It’s been heavily insinuated, and now Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. will really bring Hellfire to life during Tuesday’s episode.
Introduced several episodes ago as a wayward Inhuman who had not gone through terrigenesis, James (Axle Whitehead) went through transformation and fell under the sway of Hive (Brett Dalton), making him a formidable foe who can control fire, basically turning any object he touches into an explosive device.
Known in the comics as James Taylor James, Hellfire was a former member of the Secret Warriors who betrayed them to Hydra. He’s not actually an Inhuman in the comics, though to be fair, neither is Daisy Johnson (Chloe Bennet). “Pretty much we looked at all the Secret Warriors, and we said, ‘How about that guy?’” executive producer Maurissa Tancharoen says. “It’s sort of a no-brainer. Why not do Hellfire?”
“We liked his attitude,” EP Jed Whedon adds. “He’s a tell-it-like-it-is guy. He’s a little bit of a prick. He does not care if he’s liked, and that’s fun to write.”
On the show, James previously joked about codenames, even throwing Hellfire into the mix, but he really will live up to his comic book counterpart during Tuesday’s episode when he picks up a familiar object from the comics. “There is a shot where he finds a chain that is a slow-mo,” EP Jeffrey Bell says. “He comes back super slow-mo and whips it around. As a fanboy, it’s a super cool shot.”
Check out that shot in an exclusive sneak peek above. Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. airs Tuesdays at 9 p.m. ET on ABC.