| For other uses, see Pilot (disambiguation) |
- "We're the line between the world and the much weirder world. We protect people from news they aren't ready to hear. And when we can't do that, we keep them safe."
- ―Grant Ward to Maria Hill
Pilot is the first episode of the first season of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
Synopsis[]
After the events of The Avengers, S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent Phil Coulson assembles a small team of agents to investigate a mysterious group called the Rising Tide. In doing so, they encounter Mike Peterson, a man who has acquired superhuman powers.
Plot[]
Mike Peterson saving Debbie's life
Mike Peterson is out with his son Ace at a toy store when an explosion erupts from the top floor of a nearby building. He climbs up the outside of the building by punching holes in the brickwork and enters through a flaming window. As the crowd looks on, Peterson jumps from the top floor while holding Debbie in his arms. Watching him is Skye, who films him on her smartphone.
Grant Ward in Paris
Meanwhile, Grant Ward is in Paris, France and pulls off a caper in which he steals fingerprints from a glass, uses them to break into a safe and manages to fight off the hostiles that appear and quickly escape on a helicopter. Shortly after, at a secret S.H.I.E.L.D. base, Ward talks with Maria Hill about the presence of beings with superpowers, including Hulk, Captain America, and Thor.
Maria Hill speaks with Phil Coulson
Suddenly, Phil Coulson, whom Ward considered dead, enters the room and reveals that Nick Fury faked Coulson's death in order to bring Avengers together to save the Earth. Coulson was sent to a grass shack in Tahiti, where he got a little time off, but he is now more than happy to be back on the job. Coulson welcomes Ward to "Level 7", explaining that the Avengers only have level 6 clearance and that the team's mission is to investigate a hacker group called the Rising Tide. Coulson visits Melinda May, who had retired from field duty, and convinces her to join the team.
Skye tells Mike Peterson to become a hero
Skye meets with Peterson at Ruthie's Skillet and warns him about S.H.I.E.L.D., saying that they cover up superhero based events. Later as she broadcasts alone from her van as Rising Tide, Coulson opens the door and arrests her. He takes her back to a mobile S.H.I.E.L.D. base on board a plane called the Bus. Coulson and Ward question Skye, but she is uncooperative and mentions something called "Centipede", which neither of the agents has heard of.
In order to gain her trust, Coulson injects Ward with the QNB-T16 Truth Serum and allows Skye to question him. With her trust gained, she reveals where she filmed Peterson and Coulson sends Leo Fitz and Jemma Simmons to investigate the scene of the explosion. Utilizing specialized equipment, they discover an artifact in the debris and take it back to the base to investigate. Peterson returns to the factory where he used to work and angrily injures his former boss Gary, saying that he was the "bad guy" and Peterson was the "hero".
Peterson visits the woman he saved in the hospital, and it is revealed that she was the doctor who implanted the same artifact into his left forearm. He wants to go public, but Debbie says that her backers would not like that. He claims that this is all his origin story and jumps from the hospital window.
Fitz and Simmons investigate the Centipede Device and find that it is a combination of all known causes of superpowers including Chitauri technology, gamma radiation, the Super Soldier Serum, and Extremis. Meanwhile, they reproduce footage from the crime scene using the flash memory of a video camera and the audio recorded by Skye who had bugged the lab. They view the events using the Echo Chamber to discover that the explosion was caused by an angry man exploding due to Extremis. He had the device implanted in his forearm, which they recognize on Peterson due to video footage of his attack at the factory.
Melinda May defeats the gunman
Skye returns to her van with May to send the audio as the encryption was tied to the geolocation. Peterson abducts her and makes her delete his information from the government's systems. At the same time, she hacks into S.H.I.E.L.D. systems to inform them. Peterson and Skye are tracked down to Union Station by Coulson's team and a gunman sent by Debbie. May takes out the gunman and Coulson talks Peterson down long enough for Ward to shoot him with the Night-Night Gun developed by Fitz and Simmons.
L.O.L.A. flight mode
Later, Skye and Coulson are driving L.O.L.A., Coulson's hovercraft vintage red car toward what Ward called a 0-8-4, after Coulson requests that Skye seriously consider joining the team long-term and helping them further their cause.
Cast[]
Main Cast:
- Clark Gregg as Phil Coulson
- Ming-Na Wen as Melinda May
- Brett Dalton as Grant Ward
- Chloe Bennet as Skye
- Iain De Caestecker as Leo Fitz
- Elizabeth Henstridge as Jemma Simmons
Special Guest Star:
- Cobie Smulders as Deputy Director Maria Hill
Guest Stars:
- J. August Richards as Mike Peterson
- Shannon Lucio as Doctor Debbie
- Ron Glass as Doctor J. Streiten
- Bob Stephenson as Gary
- Ajani Wrighster as Ace Peterson
- Arlene Santana as Hunter Harris
- Nicole J. Butler as Mindy Peterson
- Aaron Behr as Angry Man
- Sarah Dumont as Beautiful Woman
- Kevin Sifuentes as Technician
- Dan Sachoff as Reporter #1
- Eddie J. Fernandez as Train Station Thug (uncredited)
- Sam Hargrave as Union Station Gunner (uncredited)
- Akeem Mair as Pedestrian (uncredited)
- Joshua Pabon as Union Station Commuter (uncredited)
- Harvey Johnson as Background (uncredited)
- Doug Simpson as FBI Agent (uncredited)
- Unknown Actor as Agent Dumont (uncredited)
- Unknown Actor as Agent Kirk Skadden (uncredited)
- Unknown Actress as Kisha Peterson (uncredited)
- Unknown Actor as Bernie (uncredited)
- Robert Downey, Jr. as Tony Stark/Iron Man (archive footage; uncredited)
- Chris Hemsworth as Thor (archive footage; uncredited)
- Mark Ruffalo as Bruce Banner/Hulk (archive footage; uncredited)
- Tim Roth as Emil Blonsky/Abomination (archive footage; uncredited)
Appearances[]
Locations[]
- New York City, New York
- Stark Tower
- Chrysler Building
- Stark Expo (footage)
- Los Angeles, California
- Paris, France
- Maria Hill's Field Office
- Mindy Peterson's House
- Gulmira, Afghanistan (footage)
- New Mexico (mentioned)
- Tahiti, French Polynesia (mentioned)
- Russia (mentioned)
- Beverly Hills, California (mentioned)
Events[]
- Theft of the Chitauri Neural Link
- Centipede Investigation
- Chitauri Invasion (footage)
- Battle of New York (footage)
- Battle of Gulmira (footage)
- Battle at Stark Expo (footage)
- Duel of Harlem (footage)
- Destruction of Project P.E.G.A.S.U.S. (mentioned)
- Battle of Puente Antiguo (mentioned)
- Cold War (mentioned)
Items[]
- Centipede Serum
- Extremis (mentioned)
- Gamma Radiation (mentioned)
- Super Soldier Serum (mentioned)
- Centipede Device
- Night-Night Gun
- D.W.A.R.F.s
- QNB-T16 Truth Serum
- Holocom
- Holotable
- Chitauri Neural Link
- Echo Chamber
- X-Ray Plate
- Heroes of New York Action Figures
- Iron Man Figure
- Captain America Figure
- Thor Figure
- Hulk Figure
- Black Widow Figure
- Hawkeye Figure
- Mjølnir (footage)
- Iron Man Armor: Mark VI (footage)
- Iron Man Armor: Mark VII (footage)
- Arc Reactor (footage)
- Captain America's Shield (footage)
- Chitauri Helmet (footage)
Concepts[]
Vehicles[]
Sentient Species[]
- Humans
- Inhumans
- Chitauri (footage)
- Asgardians (mentioned)
Creatures[]
- Leviathans (picture)
- Dogs (mentioned)
- Porcupines (mentioned)
- Pigs (drawing)
Organizations[]
- S.H.I.E.L.D.
- Coulson's Team
- Project P.E.G.A.S.U.S. (mentioned)
- Project T.A.H.I.T.I. (mentioned)
- HYDRA
- Rising Tide
- Los Angeles Police Department
- FBI
- Los Angeles Daily Edge
- Los Angeles Ledger
- Beverly Hills Tribune
- KZOM Los Angeles
- KEJH
- Stark Industries (logo)
- Avengers (footage)
- USA Today (logo)
Mentioned[]
- 0-8-4
- Clearance Level
- Project Rebirth
- Steve Rogers
- T. Vanchat
- Nick Fury
- Loki
- Karine
- Natasha Romanoff
- Abraham Erskine
- Hawkeye
- Mike Peterson's Ex-Wife (photograph)
- Grant Ward's Grandmother
- Benito Mussolini
- Travis McGee
- Hermione Granger
- T-1000
Music[]
| Song title | Artist | Location(s) |
|---|---|---|
| Fais Comme Si | Édith Piaf |
|
Awards[]
- Pilot was nominated for a Visual Effects Society Award for Outstanding Visual Effects in a Broadcast Program.
- This episode was also nominated for a Golden Reel Award for Best Sound Editing – Short Form: Music.
Trivia[]
- Skye's line about "With great power..." is a reference to one of Spider-Man's best-known lines, first used in Amazing Fantasy #15.
- Jemma Simmons calls their mission a "Journey into Mystery", which was the original title of the comic that debuted "The Mighty Thor".
Videos[]
