Will Phil Coulson Return to Avengers Movies from Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.? Joss Whedon Answers

Agent Phil Coulson (Clark Gregg) died during the first Avengers movie back in 2012, but that hasn't stopped the character from headlining the TV series Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.  for nearly two full seasons. Many fans have wondered if and how the show would connect to the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

The Avengers: Age of Ultron director and writer Joss Whedon had some fun with this, specifically Coulson's life, in an interview with IGN.

“Yeah he’s dead. The entire television series is just a fever dream. It’s a Jacob’s Ladder moment he’s having at the point of death, but we don’t give that away until after season seven. And there’s a snow globe. Now I’ve given it away. Bollocks!” Whedon joked.

Then in all seriousness, Whedon explained why we likely won't see Coulson alive in the movies again.

“It’s a weird little yes and no. As far as I’m concerned in the films, yes he’s dead. In terms of the narrative of these guys [The Avengers], his loss was very important,” he said. “When I created the television show, it was sort of on the understanding that this can work and we can do it with integrity, but these Avengers movies are for people to see the Avengers movies and nothing else.”

"It would neither make sense nor be useful to say ‘Oh and by the way remember me? I died!’” he added.

Interestingly, Whedon also expressed some reasons why he thought making the TV series might not be such a great idea.

"I think actually the movie people were a little bit cross about the TV show," he said. "They were sort of like ‘Well you can have this but not this. And this but not that.’ It’s complicated enough as it is without me adding another layer of complication. We also created a TV show called S.H.I.E.L.D. right before they made a movie where they destroyed S.H.I.E.L.D.. So everybody’s having a GREAT time!”

What do you make of Whedon's remarks? Let us know in the comments section.