I was rewatching the season finale of “Agents of SHIELD” when something near the end jumped out at me. In the second-to-last scene, SHIELD Director Phil Coulson (Clark Gregg) and Agent Skye (Chloe Bennet) visit Cal Zabo (Kyle MacLachlan) after his memory has been erased. He’s now a veterinarian in an urban setting. For a few seconds, as Coulson gets in his classic convertible, three vehicles behind him look very much like they have Iowa license plates. They even have the red 2015 registration sticker in the lower left corner. Here’s a screencap of two of them.
Given the attention to detail of the Marvel TV series, three cars with Iowa (or at least non-California, non-New York, non-Virginia) plates would seem to imply very strongly that they’re there for a reason.
This wouldn’t be the first time the series made a passing reference to Iowa.