Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Season 1 is the first season of a 2013 television series by the same name, created by Marvel Television and 20th Century Fox Television on the FOX Network. It takes place in the Marvel Cinematic Universe focusing on the personalized adventures of the top secret spy & espionage agency S.H.I.E.L.D. It is the first ever episodic product to take place in the continuity. It premiered September 24th 2013.
Production
The idea television series based on Marvel Comics properties had been discussed with 20th Century Fox as early as 2006. In 2009 popular comic book writer Jeph Loeb was announced to be spearheading the new Marvel Television company to try and develop potential series for FOX. Many pitches were thrown around but none reached anymore than the development stage. This all changed in summer of 2012 after the smash hit of The Avengers when Kevin Feige expressed interest in expanding the universe into television and absorbed the struggling Marvel Television into the much more successful Marvel Studios. Afterwards Feige, Loeb, and director Joss Whedon worked together to pitch an MCU TV show based around the adventures of S.H.I.E.L.D. An organization that appeared in the films often but was barely touched upon in a deeper way. At the 2012 comic con this news was announced and it was also revealed that Clark Gregg would be reprising his role as Agent Phil Coulson to star in the series.
More information slowly unveiled to the public such as Joss Whedon's younger brother Jed Whedon and his wife Maurissa Tancharoen would be the showrunners and that the series first arc would tackle the popular Iron Man story Extremis. Tancharoen announced afterwards that Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. would also acknowledge the events of the movies it overlaps with (Thor: The Dark World & Captain America: The Winter Soldier) but refused to explain just how it would work. Ming Na Wen in late 2012 was revealed to be cast as Agent Melinda May and Brett Dalton as Agent Grant Ward. This earned controversy as they were both original characters, but Whedon defended this decision but claiming S.H.I.E.L.D. isn't well known to the public and they have a very unique situation where they can creatively add a lot to the Marvel Universe where they normally wouldn't be able to. Coulson was an originally character back in Black Widow and Hawkeye, adding more for his team would just be building upon that. This trend ceased however when Chloe Bennet was casted as Daisy Johnson, a notorious S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent from the comics. Filming began in early 2013 and the first episode of the series aired September 24th 2013.
Cast
Main Cast
- Clark Gregg as Agent Phil Coulson
- Chloe Bennet as Agent Daisy Johnson
- Iain De Caestecker as Agent Leopold "Leo" Fitz
- Elizabeth Henstridge as Agent Jennifer "Jen" Simmons
- Ming Na Wen as Agent Melinda May
- Brett Dalton as Agent Grant Ward
Supporting Cast
- John Pyper-Ferguson as Gary Gilbert/Firebrand
- Cullen Douglas as Paul Mallen
- Gilles Marini as Joaquim Robichaux/Beetle
- Jeff Daniel Phillips as David Angar/Angar the Screamer
- Louis Ozawa Changchien as Chen Lu/Radioactive Man
- Elena Satine as Amora the Enchantress
- Saffron Burrows as Agent Victoria Hand
- Josh Conrad as Aldrich Killian
- Ruth Negga as Maya Hansen
- Freddie Stroma as Karl Morgenthau/Flag-Smasher
- Patton Oswalt as Agent Eric Koenig
- B.J. Britt as Agent Anton "Trip" Triplett
- Bill Paxton as Agent Paul Ebersol/Fixer
- J. August Richards as Luther Manning/Deathlok
- Ian Hart as Franklin Hall
Guest Starring
- Cobie Smulders as Agent Maria Hill
- Samuel L. Jackson as Director Nick Fury
- Jaime Alexander as Lady Sif
- Maximiliano Hernandez as Agent Jasper Sitwell
- Morgan Freeman as Marcus Stone
- Adrian Pasdar as General Glenn Talbot
Episodes
Journey Into Mystery
Aired September 24th 2013
The series starts by showing clips from The Avengers with Agent Phil Coulson narrating how the world has changed, none of them can go back, all they can do is their best, but sometimes their best is to start over. It then shows Coulson hunched over inside a glowing gray chamber until suddenly awakening.
AGENTS OF S.H.I.E.L.D.
In Los Angeles, Agent Grant Ward goes undercover into an office building where he busts a drug deal going down. Ward is able to incapacitate the dealers until the user suddenly begins glowing. Ward then evacuates all the civilians before jumping out the window, the entire floor blowing up shortly after. At the S.H.I.E.L.D. Academy of Communications, Daisy Johnson is asked what S.H.I.E.L.D. stands for and she answers Strategic Homeland Intervention Espionage and Logistics Division. When asked what that means to her Daisy explains that they're the literal Shield between the world and the much weirder world, to protect people and keep them safe from the news they aren't ready to hear. It's then shown the person asking her questions was Agent Coulson who approves her application and tells her she's officially an Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. Daisy starts to celebrate and says how she never thought Coulson would be the one to approve her after, you know, dying. Coulson corrects her it was only eight seconds, after a month in Tahiti to recover he's in the best shape of his life. Daisy asks why he hasn't told the Avengers yet and Coulson responds because he isn't any their Supervising Officers.