The S.H.I.E.L.D. TV Series set 'after' The AVENGERS

The S.H.I.E.L.D. TV Series Takes Place After THE AVENGERS Battle

News of ABC bring a S.H.I.E.L.D. TV series to pilot was all well and good, but the inclusion of Clark Gregg’s character Agent Phil Coulson had us scratching our collective heads.  Events that occur in The Avengers would make it rather difficult for Coulson to have a very active role in the series.  This casting announcement led many to believe that the television show would be a prequel or, at the very least, a parallel story to The Avengers.  Now ABC Entertainment President Paul Lee has confirmed that the series occurs after the battle in New York at the end of the Marvel mash-up and that Gregg is still going to be involved as Coulson.


We’ve heard a lot from Lee lately on the topic of the S.H.I.E.L.D. TV series, including his reveal that Joss Whedon has written the pilot and has gone beyond to write for future episodes although the series hasn’t officially been ordered yet.  Whedon himself talked about the series recently as well.  Now, IGN has reached out to Lee, who further commented on the timing of the series as it relates to The Avengers:

“There is no question that it is part of the Marvel Universe. In fact, the story takes place after the battle for New York.  This is S.H.I.E.L.D. They’re following their own particular stories. There are characters in it, Coulson, who clearly come from Avengers. So it’s part of the world, but we’re going to be very, very careful that we don’t tread on the toes of the features and build a whole new world. And that’s what Joss Whedon does better than anybody else. He’s built a world for us.”

S.H.I.E.L.D. will begin filming next week and Lee remains optimistic for the future of the show should the pilot prove successful.  Let’s face it, the series is another opportunity for ABC/Disney/Marvel to introduce new characters and expand their awareness:

“I think if we’re lucky enough to have a great series, we’re obviously having fun with that. At this point though, we have a number of characters at the heart of the script who are real characters, who are the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., and the first task is to make those guys great and relatable and everything that a great show needs. Beyond that, fingers crossed!”

So speaking of those agents at the heart of the script, where does Gregg/Coulson fit into this entire thing?  If you haven’t seen The Avengers yet, stop reading now.  If you have, then continue on for some wild speculation about how Coulson could work in a S.H.I.E.L.D. series after he dies in the movie.  Here are a couple of 100% unsubstantiated ideas:

- Agent Coulson never really died.  It was all a ruse to get the Avengers to unite. – This would be the biggest cop out and would weaken what is supposed to be the emotional center of the film.

- Agent Coulson is brought back from the grave. – It’s possible that this could be the case, especially considering the rampant amount of resurrection done every day in comics, but I’m hoping that Whedon has more respect than that.  The only way I could see this being palatable is if some sort of new hero/character is introduced that revives Coulson, giving a reason for the characters to be there and the event to occur while paying homage to the scene in The Avengers.

- Agent Coulson returns as a hologram/android/clone. – This is only slightly less offensive than a spontaneous resurrection of Coulson or a tricky Coulson that never really died.  However, it would show off the cutting-edge technology of S.H.I.E.L.D. and could be a device for some interesting writing moving forward.

source: COLLIDER