When Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. first premiered on ABC, it was meant to be part of the MCU. After a rocky start, The Avengers spin-off found its footing in the second half of Season 1 and excelled with a storyline tying into the events of Captain America: The Winter Soldier.
However, as the years flew by, the series became further removed from what's since been dubbed the "Sacred Timeline." We've since learned that Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige didn't want any of the Marvel Television shows to happen; they were former Marvel Entertainment Chairman Ike Perlmutter's doing.
After years of clashes, when the opportunity presented itself, Feige talked Disney CEO Bob Iger into allowing Marvel Studios to oversee everything by producing MCU-set TV shows for Disney+.
The canon status of both Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and Agent Carter has been hotly debated for years. Many argue that they're clearly part of the MCU, an argument which carries a little more weight now that the "Defenders Saga" appears to have been folded into the Sacred Timeline.
Appearing at New York Comic Con (via Slash Film), Clark Gregg, a mainstay of Marvel Studios' Phase 1 storytelling, weighed in by saying, "There [are] some people who talk about canon. You can go f*** yourself. We're proud of what we did. We're proud, really deeply proud, of the connection we have with people like you who come visit and hang with us."
Marvel Studios has already contradicted Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. to some extent, with WandaVision's Darkhold perhaps the most noteworthy example. Still, the series established that the ancient book could change its appearance, making it an easy-to-ignore contradiction if Agent Coulson and company were to enter the MCU.
The studio would likely ignore ideas and storylines that would impact any big-screen plans, with the Inhuman storyline surely one Feige and company would be looking to move past and forget as quickly as possible.
Earlier this year, Marvel Studios' Head of TV, Streaming, and Animation, Brad Winderbaum, was asked about where things stand with Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and Agent Carter.
"Well, I'll tell you this, and put it to you like this. It's exciting for me to think about how to square those ABC shows with the canon," the executive teased. "That, to me, if you know me and the way my brain works, that is fun territory to imagine."
Reading between the lines, it seems they're canon if you want them to. As for whether characters like Quake, Melinda May, Coulson, and even the Robbie Reyes Ghost Rider could show up again, it does appear as if Winderbaum is eager to fold them into the wider MCU when the opportunity to do so presents itself.
Do you think Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. is canon in the MCU?