AGENTS OF S.H.I.E.L.D. Casts Natalia Cordova-Buckley as Slingshot


Add another Secret Warrior to the roster.

ComicBook.com has revealed that the ABC series Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. has cast Natalia Cordova-Buckley as Elena "Yo-Yo" Rodriguez, better known to Marvel Comics fans as the Secret Warrior calling Slingshot.

The article describes Slingshot as "a street-wise Colombian woman given Inhuman abilities" and is the third member of Daisy's Secret Warriors team along with Lincoln, who generates electricity, and Joey, who can melt anything metal once he's in proximity to it.

Cordova-Buckley, 33, is a Mexican actress probably best known as Señora Valles in the 2015 film McFarland, USA starring Kevin Costner.  She also had roles on Ella y el Candidato and Ventanas al mar.


Created in 2008 by Brian Michael Bendis and Alex Maleev, Slingshot first appeared in Mighty Avengers (vol.1) #13 as Yo-Yo Rodriguez, the daughter of known super-criminal John Horton, better known as the Griffin. Through her father's mutated DNA, Yo-Yo somehow gained super-speed.

Before the event known as Secret Invasion started, Nick Fury tasked Daisy Johnson with recruiting select individuals he had files on for what would become his secret strike force team.  As a member of the "Secret Warriors," Yo-Yo was given the codename Slingshot and was trained alongside Stonewall (Jerry Sledge), Manifold (Eden Fesi), Phobos, Hellfire, and Sebastian Druid. During a meal, Phobos revealed to the team that he could see the future and prophesized about each member, including Slingshot who would get hurt, but Stonewall would care for her.

Fury's Secret Warriors were sent to an old S.H.I.E.L.D. base in Texas to observe activity there, where they discovered Hydra operatives.  In defiance of their orders to observe only, Slingshot, The Druid, and Stonewall engaged the terrorists.  When Daisy led the Secret Warriors in an engagement against The Gorgon (a presumed deceased member of Hydra), the prophecy came true as Yo-Yo was severely injured and her arms were both cut off. However, they were able to restore her back to health and gave her two prosthetic arms which allowed her full dexterity again.

Returning to active duty, Yo-Yo and the team were taken to Heaven's Hell, a secret base in orbit.  There, Fury explained the plan for the main team to hit Hydra, while the other teams took on the last Leviathan bases.  Using Manifold's portal, they traveled to Gehenna in order to blow it up, but they were expected.  Once the bomb was armed, Baron von Strucker cornered the Secret Warriors and they were forced to flee as the bomb neared the end of its countdown.  Shocked at the death of Phobos at the hands of the Gorgon, Daisy brought down the entire cavern around them while the team retreated.  Eventually, they were able to defeat the Gorgon.

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. returns to ABC on Tuesday, March 8th at 9:00 p.m. EST.

Posted on February 16, 2016 .