'Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D's Raina May Be... Raina

The girl in the flower dress is growing up so fast. Now, the Raina we used to know and love from Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. is a completely different person. Namely, she appears to have spikes coming out of her body, which isn't exactly a common characteristic. The Terrigen mist changed her, and if you ask her, it wasn't for the better. It now appears as if Raina isn't even human anymore. Better yet, she's Inhuman. So what has Raina become on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. ? There's actually a Marvel Comics character named Raina, and, well, if the flower dress fits...

But just who is Raina in the comics? More importantly, who is she associated with? On the page, she's part of a group called Hauk'ka, who are sort of like a branch of the X-Men (but are actually usually at odds with the X-Men). They're not technically from the human gene pool, but rather evolved from Saurians, which were genetically altered lizards hailing from New Mexico. Some Hauk'ka actually evolved straight from dinosaurs. They're also super smart, and have all sorts of fancy powers, just like the X-Men, as well as Inhumans, who are slowly being introduced on S.H.I.E.L.D. One of the big takeaways from the Hauk'ka is that they usually side with the bad guys. They are not allies to anyone.

Comic Raina is one of these genetically altered beings, and is super strong and extremely fast. She's also got a tough exterior so she can withstand the average punch and blow to her body, but not an attack from a weapon. She's basically got a hard shell that helps her recover quickly, but can't stare down a firearm.

Now, the Raina on S.H.I.E.L.D. seems to have spikes all over her body, something she cited in the last episode when she mentioned that they are very painful. Raina in the comics doesn't have a physical appearance like that, but she does have fangs and claws. She's got a razor sharp blade on each finger and each toe that she can use as a weapon — the same kind of fighting that we saw Raina use to take down those S.H.I.E.L.D. agents and fight Calvin Zabo, too.

Something that both Rainas have in common is being genetically altered at some point. So it does kind of make sense for the two characters to end up being the same. S.H.I.E.L.D. is slowly introducing us to different realms of the MCU, and while I don't think they're going to introduce the Hauk'ka anytime soon, they are introducing Inhumans. They've taken liberties with other characters before, so the same could be taken with Raina. Just like how Daisy Johnson was never an Inhuman in the comics, neither was Raina. But now she might be following an Inhuman path on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

Image: ABC