On the plus side, S.H.I.E.L.D agents could team up with lesser known heroes to fight against lesser known villains, exposing a massive audience to a vast array of Marvel characters. Bigger name characters like Iron Man and Captain America could muster the marketability for a big screen release right away, but for smaller characters, a television arc could be a test of sorts on whether or not audiences approve of the hero in question.
My main concern though considers the majority of people who tune in for primetime TV every night, and how a S.H.I.E.L.D based show will resonate with them. Sure, Samuel L. Jackson cemented himself as Agent Nick Fury and is a fan favorite amongst Marvel fanboys, but there’s little hope he’d play a main character on the TV show.
Agent Coulson would have been another great character, but assuming the show takes place in real-time, we all know why that can’t happen after the fate he suffered in The Avengers. That leaves the talented Cobie Smulders as Agent Maria Hill, but she has season 8 of How I Met Your Mother to shoot before anything. What I’m assuming we’ll end up getting is a new team of agents unknown to mainstream television viewers, with nothing but Marvel’s name to garner viewership.
With the amount of steam Marvel has been gaining though, I’d be surprised to see this project fail. Similar concerns arose when I heard Thor would be a major motion picture character, fearing audiences wouldn’t tolerate his folklore mythos, but director Kenneth Barnagh proved me horribly wrong
Joss Whedon brings a ton of television experience to the table for Marvel, as well as Jed and Maurissa, making it hard not to trust in our geek God. I believe Whedon can create an immersive experience and make S.H.I.E.L.D a household name, turning less knowledgable fans onto more interesting and unique Marvel characters.
Remember how grandiose The Avengers made the Marvel universe? That will be child’s play compared to what Whedon can do with a Marvel TV show.
What do you guys think? Will you be tuning in for a S.H.I.E.L.D based television show?