This past weekend, we found out about quite a few new characters that will be making their way onto Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. this upcoming season, so we thought we’d provide a handy guide on who’s who!

After all, not all of us are born experts on the Marvel comics universe. We like to consider ourselves super fans, but we’ll be the first to admit that there are a lot of things that we don’t know and that we have to look up.

In all honesty, when all of these characters were announced during the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. panel at San Diego Comic-Con this past weekend, we didn’t know much about any of them. At all. So, we did our research and thought we’d share our findings with you! (And if you know more things about these characters in the comic universe, please feel free to share them in the comments section below!)

Isabelle Hartley

The only thing we know about this character is that she’s a badass longtime agent of S.H.I.E.L.D., which, according to co-creator Maurissa Tancheon, means that she has a bit of history with Coulson. We were also told that she always carries a knife on her person. That’s it. That’s all of the information we know at this point, besides the fact that she’s going to be portrayed by the Lucy Lawless (which is awesome).

Our theories: Lucy Lawless is going to kick some ass. Because the co-creator said that she and Coulson have some history, we predict that they may not see eye-to-eye on everything even though they’re on the same side. Perhaps she’ll be less law-abiding than the Coulson we know and love. However, when push comes to shove and if Coulson ends up going a bit crazy, we think that she’ll be one of the ones to bring him back.

Lance Hunter

Lance Hunter (who will be played by Nick Blood) is, in many ways, like the British version of Nick Fury. He was the director of S.T.R.I.K.E. (Special Tactical Reserve for International Key Emergencies), the British intelligence agency that dealt with situations and problems that normal intelligence couldn’t handle. In the past, Hunter and Fury teamed up to help Captain America and Captain Britain defeat the Nazis and the Red Skull.

After S.T.R.I.K.E. dissolved, Hunter earned the rank of Commodore and was appointed as a new chair of the Joint Intelligence Committee in the U.K. (which is a government committee designed to direct the national intelligence organizations).

As far as abilities go, Lance Hunter is incredibly intelligent (which is a good thing considering he was the director of an intelligence agency). He’s also an expert in guns and ammunition, unarmed combat, and demolition as well as bomb disposal (probably thanks in part to his Naval background).

Our theories: Lance Hunter has dealt with a lot of traitors throughout his character’s history, even with his deputy director of S.T.R.I.K.E. We can definitely see the former Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. turning to him for assistance or even guidance on how to move on or rebuild. Hunter is also a formidable ally who could definitely help the former agents track down and take care of HYDRA members.

Daniel Whitehall

Where to start with Daniel Whitehall? This character, who will be portrayed by Reed Diamond this fall, has quite the villainous backstory. First of all, he goes under the alias “The Kraken” and is a pretty legendary HYDRA agent. Like the Winter Soldier, The Kraken is somewhat of a ghost story. For the longest time there was never any real proof of his existence, because anyone who ever went up against him or tried to find proof that he existed disappeared.

The Kraken was in charge of training HYDRA newbies (because that was apparently a good idea?), specifically girls, which involved lots of murder and human trafficking. He was the head of an all-girls school that turned orphans into killing machines.

Now, here’s where his history gets really interesting. He’s known to meet with Baron Wolfgang von Strucker on occasion (which makes sense since they’re both HYDRA), a character that has a role in the upcoming Avengers: Age of Ultron movie. If you’ll remember, von Strucker is the man in the mid-credits scene following Captain America: The Winter Soldier, who’s in charge of the experiments involving the twins, Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch. Anyway, the two of them are buds. Also Daniel Whitehall is actually the first of two men to be The Kraken. Long story short, Jacob Fury, Nick Fury’s younger brother, went darkside for a while and then killed Daniel to become The Kraken and infiltrate HYDRA. So that’s pretty cool.

Also, fun fact: The two Fury brothers, along with some friends (including von Strucker and Whitehall), created an organization called The Great Wheel of Zodiac. Their missions always dealt with acquiring new and impressive technology from around the globe. However, the organization fell to ruin, leading to S.H.I.E.L.D., Hydra, Leviathan and the Zodiac Cartel rising from its ashes. #ItsAllConnected

Our theories:
Considering the fact that he’s one of the (presumably) founding members of HYDRA, it’s pretty safe to say that he’s going to be HYDRA on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.. We’re also thinking that he’s going to be one of the shows many connections to the cinematic universe, given his relationship with von Strucker. He could also be name-dropped as a sort of mentor to Elizabeth Olsen’s Scarlet Witch because she fits his common student profile. The Kraken may even be one of this season’s big bads considering that he’s hard to track down and likes pulling strings from the background.

Barbara Morse

Out of all of the characters that were announced at SDCC, Barbara “Bobbi” Morse has to be the one that we’re most excited about. In the comics, Bobbi Morse is a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent who originally worked on Project: Gladiator which was a a S.H.I.E.L.D.-backed project to recreate the Super Soldier Serum. She’s later known as Agent 19 and becomes one of S.H.I.E.L.D.’s special field operatives.

Bobbi’s alias is “Mockingbird” because she’s known for taunting her targets and adversaries in battle. Before she was Mockingbird, however, she briefly masqueraded as The Huntress.

As far as skills go, Bobbi has quite a few. First and foremost, she’s incredibly intelligent (as proved by her PhD in biology). She’s also a pretty talented acrobat and a master martial artist, not to mention a highly skilled spy. After being mortally wounded during a mission, Bobbi was injected with an experimental serum that combined the Super Soldier Serum and the “Infinity Formula” (which slows down Nick Fury’s aging process in the comics), so she has enhanced strength for a woman her size and age. Her weapon of choice is a pair of steel-alloy poles that she can screw together to use as a bostaff.

One of her only weaknesses is that she’s farsighted, so she needs special lenses for reading. The lenses are built into her costume.

Mockingbird has quite a few ties with The Avengers and has gone on missions with them previously. But the one character she has the most ties with is the one and only Hawkeye. In the comics, the two of them strike up a relationship and end up eloping (after Mockingbird proposes)! As with any relationship, comics or real life, there’s drama but the two of them make an impressive pair.

Our theories: Interestingly, this is the only role that was announced without an actor’s name attached to it. Nevertheless, we have a feeling that we’re going to love Bobbi. So, so much. By the end of the season (or even right after she’s introduced), we may be craving a Mockingbird/Black Widow movie. How amazing would that be?

Anyway, in terms of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., we could easily see her and Agent May fighting side-by-side. We could also see Bobbi potentially trying to help Coulson and Skye deal with the formulas they were injected with; we could definitely see her offering support because she has been injected with a similar formula previously, but we can also see her working with FitzSimmons to come up with an antidote or stabilizer of some sort.

Which character are you looking forward to seeing most on ‘Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.’ season 2?