Marvel's S.H.I.E.L.D. will be produced by Marvel Television to air on the ABC network with a pilot to be written by Joss Whedon, Jed Whedon and Maurissa Tancharoen, and directed by Joss Whedon. Clark Gregg will headline the series as his MCU character Agent Phil Coulson and Ming-Na Wen was also recently cast.
During this article, I will look at various aspect of the show and share my opinion as to what we can expect to see in the series while attempting to keep my suggestions objective and realistic.
Tone
“Contrary to your belief, you are not the center of my universe.” – Nick Fury, Iron Man 2 (2010)
I think it is fair to say that this show is going to be very similar in set up to that of shows like X-Files, Fringe and Torchwood; which see government agents investigate extraordinary/paranormal cases. Many of these shows are very character based, with a small ensemble cast facing bad-guy-of-the-week while ultimately feeding into a series arc of story. A premise very familiar to Whedon with his previous TV productions like Dollhouse.
Setting
”This isn't my first rodeo, Mr Stark.” – Agent Coulson, Iron Man (2008)
Having this TV series set within the Marvel Cinematic Universe offers an ever expansive world of possibilities for the show to explore, but with the added benefit of boundaries and universal truths to keep the show reigned in and focused. Marvel will not allow the show to affect the movies by doing anything over the top and silly (commonly known as “Jumping the Shark”).
Unlike the comics 616 universe S.H.I.E.L.D. is not a world peacekeeping agency but a homeland spy agency tasked with dealing with the more unusual threats to America, so I don’t expect there to be too much globe trotting in this series.
With the MCU tie-in comics, and eager fanatics, with have a very good knowledge of what the main character, Agent Coulson, and the rest of S.H.I.E.L.D. are doing between
Iron Man (2008) and
Marvel’s The Avengers (2012) which pretty much tells us that this show will be set
long before the events of the first Iron Man film. Alternately, Coulson’s death could be retconned and we could see the show being set after Avengers with him leading up a small team of covert agents, but this seems unlikely.
Agent Coulson, portrayed as S.H.I.E.L.D. Director Nick Fury’s right hand man, will most likely be the head of this team/group reporting off-screen to Nick Fury. Seemingly unimpressed by the heroes he meets in the MCU movies, it makes sense to think Coulson and S.H.I.E.L.D. have dealt with all sorts of strange cases and super people.
Allies
“ You think you're the only superhero in the world?” – Nick Fury, Iron Man (2008)
Through-out its history, S.H.I.E.L.D. has had numerous agents portrayed in the comics with several going on to be superheroes in their own right. Any number of these could possibly make an appearance and I would presume many will but most probably before they progress to their superhero status.
Though, despite the story focusing on human agents dealing with superhuman things, I wouldn’t discount superheroes entirely. When Nick Fury brought the Avenger Initiative to Tony Stark in the first Iron Man movie, Tony Stark had only just come on to his initiative, Bruce Banner was on this list but Thor and Abomination had not appeared yet and Captain America was still MIA. Would Fury really start an initiative with only two active candidates?
One could argue his best skilled agents (Hawkeye and Black Widow) were on that list, which would make sense for why Hawkeye has a suit and trick arrows, but Black Widows name must have not appeared on any list Stark originally saw for obvious reasons. Either way, Fury specifically stated that there are other superheroes in the world which makes you wonder who exactly S.H.I.E.L.D. has come across in the past.
Another aspect that we may see explored later through the series would be the sub-divisions, like SWORD and ARMOR, and alternate government versions, like the UK’s S.T.R.I.K.E.
Enemies
” Sorry, maam, we're the good guys!” – Agent Coulson, Thor (2011)
The TV series would also be the place to show case the minor and obscure characters of the Marvel Universe that would never carry the threat of a movie villain; specifically characters relating to the film superheroes that would never get used otherwise.
I think we can expect to see S.H.I.E.L.D. deal with sleeper-agents of HYDRA and possibly terrorist threats like the Ten Rings. We could also expect them to have run-ins with other spy organisations like the Red Room and MI-6.
A popular trend with the bad-guys in these types of shows is for them to be mad scientists creating monsters, and I think this is where Roxxon could be best used; as a private firm secretly trying to create super soldiers.
Afterword
As every this is only my own thoughts and opinions, but who do you think will show up in the TV show? and what are you hoping to see when Marvel brings the MCU to the small screen? Sound off below.