Zephyr One

Zephyr One
Builder	Leo Fitz Leo Fitz † (upgrades) Alternate Versions: Leo Fitz (Framework) Leo Fitz † Leo Fitz † (upgrades)
Owner	Phil Coulson † S.H.I.E.L.D. Alternate Versions: HYDRA S.H.I.E.L.D. True Believers
Users	S.H.I.E.L.D. Hive † Sarge † Nathaniel Malick's Crew Alternate Versions: HYDRA S.H.I.E.L.D. True Believers S.H.I.E.L.D.
Passengers	Phil Coulson † Leo Fitz Jemma Simmons Daisy Johnson Alphonso Mackenzie Joey Gutierrez Yo-Yo Rodriguez Rosalind Price † Glenn Talbot † JT James Robbie Reyes Gabe Reyes Holden Radcliffe † Aida † Leo Fitz † Deke Shaw Tony Caine Polly Hinton Robin Hinton Enoch † Melinda May Daniel Sousa Kora Alternate Versions: Leo Fitz † Jemma Simmons † Melinda May † Robin Hinton † Enoch † Phil Coulson † Leo Fitz † Jemma Simmons Daisy Johnson Alphonso Mackenzie Deke Shaw
Prisoners	R. Giyera † Tucker Shockley Holden Radcliffe † Hale † Jaco † Pax † Sarge † Alternate Versions: Samuel Voss
Weapons	ASM missiles
Status	Operational Destroyed (alternate versions)
Appearances
TV Series	Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
Web Series	Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: Slingshot

"The Zephyr's feeling more and more like home. In-flight meals could be better, but it's mine."

―Phil Coulson to Melinda May^[src]

Zephyr One, also known as Z1 or simply the Zephyr, is a mobile airborne command plane designed by Leo Fitz to be S.H.I.E.L.D.'s main aircraft and mobile headquarters after the Bus was destroyed during an attack on a HYDRA facility. Upon being upgraded, it was used by S.H.I.E.L.D. to travel through space and time. After the war against the Chronicoms, it was succeeded by Zephyr Three.

History

Used by S.H.I.E.L.D.

The Zephyr landing in the Playground

"Okay, people! What, you never seen the biggest plane ever built before?"

―Piper^[src]

Designed by Leo Fitz, Zephyr One was used after the War Against the Inhumans. Zephyr One was used by Daisy Johnson, Alphonso Mackenzie, Lance Hunter, and Phil Coulson to extract a new inhuman and bring him to the Playground.

Phil Coulson contacted the Playground and ordered Mackenzie to use Zephyr One to transport the Monolith to a castle in England.

Melinda May called Coulson for reinforcements during the Attack on Grant Ward, who flew Zephyr One to his location along with a team of heavily armed S.H.I.E.L.D. agents., but were forced to divert to help Andrew Garner, who was being targeted by HYDRA.

May and Bobbi Morse later used Zephyr One in their search for Werner von Strucker in the hopes that he would lead them to Grant Ward. Their search took them from the Cayman Islands to Lisbon.

Director Phil Coulson used Zephyr One to travel to a high level, but completely off the books, meeting being chaired by President Ellis at NORAD in Colorado to discuss the future of enhanced people. His attendance was as a consultant to Rosalind Price of the ATCU. Before they could reach their destination, Zephyr One was boarded by Mackenzie and Lincoln Campbell, who had come with suspicions that Lash was working within S.H.I.E.L.D. Campbell's theory revolved around the murders of the Inhumans from Afterlife, whose locations were kept in Jiaying's ledger, which was confiscated by S.H.I.E.L.D. and given to Dr. Andrew Garner. Mackenzie also mentioned that May had looked up Garner's flight logs which coincided with the murders. Realizing that Garner is Lash, Coulson has Zephyr One divert to find him and May. After capturing Lash, S.H.I.E.L.D. agreed to hand him over to the ATCU to put him in stasis until a cure could be found.

Zephyr One later participated in Operation Spotlight to infiltrate the ATCU and find out their true intentions for Inhumans. After Garner's containment module sent a virus into their system, Agent Mackenzie intercepted Steve Wilson's call, posing as FBI cyber division, which enabled Bobbi Morse and Lance Hunter to infiltrate the facility. Johnson fed Hunter technical terminology to establish his cover as an IT specialist. May and Campbell then took a quinjet to await the agents' extraction. When Morse went further into the facility and found Nature Max Supplements Fish Oil pills and Terrigenesis cocoon, at the same time, Johnson had found records that the ATCU was purposely giving Terrigen to its employees and witnesses of Inhuman incidents to create more. Worse, Johnson finds that one of their employees, R. Giyera, was Inhuman, and contacted May and Campbell to initiate the extraction.

The Zephyr leaves Playground as May destroys the remaining LMDs

Following S.H.I.E.L.D.s relegitimization the Zephyr was used after the rogue Daisy Johnson who was attempting to stop the Watchdogs. Upon doing this she came across Robbie Reyes, aka the Ghost Rider. Zephyr One was present in preventing Eli Morrow from causing the destruction of Los Angeles following Aida's attempt to infiltrate S.H.I.E.L.D. through LMDs. The Zephyr escaped the Playground with the help of May, though the playground was destroyed. Following this, the agents spent ten days on Zephyr One until they found their missing friends, then they snuck back into the destroyed playground to refuel during Aida's rampage.

Hunter and Fitz leaves Blue Raven Ridge

Due to S.H.I.E.L.D. still being labeled as a terrorist organization, Zephyr One was seized by the United States Air Force, led by General Hale, and was kept in a storage facility at Blue Raven Ridge. However, the plane was later stolen by Leo Fitz and Lance Hunter, who used the aircraft to escape from Blue Raven Ridge which they had infiltrated in order to reclaim Enoch's Cryo-Freeze Chamber.

Upgraded

S.H.I.E.L.D. reclaims Zephyr One

"The Zephyr's... been the one place we've been able to call home these last few years."
"I'll always miss the Bus."

―Alphonso Mackenzie and Daisy Johnson^[src]

Leo Fitz later showed his S.H.I.E.L.D. teammates, upon returning from the year 2091, where he had left the plane so they could resume their missions in order to avert the Destruction of Earth. The team took the plane, once again piloted by Melinda May, to St. Louis in order to inspect an aerospace facility. They later used the plane to retreat as they had been attacked by a group of Sleeper Mechs, which had caused Yo-Yo Rodriguez to lose her arms. The plane was taken to the Lighthouse, using the base's landing ground.

Zephyr One hovers over the Principia

S.H.I.E.L.D. later had Tony Caine come aboard Zephyr One so he could tell them more about Joseph Getty, who could lead them to a cargo of Gravitonium. Using intel provided by Getty and used by Fitz, Jemma Simmons and Deke Shaw, S.H.I.E.L.D. used Zephyr One to find the flying boat Principia. Once they located the ship, Zephyr One remained hovering over it while a team went to inspect the ship thanks to the plane's Containment Module. They then safely returned and Zephyr One was taken back to the Lighthouse while the Principia fell back into the sea.

Hale's car is taken into the cloaked Zephyr

Phil Coulson and May later used Zephyr One's cloaking to successfully capture Hale. They took her into an interrogation room in the plane, but while Coulson discussed with Hale, May realized that her driver they had captured as well was Carl Creel, who threatened to blow up the plane with a bomb belt. Zephyr One was then approached by a Quinjet transporting Anton Ivanov, who boarded the aircraft. Coulson was then forced to leave Zephyr One to go with Hale, Creel, and Ivanov.

In an attempt to find Coulson, Daisy Johnson and May took Zephyr One near the Retreat, where Robin Hinton was hiding with her mother Polly. The Hintons were taken to Zephyr One, where May found one of Robin's drawings which could indicate the whereabouts of Coulson in a mountainous region. James Davis landed the plane near the supposed location of Coulson, who was successfully rescued by the team. However, Shaw was heavily wounded in the battle against HYDRA, and nearly died during the flight back to the Lighthouse.

Zephyr One lands at the HYDRA Herefordshire Facility

Johnson and May later took Zephyr One in order to attack the HYDRA Preparatory Academy. They got into the plane's Containment Module, which was projected to the ground while Agent Thomas fired a missile at the Academy to initiate the attack. After Hale surrendered, she joined May and Johnson in Zephyr One, which was taken to the HYDRA Herefordshire Facility. Following the battle there, Zephyr One returned to the Lighthouse.

The cloaked Zephyr One docks to Qovas' Ship

In order to get the Hintons and Creel, who had been rescued from HYDRA by S.H.I.E.L.D., into safety, Johnson took Zephyr One away from the Lighthouse shortly before the Siege of the Lighthouse. As Coulson and Talbot had gone missing in the aftermath of the siege due to having boarded Qovas' Ship, Zephyr One was upgraded by Alphonso Mackenzie with RCS thrusters designed by Fitz. This enabled Zephyr One to be taken into space, piloted by May and Davis. Using the plane's cloaking, they docked to Qovas' Ship so that May and Johnson could infiltrate it.

During the mission, Shaw remained in Zephyr One with Agent Davis and Kim. However, the plane was attacked by Glenn Talbot, who murdered Kim while Shaw and Davis hid and watched in horror. Talbot then walked through the plane and stole the Quinjet which was docked to it. Shaw left to rescue his friends, leaving Davis in the plane which was then attacked by a group of Remorath soldiers. Coulson and Johnson, who had escaped from Qovas' spaceship, defeated them and asked Davis to take them back to the Lighthouse. However, during the flight, Coulson fainted due to his condition.

Zephyr One leaves for Chicago

When Talbot was spotted in Chicago, Zephyr One left the Lighthouse one last time with the full S.H.I.E.L.D. team onboard in order to go and put an end to the Gravitonium threat. During the flight, Johnson gathered the team she had been asked to lead and admitted that she was not up to the task, instead appointing Mackenzie as the new Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. The plane then arrived in Chicago, and was soon used to help evacuate the civilians fleeing the battle against Talbot. Once at full capacity, Zephyr One was taken into the air.

The plate put in the plane in honor of Phil Coulson

Davis later returned to the plane with an unconscious Coulson, who had refused to take the Centipede Serum crafted to cure him. Although the situation seemed desperate, Rodriguez was able to revive Coulson at the end of the Battle of Chicago. In the aftermath of the battle, with Coulson deciding to retire from S.H.I.E.L.D., the team installed a commemorative plaque on the plane. They then brought Coulson to Tahiti, where he would enjoy the few days he had left with May, while the rest of the team left to find the version of Fitz who was frozen in space.

Space Travel

To be added

This section requires expansion

Time Travel

To be added

This section requires expansion

Alternate Reality Versions

Framework

"Look at that plane. What kind of monster flies around in something that size?"

―Phil Coulson^[src]

In the virtual Framework reality, Madame Hydra and Leo Fitz used Zephyr One to get to Ogygia and returned from there with Holden Radcliffe as their prisoner.

Fitz and Radcliffe flew with Zephyr One to the location where the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents prepared to return to the real world.

Destroyed Earth

May en routes the Zephyr to the Lighthouse

"It's crazy the Zephyr ended up on the last remaining chunk of Earth."
"Yeah. Must've been en route to the Lighthouse before it crashed."

―Daisy Johnson and Melinda May^[src]

In the timeline when the Earth was destroyed, Zephyr One, upgraded with Gravitonium-based thrusters, was used by a team of S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, including Melinda May, to evacuate as many civilians as possible to the Lighthouse. When the Earth was destroyed, Zephyr One crash landed on one of the remaining chunks. Years later, the plane was used as a base of operations by the True Believers, a group of people who believed that S.H.I.E.L.D. agents would come from the past to liberate the humans from the rule of the Kree Watch. As the prophecy began to come true, Melinda May was taken to Zephyr One, soon followed by the rest of the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents.

The remnants of Zephyr One as the True Believers' base

Although the True Believers and S.H.I.E.L.D. initially seemed to collaborate, the True Believers ultimately turned on S.H.I.E.L.D. as they wanted to kill Daisy Johnson. This caused a fight in the plane, which led to the death of Robin Hinton and the imprisonment of the True Believers as the plane took over the plane.

The Kree Watch searches Zephyr One

S.H.I.E.L.D. decided to repair the plane in order to return into the Lighthouse. Although they were not completely successful in their task, they decided to use the RCS thrusters found in the plane by Leo Fitz and Jemma Simmons in combination with a gravity storm so that they could fly into space. Despite the high risks, and the fact that Sinara had infiltrated the plane while hunting down the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, the mission was successful and the aircraft managed to return to the Lighthouse.

While the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents infiltrated the Lighthouse, a group of Kree Watch guards led by Kasius found the empty plane with the body of Sinara. Only Enoch had remained in the plane to ensure the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents' escape through the Time Di'Alla. Enoch was eventually found by a Kree guard, but he was saved by Deke Shaw who had returned to the plane to help him. Despite the damage caused to the machine intended to use the Time Di'Alla, Enoch and Shaw managed to activate it by powering it with Enoch's inner battery, successfully returning the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents back into their time. As for Zephyr One, it was destroyed in the resulting explosion.

Design and Capabilities

"This new aircraft can stay in the air much longer than the old plane, days really, so rapid response anywhere..."
"You love your new toy, don't you?"
"I very much love my new toy."

―Phil Coulson and Daisy Johnson^[src]

Compartments

• Landing Bay: Zephyr One has been designed to incorporate a landing bay for Quinjet's on the dorsal surface and has been observed to allow at least two to land at any given time.
• Command Bridge: The bridge is located at the front of the ship, it has several metal railings, the bridge also has multiple control stations where crew members control and manage the ship's systems and panels on the walls which displays information on targets, System info, maps, etc. At the front of the bridge behind glass doors is where the pilot sits and flies the ship (when autopilot is not engaged).
• Containment Module: The plane has been adapted to carry Containment Modules on board, that can be sent to specific locations indicated by a tracking device planted on the ground then use jets on the bottom to fly back up to the plane. Aside from some windows, the interior of these pods is made from "poly-tectic adaptive materials" that can withstand some superhuman powers and are customized by use.
• Loading Bay: The Zephyr has a large bay area which is used for loading and offloading cargo, land vehicles such as S.H.I.E.L.D. SUV and entry/exit. This room also stores the Containment Module, which docks in the Zephyr from below.
• Laboratory: During Leo Fitz and Jemma Simmons' preparation for the War Against the Chronicoms, the original place for the Containment Module was repurposed into a laboratory with workstations intended for Simmons and Deke Shaw.

Weapons Systems

Zephyr One's missiles

• ASM missiles: Zephyr One has a vast array of missiles that leveled the HYDRA Castle, destroying most of the standing structure.

Stealth Systems

Zephyr One cloaked in 1931

• Retro-Reflective Panels: Zephyr One has implemented the same cloaking technology as other S.H.I.E.L.D. aircraft.

Flight Systems

Zephyr One is able to stay in the air for days if needed, much longer than the Bus, allowing for a greater range and flight time before having to set down for refueling. During a deployment, Zephyr One stayed in the air for six weeks before being recalled. Even with the Framework eating through its power reserves for at least ten days, the plane was able to stay in the air, albeit with an increasing number of nonessential systems disabled. Due to its engine design, Zephyr One is capable of entering seemingly dangerous angles without stalling. A particularly skilled pilot can even enter these angles during launch, allowing the plane to squeeze through openings that could not accommodate it otherwise. This proved necessary after Daisy Johnson's Escape from the Playground, as the hangar doors were unable to open completely due to damage inflicted by a Hive-controlled Johnson.

• Autopilot: The plane's autopilot is capable of automatically chaining altitude angle and course, as demonstrated when Melinda May did this, is to stay away from Aida.

Space Travel

Zephyr One teleports through space

"Guess we just built S.H.I.E.L.D.'s first spaceship."

―Leo Fitz^[src]

In an attempt to send a bulk of Gravitonium into the sun, Zephyr One was equipped with new Gravitonium-based RCS thrusters designed by Leo Fitz so that the plane could be taken and maneuvered in space after being put in a vertical position. Although the initial plan was canceled due to Glenn Talbot having infused himself with the Gravitonium, Zephyr One's new thrusters were used by S.H.I.E.L.D. for a space mission in order to rescue Phil Coulson in Qovas' Ship. The spaceship capabilities would also be used in order to find the version of Fitz who was frozen in space in Enoch's Cryo-Freeze Chamber.

• Teleportation: Combined with a Phase Harmonic Teleportation Device, the spacecraft was able to upgrade its space capabilities where it could instantly travel to different star systems. Doing so however, required a charge for the Phase Harmonic Teleportation Device.

Time Travel

Zephyr One about to time travel

"The Zephyr's a time machine now?"
"In a sense."
"And we can jump to any time we want?"
"Not quite. It's complicated."

―Deke Shaw and Jemma Simmons^[src]

During the War Against the Chronicoms, Leo Fitz and Jemma Simmons upgraded the Zephyr with time travel capabilities, allowing it to follow the Chronicom Time Ship to specific points in time, nicknamed "tides" by Fitz. In order to go backwards in time, the Zephyr required a massive amount of energy as well as a piece of the Time monolith. However, upon arrival in the past, it could then use substantially less energy to "ride the tide" back to the present without needing a monolith piece.

Following the Zephyr being hit by a missile sent from the Lighthouse in 1976, the Time Drive was damaged, causing the Zephyr to start jumping forwards in time rapidly. Simmons likened it to a stone skipping on a pond: the jumps and the time spent in any given time period were getting exponentially shorter, which would eventually lead to the Zephyr jumping within another jump, an event even Simmons did not know the consequences of.

Though Yo-Yo Rodriguez repaired the Time Drive, it would break again, causing a jump within a jump. The Zephyr would tear a hole in space-time, trapping it in a form of time vortex where space and time were rendered irrelevant. The Zephyr was also caught in a time loop, something they only escaped due to Enoch removing a piece of himself to repair the ship, at the cost of his life.

Though Enoch's sacrifice did allow the Zephyr to escape the time storm, the accumulated damage to the Zephyr caused the ship to lose its ability to time travel, stranding it and the S.H.I.E.L.D. team in the 1980s. Thankfully, they would be saved by Leo Fitz, who used a Quantum Tunnel to bring the Zephyr through the subatomic Quantum Realm back to 2019.

• Space-time Travel: When it possessed time travel capabilities, the Zephyr could follow the Chronicom time ship to specific points in time. However, this also allowed the ship to travel through space; when the Zephyr left 1931 New York City, it then jumped to 1955 Nevada.

Appearances

Appearances for Zephyr One

In chronological order: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Season Six New Life (alternate timeline) Season Seven The New Deal (alternate timeline) Know Your Onions (alternate timeline) Alien Commies from the Future! (alternate timeline) Out of the Past (alternate timeline) A Trout in the Milk (alternate timeline) Adapt or Die (alternate timeline) After, Before (alternate timeline) The Totally Excellent Adventures of Mack and the D (alternate timeline) After, Before (alternate timeline) As I Have Always Been (alternate timeline) Stolen (alternate timeline) Brand New Day (alternate timeline) The End is at Hand (alternate timeline) What We're Fighting For (alternate timeline) Season Two S.O.S. Part Two (blueprints) Season Three Laws of Nature Purpose in the Machine A Wanted (Inhu)man Devils You Know Among Us Hide... Chaos Theory Many Heads, One Tale Closure Maveth Bouncing Back The Inside Man Parting Shot Watchdogs Spacetime Paradise Lost The Team The Singularity Failed Experiments Emancipation Absolution Ascension Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: Slingshot Season One Vendetta (mentioned in a flashback) Progress Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Season Four The Ghost Meet the New Boss (mentioned) Uprising Let Me Stand Next to Your Fire Lockup The Good Samaritan Deals With Our Devils The Laws of Inferno Dynamics Wake Up (flashbacks) Broken Promises The Patriot Wake Up (mentioned) Hot Potato Soup BOOM The Man Behind the Shield Self Control Farewell, Cruel World! (flashbacks) Identity and Change (Framework and mentioned) All the Madame's Men (footage) Farewell, Cruel World! (Framework & Reality) The Return World's End Season Five Rewind All the Comforts of Home The Real Deal Principia The Devil Complex Inside Voices The Honeymoon All Roads Lead... Option Two The One Who Will Save Us All The Force of Gravity The End Season Six Missing Pieces Window of Opportunity Fear and Loathing on the Planet of Kitson The Other Thing Toldja Collision Course Part One Collision Course Part Two Leap From the Ashes The Sign New Life After, Before (flashback; concurrent events) What We're Fighting For (concurrent events) Season Five The Last Day (flashbacks; alternate timeline) Together or Not at All (alternate timeline) The Last Day (alternate timeline) Best Laid Plans (alternate timeline) Past Life (alternate timeline)

Trivia

• Mark Kolpack, the visual effects supervisor for Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., said "Zephyr One is inspired by a mixture of a Romulan Bird-of-Prey with a Godzilla head shape."
• The Zephyr is 280 feet long.
• According to Mark Kolpack, the Zephyr runs on 13 engines: 8 for VTOL, 4 for horizontal flight and one pulse engine on the rear tail area. The normal maximum flight speed is also estimated to be Mach 3.5.