Inhumans

"We're humans. We just have the potential to be more."

- Raina to Skye

The Inhumans are a race of altered human beings that were the result of experiments on ancient humans by the extraterrestrial race, the Kree, embedding into their genetic code the potential to transform and acquire superhuman abilities through a process known as Terrigenesis.

Origin
Centuries ago, an extraterrestrial race known as the Kree waged a long war with high causalities. In need of more soldiers, one vicious faction among the Kree decided to genetically modify the DNA of other intelligent creatures across various planets, intending to create a warrior/slave caste that they could use to help win the prolonged war. The Kree eventually came to Earth, where they created their own installation and began experimenting on groups of humans, changing their genetic make up, which gave them the latent potential to develop superhuman abilities. Before the experiments could be completed, another faction of the Kree came to Earth to shut down the project.

The Kree eventually left Earth, believing their experiments were unsuccessful. However, the altered genes of the human test subjects were passed on through generations of their descendants. The Kree also left behind numerous Terrigen Crystals, contained in devices called the Diviners, which could be used to activate the dormant genetic modifications.

Living in the Shadows
The Inhumans began life on earth living amongst the general population. For years they have kept their powers secret, unknown to the outside world. There was, and are sometimes still rumors of Inhumans in the public.

Massacre in Hunan
Centuries later, villagers of the Hunan Province, passing on stories about the Kree, or "Blue Angels", found one of the Diviners while digging at night. During World War II, HYDRA General Werner Reinhardt captured these villagers and the artifact, where he discovered that one particular woman, Jiaying, could touch the artifact unharmed, while the others became petrified by it. Before he could discover what made her different, he was forced to evacuate his headquarters to elude the Allied forces. By 1983, Jiaying had become a mentor to young Inhumans who had recently experienced Terrigenesis, each scared and confused; Gordon was one such adolescent. Though other Inhumans such as Yat-Sen would prepare adolescents for the process, the results were still unpredictable and frightening for each individual. Eventually, Jiaying became the leader of the Inhumans living in Afterlife, a settlement established to hide them from the rest of the world.

In 1989, Reinhardt was released from an Allied prison by HYDRA forces within S.H.I.E.L.D. and was reunited with Jiaying, whom he noticed had not physically aged since their last encounter. Ambitious to regain the youth that he had lost locked away in prison, Reinhardt vivisected the woman, using part of her biology to revert his aged body to a younger appearance. He then dumped her body in a ditch, where it was discovered by her husband, Calvin Zabo, much to his despair. In desperation, Zabo stitched her body back together, and Jiaying's healing ability brought her back to life.

Rescue in Bahrain
In 2008, an Inhuman changed the life of Melinda May from a happily married wife wanting children to an emotionally detached divorcée who strictly follows rules. The Inhuman Eva Belyakov gave Terrigen Crystals to her daughter Katya Belyakov despite Katya not having the proper mental training for obtaining a power. May was forced to kill both the mother and daughter when Katya went insane. This incident affected May because she watched as Katya's touch killed others and Katya was but a child. This incident also changed the Inhuman community to look unfavorably upon those who received their powers without proper training.

Raina's Journey
Elsewhere, stories of the Kree were passed to Raina by her grandmother. In Thailand, Raina was taken in by Calvin Zabo, who told her that the stories were true and that she was one of the special people from those tales. He offered to help her discover her destiny if she reunited him with his daughter.

While working for the Centipede Project, thinking that its director, the Clairvoyant, would tell her of her destiny, Raina learned that a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent named Skye was actually Zabo's daughter and brought him a picture of her. When Raina obtained a Diviner, she took it to Zabo, who proved to her that she was one of the special people by having her touch it without harm, but told her that he would reveal more upon reunion with his daughter.

Battle for the Kree City
During a protracted conflict between S.H.I.E.L.D. and a HYDRA branch led by Werner Reinhardt (now going by the name Daniel Whitehall), Grant Ward eventually captured both Raina and Skye for HYDRA, allowing Zabo and his daughter to reunite. Whitehall had Skye touch the Diviner, proving that she was one of the descendants of the experimented. Uninterested in what the Diviner could really do, Skye chased Raina into the Kree City under San Juan, Puerto Rico, to stop Raina from using it, but they found themselves locked in a chamber. The Diviner that Raina had brought floated to a pedestal where it opened to reveal the Terrigen Crystals inside and released its Terrigen Mist. Both women underwent Terrigenesis, after which Skye emerged with the power to create earthquakes and Raina grew sharp thorns over most of her body.

Afterlife
Meanwhile, the Inhuman and right hand of the their leader Jiaying, Gordon, who owned another Diviner, contacted one of his associates as the Diviner began to glow, informing them that he would begin searching for the two, newly transformed Inhumans. He found Raina first and volunteered to help guide her through the emotional and physical trauma of her change, just as he was guided years before.

Though he had the opportunity to teleport Skye, Gordon was sent to retrieve Calvin Zabo, telling the doctor that he was drawing too much attention to the Inhumans.

Eventually, Gordon did get Skye and brought her to Afterlife, the Inhuman settlement hidden from the world but accessible through Gordon's teleportation power. There Skye was given a form of acupuncture from Lincoln Campbell that caused her body to adapt to the Terrigenesis. Campbell explained to her that others in Afterlife were jealous of her because she transformed while they still desired for it. Campbell also accidentally revealed that Raina was there also. When Skye attempted to use her power to kill Raina to avenge the death of Antoine Triplett, she was stopped by Jiaying, who offered to be her mentor.

Meanwhile, Calvin Zabo was imprisoned in Afterlife and, though Jiaying was thankful to him for reuniting her with their daughter Skye, his request to see her was denied.

The Kree Threat
The transformation also caught the attention of a Kree named Vin-Tak, who believed that Inhumans were abominations that needed to be destroyed in order to prevent others of his own people from restarting their weapons program. He explained to S.H.I.E.L.D. the origin of the Inhumans, while discovering that six Diviners the Kree had hidden on Earth were all missing. Ultimately, Vin-Tak returned to Hala, after being made to forget why he came to Earth, but S.H.I.E.L.D. now had a quest to find the missing Diviners.

HYDRA Targets
The HYDRA scientist, Dr. List, noticed a "quantum entanglement" anytime Gordon used his teleportation power. Creating instruments to record and trace the phenomenon, List found Ethan Johnston soon after he was brought to a campsite by Gordon. When Gordon brought Skye and Calvin Zabo to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, List followed, with an army of HYDRA operatives, in hopes of capturing the superpowered individual. Gordon quickly returned to Wisconsin after consulting Jiaying and retrieved the father and daughter, though he left Lincoln Campbell behind.

Campbell was captured by HYDRA, along with the S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Deathlok. S.H.I.E.L.D. performed a rescue for their agent; Skye went also to rescue Campbell. The rescue was successfully and Skye brought the comatosed Campbell to the Playground, where he was placed on the Index and humans learned of the existence of the Inhumans.

Ambush in Afterlife
S.H.I.E.L.D. decided to set up a peace treaty between themselves and the newly discovered species, since Skye explained that past encounters between Humans and Inhumans were not good. The organization also decided that it wanted to place the population on its Index to have them documented.

Using the "quantum entanglement" theory of Dr. List, Anne Weaver was able to find Afterlife and S.H.I.E.L.D. sent a convoy to meet Jiaying, the Inhuman leader. Robert Gonzales was chosen to be the spokesman since Phil Coulson was deemed too close to Skye and Kree technology to be objective. The meeting did not result in a peace treaty as Jiaying used an artificial Terrigen Crystal to petrify Gonzales, then used his gun to shoot herself in the shoulder. Bloody, she exited the meeting, declaring war.

Characteristic Traits
"The changes may not be on the surface, but buried inside. You must understand, these creatures are weapons. Abominations, even if they don't know it."

- Vin-Tak to Phil Coulson, Melinda May and Skye

Before undergoing Terrigenesis, Inhumans resemble normal humans with no apparently abnormal abilities. When exposed to the Terrigen Mist, Inhumans become encased in an earthen-like cocoon. While encased, an Inhuman will go through a myriad of biological changes, emerging from the cocoon with a varying manifestation of superhuman abilities. While some Inhumans who have undergone Terrigenesis maintain the physical likeness of a normal human, some have very clear physical differences, like Raina, who has thorns all over her body, and Gordon, who has no eyes. Known superhuman abilities shown by different Inhumans include a lack of physical aging, life-force absorption, teleportation, force-field generation, premonitions, replication, superhuman strength, superhuman durability, sensory manipulation, electromagnetism manipulation, and vibration manipulation.

Trivia

 * In the comics, the Inhumans were created by the Kree experiments designed to "jump-start" genetic modifications previously made by the Celestials on human beings, as soldiers in their war with the s. The Supreme Intelligence ordered the end of the project when he foresaw they would destroy him. The Inhumans since divided into several tribes who have migrated across the globe and even into space.
 * Vin-Tak and Sif stated Earth was only one of the worlds that the Kree succeeded in creating Inhumans. In the comics, the other four species are the Dire Wraiths, Kymellians, Centaurians and the Badoon. The last two, who exist in the MCU, are considered to be separate, unrelated alien species.
 * According to Raina, Skye will one day lead the Inhumans.

Behind the Scenes

 * Due to having the rights to the X-Men and "mutants" as defined in the Marvel continuity, Inhumans in the Marvel Cinematic Universe are filling a role similar to mutants in the main Marvel Universe.