WARNING: This article contains major spoilers for "The New Deal," the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Season 7 premiere.


Phil Coulson is back and better than ever.

In "The New Deal," the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Season 7 premiere, Jemma Simmons brought Coulson back to life as a Life Model Decoy (LMD). She gave him a few upgrades in the process, including superhuman reflexes, strength and durability. However, this Coulson experiment didn't come without some existential dread.

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"He has Chronicom hardware, which makes him our most advanced LMD," Simmons explained to Daisy "Quake" Johnson and Director Alphonso "Mack" Mackenzie, who were both stunned at the sight of Coulson's LMD. Without hesitation, Daisy immediately brought him online, and the result was as jarring for him as it was for them.

Coulson quickly realized something had changed, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it. Daisy then revealed he was an LMD, much to his horror -- and then the upgrade hit him. He processed two full years of data in an instant, which caught him up to the present but left him reeling. "I'm not okay. I'm not him," he cried, cycling through memories of Seasons 5 and 6. He instantaneously experienced every major event following his last moment in the Framework, which had a copy of all his memories up through the end of Season 4.

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After he adjusted to his new reality, Coulson went back to the field. After they discovered the Chronicoms were impersonating cops, they struck out to find more information, which led Coulson and Mack to a speakeasy owned by Ernest Koenig. When they pressed the barkeep about his boss, he whipped out a shotgun and the rest of the patrons gathered around them.

"No one is ever going to find you two. You're dead," the barkeep snarled.

Coulson paused. "You're right. Interesting," he mused. When he stepped forward, Mack demanded to know what he was doing. "Testing a theory, Director," he replied. "I'm already dead."

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With superhuman speed, Coulson knocked the gun out of the barkeep's hands. A brief scuffle ensued, but the two S.H.I.E.L.D. agents quickly got the upper hand. "Maybe this LMD thing has some perks, after all," Coulson admitted. In the process, he also took a bullet to the arm -- a fact Mack later confided in Daisy.

"He shrugged off a bullet. Other than that, he's pretty much himself," he told her. Then, watching her carefully, he added, "But you knew him better than I did."

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Over the course of the episode, Coulson continued to explore his new state of being. "It's so surreal. I have data in my head, telling me that I died, and that I left you a letter, but I wasn't there," he said. However, he admitted there were some perks: "This LMD thing might not be all bad. We're together, at a party with FDR. I look good. You look great. And for the first time, we're both superheroes!"

Coulson put the superhero part of his resurrection to practice during a fight against the Chronicoms. When the aliens attacked Wilfred "Freddy" Malick, he sprung into action and held his own against the robotic race. He bent a metal pot with his bare fist, and he took several major blows to the head without flinching.

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Moving forward, it looks like Coulson will find himself in action more than he ever has been before. After all, a man who can take a bullet without dying could prove to be a very valuable asset to the team, especially in their fight against the Chronicom invasion. As the season progresses, he may even discover some more LMD-enchanced abilities and skills, but he's off to a very strong start for now.

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.

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