Agents Of SHIELD’s Jemma Simmons: 5 Things The Comics Kept The Same (& 5 Things They Changed)

When Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. debuted on television in 2013, the series introduced several new characters to the Marvel Universe. While Phil Coulson was created for the movies, most of his team was created exclusively for the series. Thanks to the popularity of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the characters became part of the comic book universe with the series S.H.I.E.L.D.

One of the characters to get the spotlight in the comics is Jemma Simmons. A scientist who hasn’t been in the field before joining Coulson’s team in the show, on the page, she got to help save the life of Heimdall, meet Ms. Marvel, and work with several Marvel characters who have never made it to the TV show. With her story playing out in two different mediums, writers have made a few changes to her in comics.

10 Kept: Jemma’s Friendship With Mockingbird

In the television series, Jemma makes fast friends with members of her team. Of those, she’s particularly close with Daisy Johnson and Bobbi Morse (before Bobbi leaves the team). While she doesn’t interact with Daisy quite as much in the comics, she and Bobbi do work together a lot in one of her later stories.

In fact, just like Bobbi is responsible for getting Jemma out of Hydra’s clutches safely in the show, she helps save Jemma’s life from another organization in the comics. The two work together more in the lab, however, than they do in the field.

9 Changed: Her Cover Story

While fans have seen Coulson and his team come up with cover stories for a few of their missions, they don’t appear to have a cover story for the job itself. As far as we know, working for S.H.I.E.L.D. isn’t quite as big of a secret. Jemma even talks with her parents after a particularly bad mission.

The comics, however, apparently require S.H.I.E.L.D. agents to keep their professional life a secret. Jemma has a cover story in place so that her family doesn’t know what her work entails. In their minds, she’s an executive party planner.

8 Kept: Jemma’s Intelligence

Jemma is, arguably, one of the smartest people in the Marvel universe – any version of it. In the first season of the show, she’s able to create an antiserum to combat an alien virus she contracts in a matter of hours. She’s also able to survive alone on a hostile alien plant where one of the most powerful Inhumans resides. In the most recent season of the series, she and Fitz even cracked the secret of time travel.

That level of intelligence also exists in the comics. When a magical “disease” runs across the planet, it targets the most intelligent beings first, so that they can’t stop it. She is among the first people on the planet to be affected, turned into one of Dormammu’s Mindless Ones nearly immediately, along with Leo Fitz, Reed Richards, and more.

7 Changed: Jemma’s Hair

While portraying Jemma Simmons, Elizabeth Henstridge has gone through a few different hairstyles. Those tend to change season by season. With a variety of different comic book artists depicting the character, however, her appearance can change from one issue to the next.

As a result, she’s sometimes a brunette, sometimes a blonde – sometimes even in the same issue. Her style also goes back and forth from long to short amongst issues of the series. It’s certainly dependent on who’s in charge of her look.

6 Kept: Her Clearance Level

When the television series begins, the agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. have very strict clearance protocols. Technically, only Level 7 agents (and above) are allowed to know that Coulson is alive. He promotes Grant Ward to Level 7 when he joins the team, but Fitz and Simmons are still Level 5 agents until the fall of the organization thanks to Hydra.

That’s also true of the comics. She begins her story as a Level 5 agent. Since the same fall of the organization doesn’t happen in the 616 universe, her clearance level remains intact.

5 Changed: Her Roxxon Connection

Roxxon has long been a presence in the MCU. The company rivaled Stark Industries, provided villains for Agent Carter, and was a controlling force in Cloak And Dagger. In Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D., however, Roxxon usually appears as an Easter egg.

Roxxon is a bit more important to Jemma in the comics. Though she doesn’t work directly with the company, it does provide the money that funded her education since it gives her father his paycheck. In the comics, Jemma’s father is actually a pretty high ranking Roxxon executive in their English branch. That’s never been revealed on the show. (Of course, that could always change as the series enters its final season.)

4 Kept: Jemma’s Partnership With Fitz

Fitz and Simmons are practically one entity at the start of the show as they’ve always worked together for S.H.I.E.L.D. research and development. They’ve each become their own person as the show has progressed, but their ability to work together is still legendary. There seems to be no scientific problem the two can’t solve.

That working relationship is also true when the comics introduce them. They’re both a little awkward on field assignments, but right at home working to solve scientific problems. The comics did begin to separate them from one another sooner, however, allowing the two of them to have their own story arcs faster.

3 Changed: Her Relationship With Fitz

It’s pretty obvious from the get-go that Fitz and Simmons are made for one another. It takes Fitz most of the first season to explain his feelings to her, and then, it takes Jemma the second season to work up the courage to test the relationship waters. In the comics, they don’t have that build up to romance.

That might be a result of the two of them only appearing in two short series of comics so far. There is a hint at the possibility of a relationship when Fitz goes dimension hopping with Howard the Duck, but his vision of himself and Jemma is never brought up again. In fact, he actually pursues a relationship with Agent May at one point – something no TV fan would have seen coming.

2 Kept: Jemma’s Connection To Coulson

Jemma is a very pragmatic agent. She wants to do the most good with the least amount of damage, and she understands that might include sacrifice. There are only three people she’s absolutely never been willing to sacrifice: Fitz, the love of her life, and Daisy and Coulson, who she thinks of like family.

Jemma has always been someone who will do anything she can for Coulson, no matter how strange the mission or request might be. That extends to the comics. It’s clear that she’s put on his team pretty early in her career as a field agent, and she has a lot of respect for him. Despite the more rigid nature of S.H.I.E.L.D. in the comics, she’s still very close to the team leader.

1 Changed: The Outcome Of An Unexpected Illness

In the first season of Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D., fans come very close to losing Jemma. She contracts a virus brought to Earth by the Chitauri. She and Fitz spend as long as possible developing an antiserum to save her. It works, just in the nick of time. There aren’t any physical changes to Jemma, though she does have to deal with the trauma.

The comics throw a different biological curveball at her. When Jemma is tasked with neutralizing a DNA bomb in the first issue of Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D., she actually comes in contact with the bomb’s contents and ends up infected. She’s unable to find a cure for herself in the month she has, and slips into a coma. It’s actually Mockingbird and Deathlok who save her – using Deathlok technology to stop the degradation of her skills. By the tenth issue of the comic book series, Jemma is saved, but she’s also a Deathlok.

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