Marvel’s Inhumans may be a bit larger-than-life compared with Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., but the shared ABC setting has to create some connective tissue, right? So it was with Friday’s premiere, as Inhumans created a specific, familiar link with Marvel’s Avengers-adjacent Agents.

You’re warned of full spoilers for Marvel’s The Inhumans from here on out (and good luck, if you watched), but two seasons’ worth of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. setup had to pay off when we met the royal family. And pay off it did, as Friday’s two-part premiere revealed that the Terrigen outbreak on Earth in Seasons 2 and 3 caught Black Bolt’s eye, for which he’d dispatched Triton to Earth to rescue any hunted Inhumans and take them to Attilan.

The street went both ways, as it wasn’t long after Gorgon arrived on Earth that some of his new surfer friends quickly deduced that he was one of the Inhumans they’d heard about on the news. S.H.I.E.L.D. has been spreading Inhuman awareness for several seasons now, introducing the descendants of those left on Earth (as opposed to the royal family starting a colony on the moon), while groups like Hydra and the Watchdogs have consistently terrorized the group.

It wasn’t all connective tissue, however, as the Terrigenesis witnessed on Attilan was of a slightly different, non-cocooned design (easily explained away, I’m sure), while the arrival of Inhumans to Earth drew the attention of a few rogue scientists, but not S.H.I.E.L.D. itself. We’ve already heard that neither series would directly crossover just yet, but Marvel TV boss Jeph Loeb did clarify to IGN that part of the Hawaiian setting was meant to isolate Inhumans from the MCU.

Not to mention, the Agents themselves were last seen captured to parts unknown, so there’s no telling who, if any familiar faces are around to hear about the goings-on in Hawaii. We’ll perhaps get a clue when Season 5 premieres after The Inhumans, but in the meantime, check out a trailer for the latter six episodes below.

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