Melinda May

"She took it upon herself to get them out. Said she could fix the problem. So she went in, crossed off the enemy force. Didn't say how." "Did she lose anyone in there?" "Herself."

- Phil Coulson and Skye

Melinda Qiaolian May worked as a Level 7 S.H.I.E.L.D. operative, nicknamed "The Cavalry". A veteran pilot and soldier with years of experience and a good friend of fellow Agent Phil Coulson, she withdrew from field duty after an incident in Manama, Bahrain which left her mentally damaged. However, she returned to the field when S.H.I.E.L.D. Director Nick Fury asked to her to secretly assemble a team for Agent Coulson and to monitor his recovery process. She worked with the team on all their missions.

When the HYDRA Uprising began, her true role on the team, to be Nick Fury's eyes and ears on Coulson, was discovered, leading to a rift between her and the team. Feeling unwanted, she left, searching to find out the truth behind Coulson's resurrection. She found the truth and brought it back to Coulson, who regretted the way he had treated her and welcomed her back to the team. She helped the team stop John Garrett and went with the team to the Playground to help restart S.H.I.E.L.D., under newly promoted Director Coulson.

As Coulson's unofficial deputy, May helped Coulson in fighting the forces of HYDRA led by Daniel Whitehall and dealing with his growing obsession with the alien writing. After the battle in which HYDRA was dealt a heavy blow and resulted in Agent Skye gaining superhuman abilities, May helped them all to deal with the situation the best they could. When another S.H.I.E.L.D. faction led by Robert Gonzales emerged and occupied their base, May helped Coulson to escape, but later accepted a position on Gonzales' board. After the unification of the two factions, May became a member of Coulson's council of advisors. After the War against the Inhumans and the Kidnapping of Bobbi Morse, she retired from S.H.I.E.L.D. for a short time to be with her ex-husband, Andrew Garner.

Early Career
"May used to be different. She was always quiet, she was just... she was warm. Fearless in a different way. Getting in trouble, pulling pranks, thought rules were meant to be broken."

- Phil Coulson The daughter of Lian May, an intelligence operative, Melinda May joined S.H.I.E.L.D., believing that the agency was the best defense of the United States of America and the world against any possible threat. During her career, she met and fell in love with Doctor Andrew Garner, and the two eventually eloped.

Trained by the best S.H.I.E.L.D. had to offer, May became an ace pilot and a weapons expert, a soldier who could perform above and beyond the call of duty. She was one of the few S.H.I.E.L.D. agents who had more than the notorious Black Widow, whom she met and befriended.

May met Agent Phil Coulson, one of the highest-ranking S.H.I.E.L.D. agents and the right-hand man of Director Nick Fury, during a mission in which the two were paired up together. During the mission, their commander sent them to a coffee shop in Sausalito on a retrieval operation without an exit strategy. May wound up in the bay for five hours until Coulson eventually fished her out.

Coulson would describe May as warm, fearless and not afraid to break rules. May was quiet, but not above pulling pranks on her fellow agents. She also met Alexander Pierce, one of the leaders of S.H.I.E.L.D.

May and Coulson would often talk of being able to pick their own operations and to call their own shots without the bureaucracy and red tape.

The Cavalry
"Forgot I was working with 'The Cavalry'." "Don't ever call me that."

- Grant Ward and Melinda May

In 2008, May, Phil Coulson and a team of agents were dispatched on an "Index Asset Evaluation and Intake" (or "Welcome Wagon") mission, investigating Eva Belyakov, a newly discovered powered individual with superhuman strength. They tracked Belyakov to Manama, Bahrain, where things immediately spiraled out of control; Belyakov, aided by various Bahrainian gangsters that she seemed to be controlling, took a young civilian girl and every dispatched S.H.I.E.L.D. agent except for May and Coulson, hoarding them inside of a warehouse. After being unable to call in any backup, May took it upon herself to solve the problem. She went in by herself with only a knife, crossing off the controlled gangsters and Belyakov herself. However, she learned that the girl, revealed to be Belyakov's daughter Katya, was the one controlling people using a sensory manipulating ability. After witnessing the girl use her powers to kill the remaining gangsters, May was forced to execute Katya to prevent her from doing the same to the captured S.H.I.E.L.D. operatives. The incident scarred May mentally, and earned her the nickname "The Cavalry" within S.H.I.E.L.D., a designation she despised. May never spoke of what happened during the incident, but it changed her. The warm, rule-bending nature of her personality seemed to be gone, despite Coulson's efforts to draw it back out. Her marriage with Garner also slowly fell apart as a result of her distance, eventually ending. Soon, May withdrew from combat duty, retreating to a desk-bound administrative position within the S.H.I.E.L.D. bureaucracy.

The story of "The Cavalry" became a legend at the S.H.I.E.L.D. Academy, with the story growing bigger and more inaccurate with each new class.

Back in the Field
"You guys talk too much."

- Melinda May

After the battle of New York, May was approached by Nick Fury himself and ordered to be his eyes and ears on the newly resurrected Phil Coulson. May's orders were to report to him directly if Coulson showed any side-effects or dangerous behavior after his treatment with the alien GH.325 drug. Fury believed that given their shared history, Coulson would recruit her for his new team. To aid in her mission, she put together a team of agents that may be necessary to treat or act on Coulson. Coulson was then given specific mission parameters and was maneuvered into picking May's choices.

As expected, Phil Coulson came to the office where she worked and asked her to join his team. Still haunted by her past experiences in the field, she was genuinely reluctant to return to combat, but she agreed when Coulson told her that he just needs her to "drive the Bus." However, field work is not always a stable environment. May was angered after seeing inadvertent combat in Peru, but her skills helped save her team and re-take the Bus from Camilla Reyes's hijackers.

During the action in Malta, May initially assumed that she would be on the strike team to rescue Doctor Franklin Hall, to her dismay. When Coulson informed her that he was going in with Grant Ward instead, May expressed doubt, stating that field work and specialist work were two different things. During the operation, May was frustrated at being stuck at the backend of the op, where she could not do anything to help her team. Upon Coulson's return, May informed him that she would report the next time combat duty came up.

New Actions
"You told me that you were ready for combat. That you had my back." "Don't ever doubt it."

- Phil Coulson and Melinda May

May returned to combat duty without hesitation. She acted swiftly (and without authorization) to apprehend renegade S.H.I.E.L.D. agent and Coulson protégé, Akela Amador before she could complete her mission in Minsk, Belarus.

In Hong Kong, she participated in the attempted rescue of Index listed pyrokinetic Chan Ho Yin from his captors in the Centipede Project. When Chan started to use his powers against the S.H.I.E.L.D. team, killing Agent Kwan Chen, May injected Chan with a dose the Centipede Serum, causing an explosive overdose. She lived up to her nickname of "The Cavalry" when Agents Grant Ward and Leo Fitz were stranded in the middle of a hot operation without an extraction plan along the South Ossetian border. She piloted the Bus without authorization into an active hot spot where she and her team rescued their team-mates.

In Ireland, she took the strength-enhancing Berserker Staff in combat against the members of a Norse Paganist hate group. She was able to control the rage-inducing properties of the staff, and claimed it was because she lived with her rage every day. That night she slept with Grant Ward. When the team was called in to perform an Index Asset Evaluation and Intake report on Hannah Hutchins, she was instrumental in talking down Hutchins' tormentor, Tobias Ford.

Hunt for Centipede
When Coulson decided to focus all of the team's efforts on bringing down the Centipede Project, he brought Mike Peterson, now in training to become a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent to assist in their fight against the Project's super-powered soldiers. She assisted Peterson, Coulson, and Ward in infiltrating the Centipede base in Oakland. Discovering Peterson was a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, Raina and Edison Po kidnapped Peterson's son, Ace using him to convince his father to bring Coulson to a hostage exchange. When Centipede took Coulson, she called in back-up, but the back-up failed to arrive before Coulson was taken and Peterson was apparently killed.

The Phone Line
After defeating Lorelei and hearing Phil Coulson's conversation, May used a secure phone to Nick Fury and told him that "Coulson knows".

Fitz discovered the phone line at a time when tensions were already high: The team was searching for the Clairvoyant; Felix Blake was critically injured by Deathlok; Jemma Simmons was transferred to the Hub to be a consultant; and Grant Ward had killed Thomas Nash. He told Skye, who told Coulson, while he was interrogating Ward to see if he worked for the Clairvoyant. May hunted for Fitz to shoot him with an I.C.E.R. when Coulson and Skye surrounded her at gunpoint demanding answers. Suddenly the plane was rerouted to the Hub by Victoria Hand who planned to kill all but Coulson.

During her interrogation, May explained that the line went to Nick Fury, who wanted constant updates on Coulson's progress after his resurrection. She built Coulson's Team with specifications to that end. Coulson ultimately decided that for her secrets, she was an ally, no longer his friend.

Leaving the Team
May left her team and arranged to have her mother Lian pick her up in Canada, 500 miles from her mother's home. Her mother gave May contact information for Maria Hill, with whom she wanted to talk.

May found Hill under surveillance by various agencies after the downfall of S.H.I.E.L.D. After subduing Hill's tails, the two talked. May did not believe Hill's statement that Nick Fury was dead. She did obtain a clue concerning the leader of Project T.A.H.I.T.I. and dug up Phil Coulson's gravesite to find the answer. May found the team in Los Angeles in a hotel, where Coulson forgave her for her secrets, and she revealed to him a report that Coulson himself had made to Fury where he resigned as leader of Project T.A.H.I.T.I., asking Fury not to use it.

A Woman Scorned
"Watch out, HYDRA. Here we come."

- Melinda May

The next morning, Coulson's Team had a meeting on how to find John Garrett and retrieve the Bus. After the meeting, May and Skye talked candidly about Grant Ward and how to focus their emotional pain effectively. May offered to be Skye's new S.O. May and Coulson went undercover as unemployed S.H.I.E.L.D. scientists seeking work with Cybertek in Palo Alto to get files pertaining to Deathlok. Eventually, Coulson's team learned of the old S.H.I.E.L.D. base that became the Barbershop Headquarters of HYDRA in Havana, Cuba. When they arrived however, May and the others became surrounded by Centipede Soldiers and Kaminsky carrying the Berserker Staff. May quickly relieved Kaminsky of the Berserker Staff as the others fought and Skye uploaded a computer program that allowed her to find Garrett. When Coulson ordered her to "bring the house down," May destroyed the support beams of the headquarters, causing the building to collapse and burying her opponents.

The team went to the Cybertek Manufacturing Facility in New Mexico and May and Skye entered through an opening created by Coulson and Antoine Triplett. Inside, May battled Grant Ward, enraged about his betrayal. The fight spilled over into the neighboring construction site, where she used a nail gun on Ward's foot and broke his larynx, winning the fight. After the defeat of Garrett, she, Coulson, and Nick Fury had a meeting, discussing Project T.A.H.I.T.I., S.H.I.E.L.D.'s founding principles, and Fury's status. She witnessed Coulson become the new Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. and went with the team to meet Billy Koenig in the Playground.

The New Beginning
A few months after Coulson officially became director, Coulson tasked Melinda May, Antoine Triplett, and Skye to act as back-up for Isabelle Hartley, Idaho, and Lance Hunter, who were attempting to buy information from a former S.H.I.E.L.D. agent when they were attacked by Carl Creel, who stole the information on an 0-8-4 that they sought. When May returned to the Playground and had a meeting with Coulson, she reminded him that she was to watch over him and keep him out of field missions, but he was making her job difficult by constantly being away.

May then fought Creel when he attacked Glenn Talbot and assisted in Talbot's kidnapping.

May told Skye to stay with her as they, Triplett, and the others went into a Government Storage Warehouse that had the Obelisk. When the operation went badly due to the interference of the Absorbing Man, May led Skye and Triplett to fulfill the second half of the mission: to obtain a Quinjet, so that the new S.H.I.E.L.D. could travel undetected. As Triplett and Skye escaped in the cloaked vehicle, May took a motorcycle for her escape. May saw the crashed SUV Lance Hunter was in and helped him escape it before pursuing Creel on the motorcycle. When she could have shot him from behind, Coulson told her to stand down because she was among civilian traffic. May yielded and followed Creel to a restaurant where he accidentally killed a waitress who touched him before he escaped.

May returned to the Playground where she and the other field agents met with Phil Coulson and witnessed his conversation with Raina to learn that the Obelisk could be tracked. However, she was knocked unconscious by an I.C.E.R. fired by Lance Hunter.

Later, May confronted Coulson about going into the field to stop Creel and why, after eighteen days, he had not released his urge to write the Words of Creation. Upon her prompting, Coulson yielded and began to carve the symbols on a wall in his office. Meanwhile, May documented the incident.

The Moroccan Mission
"And for the record, experience doesn't make it any easier to cross someone off."

- Melinda May

May continued her training of Skye in firearms, but advised her that killing is not an easy task. They were then interrupted by Hunter and Mack, the former asking if Skye attended the S.H.I.E.L.D. Academy to settle their wager; May reminded Hunter that she had not, otherwise he would  have known better than to shoot them. Hunter tried to apologize again but May refused to take it, telling him to wait.

She accompanied Skye and Hunter to Morocco in pursuit of Blizzard. While there, she and Hunter were told that HYDRA had brainwashed Gill, so no HYDRA agent should contact him. As Hunter was aiming to shoot the agent talking to Gill, May recognized the agent as Jemma Simmons, Coulson's mole in HYDRA. She shot Hunter with an I.C.E.R. to save Simmons, but this alerted Gill to their presence. May and Hunter were then trapped in the freighter when Blizzard froze the door.

When they returned to the Playground, May admitted to Skye that she had known Simmons was Coulson's mole. She also told Hunter that she and he were now even for when he shot her with an I.C.E.R.; however, she was only speaking for herself.

Double Trouble
"I will pay five hundred dollars right now for a pair of flats."

- Melinda May

Posing as Heidi Martin, May accompanied Coulson to a fundraiser for Santa Maria de las Flores in Miami, Florida to obtain a 500 year old painting with the Words of Creation inscribed on its back. Following Glenn Talbot, who was truly a disguised Sunil Bakshi, to his hotel room, May discovered the brainwashed Agent 33 working for HYDRA. As they fought, May was distracted by Bakshi and rendered unconscious.

Agent 33 then used the Photostatic Veil to copy May's face.

When May awakened, she was tied to a chair with Bakshi threatening to torture her for S.H.I.E.L.D.'s secrets. The commotion of Coulson's and Agent 33's struggle outside the room distracted Bakshi enough for May to escape. Then she challenged Agent 33 who continued to wear May's face. After a prolonged fight, May electrocuted the HYDRA operative and exited before backup soldiers could arrive.

After calling the real Glenn Talbot to inform him of HYDRA's latest scheme, May and Coulson talked about May's plan if Coulson went insane from the effects of GH.325. Though she told him that she would care for him, Coulson ordered her to put him down instead. May just nodded her head.

Revelations
When S.H.I.E.L.D. learned of a massacre in which the U.S. Navy's anti-HYDRA taskforce was affected by a weapon resembling the effects of the Obelisk, May assumed it to be in HYDRA's possession. As she, Skye, Antoine Triplett and Lance Hunter went to Phil Coulson for information, Skye spotted Coulson scribbling the alien writing into his desk. When asked for his source on the writing, Coulson remained tight-lipped. As everyone else left, May advised Coulson that keeping Skye in the dark would not end well.

May later barged into Coulson's office in the middle of his argument with Skye, who had discovered Coulson's condition, announcing that Raina was calling them again and wanted to meet.

Coulson agreed to meet and brought May, Skye and Hunter along as his lookouts. While Hunter sat on restaurant floor, May and Skye watched through the kitchen window. After Raina entered the restaurant, she and Coulson had a debate about the Obelisk before the Director questioned what she had up her sleeve. Raina then revealed that she discovered Jemma Simmons working undercover at HYDRA and threatened to expose her if Coulson does not allow her take Skye. When questioned why, she revealed that she knows Skye's Father. Though May insisted that she was lying, Skye said that Grant Ward said Raina knew her father and it could not be a coincidence. Coulson then refused the bargain, prompting Skye to attempt to go out and surrender herself; May blocked her, ordering her to stand down. Though Skye insisted that Simmons' life was on the line, May claimed that Coulson had a plan and was forced to restrain her. Coulson allowed the situation with Raina to play it out, showing that he had a plan and was not going to be threatened by Raina.

With her leverage gone, Raina was forced to confess that she was trying to reclaim the Obelisk from Skye's father to spare herself from Daniel Whitehall's wrath. After injecting a tracker into Raina's leg and getting Skye's father's location, Coulson sent her off. May then took note that the address Raina gave was only a few blocks away. She then signaled Coulson to switch off their earpieces to privately discuss what Richard Lumley told them about Skye, suggesting that her father was the one whom the ex-agent feared. They then noticed that Skye had gone ahead and managed to catch up with her. They found the condemned building deserted, save for two corpses, one killed by a scalpel and the other by brute force. This causes Skye to label her father a monster.

Back at the Playground, while enjoying Simmons' return, May informed a confused Triplett that Bobbi Morse was Hunter's "she-devil ex-wife" he always complained about.

Attack on the United Nations
"It's always a shame when a good soldier falls."

- Glenn Talbot to Melinda May

Melinda May led Bobbi Morse and Lance Hunter to Okinawa, Japan when they discovered that the Splinter Bombs used in an attack by HYDRA hired mercenaries on the United Nations were created there. During the flight, Morse asked May whether she still spoke to her ex-husband; May did not say a word. May's team though arrived too late to save Noelle Walters' team from being killed by those same mercenaries. Their leader, Marcus Scarlotti, killed Walters personally. When the team did arrive, May fought Scarlotti unarmed as he used his personal weapon, the Rope Dart Knife. She eventually knocked him unconscious for Glenn Talbot to take him into custody as Talbot gave his condolences to May on losing six agents.

The Hunt for Ward
May was field commander of the mission to capture Grant Ward after he escaped federal custody. She told Skye that if Coulson began carving the symbols while she was away to monitor him. While she was flying the Quinjet, Antoine Triplett and Bobbi Morse both answered to her when he failed to capture Ward in Philadelphia and her cover was blown in Atlanta.

May had to stay focused on her assignment when she learned that Phil Coulson was using the Theta Brain-Wave Frequency Machine.

In Boston, May gathered her field agents, including Lance Hunter, to raid the Goldbrix Tavern to capture Ward. There she found three dead HYDRA agents and Sunil Bakshi in a back room, tied to a chair and unconscious.

Returning to the Playground with Bakshi, May witnessed Coulson ask Hank Thompson to join the organization. She then assembled with the other senior agents when Director Coulson gave them a new mission: find the city that matched the City Blueprints before HYDRA can.

Interrogation of Sunil Bakshi
"Vault D, not the only vault; Agent Carter buried a lot of things here."

- Melinda May

May was in charge of the Playground while Coulson, Antoine Triplett, and Skye went to find the city. She told Coulson that Christian Ward wanted his own people to find his brother because S.H.I.E.L.D. was politically toxic.

Attention was given to Sunil Bakshi and Bobbi Morse's interrogation of him in Vault D. During the session, Morse wondered how Daniel Whitehall was connected to the Red Skull, so May revealed the keys to Vault B, where the Strategic Scientific Reserve kept its files. During their research, the agents learned that Whitehall was around during World War II as Werner Reinhardt, but they could not discern how he kept his youth.

Protecting Raina
When the Bus returned from Australia after finding the location of the city that matched the City Blueprints, May was among the assembled agents that Phil Coulson prepped to enter the city. However, Coulson learned from Billy Koenig that Agent 33 was assigned by HYDRA to retrieve Raina in Vancouver. So May became the mission commander of a team to protect her. Sam Koenig was looking forward to see her.

News aired of the investigation into the death of Senator Christian Ward; May told Skye that S.H.I.E.L.D. did all it could to help him. Coulson put Skye on May's team so that May could supervise her.

In Canada, May shot two HYDRA agents in a van, then used that van to hit two more operatives as they approached Raina when she attempted to surrender.

Aboard the cloaked Bus, everyone was wondering how May felt about Agent 33 having May's face. Skye came to her in a panic, talking that Coulson needed to be warned before he entered the city, but communications went down as four HYDRA Quinjets surrounded the plane.

Grant Ward traced Raina through the signal emitted by her tracker. May led the agents, guns drawn, in surrounding Ward as he entered the Bus. Ward promised that the quinjets would not fire, killing everyone, if Raina and Skye came willingly. Skye convinced May to allow her to leave.

Battle for the Kree City
May managed to save the rest of agents from an attack by the HYDRA Quinjets with a smart maneuver to cloak the Bus and eject the pods inside the plane to make HYDRA pilots believe they managed to destroy them. Arriving at San Juan, May told Phil Coulson what happened. In the Bus May blamed herself for letting Ward take Skye, but Coulson told her that her actions saved the others and that Skye would be fine as she had trained her into a fully capable field agent.

When Coulson learned that HYDRA was in the Ponce de León Theater, May, Morse, Hunter, and Coulson prepared for the Battle for the Kree City. May landed the S.H.I.E.L.D. Quinjet upon the roof, and she and the agents went down firing as HYDRA operatives came up. When she reached the Plasma Drill at the bottom, she attempted to stop Coulson from going into the Kree City, but Coulson was determined to save Skye and to see what all of the writing meant. When Morse and Hunter came, May told them to flee before the bombs that Antoine Triplett set could explode. She was over the hole as an earthquake shook the area.

Pulling Rank
Upon return from Kree City, the senior agents were stressed; May used exercise to mentally handle the death of Antoine Triplett.

Director Phil Coulson called a meeting of the senior agents to discuss what he wanted done with Sunil Bakshi and how he planned to make HYDRA pay for Triplett's death. During the meeting, Alphonso Mackenzie and Coulson began to argue; May told Mackenzie to remember his rank when speaking to the Director. This statement was not liked by Lance Hunter who began arguing with May. Ultimately, Coulson pulled rank and dismissed the squabble.

May and Coulson began transferring Bakshi to Glenn Talbot's custody when the S.H.I.E.L.D. SUV she was driving was hit by a truck filled with mercenaries. After a firefight where May proved her marksmanship and acrobatic superiority, she was shot by a mercenary who escaped with Bakshi. However, all of this was planned to lead S.H.I.E.L.D. to HYDRA's new superior since Daniel Whitehall was dead.

May returned to the Playground and visited Skye in her quarantine. She saw Skye bleeding and asked what happened; before she could answer, Leo Fitz assured May that everything was fine. May went to call Coulson, who was visiting Mrs. Triplett.

May attended the vigil the senior agents had for Triplett.

Protecting Skye
May and Skye sparred together, but May sensed that her student was holding back. When Leo Fitz interrupted the session, May challenged him but Skye asked him to leave, saying that she was fine.

Phil Coulson and she went to Portugal to retrieve Sif, who had lost her memories but was seeking something called "Kava". Skye found on YouTube a video of Sif fighting a man; May showed the video to Sif but it did not help her. While talking to Sif, May complimented the Asgardian on her skills as a warrior.

Eventually, the man was apprehended and revealed himself to be a Kree named Vin-Tak. He came to Earth because a Diviner had been activated and he wanted to destroy the Inhuman who had transformed. Vin-Tak told them that he caused Sif to lose her memory using his Truncheon. He used the device on Sif again, curing her amnesia.

May continued to listen as Vin-Tak further explained the origin of the Inhumans. When Skye was questioned about what she saw in Kree City as Raina transformed, she became nervous and caused the Playground to shake. May, Coulson, Sif, and Vin-Tak all realized Skye was an Inhuman. Sif and Vin-Tak both decided that Skye needed to be destroyed; May and Skye ran with them in pursuit. May took Skye to Vault D and activated the Inertial Confinement Laser Barrier to be alone with her. May tried to talk Skye into using the calming techniques that they had practiced; however, Skye could not stop herself from causing the quakes. When Sif used her sword to break the barrier, Skye used May's I.C.E.R. to knock herself unconscious to keep from harming anyone. May used that act to get Sif to stand down, showing that Skye was not harmful to those she considered her friends.

May and Coulson escorted Sif and Vin-Tak away from the Playground so that the Bifrost Bridge could take them to Asgard. After they were gone, she and Coulson remembered how the first mission of Coulson's Team involved Skye and wondered if it was fate that brought everyone together.

Reunion with Garner
With it known that Skye was an Inhuman, Phil Coulson and May put her on the Index. A psychological assessment was a requirement for Index candidates, so May went to Culver University to request the assistance of ex-S.H.I.E.L.D. consultant and her ex-husband Andrew Garner. He told May that he would assist Skye, not her, not S.H.I.E.L.D. While in his office, she noticed a picture frame, but did not ask about it.

She brought Garner to the Playground, but asked him to allow her to speak to Skye first before his interview. May revealed to Skye that Garner was her ex-husband; this made Skye want to meet him to try to learn of May's past. After the interview, May and Garner had an amicable talk that Leo Fitz, who had not previously known that she was married, noticed made her smile and laugh. The conversation was interrupted by the Bus shaking; May awakened the sleeping Skye to stop the tremors. Meanwhile, Coulson and Bobbi Morse were dealing with a prison break orchestrated by Calvin Zabo to release David Angar. When Zabo and his Slicing Talons were located in Manitowoc, Wisconsin, May quickly took the Bus to that location to backup Coulson, despite Garner and Skye being on-board. May told them to remain as non-combatants, but Skye insisted on helping; May decided to use Skye's relationship with Zabo to her advantage. May brought Skye at gunpoint to the location of Zabo's and Coulson's confrontation; this caused Zabo to hesitate and explain his motives. Before David Angar could attack, Zabo was teleported away. May told Garner to take Skye off the battlefield as she ran to fight Francis Noche. She kept the super-strong villain from making contact as best as possible, but all fighting stopped when an earthquake started.

Back at the Playground, May told Skye that she would do everything she could to help her. Garner decided not to rejoin S.H.I.E.L.D.; as May escorted him off the grounds, he decided not to rejoin with her as well, because of the person in the picture frame.

May gave Garner's recommendation that Skye be relieved from field assignments to Coulson. They discussed that May was having difficulty working with Skye because May did not want to repeat what happened in Bahrain. Coulson assured her that she could adapt.

Suspicious
Alphonso Mackenzie returned to the Playground without Lance Hunter; when May asked why and if he saw Bobbi Morse while he was out, Mackenzie lied, telling May that he had not. May then called Phil Coulson and asked him to return from a S.H.I.E.L.D. Safe House where he had taken Skye.

May and Coulson spoke with Glenn Talbot about his difficulties with Grant Ward and how, with assistance, he released Sunil Bakshi.

Turning their attention to more immediate matters, Coulson asked May if she believed Mackenzie's alibi; they did not and decided they would confront him.

Deputy Commander Duties
May found Bobbi Morse in Phil Coulson's office with the Toolbox in her hand, and she drew her gun on the intruder. Morse said that she could give an explanation, but then jumped through the window, hoping to escape. May pursued Morse and the two fought viciously; Morse activated an EMP to escape May in the resulting blackout.

May found Leo Fitz in the blackout of the Playground and the two found Coulson. The three compared notes; Alphonso Mackenzie was on the run and Morse had used a Vibranium tracking device to find the Toolbox. May remembered that Mackenzie was given the blueprints of the Playground earlier, but Coulson assured her that no one knew the facility better than they did.

Searching Morse's locker for where Morse would go if she left the base, May found a gas mask in a hidden compartment; she immediately realized that Morse was not leaving, but inviting an invasion.

May hid in the shadows as agents loyal to Robert Gonzales invaded the base. She listened as they discussed capturing Skye; May called Skye at the Retreat and warned her of the coming threat.

Shooting Gonzales with an I.C.E.R., May freed Coulson from his containment and sent him away through a hidden passageway before guards surrounded her. She chose to surrender.

Gonzales' Proposal
"What's the catch?" "No catch. We're gonna bring Coulson in with or without your help. And when we do, he should have a strong advocate on the board." "And then what?" "That's for us to decide. But right now he's acting like a fugitive and a threat. We do not take any threat against S.H.I.E.L.D. lightly."

- Melinda May and Robert Gonzales

Two days later, May sat silently as Robert Gonzales attempted to interrogate her about the whereabouts of Phil Coulson or Skye, both of whom having escaped capture. He attempted to break down her loyalty to Coulson, reminding her of her previous directive to monitor Coulson for Fury and her subsequent order to terminate Coulson if he went insane, all because he could not trust himself. When he questioned if she was loyal to Coulson or to S.H.I.E.L.D., May responded that they are one and the same. Gonzales countered that Skye injured seven agents with her powers. May defended her protege, insisting that the Diviner, not Coulson, was responsible for Skye's powers. Gonzales deconstructed that fact by reminding her of how GH.325 drove Coulson to the Kree City, but May defended that they went to stop HYDRA because it was their job, and argued that it is what S.H.I.E.L.D. should be doing instead of wasting their time on a witch-hunt. Gonzales held up the file of May's actions in Bahrain to remind her of the dangers of individuals with superpowers; this still did not make her talk. She promised Gonzales that Coulson would eventually face him on his terms.

Later, Gonzales took May aboard the Bus to the Iliad. He passed her his gun and told her to shoot him if she believed he was a traitor to S.H.I.E.L.D., if not, to hear his proposal. He asked May to join the leadership of his faction of S.H.I.E.L.D. as an advocate for Coulson, so that when he was captured, someone could understand and defend Coulson's motives against the other leaders. May gave Gonzales back his gun, saying that it was just for show; Gonzales emptied the clip and chamber of the loaded gun to show that he was deadly serious. May began to contemplate.

Return to the Playground
Aboard the Iliad, May was asked by Bobbi Morse and Anne Weaver if she could tell them about Deathlok and about Theta Protocol, but May gave only a little information about it. Morse and Weaver explained to her the massive investment of Phil Coulson on Theta Protocol and that the reason why they wanted to open the Toolbox was answers. May asked them if she could become the person in charge of the Playground and investigate those accusations. On a Quinjet back to the Playground, Morse realized that May had no idea about Theta Protocol. As May returned to the Playground, she was greeted warmly by Jemma Simmons, whom May asked to assist her. They discovered that Coulson was commissioning Simmons to upgrade Deathlok without her knowledge, was having clandestine meetings with Andrew Garner, and was spending a lot of money. With growing concern, May ordered Simmons to open the Toolbox.

Finding Coulson
"I can't believe what I'm hearing. You're on their side." "It's not about sides. It's about the truth."

- Jemma Simmons and Melinda May

In Coulson's office, Simmons revealed to May that she worked on a fake Toolbox and the real one was with Leo Fitz. May told Simmons that she would handle it, and she told Bobbi Morse about Simmons' action. When she told Simmons what she had done, May asked Simmons if she could hack into Mike Peterson's hard-drive and see, through him, where Phil Coulson was. Simmons agreed to the question but with disappointment over May's actions. May tried to convince her that the her actions were the right thing to do in order to reveal Coulson's secrets. May, Simmons, Morse and Alphonso Mackenzie were in Coulson's office when Skye called. May asked her where she was and Skye told her she was with Calvin Zabo. May signaled to Simmons to locate Skye's location. Skye told May that she wouldn't stay with Zabo much longer and S.H.I.E.L.D. needed to retrieve him before he hurt someone. Morse suggested that she take a team and retrieve Skye and her father.

Later, Simmons succeeded in hacking Peterson's hard-drive and they saw that Coulson was with Grant Ward.

Attack on the Arctic HYDRA Research Facility
Phil Coulson returned to the Playground with Grant Ward and Agent 33. Later, May, Coulson, Ward, Robert Gonzales, Bobbi Morse, Anne Weaver and Oliver had a meeting about Coulson's plan to infiltrate the Arctic HYDRA Research Facility, destroy it and rescue Deathlok with the help of Sunil Bakshi, a spy in the facility. Gonzales' board voted on whether or not to approve Coulson's plan. Before May made her vote, she spoke with Coulson about his previous lies and his meetings with Andrew Garner, but Coulson told her that the meetings with Garner were only for counseling on his alien writing compulsions. He assured May he would apologize to her at length after they had saved Peterson and the other powered people. May agreed to Coulson's plan and joined his infiltration team.

When Coulson, May, Jemma Simmons, Leo Fitz and Ward boarded the Bus, they heard a loud noise. May immediately pointed her gun toward Ward, but he said it had not been him. Skye appeared; teleported from Afterlife to assist their mission. On the way to the base, Coulson asked Ward to give the team the information about the base sent by Bakshi. As Ward was speaking, he quickly stopped and tried to explain his actions as an undercover HYDRA agent, but none of the team members were convinced of his choice. Near the base, HYDRA spotted the Bus' location and sent missiles to shoot it out of the sky, but the team escaped with a Quinjet and entered the base. Once they were inside the base, the team regrouped with Sunil Bakshi and were split into two groups: Skye, Simmons, Ward and Bakshi went to save Mike Peterson; and May, Coulson and Fitz went to take down the defense system, so Robert Gonzales' men could destroy the base. May defended Fitz while he hacked HYDRA's system. When he succeeded, she looked for Coulson and found him hacking into another computer. She ordered him to leave, and once he had finished, he did. When the team saved Peterson and Lincoln Campbell, May informed Gonzales that they had succeeded in their mission.

One S.H.I.E.L.D.
During a meeting with Phil Coulson, May, Robert Gonzales, Bobbi Morse, Anne Weaver and Oliver on the Iliad, Coulson reveled that Theta Protocol was a hided Helicarrier which during a world-thrashed event, the Helicrrier was activated and helped against the threat. Coulson suggested to establish on S.H.I.E.L.D. which he appropriated as the Director and Gonzales' Council as advisers.

A New Threat
Later, May and Morse spook about how the things went back to normal, but May did not believe that. May also asked her if she thought that she forgave Coulson, Lance Hunter will do the same. Soon after, the alarm of the ship was triggered and May and Bobbi found the invaders, Gordon and Raina in the room where the Monolith was, but as they saw them, Gordon telperoted him and Raina. After which, May was present in a meeting with Coulson and his council who discussed about the new party the Monolith. Coulson and May came to the Playground and asked Skye if she knew what the Monolith was, but she said neither she and Lincoln Campbell knew what that was. Coulson asked more about the new group but Skye only said they wanted to be left alone. Coulson asked who they should call them and Skye said they called themselves Inhumans. May claimed that the Inhumanss were very dangerous, but Skye also claimed that the same thing could be said about May. She said to her that Jiaying had told her the story of what happened to the little girl and her mother in Bahrain and the fact that the two were Inhumans.

May and Coulson were in the hangar and she said to him she missed the Bus. He told her that Jiaying was Skye's mother, but May didn't respond. Coulson wanted apologized to May, as he had promised, but May didn't want to talk about this. She reveled to him what really happened to the little girl in Bahrain and the choice May had to make to save the agents lives. May also claimed that he lost control when he carved the City Blueprints. Coulson said he had control, but May said that Skye was a living proof that he hadn't.

In the next day, after S.H.I.E.L.D. found the Inhumans' base, Coulson and the council planed Coulson's meeting with the Inhumans leader, Jiayning, and found a solution to their conflict, but Robert Gonzales claimed that he should go to meet her because he was too close to Skye. He gave the example of the creating of Ultron by Tony Stark, how the Avengers let to one man do whatever he wanted. Coulson asked for May's opinion and she said that Gonzales should go.

Afterlife
"What about you? Why can't you be in there right now?" "I told you. We needed someone objective."

- Skye and Melinda May

May fly Gonzales and Anne Weaver to the Inhumans' base with a Quinjet. She walked with Gonzales until he entered to meet Jiaying. She saw then Calvin Zabo arrested by S.H.I.E.L.D.. Skye asked her where was Coulson, but May told there had to be someone objective to meet her mother. Skye said that Gonzales sent people to kill her a few weeks ago, but May said that he was a much better person than she thought. May said to Skye she hopped her mother was everything Skye had wanted her to be. May informed Coulson that the Inhumans turned over Zabo.

Personality
Melinda May is a quiet person who was described as "warm", "fearless" and unafraid to break rules. May was a veteran pilot and soldier until she was 'damaged' from an incident in Bahrain. May has an unwavering respect for Coulson and follows his orders even when it conflicts with her desires, as when she yielded in her pursuit of Carl Creel. She was deeply hurt when she heard he had died. May was married to Doctor Andrew Garner, but she doesn't discuss her past with her teammates.

May is fiercely protective of her teammates, going back into the field to protect Coulson despite having retired from field missions, taking up the Berserker Staff instead of Ward, and going so far as attacking Ian Quinn after he shot Skye. She is very secretive and often answer questions with a look, using short or no words at all. Despite her protectiveness of them, it took May a long time to bond with her team. Skye even claimed that she acted like a robot, as everything for her was just "Target- acquired. Threat- eliminated."

Abilities
"The only word for that kind of flying is "fancy"."

- Antoine Triplett

"I know all of your moves. I was once S.H.I.E.L.D." "Not all of them."
 * Master Pilot: May is an accomplished pilot, able to perform such feats as flying through the eye of a storm with a plane as large as the Bus, or deceiving a series of HYDRA Quinjets into believing the plane had been destroyed using a clever cloaking maneuver. She, as mission commander, is usually in charge of piloting the Quinjet as well.

- Agent 33 and May


 * Master Martial Artist: May is one of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s best martial artists, possessing more black belts than the notorious Black Widow. She was able to take down a Centipede assassin and beat Grant Ward in a sparring match and twice again, once when he was under the influence of Lorelei and the other time when they fought at Cybertek. Agent 33 underestimated May in their fight because both were trained by S.H.I.E.L.D. Even after being tortured she was able to defeat Agent 33. She has been overcome in physical combat on very few occasions, especially by opponents with superhuman strength, such as Michael Peterson when he took her by surprise in an alley in Los Angeles, or the Asgardian Lorelei.
 * Master Acrobat: May is seen using her acrobatic skills to her advantage. She was able to surpass the speed of a running Cybertek security guard doing multiple handsprings to take him out.
 * Expert Marksman: May prefers not to use firearms during her missions, unless strictly necessary. If forced to use them, May usually chooses handguns as her weapon, even when the agents that accompany her choose assault weapons. She has displayed high accuracy, being able to kill most of her enemies with a single shot, or being able to shoot Lance Hunter in the shoulder to avoid compromising Jemma Simmons' mission cover within HYDRA.
 * Multilingualism: May is fluent in English, Cantonese, Mandarin and Spanish. She used this skill in missions in Hong Kong and Miami.

Weapons
Despite being well-trained in the use of all kind of firearms, Melinda May prefers the use of her martial arts skill and unarmed combat unless the situation requires it. In case she needs a weapon, she prefers to use small handguns even while her teammates are using high caliber weapons.
 * : The Smith & Wesson M&P pistol is the standard sidearm carried by S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, and, as such, May has used it to threaten or shoot most of his enemies. She used it during the assaul on the Maribel del Mar, to kill HYDRA operatives, stop Donnie Gill and even to shoot at Lance Hunter to prevent him from unawarely killing Jemma Simmons. She also used it to threaten Grant Ward when he kidnapped Skye on the Bus.
 * : May has used the compact version of the Smith & Wesson M&P during mission that required high mobility, such as the assault on an abandoned facility to apprehend Deathlok and hopefully tracking down the Clairvoyant, finding Thomas Nash inside the building.
 * : May took a Glock 19 from a disarmed soldier from the Policia Militar de Perú in Llactapata when the soldiers began to surround them, and used to aim at the rest of soldiers before Phil Coulson cleared up the situation.
 * : May took a Auto-Ordnance M1911A1 from a disarmed soldier from the Policia Militar de Perú in Llactapata when the soldiers began to surround them, and used to aim at the rest of soldiers before Phil Coulson cleared up the situation.
 * Night-Night Gun: May coldly used a Night-Night Gun to incapacitate Hannah Hutchins when she believed that she was a telekinetic whose powers were going out of control.
 * I.C.E.R.: May tested the I.C.E.R.s as Leo Fitz showed them to his teammates during their mission to capture the rogue Asgardian Lorelei. She has used it during missions that required the use of non-lethal force, such as her attempts to prevent her teammates from discovering her direct line to Director Nick Fury, the attack against the Cybertek Manufacturing Facility, the infiltration into the Government Storage Warehouse or the extraction of Raina in Vancouver.
 * Berserker Staff: Melinda May grabbed the Berserker Staff from Grant Ward while confronting a group of Norse Paganists, gaining superhuman strength to defeat Petra Larsen and the last remaining paganists. She also took it from Kaminsky in Cuba, using it to demolish the Barbershop Headquarters over a group of Centipede Soldiers.

Other Equipment

 * Heat Signature Detector: In order to track pyrokinetic Chan Ho Yin, May used a Heat Signature Detector device inside a Centipede Project laboratory in Hong Kong, easily finding his location within the building.
 * Infrared Goggles: A pair of goggles able to see the infrared spectrum, that May used to locate a package delivered by Cybertek to Ian Quinn in Italy.
 * Tactical Parachute: May wore a Tactical Parachute while walking over the train sporting the Cybertek package, as a safety measure in case of need. She ended up using it when a member of the security team started to shoot her, and she was forced to jump of the train.
 * UHF Pin: May wore this pin during her undercover mission at Cybertek Corporate Headquarters, allowing Skye to scan the UHF signals to access information. However, as she found nothing, May and Phil Coulson had to examine the building, finding that all Cybertek files were hard copies.
 * S.H.I.E.L.D. Uniforms: May wore two S.H.I.E.L.D. uniforms during her time as a member of Coulson's Team, prior to the fall of S.H.I.E.L.D.. Her primary uniform consisted of a skintight blue shirt with finger hooks and the S.H.I.E.L.D. logo on both shoulders, a leather vest that extended past her waist, black pants, and tall, black boots. She wore a variation of this during her first mission with Coulson's Team, which consisted of a black version of her blue shirt, a blue leather vest with a large belt, black combat pants, and low, black boots. May wore a black catsuit while on a mission to apprehend Ian Quinn in Italy. During her work with Coulson's S.H.I.E.L.D., May mostly abandoned her primary uniform and during missions often wore simply a blue and black leather jacket.

Family

 * Lian May - Mother
 * Andrew Garner - Former Husband

Allies

 * S.H.I.E.L.D. (First Incarnation) - Allies (Former Relationships)


 * Nick Fury - Director
 * Maria Hill - Deputy Director
 * Victoria Hand † - Superior Officer
 * Felix Blake - Colleague
 * Natasha Romanoff - Colleague
 * Eric Koenig † - Colleague
 * Billy Koenig - Colleague
 * Hart - Superior Officer
 * O'Brien - Colleague
 * Jazuat - Colleague
 * Garrett's Team - Colleagues
 * John Garrett †
 * Antoine Triplett †
 * Coulson's Team - Teammates
 * Phil Coulson - Team Leader and Good Friend
 * Leo Fitz
 * Jemma Simmons
 * Skye
 * Grant Ward
 * S.H.I.E.L.D. (Second Incarnation)


 * Phil Coulson - Director and Good Friend
 * Skye - Colleague, Friend and Pupil
 * Leo Fitz - Colleague
 * Jemma Simmons - Colleague
 * Antoine Triplett † - Colleague
 * Lance Hunter - Colleague
 * Alphonso Mackenzie - Colleague
 * Bobbi Morse - Colleague
 * Isabelle Hartley † - Colleague
 * Idaho † - Colleague
 * Billy Koenig - Colleague
 * Sam Koenig - Colleague
 * Robert Gonzales † - Colleague
 * Anne Weaver - Colleague
 * Oliver † - Colleague
 * Michael Peterson/Deathlok - Former Enemy (under HYDRA Coercion), now Colleague
 * Elliot Randolph
 * Akela Amador - Enemy while under HYDRA Coercion, now Ally
 * Sif
 * Gabriel Soto
 * Glenn Talbot - Situational Ally
 * Lincoln Campbell

Enemies

 * Eva Belyakov † - Victim
 * Katya Belyakov † - Victim
 * Raina †
 * Camilla Reyes
 * Chan Ho Yin †
 * Luca Russo † - Torturer and Victim
 * Cybertek
 * Ott
 * Diaz
 * HYDRA
 * Grant Ward - Former Teammate and Former Lover
 * Jasper Sitwell † - Former S.H.I.E.L.D. Colleague
 * Centipede Project
 * John Garrett † - Former S.H.I.E.L.D. Colleague
 * Ian Quinn
 * Kaminsky
 * Centipede Soldiers
 * Brian Hayward †
 * Carl Creel
 * Sunil Bakshi † - Torturer
 * Marcus Scarlotti
 * Lorelei
 * Agent 33 † - Former S.H.I.E.L.D. Colleague turned Enemy (while brainwashed)
 * Vin-Tak
 * Calvin Zabo - Enemy and Situational Ally
 * Inhumans
 * Jiaying †
 * Gordon †
 * Alisha

Trivia

 * This character was originally listed with the name Agent Althea Rice (a.k.a. The Cavalry) on casting sheets.
 * In the comics, The Cavalry is the name of a Georgia-based superhero team.
 * Melinda May is the title of a song written by and published in 1851.
 * May hates coffee and high heels.
 * According to her ex-husband Andrew Garner, May loves Las Vegas.

Behind the Scenes

 * Due to her popularity, Melinda May was introduced into the mainstream Marvel Comics universe.