‘Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D’ premieres with classic themes and new team
Phil Coulson (Clark Gregg) is back from the dead and doing what he does best in ABC’s “Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” The pilot which premiered Sept. 24 was created and directed by “Marvel’s The Avengers” director Joss Whedon and brings back many of the same themes seen in the film.
Not unlike his role in the “Marvel’s The Avengers,” Coulson’s goal in this episode is to assemble a team of very different individuals to work for the greater good. However, the world is different now. After the battle for New York that took place in the film, people are now more aware of the great powers and evils hidden both on Earth and in the rest of the galaxy. It is Coulson and his team’s job to make sure these powers and threats are contained.
He recruits current S.H.I.E.L.D. members Melinda May (Ming-Na Wen), a reserved, but extremely skilled fighter and pilot, Grant Ward (Brett Dalton), a talented spy with a questionable past, and scientist and engineer duo Gemma Semmons (Elizabeth Henstridge) and Leo Fritz (Iain De Caestecker) to the team.
Skye (Chloe Bennett), a mysterious computer hacker who lives in a van, is also added to the mix when she becomes involved in a S.H.I.E.L.D. mission to track down Mike Peterson, an individual with super human strength.
Whedon weaves together high-speed action sequences and intense dramatic conversations to show how this newly formed team works together to uncover the origins of Mike’s powers.
The results they find in the end reveal an even bigger mystery however, and the questions surrounding it will only be answered in later episodes.
Marvel fans will be impressed to see that several references from other Marvel films are made throughout the pilot. Hints of the Extremis virus first seen in “Iron Man 3” resurface along with the circumstances around Coulson’s death that occurred in the “Marvel’s The Avengers.” Nick Fury’s right hand woman, Maria Hill, (Cobie Smulders) also makes an appearance.
While Whedon directed the pilot, his brother, Jed Whedon, and Maurissa Tancharoen who are also executive producers of the show will take over in the show’s future episodes that will air Tuesday nights at 8 p.m. on ABC.
Only time will tell if “Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” will achieve the same level of success that the “Marvel’s The Avengers” and other recent Marvel movies have gained, but so far, the show promises a fun ride filled with action, drama, and nerdy comic book greatness.
Edited by Jessica Carr
