SPOILER WARNING: This article contains major spoilers for "The End," the Season 5 finale of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.


Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. just suffered a major casualty. In "The End," the Season 5 finale, Leo Fitz was killed when a ceiling collapsed on him. Fortunately for Fitz's friends and fans alike, this may not be the end of the beloved S.H.I.E.L.D. scientist. Thanks to the season's time travel plot, a past version of him still exists in deep space.

As Graviton wreaked havoc on Chicago in his quest for gravitonium, S.H.I.E.L.D. arrived to evacuate civilians and clear the buildings impacted by the crash landing of his alien warship. Mack took Fitz and May up into one of the skyscrapers, where they discovered Robin Hinton and a breach in the ship's hull. Realizing Robin's mother Polly was still inside the ship, Mack went off to rescue her while May stayed behind with Robin.

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At that moment, Fitz realized they were playing into the world-ending scenario they'd tried so desperately to avoid. "May, neither of them make it," he said slowly. In an effort to prevent Mack's death, they pursued him and saved him from two Marauder soldiers. As they exited the ship and walked back into the building, though, Graviton and Daisy's fight created a tremor that caused the concrete ceiling to collapse right on top of Fitz.

Mack and May immediately dug Fitz out. Underneath the rubble, they discovered him shaken, but alive. "I hope you saved some energy, because my leg's bent. I think he's broken," he told them. "You'll have to carry me out." As they moved a large piece of concrete out of the way, they realized the damage was much worse than that. A large metal sheet had pierced through his torso.

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At this, Mack realized Fitz was dying, so he knelt down beside his friend. "Relax, buddy. Just breathe," he said, taking his hand. "Just breathe. I'm going to stay with you. We'll find a way out of this."

In shock, Fitz told them to get Polly out of the ship, that she was in danger. May assured him she was safe. "Hey, man. You got her out! You did good, Turbo!" Mack said. "You did really good."

"Hey, Mack. I think my leg's broken," Fitz whispered. "You've been through worse," Mack replied, choking back tears. Fitz then laid his head back and passed away.

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But that won't be the end of Leo Fitz. Though heartbroken, Simmons made it clear she and the rest of the team will head to deep space to find the past version of Fitz, who -- in the season's fifth episode -- went into cryosleep for 80 years to meet the rest of the team in the year 2091.

During his farewell speech, Coulson lamented the fact he wouldn't be able to say goodbye to Fitz. "But you'll tell him for me," he added with a smile. Simmons smiled back, saying, "Of course. He'll be sad he missed this little memorial -- sorry, retirement party."

"I want you to have this," Simmons said, pressing Fitz's postcard into Coulson's hands. "A picture of our new home away from home. And to remind you that your team always worked the problem, no matter what the odds."

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"Now he's frozen out in deep space somewhere, no idea he's already solved it," he explained, to which Simmons replied, "He'll be a little disoriented, but he'll be so happy to know that time is not fixed. It's a fluid, ever-changing, beautiful thing. And he didn't miss much, did he?"

"I have not a single doubt you will find him," Coulson assured her. "None of us do," she said with tears in her eyes.

Fitz's passing was further cemented by the disappearance of Deke, who was Fitz and Simmons' grandson in the 2091 timeline. Following Fitz's death, Simmons visited Deke's room in the Lighthouse, only to find it completely cleared out of all the things he had hoarded during his time in the present. This confirmed Fitz and Simmons' theory that, if they successfully changed the timeline, Deke would simply blink out of existence.

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"We always want the audience to be feeling two things at once: to be feeling happy and sad," executive producer Jed Whedon explained to CBR. "We felt like, in writing our time travel season, which was not easy for us in the writers' room, the duplicate Fitz was a problem for us until we realized that it was an opportunity."

"We felt like it was a way to change the timeline and feel like there was a real price for it that wasn't just, 'Oh! No, we fixed it! Well, that worked out!' But it was painful and that there still had to be loss of life and our team did sacrifice, but without us losing more of our beloved characters," he added. "So we felt like it was a good pain to have, but one that you would be a little bit healed by the end."

Returning Summer 2019, Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. stars Clark Gregg, Ming-Na Wen, Chloe Bennet, Henry Simmons, Ian De Caestecker, Natalia Cordova-Buckley and Elizabeth Henstridge.