Life Model Decoys are nothing new to SHIELD and the Marvel Universe. Nick Fury has used them on numerous occasions, but their appearances have been few and far between on television and in the movies. That changed in the Agents of SHIELD Season 3 finale, when Dr. Radcliffe revealed he was working on AIDA.
There was always the possibility LMDs existed before Radcliffe’s time on Agents of SHIELD. When we first met Eric Koenig at Nick Fury’s secret base, Providence, built after the Battle of New York and his twin brother Billy, who guarded another secret SHIELD base called The Playground, many fans thought they could actually be the MCU’s first LMDs. We learned last night, in Agents of SHIELD Season 4 episode 12, that’s not the case. The Koenigs, who are actually quadruplets, are indeed real humans.
We did, however, learn an important fact about their history with SHIELD and Agent Coulson. While Dr. Radcliffe was the first SHIELD Agent to successfully build an LMD, he and Fitz weren’t the first SHIELD Agents to work on one. It was the Koenigs. But when? While we don’t know the exact time or place in the MCU, we’ve got a couple hints given this new information.
Remember that scene in The Avengers where Coulson comes to the Stark Tower to tell Iron Man about Loki’s arrival to convince him to come back to the Avengers? Beforehand, Coulson calls Tony on the phone and can't get through. In an effort to get Coulson to back off, Tony Stark makes a joke saying the person Coulson is actually talking to is Tony Stark LMD (skip to 2:20 in the video below). Cool reference to the comics. But the context of that joke could mean more.
Now we know SHIELD actually may have been working on LMDs at the same time Tony Stark was involved with the organization. Or, there’s always the possibility the tech genius himself, or his father, was familiar with the project. Either way, LMDs were a thing when back in 2012 before Coulson “died” in The Avengers , even if they weren’t as advanced as AIDA.
But that’s not the only connection we got regarding Phil Coulson and his roles in the greater Marvel cinematic universe, where he is presumably still dead. The leader of the Watchdogs and Dr. Radcliffe’s new partner, Ivanov, pulled out some photos of Agent Coulson because he believes Coulson is responsible for all the alien problems on the planet.
"A man, he is always there, standing by, out of focus, in the shadows. He is dead, yet he is everywhere,” Ivanov continues, as he opens a folder of pictures of Agent Coulson from Thor and his obituary post- Avengers . According to the newspaper clipping, Coulson died on May 4, 2012, the same day The Avenger s released in theaters.
While we don’t know exactly all the dirt Ivanov has on Coulson, all of these MCU connections are pretty awesome considering TV rarely connects to the movies. Agent Coulson is the only character who has moved freely across both worlds -- from Iron Man, Iron Man 2 , Thor, The Avengers to Agents of SHIELD -- though he is still technically dead for all most heroes know.
Do you think Agents of SHIELD will continue to fill in the blanks about Coulson’s history in the MCU? Let us know in the comments below!
