"Coulson has always been the official/unofficial face of Marvel Cinematic Universe’s S.H.I.E.L.D.," said Marvel Studios Creative Manager of Research and Development Will Corona Pilgrim in a recent interview with
Newsarama about Clark Gregg's Agent Coulson.
As fans know, S.H.I.E.L.D. has been a major character in the films as they clandestinely monitor the workings of various super powers; and while Nick Fury is the one in charge, Coulson is definitely the one in the trenches. After seeing such a positive reaction to the character in the first Iron Man movie, we never had a problem finding excuses to include Coulson. Like Nick Fury, the characters both expanded into the bigger Avengers picture as each film moved forward."
Having become such a popular part of the cinematic universe, Agent Coulson (voiced by Clark Gregg) was soon announced as a part of the upcoming
Ultimate Spider-Man animated series. Jeph Loeb, Head of Television for Marvel revealed:
"Nick Fury will play a major role in ultimate Spider-Man having an effect on Peter and Spidey’s life. But we wanted to have someone who could interact with Spidey on more regular basis -- Fury is a pretty busy guy -- so Coulson became our more day-to-day connection with S.H.I.E.L.D."
"Marvel TV properties in general will exist within the Marvel Universe in comics. That’s the continuity we watch," Loeb added, putting to rest any speculation that the series will be connected to
The Avengers movie in any way.
"There’s nothing in the Marvel Cinematic Universe that goes against the publishing Marvel Universe, so we’d pretty much follow in that way." Disappointingly, the site also reached out to Marvel's comic book division and they "declined to comment" when asked if Coulson will make a proper debut in that particular universe.
STARRING:
Chris Evans as Steve Rogers/Captain America
Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark/Iron Man
Chris Hemsworth as Thor
Jeremy Renner as Clint Barton/Hawkeye
Scarlett Johansson as Natasha Ramanoff/Black Widow
Mark Ruffalo as Bruce Banner/Hulk
Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury
Tom Hiddleston as Loki
RELEASE DATE: April 27, 2012. (UK) May 4th, 2012. (US)