Where Will Coulson's Drawings Lead 'S.H.I.E.L.D.'?

Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. has really stepped up its game for Season 2. It's something that's been slowly happening since the events of the TV show nicely lined up with Captain America: The Winter Soldier — which is either brilliant storytelling or marketing, or both. For a gigantic universe, Marvel has managed to tie all pieces together so far, and the next one might lie with Coulson's drawings of the Words of Creation, those strange circles and lines that he's been writing obsessively. At first everyone — including Coulson — thought it was just scribbles of a crazy person, but slowly it's begun to manifest itself more and more, deemed a side effect from the GH-325. Then, Skye dropped a bomb on us with her statement, "it's a map." Oh, cool. So what exactly are the Words of Creation a map to on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. ?

Along with all the other mysteries surrounding S.H.I.E.L.D. this season, this one continues to be weaved heavily through the storyline. But, what it means exactly is still anyone's guess. Let's continue to believe Skye's idea that the symbols are a map — I guess she knows everything about strange alien hieroglyphs, because the internet? — so where is it going to lead our merry band of S.H.I.E.L.D. agents?

OUTSIDE THE GALAXY

There is a high possibility that Skye is an alien. Coulson even not-so-subtly told her that she's probably an alien, if only because she did not react to the GH-325 the same why that he and Garrett did. Let's call what's happening to Coulson his allergic reaction to the injection, and since Skye didn't react, it's already in her blood, and she's probably an alien, or more specifically an Inhuman, or a Kree, or a Skrull. There are lots of choices. Bottom line: she's probably not human.

The Kree have been hinted at a lot on the show, which leads me to believe that Skye's an Inhuman (still complete speculation, though), a species created by Kree experiments on humans. If Skye can decode the map, it won't lead her anywhere in the continental United States. It'll lead her somewhere far, far away. Does the Bus come equipped with rocket boosters?

THEY'RE ACTUALLY A S.H.I.E.L.D. DEVICE

Clearly, what used to be S.H.I.E.L.D. is up to some mischievous stuff. Hydra has been inching its way into S.H.I.E.L.D. since the 1940s (during the Captain America time frame), so who knows just how long they could have been secretly experimenting on Kree and with GH-325. Possibly for decades. The Words of Creation could have come from all of their (evil) research. It could be a complete dead end. Or, it could open up entire new worlds within S.H.I.E.L.D., and maybe within Hydra too. Think we'll see the strange markings during Agent Carter ?

THIS IS ALL A HUGE SETUP FOR AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON

This might be completely out of left field, but could they possibly be trying to align this season with Avengers: Age of Ultron? They did it with Winter Soldier and I don't think anyone saw that coming. Plus, that quasi-crossover was brilliant. Ultron's release is May 1, which is right at the end of the television season. Could this strange map somehow tie into the movie? It seems entirely possible, from a smart storytelling/marketing standpoint.

On one hand, Coulson won't be in Avengers: Age of Ultron , according to an interview with MoviePilot. But, ComicBookMovie.com reports that an observer saw Agent Triplett on the set. Why and how could the Words of Creation tie in with the movie? I could come up with some ever expanding cosmic theory and throw in a little Scarlet Witch too, but that's way too much speculation for a Tuesday. So maybe it's best if we just tuck that little idea in the back of our minds for now, and watch and see how this season unfolds.

COULD IT EVEN BE A SET UP FOR PHASE THREE?

You know, Marvel's next batch of gigantic blockbuster movies. The Words of Creation aren't in the comics, and trust me, I've looked. They're clearly something created for the show, maybe in hopes of seamlessly merging S.H.I.E.L.D. with the rest of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. We can speculate and guess all we want, but there's still not any definitive proof as to what this map is, where it leads, or what its purpose is. Marvel's pretty good at surprising us. Maybe this is just another little surprise they're setting up a few years early.

Images: ABC; Giphy (4)