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Marvel Greenlights Spy Thriller Series, And the Codename Might Reveal an Answer to Suicide Squad
Marvel Studios is going back to the spy genre for an upcoming series. Its codename hints at a new take on the espionage corner of the MCU. Spycraft and Marvel have gone hand in hand for over 60 years. Capitalizing on the spy boom of the 1960s, World War II’s Sgt. Fury became Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. The organization would become the backbone of countless stories across Marvel Comics and the underlying glue of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. S.H.I.E.L.D. hasn’t been seen in the MCU since it was disbanded in The Winter Soldier, replaced in movies and TV with Damage Control and S.A.B.E.R. The superhero equivalents to the Department of Homeland Security and Space Force versus S.H.I.E.L.D.’s CIA. Beyond its cinematic beef with Hydra, S.H.I.E.L.D. has faced off against a number of other cabals. A new proposed MCU television series is operating under the same name as one of these organizations, and VisionQuest could be the key to its creation.
The Hollywood Reporter broke the news that Marvel Studios is developing a spy thriller codenamed Zodiac. There are no other details at this time outside of the working title. In the comics, there are two major connections to the word Zodiac, and they each branch to the modern MCU in different ways. The first Zodiac is a group of bad guys that take on the characteristics of the twelve signs of the astrological calendar. More significant to the trajectory of the MCU and the upcoming VisionQuest, a second iteration of Zodiac’s membership is comprised entirely of Life Model Decoys. Zodiac could also refer to Secret Warriors‘ Great Wheel of the Zodiac. Essentially, an oversight board for the clandestine groups in Marvel Comics, with the members of different organizations like Hydra, the Hand, and S.H.I.E.L.D. serving under a different astrological sign. Like the Illuminati, but for bureaucrats. Between S.H.I.E.L.D., S.A.B.E.R., Damage Control, Hydra, and the Hand, you’ve got five of the MCU seats filled should the series be going that route.
Signs of the Zodiac
As VisionQuest explores what it means for artificial intelligences to be alive, would that include exploring getting them bodies? At D23, Disney+ revealed concept art teasing the “synthetic man”, J.I.M. Hammond, who plays a role in Vision’s latest adventure. Debuting way back in Captain America: The First Avenger, the character was teased as an exhibit at Stark Expo. The android could be the key to bringing a much-beloved S.H.I.E.L.D. technology into the MCU. Life Model Decoys are an invention discovered by Nick Fury and his brother, Jake. They reverse-engineer it to create robots that can perfectly duplicate a human being. It would not be out of the realm of possibility for the MCU to make the original Human Torch that technology’s cinematic counterpart. That could also set up the next S.H.I.E.L.D. spy thriller.
The original Zodiac introduced in the 1970s was a team of villains created to square off against the Avengers. The team’s gimmick was paper-thin until, in 1977, they were recreated as LMDs by Jake Fury, going by the moniker of Scorpio. The LMD versions of the bad guys would square off and defeat their human counterparts. If Marvel is trying to take another crack at the fumbled Secret Invasion plot from a distinctly darker perspective, they may be onto something. Hickman’s Secret Warriors introduced the Great Wheel of the Zodiac as a group formed by Leonardo DaVinci that has continued to operate in secret throughout the centuries. Much like JJ Abrams’ Alias, the group was hunting lost technology connected to DaVinci, including the original Life Model Decoys that would become the basis of S.H.I.E.L.D.’s signature robots. However you look at it, it would appear the MCU is going to be dealing with an android infestation.
Hercules: Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.
There is one more character that the Zodiac title could be running cover for, and he’s someone we haven’t heard from since the credits of Thor: Love and Thunder. Brett Goldstein’s Hercules has been one of the most conspicuous dangling post-credits sequences of the MCU. While Goldstein certainly looked the part of Hercules on film, he is most associated with TV projects like Shrinking and Ted Lasso. In Greek mythology, several of the astrological signs tell the story of some of the twelve challenges of Hercules. Is it possible modern challenges could be finding the LMDs of the Zodiac? The report does bill the show as a spy thriller. Luckily, Hercules is a card-carrying spy. In the comic Hercules: Heart of Chaos, the demigod is enlisted as an Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. He was also on the team when the LMD version of the Zodiac first appeared in Defenders #50 and squared off against Taurus in West Coast Avengers. It may be a more offbeat pitch, but a Greek demigod partnering with a spy organization to track down astrologically inspired androids could be just weird enough to work.
At the moment, we don’t have enough details to accurately report what this mysterious Zodiac is, but we’ve got a few educated options. It could also just be a random word. She-Hulk Attorney at Law‘s working title was Libra. No matter which angle you come at it from, though, all signs point to some deep-level, double-crossing, decoy-planting spycraft. If the MCU wanted to give Fury his own Suicide Squad, this might just be the way to do it. But instead of sending bad guys with bombs in their necks, the entire baddie is disposable.
