Some fans are complaining because Marvel’s “Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” show isn’t connecting the dots quickly enough for the wider Marvel Universe but I would have to argue that they absolutely are…just much more subtly than we are used to. I contend that SHIELD is bringing in characters and concepts such as Hydra, Graviton, and even old SHIELD enemies Mentallo and the Fixer. What? Mentallo and the Fixer? Yep. I’m pretty sure that episode 5, “The Girl in the Flower Dress” introduced those very characters, staples of the Nick Fury, Agent of SHIELD comic book series.
My reasoning? The end of the show stinger in which the titular girl in the flower dress is discussing the specifics of her mission with a guy behind bars. That guy is, I believe, Norbert Ebersol, the Fixer. They discuss talking to “the clairvoyant” which can only be the Fixer’s frequent partner-in-crime, Mentallo. Hell, the duo was so popular as a criminal team that there’s even an industrial band named after them. For those not familiar with who Mentallo and the Fixer actually are, here’s a quick breakdown: Mentallo was originally a member of S.H.I.E.L.D. and a candidate for their ESP Division. He teamed up with the Fixer in an attempt to take over S.H.I.E.L.D., and the pair fought Nick Fury. They then became employees of Hydra. The Fixer is a technological genius, able to create pretty much whatever he needs, while Mentallo is a psychic who, at times, has been shown to be on the same level as Charles Xavier and Emma Frost. With all the clues pointing to “Centipede”, the mysterious group in the show, actually being a resurgence of Hydra (after all, both have multiple appendages- a centipede has multiple legs and a hydra has multiple heads) this could be leading up to the team coming up against the MCU versions of this pair.
Mentallo and the Fixer are perennial adversaries of SHIELD and it just makes sense to make these guys one of the overarching “big bads” that Whedon is so fond of. What do you guys think?