat out refused to accept it. As she explained to him, she isn’t nearly powerful enough to blow up a planet. What’s more, she would remember an event of that magnitude, especially if she caused it.
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However, Deke had another idea. “Well, actually, not according to the multiverse theory,” he explained. “You probably never heard of it, but — in quantum physics — there’s a theory that for every universe, there are infinite parallel universes, so in my universe, you destroyed the planet. Maybe that just hasn’t happened in –”
Daisy then slapped him across the face, cutting him short. “So what universe did that just happen in? Mine or yours?” she asked snidely.
While Deke’s mutliverse theory seems like an aside, the fact that it was mentioned at all is notable. On an ensemble show like Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., every moment matters. As such, Deke’s multiverse theory could be like Checkhov’s gun: if it was mentioned, it can and will come back up later. Further, the mutliverse is already a part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, as Doctor Strange and Ant-Man began to dabble in the subject prior to Season 5. Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. seems to be laying the groundwork for Season 5 to take place in an alternate universe.
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The show also included a sly wink to the Marvel Comics Universe’s sprawling multiverse. On their mission in the trawler, Coulson and his team went looking for 616, a large hunk of dead space rock that held some significance for Virgil. Marvel Comics fans will recognize 616 as the designation for the central Marvel Comics Universe; that is to say, the Marvel Universe that has been in existence since 1961’s Fantastic Four #1 is designated Earth-616 in the comics. In addition to being an Easter egg for eagle-eared Marvel fans, the reference could also indicate that the multiverse will come into play more as the season continues.
Airing Fridays at 9 p.m. ET/PT on ABC, Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Season 5 stars Clark Gregg, Ming-Na Wen, Chloe Bennet, Henry Simmons, Ian De Caestecker, Natalia Cordova-Buckley, Elizabeth Henstridge, Nick Blood, Jeff Ward, Eve Harlow, Pruitt Taylor Vince and Coy Stewart.