Interview Conducted By: Mark Julian
I recently spoke with the multi-talented Clark Gregg who took time out of his busy schedule starring in
Ethan Coen's (
No Country For Old Men) Off-Broadway play,
Happy Hour to speak to CBM. We covered a wide-range of topics but I thought I'd share this brief excerpt from our chat first, as it showcases the dry, razor-sharp humor that Clark and his character, Agent Coulson are known for. Many comic books fans are extremely curious about who will be part of Loki's army in the Avengers. As previously stated by Loki himself, Tom Hiddleston, "If Loki was defeated by his brother in Thor, how does he take on the Avengers team, obviously he has help." Obviously, Loki won't be enlisting just anyone to help him take down the likes of Thor Odinson, Captain America, Hulk, Iron Man and S.H.I.E.L.D. He's going to need people equal to the task of taking on
Earth's Mightiest Heroes. So just who will it be? When I put the question of "whether comic book fans would recognize the members of Loki's army" forward for Clark to answer, he responded with some shocking answers.
"Will they recognize them, well I guess that will depend on the fan and what they've read and what they've seen," said Gregg. Jokingly, he went on to say,
"I mean if they're fans of Land of the Lost then they won't be surprised to see Loki show up with a bunch of sleestaks. I think everyone is going to be surprised to see Loki get out of a Romulan ship is all I'm going to say."
Needless to say, I was absolutely astounded [if you pause it just right, you can hear my audible gasp]. I knew Loki had fallen off the Rainbow Bridge and traveled to some of the other realms hinted at in Thor but I had no idea he'd be traveling THAT far; all the way into the respective universes of Star Trek and Land of the Lost. All jokes aside, this is the type of humor that's endeared Clark Gregg to so many fans of the comic book community since he first appeared on our radar in Iron Man. However, don't let the humor fool you, Gregg is a classically trained actor with impressive screenwriting (
What Lies Beneath) and directing credits (
Choke) to his name.
To get the answer to that last question and many more, stay tuned to CBM as I'll be posting the full interview with Clark in the coming days and we'll touch on subjects like his directorial endeavors, his work on the new Spider-Man cartoon, and whether Agent Coulson might show up on AKA Jessica Jones. And oh yeah, I peppered him with some questions about a movie called The Avengers.
Robert Clark Gregg (born June 29 1962) is an American actor, screenwriter and director. He co-starred as Christine Campbell's ex-husband Richard in the CBS sitcom The New Adventures of Old Christine, which debuted in March 2006 and concluded in May 2010. He is also known for playing Agent Phil Coulson in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (Iron Man, Iron Man 2, Thor and The Avengers).
Agent Phil Coulson is a fictional character in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, which crosses over several Marvel Studios superhero films. Coulson first appeared as a member of the fictional agency S.H.I.E.L.D. in Jon Favreau's 2008 film Iron Man, where he was portrayed by American actor Clark Gregg. Gregg then signed a multi-film deal with Marvel Studios and reprised the role in Favreau's 2010 film Iron Man 2 and Kenneth Branagh's 2011 film Thor. Gregg is also reported to star as Coulson in Joss Whedon's 2012 film The Avengers and be the subject of a series of short films and "digicomics". Gregg will voice the character in the upcoming cartoon series Ultimate Spider-Man, where he is undercover as Peter Parker's school principal.
In the films of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Agent Coulson is generally used to represent S.H.I.E.L.D.'s presence in the plots of the films, to the point that Clark Gregg has described Coulson as "the S.H.I.E.L.D. agent". However, in the "Marvel One-Shots", Coulson is given "a chance to stand in his own spotlight for once", when the character is put in a position where there is an imminent threat and no superheroes around. The decision to give more focus to Coulson was "a natural" one said "Marvel One-Shot" co-producer Brad Winderbaum.