Board Thread:Television/@comment-1713281-20151029033607/@comment-1894786-20170301005111

Ben 1,000,911 wrote: Back to SHIELD, I hate to be that guy, but why do the events start with Coulson never joining SHIELD? It could've been something else. Also did we ever learn why he joined in the first place? Because why wouldn't he join SHIELD naturally? And if he didn't, then yeah the Battle of NY wouldn't have happened, but I guess Hydra still could've taken care of the Avengers if they were perfectly successful.

Furthermore, is there anything to suggest that the Framework is a What If? style timeline? They could have just changed things without getting into the specifics of how. Or they'll just never tell us. This Framework seems a lot like House of M to me: everyone wants the perfect life, but since some people's lives would contradict each other if they were both perfect, the Framework has made its own overall perfect world that kinda works for most people.

Sorry if you disagree, I'm not sure what's what myself I'm just curious. Also I'm not sure if the Superior guy is a Marvel character. I feel like this time they just made him up for the show. The change of events goes as far back as Coulson joining SHIELD in (presumably) the 1980's (when Clark Gregg would be late teens, early 20's) because Coulson's LMD tells May he sometimes thinks about what would happen if he had never joined SHIELD, hinting that his biggest regret is in fact becoming an agent.

And unless I'm remembering incorrectly, Coulson said in season 2 (when Daisy's dad went to terrorize Coulson's high school) that he joined SHIELD immediately after graduating. So if they undo him joining SHIELD, they undo a hell of a lot.

And no, it's not specified to be a What If-like timeline, but since everyone's one major regret was undone, and Coulson's (being a SHIELD agent) is so integral to the world as it currently is, it definitely shaped this new world, whether or not it's addressed.

The Superior is being claimed by many fans to be one of the incarnations of the Red Guardian, but since that guy is a SUPERHERO and this guy is clearly a villain, I doubt he's meant to be Red Guardian. They've only ever done villain-to-hero polarity shifts, not hero-to-villain. (For example, Hope Van Dyne is obviously the villainous Hope Pym in the comics, while she's obviously going to be a hero in the MCU, and Baron Mordo, a through and through villain in the comics, is still a hero in the MCU, just one who's hunting his fellow magicians as he doesn't trust them with magic anymore.)