Season synopsis
Contains spoilers for this season and earlier seasons.
The Terrigen released in the previous season creates new Inhumans around the world, and Coulson’s S.H.I.E.L.D. forms the Secret Warriors program to find and help them. The agents face fear of people with new abilities, a government agency competing to control the response, and HYDRA’s plan to bring its ancient Inhuman leader back from Maveth. Daisy, now using her birth name, recruits other Inhumans, including Joey Gutierrez and Elena Rodriguez. May also discovers that Andrew Garner is Lash, an Inhuman who kills others.
HYDRA’s pursuit of Hive sends Fitz and Ward through the portal to Maveth, with Coulson following. Fitz finds Will Daniels, the astronaut who helped Simmons survive there, but discovers that Will died saving her and Hive has been using his body. Coulson kills Ward on the planet, while Fitz destroys Will’s possessed body; Hive then takes Ward’s corpse and slips through the portal to Earth. His return is followed by Gideon Malick’s cooperation with him and Daisy’s capture by Hive’s sway. Hive uses Daisy’s blood to create Primitives before Lash frees her from his influence, leaving her devastated by what she did.
Hive plans to disperse a transformation pathogen around the world in a warhead. S.H.I.E.L.D. stops the missile launch and captures him, but an attack releases the pathogen at the base and lets Hive escape. The agents fight the Primitives aboard the Zephyr while Hive carries the warhead toward the altitude needed to spread the mist. Daisy volunteers to take the bomb into space, but Lincoln boards the Quinjet and sacrifices himself to ensure Hive cannot override the controls. The explosion kills both men. Six months later, Daisy has left S.H.I.E.L.D. and works alone as Quake.