Live Action Marvel TV series?

ABC Greenlights a S.H.I.E.L.D with Joss to Write and Direct?

I wonder if the success of the Avengers had anything to do with this

Well it was announced when they signed Joss to do Avengers 2 that there was going to be a TV series that was Marvel based that Joss would be involved in as well. Didn't expect a SHIELD one but I guess it's something that hadn't been explored to any extent in the current crop of movies and doesn't tie a single "super hero" IP that could be tainted if the series goes down in flames or interest sold off to another interested party.

I wonder if it will lay the groundwork for some of the other Marvel bad guys that may show up in the movies, like AIM, which makes at least some appearance in Iron-Man 3. Define the various worldwide threats as well as notable institutions and persons of interest so the general public will recognize a passing name drop as much as the comic fans do.

Wonder if Robin Sparkles will be on it?

Actually this ties into a lot of the "secret organization" shows out there (Warehouse 13, Sanctuary, Torchwood, Alphas, etc).

As such, S.H.I.E.L.D. will probably be not-too-bad.

That and the potential for all the superhero "water cooler" chat could be funny as hell.

"Yeah. The Doc got ticked when the third sample he sent down got lost...Now they have to outsource the lab work until they replace that building..."

"Why's Jenkins in the hospital? He propositioned Agent Romanova. She did that to him with just her little finger! NO****ISWEAR!"

"Sharon here wants to have his little super soldiers...Why Sharon! Why're you blushing?"

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All of those shows are on SyFy or BBCA, not really a broad following in comparison to the numbers it would have to have on ABC to be successful.

I'm guessing this show is going to end up being like "a day in the life of a random but lovable group of young S.H.I.E.L.D agents" who normally work behind the scenes but never directly get to see the "actual" heroes like Thor, Iron Man, etc. I'm sure they will themselves be pseudo-superhuman and may even have some low level super-powers and/or Jedi-like mind tricks.

Basically could end up being sort of like "X-Men: First Class" mixed with a bit of "Men in Black" and even some elements recylced from "Dollhouse". Whatever it turns out to be it'll be a Joss Whedon show so I'll definitely give it a chance regardless.

Turns out that Joss is only going to be involved with the penning and directing the pilot. If the show is picked up his brother Jed and sister-in-law Maurissa Tancharoen (duo who helped with Doctor Horrible) will be the showrunners.

Huff Post article

Speaking about Dr Horrible, it'll be aired on the CW Oct 9th at 9pm. Sadly I think some of the funniest lines will be altered for broadcast.

I'm looking forward to it, would be great if they could get the odd cameo from the main stars of the movies and the like! Doubtful, I know, but still

On a related note, the campaign to save it from being cancelled has already started!!

Buffy and Angel combine for twelve seasons. Dollhouse and Firefly combine for (almost 3). Joss Whedon somehow ends up as 'the guy whose shows are always cancelled'.

Well Angel was cancelled ahead of it's time, they were sort of rushed to tie up some of the story elements.

My point was that despite two of his four shows being very successful, the failure of Firefly, and to a lesser extent Dollhouse, has stuck Whedon with this premature cancellation stigma that everyone seems to focus on.

Dollhouse was high concept science fiction. It probably would have made a decent multibook series.

Interesting idea.

I for one am betting that we will see cameos from a lot of Marvel characters that aren't popular enough to justify a movie or series of their own. personally, I'm hoping to see US Agent and Spider Woman amongst that group. Perhaps Darkhawk as well, he was cheesy when fist introduced, but he later went on to become a good character. probably a POwer Man/Iron Fist cameo as well. (trying to think of characters that would be logical to appear in a SHIELD series)

And probably the occasional cameo from one of the big names in a special episode. I'm sure Chris Hemsworth, Chris Evans, Robert Downey Jr., Jeremy Renner, Scarlett Johansen, and Mark Ruffalo wouldn't have an issue with coming down for a few days of shooting if they aren't busy with something else.

A series like this would go a LONG way toward establishing that all the recent Marvel movies took place in the same universe. A way to tie them all together without the need for crossover movies (which wouldn't happen very frequently, if at all)