Best Agents of SHIELD episodes
Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., created by Joss Whedon, Jed Whedon, and Maurissa Tancharoen, was the first series set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It predated and paved the way for the Netflix MCU shows, like Daredevil and Jessica Jones, and Disney+ MCU series, like WandaVision and Loki, that wouldn’t come out until years later.
Mainly inspired by the #CoulsonLives campaign after the character’s death in The Avengers, it followed Agent Phil Coulson as he worked with a team to deal with the new superpowered threats that were becoming more frequent following the Battle of New York.
As time went on, the series took on a life of its own, remaining only loosely connected to the wider MCU. Although the canonicity of the series has been confirmed multiple times, especially by the appearances of characters like Nick Fury and Maria Hill, it felt like it took place in a world of its own.
The decision to keep the connections loose allowed the show to take bolder swings, experiment with different tones and genres, and not get bogged down by constant references while still occasionally having them. Unfortunately, those lack of connections also hurt viewership, with many people writing off the show in its first few episodes. Despite that, the show ended up enjoying a lengthy run, airing for seven seasons and releasing a total of a hundred and thirty-six episodes.
To this day, the show is severely underrated and might just be one of the best things the MCU has produced. While one could argue that there’s never been a truly bad episode of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., with the episodes ranging from good to outstanding, some are stronger than others. Here are the 13 best episodes of the show, ranked from worst to best.