Stephen Iervolino/ABC(NEW YORK) — ABC’s show Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. began as a spin-off from the Marvel Cinematic Universe, with the government agency cleaning up — sometimes literally — for The Avengers and their big-screen adventures.
However, while the show was spinning up, its creators learned of the major twist coming in Captain America: The Winter Solider: that S.H.I.E.L.D. wasn’t what it seemed — it had, for decades, been infiltrated by the rogue Nazi group Hydra. “So what are we now, ‘Agents of nothing?'” Chloe Bennet’s character, then called Skye, asked for the viewers.
The cast and creatives embraced the changes, in terms of plot, time slot, and character development. Skye’s real name was revealed to be Daisy; she’s since become the earth-shaking superhero Quake, while Clark Gregg’s Phil Coulson — who was killed in The Avengers, only to be resurrected in the TV series — has gone from agent, to director, to fugitive, and back to agent again. And they’re both fine with the changes.
After more than 77 shows, Gregg tells ABC Radio, “I can’t really conceive of doing this many episodes of something if it was literally the same show every week that we started with out of the gate.”
Bennet agrees. “It’s been pretty crazy to, you know, get cast as a computer hacker, and then four seasons later being a bad*** goth superhero who means so much to so many people. It’s been kind of crazy. But I feel like the growth — it feels organic; you know, because when I was cast on the show…I think I was 20, and now I’m 24 years old and it’s been such a…time of growth for me.”
Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. airs Tuesday at 10 p.m. Eastern time on ABC.
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