The Expanse Has Its Own Version Of Marvel's Supervillain Prison
In season 5 of The Expanse, Amos travels to a U.N. prison nicknamed the Pit that feels similar to Marvel’s supervillain prison, the Raft. Once he arrives, it becomes clear the prison not only has reduced civil rights for its prisoners but also for its visitors, on top of being deep underground. But what both prisons have most in common is they hold enhanced inmates. In the Marvel universe, they have superpowers, but in The Expanse, the lower levels hold people with body modifications.
Similar to the Raft, the Pit is high security and isolated facility that holds dangerous criminals with enhanced abilities. In The Expanse, these prisoners have implants that boost the body’s physical attributes and combat abilities. There are less dangerous implants in this universe as well: Drummer gets a medical one to help her injuries after her spine is crushed in season 3, and Monica, the journalist assigned to the Rocinante to film the Ring, has an eye implant that allows her to record everything without a camera. However, when the implants are combat-focused, things can get dangerous.
When a story introduces a prison, it usually means two things: either someone is going to be sent there or someone is going to escape it. Although the Raft was meant to be an extremely secure facility, it eventually had mass riots and escapes. One major example of this is in Captain America: Civil War, which both presented the Raft has this incredibly fortified prison and had Steve Rogers break out all his allies by the end of it. The prison setting is full of tension and conflict, and TV shows know this. It’s no coincidence that Amos is visiting Clarissa Mao this season.
Now that Marco Inaros’ asteroids have hit Earth multiple times, the planet has fallen into chaos, especially the areas that suffered a direct impact. Considering Amos and Clarissa felt things shake even ten levels underground, it seems the Chesapeake conservancy zone where the Pit is located is inside the impact zone of the second asteroid. It’s likely that the prison entrance is now either destroyed or buried. It’s also possible that the Pit is cut off from exterior communications and there is no help coming, at least, not soon enough.
The Pit is now a powder keg just waiting to explode, as prisoners with implants realize the power structure that kept them there (the U.N.) has probably been wiped out. On top of that, Amos was told to follow every and all orders from the guards, so they expect total obedience from everyone. With all this combined, a riot is probably going to happen every soon and Amos will be at the center of it. Of course, Amos is no stranger to conflict or violence on The Expanse, but he doesn’t necessarily care about authority either. If the prisoners start a riot, it will be interesting to see how he will react and what he’ll do to get back to the surface.