The final seasons of Agents of SHIELD and Fringe have a lot in common – could they end the same way? Starting out as a TV offshoot of the MCU, Agents of SHIELD has steadily developed a style and personality all of its own since debuting in 2013, but after flirting with cancellation on several occasions, the currently airing season 7 marks the final mission for Coulson and his ragtag team. Agents of SHIELD season 7 has moved through several time periods as the heroes attempt to stop an invasion from an alien race known as the Chronicoms, who must erase SHIELD in order to fulfill their evil goal.
Before Coulson made his first visit to TAHITI, the secret agents investigating television’s weird and wonderful weren’t SHIELD, but Fringe. Developed by the formidable trio of J.J. Abrams, Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci, Fringe ran for 5 seasons and centered around a small band of FBI agents delving into the cutting edge of science fiction, much like SHIELD but without the superhero overtones. However, a job description isn’t the only similarity between Agents of SHIELD and Fringe, as the latter’s final season also involved stopping Earth being overtaken by an enemy race very much like the Chronicoms.
In Agents of SHIELD, the Chronicoms are time-traveling aliens whose planet has been destroyed, forcing the cyborgs to target Earth as their new home. This is very close to the Observers in Fringe season 5, who are another time-traveling enemy whose home has been rendered uninhabitable, and who also attempt to relocate on 21st century Earth. Admittedly, the Observers come from Earth and the Chronicoms from outer space, but the rest of the setup is more or less the same. Both the SHIELD and Fringe teams deal with these invasions in similar ways too. Where Coulson and the gang have been following the Chronicoms through time, Olivia Dunham’s team in Fringe preserved themselves in amber, waking up years in the future when the Observer invasion had fully taken hold.
In general terms, the Chronicoms and Observers could be extremely close cousins. Both races are super-strong, emotionless beings augmented through advanced technology. The only difference is that the Chronicoms are entirely synthetic, whereas the Observers are modified and enhanced humans. Nevertheless, both act in much the same fashion, favoring logic and structure over the pesky unpredictability of human nature – qualities both go out of their way to suppress.
Agents of SHIELD and Fringe both make use of the “friendly defector from the enemy camp” trope. In Agents of SHIELD, the protagonists are joined by Enoch, a Chronicom who was sent to Earth and developed a fondness for humanity, eventually becoming a keen ally to the SHIELD team. In Fringe, the protagonists are joined by September, an Observer sent back into Earth’s past who develops a fondness for humanity, eventually becoming a key ally to the Fringe team.
The parallels between the final seasons of these two shows are many, but there could still be more to come if Agents of SHIELD follows a similar path to Fringe. The full history of the Chronicoms hasn’t been laid out, and with time travel in play, it’s entirely possible that humanity will somehow be revealed as their true creators, just like the Observers in Fringe. Additionally, the Observers were defeated for good when Walt went forward in time to prevent their creation. Given the current landscape of Agents of SHIELD, using time travel to wipe the Chronicoms out of existence could definitely be a potential winning play. Finally, Fringe‘s resident friendly Observer met a tragic fate, as September was killed in the process of betraying his own kind. Agents of SHIELD has repeatedly teased Enoch’s death, and it would be a surprise if his arc doesn’t follow a similarly sacrificial journey.
It could be said that both Agents of SHIELD and Fringe riff on familiar, well-loved science fiction ideas in their final seasons, but there are enough parallels between the Chronicom and Observer storylines to wonder if imitation really is the sincerest form of flattery. Although its ratings were dwindling, Fringe‘s series finale was well-received by fans, and Agents of SHIELD viewers will be hoping this is another aspect the Marvel series copies.
