'Agents of SHIELD' Season 7 Episode 1: The strange and confusing case of Melinda May sparks wild fan theories

It was a pretty high-octane episode involving time-travel, robots and Franklin D Roosevelt but the biggest question on everyone's minds is 'So what the hell is wrong with May?'
PUBLISHED MAY 28, 2020
Ming-Na Wen (IMDb)
Ming-Na Wen (IMDb)

Spoilers ahead for 'Agents of SHIELD' Season 7  Episode 1 'The New Deal'

'Agents of SHIELD' Season 7 is here but although most of the team were present, Agent Melinda May (Ming-Na Wen) and Leo Fitz (Iain De Caestecker) were out of action for most of the episode. After her fatal stabbing in the Season 6 finale, May spent most of the season premiere out of commission in a stasis pod. However, at the end of the episode, we see her out of the pod and sticking to a wall like some creepy ninja spider. It was a pretty high-octane episode involving time-travel, robots and Franklin D Roosevelt but the biggest question on everyone's minds is "So what the hell is wrong with May?"

Over on the episode's discussion page on Reddit, fans are already swapping theories ranging from plausible to ridiculous. One of the more outlandish theories suggests that she may have developed powers similar to Spider-Man sometime during the time-jump. "Did May get bitten by a radioactive spider on her way to 1931?" One fan asked. "That was some serious stickiness there." Another fan parodied the classic 'Spider-Man' theme writing, "Spider-May, Spider-May, does whatever a spider may."

All joking aside though, a promising fan theory suggests that May could be under someone else's control, perhaps even the Season 6 villain Izel (Karolina Wydra) whom May had killed. "Is Izel inside of May's body ????" A fan wrote to which another user responded writing, "She definitely seemed possessed somehow. Maybe Izel wasn't such a pushover after all. It does seem a bit much to use just Chronicoms all season as the bad guys."

"If we’re following the pattern of last season we should get some sort of 'shift' in the story midway," another fan chimed in "I don’t think Izel’s inclusion is over yet but I feel like there’s more to be revealed."

Whatever is going on with May, it couldn't have happened at a worse time as the rest of the team is busy trying to stop the Chronicoms from preventing SHIELD's formation. And to do that they have to go against their every instinct and save Hydra. It's a really crazy season. 'Agents of SHIELD' Season 7 airs on Wednesdays at 10 pm ET on ABC.

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