The latest fan theory for Avengers 4 has been making the rounds which says that Phil Coulson will play a major role in “bringing the pieces together” in Avengers 4. This theory came into the picture after a prophecy introduced in Marvel‘s TV show Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
You can read the full theory below:
“This is a fan-theory. Full Spoilers for Season 5 of Agents of Shield
So, I’m pretty sure Coulson will be alive in season 6 for a number of reasons, but primarily, I’m convinced he’s going to play a role in Avengers 4.
-Robin’s prophecy that only Coulson could ‘bring the pieces together’ was never fulfilled. Even in the finale, the team speculated as to the meaning of the prophecy; The ‘most likely’ theory put forward was that he held their team together, thus reinforcing their desire to attempt healing through use of the centipede serum. This was but another red-herring as was conjecture that he would be the one to bring the pieces of the monolith back together, which was actually accomplished by Flint. Coulson was out of commission for most of the finale. The team remained largely divided in opinion regarding the best course of action. He didn’t really serve the narrative function of providing a unifying force for the team. He held it together long enough to pass the serum off to Daisy, thus enabling her to defeat Talbot, but half the team were unaware that he had even managed to leave his hospital bed.
-The movies are written well in advance of the TV series. Thus if the movies needed Coulson to be in a particular place to re-integrate his story with the films, the writers of the show would have ample time to do so; For example, let’s say that general audiences would be, for the most part, unfamiliar with Coulson’s resurrection and continued adventures on Agents of SHIELD and that the last time they saw him was dying due to a stab wound through his chest received from Loki’s scepter. Let’s also say that the writers of the films don’t want to go through the expository task of conveying the requisite backstory needed to explain his return in a future Avengers film. Perhaps the writers of Agents of SHIELD might begin a storyline which through contrivances of the plot somehow cause Coulson to be dying from the same fatal injuries with which general audiences last saw him. He also ends up in TAHITI, a magical place. The writers could perhaps even start that storyline a year plus out from his return in the films, say the end of season 4, about the time at which the Russo Bros. would have made such a decision. Coulson is conveniently re-appearing in a film, featuring the Kree, which hits heaters just three months before the fourth Avengers film; Beyond fanservice, this is a good way to ‘prime’ audiences for his return, reminding them of his character as he has been unseen since 2012’s Avengers.
-Robin’s prophecy was about Avengers 4; Coulson is the only one who can bring the pieces of the Avengers back together. They played the audience throughout season 5; Robin saw this prophecy in the future, after Talbot destroyed Earth; Robin is great at playing the pronoun game and the temporal displacement of her consciousness adds an air of ambiguity to everything she experiences and says. Case in point, both in the ‘present’ and ‘future’, Robin refers to May as ‘mom’. When she says ‘they’ can save the world, she refers to both the SHIElD team and the Avengers, referencing both the battle against Gravitron and Thanos. The manner in which Robin speaks allowed the writers to place hints throughout the season for future events.
-The writers of Agents of SHIELD conveniently avoided the influence of the snap, taking events of the finale right up to the point where chronologically they coincide with those of Infinity War.
-Season 6 is delayed til July of 2019; While, yes, this is being called a ‘scheduling’ decision, I can’t imagine that the writers would have planned a plot that could work for both a September 2018 and July 2019 premier considering the show tends to time air dates with events in the films. They have the benefit of writing the show after the movies have been written and thus are able to work the events of the films into the plot of the show. I can’t imagine that ABC / Disney / Marvel would suddenly stop caring in the show’s sixth season. That is to say, were the show to premier in September it would inevitably have to deal with the ‘snap’; The show’s ratings were declining for years, so while a sixth season was never a guarantee, I think it’s reasonable to assume a shortened sixth season premiering after Avengers 4 would invariably have been the case;
So, I think Coulson will be alive for the sixth season as a consequence of the events of Avengers 4. Clark Gregg has been on set to direct, which conveniently allows him to also film without drawing attention. He needs to be ‘dead’ to the world such that general audiences as well as AoS fans can be surprised by his ‘resurrection’ in Avengers 4, where Coulson will ‘pull the pieces back together’ ie, Coulson will be the one to reunite Tony and Cap, the ‘pieces’ of the still fractured Avengers who have still not reconciled their conflict which began with Civil War.
The timing of production, film / show release dates, and the fact that both general audiences and AoS fans have left Coulson in virtually the same place lead me to believe this theory holds considerable weight. Imagine, this scenario; Captain Marvel somehow finds Coulson in Avengers 4, heals him with Kree tech or discovers some other means by which to keep him alive. General audiences, now familiar with the kree due to Captain Marvel, will fully understand when Coulson steps back on screen, referencing Tahiti, a magical place, either bearing or recovering from the injury received from Loki, and crediting Kree technology for his revival and the scene will make perfect sense without any reliance upon project T.A.H.I.T.I. or any of the events from the five seasons of Agents of SHIELD. Obviously the lines would have an additional layer of significance / meaning to fans of the show, but they would still make perfect sense to the average moviegoer.
Coulson wasn’t dead, only dying at the end of season 5, so he doesn’t really need to be fully resurrected a second time. All this is not to say that he must be a series regular in the sixth season. But I do believe Coulson will be alive.”
Also read: ‘Avengers 4’ Trailer Rumored To Drop Tomorrow
Directed by Joe and Anthony Russo, Avengers: Infinity War stars Robert Downey Jr., Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson, Benedict Cumberbatch, Don Cheadle, Tom Holland, Chadwick Boseman, Paul Bettany, Elizabeth Olsen, Anthony Mackie, Sebastian Stan, Tom Hiddleston, Idris Elba, Danai Gurira, Peter Dinklage, Benedict Wong, Pom Klementieff, Karen Gillan, Dave Bautista, Zoe Saldana, Vin Diesel, Bradley Cooper, Gwyneth Paltrow, Benicio del Toro, Josh Brolin, and Chris Pratt.
As the Avengers and their allies have continued to protect the world from threats too large for any one hero to handle, a new danger has emerged from the cosmic shadows: Thanos. A despot of intergalactic infamy, his goal is to collect all six Infinity Stones, artifacts of unimaginable power, and use them to inflict his twisted will on all of reality. Everything the Avengers have fought for has led up to this moment – the fate of Earth and existence itself has never been more uncertain.
Avengers: Infinity War is now on Digital and Blu-ray, while the Untitled Avengers 4 hits theaters on May 3rd, 2019.
Created by Joss Whedon, Jed Whedon, and Maurissa Tancharoen, the series stars Clark Gregg, Ming-Na Wen, Chloe Bennet, Iain De Caestecker, Elizabeth Henstridge, Henry Simmons, and Natalia Cordova-Buckley.
The fifth season sees Coulson and members of his team mysteriously abducted to the space station Lighthouse run by the Kree in the year 2091, where they must try to save the remnants of humanity while figuring out how to get home. After returning home, where they are labeled fugitives, Coulson and his team work to ensure the future they saw does not come to pass.
Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. will return in 2019.
