Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: The Avengers Get Name-Dropped and Nick Fury Stops By

[Warning: This story contains major spoilers from Tuesday's episode of S.H.I.E.L.D. Read at your own risk!]

Despite the producers' insistence that Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.would wait to introduce elements from the films, the second episode was chock-full of some very specific references --  and an appearance by Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson)!  

Meet the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

On Tuesday's episode, the S.H.I.E.L.D. team discovers an 0-8-4 — an object of unknown origin — in an Incan temple in Peru. It turns out that the item is a weapon of German origin and is powered by the Tesseract. (Nudge-nudge-wink-wink: Captain America.) There are also nods to Thor -- Coulson (Clark Gregg) mentions that the last 0-8-4 that they investigated was a hammer -- and Iron Man, when Coulson mentions that Tony Stark is a consultant.

But when the team leaves Peru, they have some extra cargo: a group of Peruvian guerrillas led by Comandante Camilla Reyes (Leonor Varela), a woman from Coulson's past who tries to commandeer the plane in order to steal the mysterious weapon.

Amidst all this, the group is discovering that they haven't exactly settled into a professional groove just yet. Ward (Brett Dalton) doesn't like people, the trio of Skye (Chloe Bennet), Fitz (Iain de Caestecker) and Simmons (Elizabeth Henstridge) aren't field-tested, and Melinda May (Ming-Na Wen) doesn't like being in the field at all — and she really hates being called The Cavalry after some incident in Bahrain. But the team bands together to save themselves and the 0-8-4, which gets shot into the sun.

Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. bosses on how to make the Marvel Universe relatable

In the episode's final moments, we learn that Skye still has a connection to Rising Tide, which is planning to go dark soon. She responds, "I'm in," likely meaning that she had planned to infiltrate the organization all along. Does she plan to expose S.H.I.E.L.D.? Nick Fury seems to be wary of her, as he points out to Coulson while yelling at him for already trashing the S.H.I.E.L.D. plane (aka "the bus"). While it was nice to see Jackson reprise his role, ABC sure is raising viewer expectations. What happens next week when Thor doesn't show up to flex his biceps?

What did you think of Fury's cameo? Did you enjoy this week's episode? Which character do you want to see pop up next? Hit the comments!

Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. airs Tuesdays at 8/7c on ABC.