During the fourth season of Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Agent Melinda May was kidnapped by Dr. Holden Radcliffe and his android creation Aida. Using advanced robotics technology and a quantum scan of May's brain, Radcliffe created a Life-Model Decoy version of May and sent her to infiltrate S.H.I.E.L.D. to obtain the Darkhold, a mystical book containing all the secrets of the universe.
History[]
Search for the Darkhold[]
Created by Holden Radcliffe and the android Aida, the LMD version of Melinda May was designed with the single mission of finding and stealing the Darkhold for Radcliffe, who had become obsessed by the answers it held. While being kept hidden away within Radcliffe's home, the May LMD was then eventually discovered by the real Agent May who had been sent by Jeffrey Mace to collect Aida. Before May could even react to the discovery of her naked android duplicate, she was then confronted and sedated by Aida under the orders of Radcliffe. The LMD May was then given May's clothes and sent to continue the mission.
The May LMD then took place of the real May without any of May's colleagues at S.H.I.E.L.D. noticing the deception. Even LMD May did not know she was an android as Radcliffe ensured that her Quantum Brain was given a full scan of all May's own memories and emotions, without any knowledge of her true mission, which would activate only when she reclaimed the Darkhold. May then took Aida and regrouped with S.H.I.E.L.D. onboard Zephyr One where they continued planning their new mission, with Phil Coulson greeting them all there and then flirting with May's LMD without noticing the change.
As part of her mission, May's LMD followed her team in raiding the Chinatown Crew's headquarters, using the skills she gained from the real May's training to subdue the many soldiers, while also working with Alphonso Mackenzie as Yo-Yo Rodriguez used her super-speed to give them all the edge in the battle. While Mace led the fight and soon defeated the Chinatown Crew, LMD May watched from a distance as Coulson attempted to save Ghost Rider before he then got sucked into a portal into the Multiverse, seemingly disappearing forever while they all watched in complete utter shock.
Following the successful defeat of Eli Morrow's plans for a city wide disaster, the LMD May returned to the Playground where she drank a glass of Haig whiskey with Coulson, all while claiming that she was exactly where she wanted to be, by Coulson's side. While May's LMD continued celebrating and flirting with Coulson, Aida was forced to murder agent Nathan B. Nathanson when he accidentally discovered the real May's hiding place within the Radcliffe Residence. Aida and Radcliffe watched the LMD's activities through her optics while keeping May in the Framework in order to keep her both calm and unharmed throughout the experience.
Fighting Aida[]
LMD May was present in Jeffrey Mace's office as he and Coulson explained that they would transfer the Darkhold to another location. After Aida escaped from S.H.I.E.L.D., they tried to locate her. When Nathanson's death was discovered, May suggested that maybe he had seen something he was not supposed to see. Leo Fitz and Radcliffe arrived and theorized that it could be the Darkhold's fault for Aida's corruption, that it could affect a machine mind in the same way as a living person's mind.
The May LMD reported that she had sent Aida's photos to the local authorities. Suddenly, the Playground came under attack by Aida, who had hacked the base's security systems. As LMD May and Coulson went to secure the base, they encountered Aida, who quickly knocked out Coulson. LMD May said she would not get the book, but Aida switched LMD May to sleep mode and cut her face. LMD May awoke inside a closed room with Coulson. After Coulson broke the security camera, he and LMD May chatted. Coulson revealed to her that he hid the book in a locked drawer in Mace's office. Once the door opened, they went for Aida and found her with the Darkhold talking to Fitz and Radcliffe. As they confronted her, Mack suprised Aida by beheading her with his shotgun-axe. Unbeknownst to the LMD May, Radcliffe had planned to use her to get the Darkhold for him.
Learning the truth[]
Following an assassination attempt on Director Mace, Phil Coulson and Alphonso Mackenzie escorted him to a Quinjet that would take them to a secure ocation. However, the Quinjet crashed due to sabotage and so the May LMD led a contingent of agents aboard Zephyr One to find and rescue the survivors. When they arrived in the area of the crash, they discovered that Mace, Coulson and Mack were being hunted by the Watchdogs. The team intercepted the extremists and took them down, saving Mace, Coulson and Mack.
After returning to the Playground, the May LMD examined a wound she had sustained to her back while fighting the Watchdogs. Checking the mirror in her locker, she noticed metallic plating beneath her wounded skin. She would later confront Dr. Radcliffe about this discovery, who confirmed that she was merely a robotic replica of the real Melinda May. Radcliffe also stated that May had been programmed not to reveal her true nature or mission to anyone at S.H.I.E.L.D., but moments later several agents stormed Radcliffe's house and arrested him. However, S.H.I.E.L.D. hadn't captured the real Dr. Radcliffe, but an LMD made in his likeness.
Mission accomplished[]
The real Dr. Radcliffe would later meet with Anton Ivanov, the leader of the Watchdogs. Ivanov's thugs captured Billy Koenig, the S.H.I.E.L.D. agent responsible for securing the Darkhold. S.H.I.E.L.D. scrambled to find where Billy hid the Darkhold before the Watchdogs got to it first. The May LMD accompanied a team of S.H.I.E.L.D. agents to a safe house known as the "Labyrinth", hidden in a library where they believed he put the book. Once S.H.I.E.L.D. noticed a team of heavily-armed Watchdogs approaching the safe house with Agent Koenig, Sam Koenig handed the Darkhold to May so she could protect it. Coulson, however, insisted he guard the book instead. When May refused to hand it over, Coulson realized "May" was actually an LMD working for Dr. Radcliffe. He demanded she reveal where Radcliffe was keeping the real Melinda May, but the LMD insisted she was the real May. Before Coulson could get a satisfactory answer out of her, Agent Daisy Johnson used her Inhuman powers to shatter the android's legs. As S.H.I.E.L.D. and the Watchdogs fought for possession of the Darkhold, Billy Koenig grabbed the book and tried to get it to safety. He saw the partially-disabled May LMD on the ground, and, not realizing she was an impostor, tried to help her up. The LMD knocked him out and grabbed the Darkhold. Radcliffe, who secretly entered the library from a side entrance, found the May LMD and took the book from her, leaving his creation at S.H.I.E.L.D.'s mercy. The agency took the LMD's remains back to the Playground. Rather than destroy her, Coulson decided to preserve the May LMD in case they weren't able to rescue the real May from Dr. Radcliffe.
Revival and destruction[]
The May LMD was reactivated when Aida, still active in a second body, replaced Phil Coulson, Leo Fitz, Alphonso Mackenzie, and Jeffrey Mace with LMD counterparts. The Coulson LMD brought her back online and brought her up-to-date with Radcliffe and Aida's plans to place several of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s top agents in the Framework, a vividly-detailed simulation of the real world Aida created using the Darkhold. The May LMD was to stay hidden in Coulson's office while the other LMDs captured and replaced Daisy Johnson and Jemma Simmons with LMDs to prepare them to join their friends in the Framework. Once the LMDs were exposed and the other agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. were incapacitated with sleeping gas, the Coulson LMD put a contingency plan in place in case they were unable to stop Daisy and Simmons. He had the May LMD wait at the entrance to the Playground's hangar with powerful explosives. She was to stop the two agents, threatening to blow up the entire base if they didn't stop and let the LMDs place them in the Framework. Once Daisy and Simmons defeated the other LMDs, however, the May LMD let them pass and leave the Playground in the Zephyr. Even though she was not the real Melinda May, she still had the real May's feelings, and she wanted Daisy and Simmons to rescue the man she loved - Coulson. When the Couldon LMD went to see why she hadn't stopped them, she confessed her feelings for Coulson to him. As the LMD raised his gun at her, the May LMD detonated the explosives, destroying them both.