^Sure, but it's more satisfying if Killian was really working for Hydra all along. It lends a greater unity to Phase 2.
Maybe not working "for" them but they would have appreciated his efforts at chaos, the fear he induced in the public with those Ten Rings broadcasts and the "Mandarin's" lessons, would have served HYDRA well. They certainly may have aided him without his specific knowledge, and possibly acquired the Extremis after he was defeated.
I dunno...I prefer a subtler connection where no explicit connection was made in the films.
I was thinking...somebody upthread said that the Ten Rings isn't something that AoS would do, but I think that would be a nice thread for them to pick up. Since there's no IM4 on the current slate, and the makers of IM3 didn't care enough to make an explicit connection between the Mandarin and the Ten Rings...AoS could pick up where the One-Shot left off and have SHIELD taking on the "real" Mandarin. If plain-Jane terrorism doesn't seem SHIELDy enough, they could have the Ten Rings getting ahold of some alien tech, developing metahuman agents, whatever.
Maybe they've even got Samuel Sterns working for them....
I would love if they pick on that loose end. I hope they aren't just saving him for another Hulk movie.
The Leader might have a whole army of Gamma powered monsters by now.
I'm really hoping Skye's Blue Rangers, or Secret Avengers if you will, will be picking up some of the many second tier Avengers like Dane Whitman, Patsy Walker, Tigra, Dr. Druid, and Monica Rambeau. Firebird might be a good one to have. I would love to see them in something. Also, the Power Broker and the Unlimited Class Wrestling Federation would be a good opponent for a few episodes or an arc.
There's over 70 different Avengers and we've seen 9 or 10, so there's lots more out there, plus they can always make something completely new.
I'd also like some guest appearances that could be small or just one episode long, just so that you can see they are out there.
I know they've got their plan in place at Netflix but I think Moon Knight would be great for them with his 4 identities.