Agents of Shield : Pilot
by J.D. Cook
Marvels Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. premiered last night but due to the nefarious efforts of H.Y.D.R.A. and A.I.M.’s combined might I couldn’t make it to my television in time to view it. Luckily the world is pretty awesome these days and it was available for instant streaming on Hulu and ABC On Demand today around 8:00 A.M. So now that I’m all caught up here’s my thoughts on the first episode.
Spoilers Below
While I wasn’t crazy about the whole ‘regular people perspective on the super hero universe’ it worked exceptionally well in the opening episode. In that moment where Mike Peterson monologues about how regular people feel in a world filled with demi-gods the premise really hit home for me. It’s reminiscent of Lex Luthor’s motivations in Superman Red Son. Clark Gregg really has the majority of the best lines in the first episode while the rest of the characters have their groundwork laid for development throughout the series. The cast is entertaining and on point with the quick dialogue and cameos by Cobie Smulders and Ron Glass tie in the show to both the Marvel Universe and Whedon’s own past television endeavors. The comic book roots emerge out of many scenes in awesome fashion. When Mike Peterson (played by J. August Richards) jumps out the window and says ‘no…it’s an origin story’ it’s a perfect meta nod to where this show came from. Oh and Coulson’s flying car literally comes straight out of the comics and it was most recently seen in the big comic event Age of Ultron when a time traveling Wolverine and Sue Storm stole it off of Nick Fury.
Rumors Below (maybe spoilers if they are true???)
Now onto rumors and theories! To quote the evil Hans Landa, “I love rumors! Facts can be so misleading, where rumors, true or false, are often revealing.” So here are the ones I’m creating! What happened to Coulson? Those who watched the episode no doubt noticed the moment where Ron Glass and Smulders comment on how Coulson has no idea what happened to him. I think that Coulson is not Coulson. He is in fact a robotic Life Model Decoy of Agent Coulson that was given false memories of a vacation in Tahiti before being brought online. This fits extremely well with Ultron (a robot) being the villain of Avengers: Age of Ultron. It fits so well in fact that I think 1 of 2 things will happen with Coulson. Either he will discover the truth and turn against Nick Fury (the man most likely responsible) and perhaps humanity as well becoming Ultron himself (that would make James Spader’s casting a red herring) or Coulson will work with Ultron for a short time before becoming the Vision! Those of you who aren’t comic book inclined, the Vision is a synthetic human created with the super hero Wonder Man’s brain patterns. Since the Marvel Cinematic Universe has no Wonder Man it could easily be changed to Agent Coulson’s brain patterns! Anddddd the Vision famously married fellow super hero the Scarlett Witch who will be joining the Avengers in their next film! It all fits am I right!?
Rumor Two! The big baddie behind the Centipede is the Leader! A friend said he was pretty sure a character glimpsed in the first episode sounded and looked like him but more importantly he is a giant loose end in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. He was last seen as Samuel Sterns his human alter ego being turned into the Leader by exposure to Bruce Banner’s gamma blood at the end of the Incredible Hulk and he is a genius scientist super villain who could absolutely create a super soldier gadget!
Feel free to leave some comments arguing my rumors or create some of your own!
Ok that’s all for now folks! Check out the show on Hulu or ABC. Com and get with the program!
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I need to rewatch the video but I’m fairly certain that was Tim Blake Nelson in the surveillance footage. I’m looking for more Marvel U references but I think the first ep did a good job of getting everyone established
With Age of Ultron not coming until 2015? I’m wondering if they’ll be able to keep people’s attention without having too many filler episodes for two seasons if that is what’s happening.