[SPOILERS ahead for those not caught up on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.]

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Phil Coulson has been part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe since day 1. His appearance in Iron Man quickly made him a fan-favorite supporting character and was the reason he ended up appearing in two more Phase 1 films prior to The Avengers. Obviously, the battle of New York took a toll on him, with Loki ending his life, but Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. gave S.H.I.E.L.D.’s most trusted agent a chance to live again.

Thanks to some high tech machinery and some Kree DNA, Coulson has climbed back from the dead to serve as the Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. officially, and now unofficially thanks to the organization going public again. His resurrection continues to remain a secret to the general public, but S.H.I.E.L.D.’s newest villain has an agenda against Coulson, with one thing in mind. As the promo for next week’s episode makes clear, Coulson’s life is now in danger.

ABC has now released the promo for episode fourteen of season four of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., titled “Man Behind the Shield.” No, the title is not a reference to Captain America himself, Steve Rogers making an appearance, but instead the figurative man behind the organization for the last several years. As the promo clip above shows, The Superior’s plan to kill Coulson (again) and he may have the chance to succeed.

Based on this new promo and what went down in last night’s S.H.I.E.L.D. episode, it’s clear how Coulson will get into this dangerous situation. Fitz and Simmons recently upgraded Mace’s suit to include GPS tracking; so with Mace in the custody of The Superior, S.H.I.E.L.D. should have no problem tracking down their newest enemy. Once they do cross paths, it appears as though it could not end well for Coulson.

No matter how dramatic the teaser may be, it would quite surprising to see The Superior achieve these goals and actually kill Coulson. It is difficult to imagine the show continuing without him, even if the rest of the characters are more than capable of leading the series moving forward. There’s always the chance that Coulson could return as an LMD - or rather, that an LMD version of Coulson will be killed by The Superior, with the latter believing he’s murdered the real Coulson.

This is not something viewers should really have to worry about, especially considering the answers to this will come next week. That said, Chloe Bennet did recently say that the third storyline of this season will flip the show upside down, and nothing would do that quite like losing Coulson.

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. season 4 continues with ‘The Man Behind the Shield’ Tuesday February 14 at 10pm on ABC.

Source: ABC [via Television Promos]