The Inhuman Loose End Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. Fans Want Resolved
Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., the television series created by Maurissa Tancharoen, Jed Whedon, and Joss Whedon, aired on ABC for seven seasons and ended in August 2020. Thankfully, the final season is now on Netflix for everyone to catch up. As audiences take in the final episodes, many fans have come together to analyze the show and lament about what they'll miss. Even further, people are wondering about the future of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. characters, and whether or not they may appear in other Marvel television or movies. Given the huge shift Marvel went through with its TV series and other properties, for the whole of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s run, the show remains relatively separate from the film side of the MCU. Despite that, there are quite a few different storylines and characters that deserve more attention.
In a Reddit thread started by user u/jmia5211, questions about the future of Daisy Johnson (Chloe Bennet), Phil Coulson (Clark Gregg), and all the other beloved characters of S.H.I.E.L.D. evolved into whether there were any questions left unanswered after the show's end. While there seem to be few parts of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. that fans are unsatisfied about, there's one very specific question left without a clear answer: The fate of Vijay Nadeer (Manish Dayal), an Inhuman who's featured in a couple episodes of the show's fourth season.
What happened to Vijay Nadeer?
In season 4, episode 7, "Deals with Our Devils," Vijay is introduced as the brother of United States Senator Ellen Nadeer (Parminder Nagra), who's strongly opposed to Inhumans. When Vijay is exposed to the Terrigen Mist and cocooned, Ellen hides him from the public. Eventually, he ends up in the care of Jemma Simmons (Elizabeth Henstridge), who frees the now-Inhuman Vijay.
In the ninth episode of the season, entitled "Broken Promises," Vijay, who now has the ability of speed and fast reflexes, reunites with his sister — who, unbeknownst to him, is planning to have him assassinated. When given the opportunity to go with Jemma and S.H.I.E.L.D. or his sister, Vijay chooses Ellen, despite finding out about her betrayal. She then shoots her brother in the chest, seemingly killing him, before dumping his weighed down body in the ocean to stay forever.
The last time fans see Vijay, he appears to be dead and lying at the bottom of the ocean ... until, surprisingly, his body begins to cocoon for a second time. This hints that Vijay actually survived the bullet, and is now going through Secondary Terrigenesis. Vijay makes one more appearance on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. in the Framework created by Aida (Mallory Jansen), as Hydra captures him and other Inhumans to experiment on them.
The possibilities left unresolved with Vijay in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
While Vijay doesn't return after that fateful experience with Ellen, the Inhumans are a big part of rest of the series, as two of the lead characters — Daisy and Yo-Yo Rodriguez (Natalia Cordova-Buckley) — are Inhumans. When Vijay goes into Secondary Terrigenesis, fans thought it might factor into the future of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., as it's explored in the comics and would be an interesting factor within the show. It would've definitely thrown the team for a loop if Daisy or Yo-Yo went through the process and changed drastically.
Secondary Terrigenesis is a very important aspect of Inhumans in the comics: It can either bring stronger abilities or more monstrous characteristics to the person who undergoes the process. For example, when Gorgon, a key character in the Inhumans comic storyline, goes through Secondary Terrigenesis, it alters both his appearance and abilities. The process leaves him with a weakened immune system and more animalistic features, as his body rejects the further mutations.
One reason this might've been left behind by Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. is because it plays a big part in the Inhumans television series, which aired for one season in 2017. Even before that, Marvel had been planning an Inhumans movie, so it's possible that Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. purposely steered clear of any big similarities. Whatever the reason, the ABC series never returns to the idea of Secondary Terrigenesis, and Vijay remains forgotten in the ocean, his fate unknown.