Ever since I saw TRACKS (and subsequently suffered during that month-long hiatus), I couldn't stop thinking about Agents of Shield and the big changes they promised would come. Man they were no kidding around about that! I mean, no one saw Ward as HYDRA coming. Although when I look back, there were some pretty big hints I should have paid more attention too. Definitely going to be on my toes more next season.
Anyway, I thought a lot about Mike Peterson, especially once they announced he was going to be Deathlok. The development of his character has been something I never expected. When he first appeared, I was like "Oh, it's a one-time thing." But then they brought him back and "killed him". (By the way, why is everyone who we think is dead not really dead on the show. I mean, Coulson, Fury, Peterson, Garrett. Heck, maybe Hand even survived, but I doubt it. RIP Victoria) Still, he came back again, only under control of HYDRA/Centipede/Garrett.
Then one day, I thought of a quote that perfectly embodies this man and what he ended up as. Now I know what he did in the finale may contradict this, but it still sums up the path Mike took this season. Enjoy!
I do not own Agents of SHIELD, Marvel, or Batman.
Monster or Man?
"You either die a hero, or live long enough to see yourself become the villain."-The Dark Knight
Mike slowly limped away from Skye once he'd said his goodbye to her. A little voice that was his own, not one that had been implanted inside of him, urged him to turn back. It told him that there was still hope for him. That he could still be a father. But Mike ignored it.
An hour or so after he left Skye standing alone, an hour since he last saw Ace, Mike sat down at the base of a large tree. He would sleep here tonight. It would be impossible to go find a motel with his appearance; he'd just terrify people. Plus, Mike didn't really have to worry about any wild animals bothering him during the night. His cybernetic leg and other fun presents that the creeps at Cybertek had given him would deter any curiosity they had about the strange man. And if they really wanted to bother him, he could show them a thing or two.
Mike sighed and stared up at the moon. A couple of months ago, he'd been a completely normal guy with a son who'd gotten laid off because of an injury. Then his origin story began when he got juiced up with the Centipede crap. The strength and its benefits were a huge plus, but it had made him…..unstable. He had only wanted to protect Ace, but somehow something inside of him had snapped under the effects of the serum.
Then SHIELD had found him and helped him. The two scientists had inadvertently saved his life when he really should have just been left to die. Mike decided then to dedicate his life to the agency that saved his. He'd actually done something good for the world, but the memory of the train station still haunted him deeply. The call he had made to Ace had led to a decision he still regretted. It wasn't until Mike had returned with his son that he realized what he had done. He tried to turn around and stop it.
The next thing he knew, he was on a hard bed, covered in horrible burns. Part of his leg was gone, and they had done something to his eye, except it was no longer his eye. When he saw the instructions scroll across his vision, Mike remembered something he had once heard in a superhero movie. "You either die a hero, or live long enough to see yourself become the villain." And he realized that this was his origin story.
But not Mike Peterson's.
Mike Peterson had died in the explosion. He didn't know who he was then. Until they gave him a name.
Deathlok.
Deathlok truly was a villain. He'd done horrible things that he had never wanted to do. They did things to him so that he was no longer a man, but a freak of some sorts. They made him kill against his will. He'd crushed a man who still believed Mike Peterson was alive with the hideous leg. There were days when he wanted to simply ignore the orders and let the kill switch be flipped. But he always told himself that Ace needed him. They were a team after all.
Now, after all the events of the day, he didn't know if he was Mike Peterson or Deathlok. It had been all too satisfying to put an end to the man who had induced the majority of his misery, but was it something that Mike Peterson had done, or did Deathlok do it? Was he still a man, or had he become a monster?
That was why he left Ace. At least his son could still have a chance to live out a normal life. He couldn't go back to those months when he'd been struggling factory worker raising a son and having a normal life. Ace deserved a chance. Mike or Deathlok or whoever he was didn't.
Maybe there was a chance for him to do good in the world again. Be a vigilante perhaps. An honorable one. The man with no identity smiled to himself. "Maybe the villain can become a hero," he thought to himself as he closed his eyes.
Maybe.
Yeah, this is kind of mopey. But I think he might go through an identity crisis after this whole thing.