"Alien Commies from the Future!" is the third episode of the seventh season of the American television series Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Based on the Marvel Comics organization S.H.I.E.L.D., it follows a Life Model Decoy of Phil Coulson and his team of S.H.I.E.L.D. agents as they race to stop the Chronicoms from unraveling history in 1955. It is set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) and acknowledges the franchise's films. The episode was written by Nora and Lilla Zuckerman and directed by Nina Lopez-Corrado.
Clark Gregg reprises his role as Coulson from the film series, starring alongside Ming-Na Wen, Chloe Bennet, Elizabeth Henstridge, Henry Simmons, Natalia Cordova-Buckley, and Jeff Ward. The episode moves to Area 51 in 1955 after the season explored the 1930s in the first two episodes. Filming took place in deserts around California, with authentic period costumes designed for the episode. Guest star Enver Gjokaj reprises his role of Daniel Sousa from the MCU series Agent Carter.
"Alien Commies from the Future!" originally aired on ABC on June 10, 2020, and was watched by 1.57 million viewers. The episode received generally positive reviews, particularly for its fun tone, but with mixed responses for its attempts to address the racism and misogyny of the era.
Plot
The Chronicoms meet with their Predictor, Sibyl, to confirm that their latest plan to eliminate S.H.I.E.L.D. from history will succeed. Meanwhile, the agents land in 1955 near Area 51, a S.H.I.E.L.D. base currently working on Project Helius, an ion fusion reactor prototype. The agents kidnap high ranking agent Gerald Sharpe so the Phil Coulson LMD can impersonate him while Jemma Simmons impersonates S.H.I.E.L.D.'s then-current director, Peggy Carter, to locate Chronicom infiltrators. However, they unexpectedly run into Carter's former partner Daniel Sousa, who immediately outs them and has them detained. Concurrently, Alphonso "Mack" Mackenzie, Melinda May, Deke Shaw, and Inhuman agent Elena "Yo-Yo" Rodriguez attempt to interrogate Sharpe to find out more about Project Helius. Though he puts up resistance, he eventually reveals Helius cannot function without a powerful energy source, leading Deke to deduce that the Chronicoms plan to sacrifice one of their own to activate the weapon and destroy the base.
Agent Daisy Johnson arrives undercover and convinces Sousa to free her teammates just as a pair of Chronicoms enact their plan. May and Yo-Yo's first attempt to stop them fails after the former unexpectedly suffers a panic attack and the latter discovers her powers are not working. Recovering quickly once Area 51 is evacuated, they pursue one of the Chronicoms while Coulson battles the other. Johnson and Simmons improve a S.H.I.E.L.D. EMP device in time to disable Helius, along with the entire base, the Chronicoms, and Coulson. The other agents regroup at their mobile headquarters, Zephyr One, while Sousa detains Coulson and Mack and Shaw pose as aliens to avoid changing history while returning Sharpe to the desert.
Production
Development and writing
After the sixth season finale of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. aired in August 2019, showrunners Jed Whedon, Maurissa Tancharoen, and Jeffrey Bell revealed that the seventh season would feature the team trying to save the world from invasion by the Chronicoms. They use time travel to do this, allowing the season to explore the history of S.H.I.E.L.D. Later that month, one of the season's episodes was revealed to be titled "Alien Commies from the Future!" and written by Nora and Lilla Zuckerman. It was confirmed to be the third episode of the season in June 2020, when Nina Lopez-Corrado was revealed to have directed it.
Nora Zuckerman revealed there were a few title options for the episode, but "Alien Commies from the Future!" was chosen because "it had the best ring to it" and felt like "a cool '50s monster movie title". After being assigned the third episode of the season, the Zuckerman siblings knew the episode was going to be set in either the 1940s or 1950s, and at one point was considering the Roswell UFO incident to be the backdrop for the episode. Jed Whedon ultimately suggested using Area 51, which Nora called "perfect" since "it fit with the MCU timeline".