WARNING: The following article contains spoilers for the latest episode of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.,"Stolen," which aired Wednesday on ABC.
Season 7 of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. dropped Agent Coulson and the rest of his team in a mission across time. With the Chronicoms set on erasing the spy agency from history, the team has had to travel to 1931, 1955 and 1973 to make sure the timeline itself wasn't disrupted. However, after a string of losses, the Chronicoms changed the game by making deliberate changes across time. They started by giving Wilfred Malick knowledge of the future, allowing him to live past the date he was originally supposed to die.
This, in turn, led to the launch of Captain America: The Winter Soldier's Project Insight decades ahead of schedule. Thankfully, the team was able to stop the program from being activated, but changes continued to ripple throughout the time stream. The most notable alterations were that Mack lost his parents, Nathaniel Malick became a dangerous menace and the Inhumans' Afterlife fell under attack. But now, in the series' latest episode, "Stolen," fans learn about another change that involves a Marvel Cinematic Universe landmark being constructed years in advance.
In "Stolen," the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents once again find themselves in the year 1983. There, they must continue to deal with the rising threat of Nathaniel Malick, who has attacked the Inhuman save haven Afterlife and who is slowly building an army of super-powered individuals. To plan their next move, Coulson and the team head back to the Lighthouse, where they find Roxy Glass, introduced in "The Totally Excellent Adventures of Mack and the D" as a member of Deke Shaw's aptly-named Deke Squad.
In that episode, Deke found himself stranded in 1982 for a full year. During that time, he started a band that was actually a front for a team of S.H.I.E.L.D. agents he put together. Now, in "Stolen," fans once again find Roxy, who reveals that she has officially been accepted into the spy agency's training program. She leaves the Lighthouse to the team, telling them she hopes they will see each other again soon at the Triskelion.
The mention of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s massive headquarters surprises Coulson, who explains that it isn't supposed to exist yet. The Triskelion is the main base of operations of S.H.I.E.L.D., and it was first seen in Captain America: The Winter Soldier. The building made another appearance in the opening scene of Ant-Man, where it was shown to be under construction in a flashback to 1989.
But now, in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s new timeline, the Triskelion is constructed and operational in 1983. Its creation was moved up by several years, something which once again changes the timeline of the MCU. This change is likely a consequence of Wilfred Malick's work while at S.H.I.E.L.D. -- after all, it was his presence among the agency that allowed for Project Insight to be created decades in advance, and this might have inspired the leaders of S.H.I.E.L.D. to build a base of operations ahead of schedule. Hopefully, Coulson and his team will be able to fix everything, because if they don't, they will surely return to a present they no longer recognize.
Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s final season airs Wednesdays at 10 pm ET/PT on ABC. The series stars Ming-Na Wen, Chloe Bennet, Henry Simmons, Iain De Caestecker, Natalia Cordova-Buckley, Elizabeth Henstridge and Clark Gregg.