After “how?” the biggest question regarding Agent Phil Coulson’s resurrection for ABC’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. is “do The Avengers know bout this?” According to Clark Gregg, they’ll be kept in the dark, and that’s part of the mystery.
After appearing in nearly every single “Phase One” Marvel film, fan-favorite character Agent Phil Coulson made a dramatic and poignant exit after a brief fight with Loki in 2012’s The Avengers . His death was used to galvanize the core team into putting aside their differences. As Samuel L. Jackson’s Nick Fury put it, “they needed the push.”
But ABC has solicited a pilot (which will almost certainly be picked up for a series) which will concentrate not on capes, iron suits, and giant hammers, but on a group of S.H.I.E.L.D. agents led by … Agent Phil Coulson.
Yes, the series shares continuity with the films. Yes, that continuity takes place after The Avengers .
While we don’t yet know how Coulson’s death will be retconned, Gregg suggested at the Tribeca Film Festival that his character’s resurrection is all part of the mystery of the show.
“When Joss described to me the mystery, and the complexity and the unanswered questions about Phil Coulson standing there trying to deal with this, I found it so fascinating and so true to the world of the comics and mythology in general as I understand them that I was immediately in,” Gregg said.
And apparently, we’re going to see that play out.
“I don’t know how you could not change going through what he went through,” Gregg opined of his character. “I think if he hadn’t gone through some kind of change, it wouldn’t be any good. That said, I don’t know if he understands how much he’s changed.”
Either way, it seems that the secret to Coulson’s resurrection will be kept from Earth’s Mightiest Heroes.
“Some level of deception must have been perpetrated on the Avengers,” Gregg hints. “It must have been. I think.”
Check out the entire interview below! What are your theories on Agent Coulson’s resurrection? Are you excited for S.H.I.E.L.D .?
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[Image via: rwoan , Wikimedia Commons ]
