Board Thread:Television/@comment-1713281-20151029033607/@comment-1895174-20170223205058

Alright, let's try and figure this thing out that will likely explain itself anyway six weeks from now.

SPOILERS for the alternate timeline What If? fanfiction universe follow.

If Coulson never joins S.H.I.E.L.D., then he never dies on the Helicarrier. The Avengers never unify around his death, so they bungle the battle in New York. They're all killed when the World Security Council nuke the city if the Chitauri didn't already kill them first. Maybe the Hulk survives? The Hulk's not really the sole survivor you want, anyway. Since New York is destroyed, fear and hatred of aliens and enhanced people is much more rampant.

Fitz' regret is his relationship with his father, so rather than join S.H.I.E.L.D., he uses his tech skills to become like a Scottish Tony Stark in some feeble attempt to gain daddy's approval. No Fitz means no FitzSimmons; no FitzSimmons means no Mouse Hole to save Fury from the Hydra assassins.

Without Nick Fury, Captain America, or Black Widow (or any of the other Avengers), Project Insight goes as planned. Hydra takes over S.H.I.E.L.D., and S.H.I.E.L.D.'s failure to save New York makes people - including S.H.I.E.L.D. agents - more willing to accept their new, crypto-fascist overlords.

May saved the girl in Bahrain, so she never left the field for a desk job. She gets ready-to-comply'd into Hydra's service if she doesn't join up willingly. Without Coulson, "Skye" never joins S.H.I.E.L.D. and undergoes Terrigenesis in the Kree Temple. She's never reunited with her parents at Afterlife, nor does she meet Lincoln. Hydra eventually finds her anyway with Zola's algorithm. From there, it's easier to imagine a string of coincidences that end with her together with Ward.