Marvel Agents of SHIELD

Cafe Society
101

I agree with you on the Hero for Hire thing, but we’re still in origin story territory right now. That could be coming up. Being an ex-con is a big part of his backstory, but I think you can tweak that to “serious trouble with the law” without losing the character.

I’m pretty sure the only reason they didn’t actually name him Luke Cage is that Marvel isn’t sure what they want to do with the character yet, and didn’t want to commit him to this show.

I have very, very little doubt that Richards will come back. It’s a Joss Whedon show. I put it at about 80/20 that Amy Acker shows up sooner or later. I highly suspect Richards will be full cast member by the second season. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if his next appearance, he’s working something very similar to the Hero for Hire gig, or at the very least, trying to monetize his superpowers in a way that gives Shield agita. I doubt the show will go so far as to ever actually call him Luke Cage, or Power Man. I’m virtually certain that we’ll see frequent gags referencing how similar he is to Luke Cage. Particularly around December.

On the other hand, there’s always an outside chance we’ll see a scene like this:

Coulson: Mike Petersen is dead. We need to build you a new identity. What would you like your new name to be?
Mike: Uhh… I never thought about it.
Coulson: Well, who’s your favorite movie character?
Mike: Luke Skywalker?

Disney marketing would love it, at least. :smiley:

102

He does too.

103

Hey, Czarcasm, thanks for linking to that Steranko thing. I had forgotten about that guy! Not really interested in his opinion, but I’ll give it a chance.

I liked the “Journey into Mystery…” line (I think that was Thor’s comic, early on).

I thought Mike was Luke Cage at first, too, but hoped he wasn’t. I’m definitely wanting to see the yellow shirt and tiara, or at least the black shirt and bald head. More non-movie Marvel characters appearing would make me happy. Carol Danvers, anyone? Paste-Pot Pete? Uatu?

Skye’s boobs looked fine to me. Generically Handsome Spy (GHS) will get better; I have faith. I’d like for Fitz & Simmons to enunciate more clearly if they actually have any lines worth hearing. Coulson was great, and I want more Ming-Na.

I was happy to see the show, and plan on watching it every week, forgiving its imperfections rather than nitpicking.

104

There was a partial shot of an ad on the side of a bus for Stark Industries

105

I think Luke Cage would be problematical. Marvel/Disney already has problems trying to synch up the movie versions of the characters with their comic book counterparts. People watch a movie and then buy a comic book and get annoyed when the comic book story doesn’t match what they saw (and the reverse is certainly also true). Luke Cage is currently a pretty prominent character in the Marvel comic book universe with a wife and kid. Trying to bridge the gap between this character and the character on the show would be difficult.

106

Finally got to see it. Now it’s my new favorite show.

107

In fact, Luke Cage has and is once again leading a team of Avengers. So it would be more than difficult to place him in this universe successfully.

108

“Xander ugly”? He dressed badly but Young Nicholas Brendon was a real cutie; we were supposed to think he couldn’t get a date? And Alison Hannigan was plain? As far as “shepherding these kids around”–what about The Shepherd? Who was a great surprise…

Not that I find Coulson ugly–but I’m old…

I found the show a fine mix of Whedon and Marvel comics. Not that I read them past my teen years–but I’ve enjoyed the movies. Look forward to loving it more. And found the production values quite fine–interesting hardware, LA & Paris!

Concerning the “ripoff” of Scotty. I think the Scottish Engineer dates back to the Industrial Revolution and earlier; Nonconformists, barred from the respectable professions, went into scientific & technical work. Proper Church of England gentlemen studied the Classics…

109

I thought the pilot was decidedly meh. It seemed kind of overly cliche and definitely predictable (I would have liked it if rising tide girl decided not to join the group, but was more of an outsider who consulted or SOMETHING different from what was obviously going to happen & who DIDN’T see SHIELD showing up when rising tide girl said “you’ll never find us”?). I hope they take a few interesting chances rather than follow paint by numbers plotlines.

If it wasn’t connected to MARVEL, I think it’d be a pass for me after Week 1 (as decent, but not good enough to add to my list of shows).

110

The problem is this DOESN’T happen–the number of people who pick up the comics after only only being exposed to the movies/cartoon/tv show/etc is negligible–but the comic companies think this might happen so they put way too much emphasis on them synching up.

The fact that they made such a big deal this week in the media about using Gravitronas a villain on the show this season makes me think all A and B+ list Marvel characters are off limits.

111

Anyone know what the numbers were for the pilot?

112

According to Dan Feinberg at Hitfix it was the highest debut of a new drama since 2009:

[QUOTE=Hitfix]
ABC’s “Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” was third with 11.89 million viewers and won the hour with a 4.6 key demo rating.
[/QUOTE]

113

[QUOTE=Miller]
I doubt the show will go so far as to ever actually call him Luke Cage, or Power Man. I’m virtually certain that we’ll see frequent gags referencing how similar he is to Luke Cage.
[/QUOTE]

Next time we see him, there’s an overturned getaway car and our hero is high-fiving a bare-chested blond dude with a sweet dragon tattoo and an afro-sporting girlfriend. No further mention is ever made of this by anyone on the show.

114

Maybe it’s because I’m playing through the games again, but Fitz and Simmons reminded me a lot of Donnelly and Daniels, the ship engineers from Mass Effect 2 and 3.

115

That sounds like Iron Fist and Misty Knight - Heroes for Hire??

ETA: So, there was a preview or something that showed that? I don’t recall seeing a blond guy or afro gal…

Jeez, I haven’t even thought of those characters for decades…I had all of the old Gil Kane-pencilled Iron Fist comics…ah, to be 12 again.

116

No, that was just something I was hoping for, not something I’ve actually seen.

117

I’m holding out for an episode with Squirrel Girl.

118

Ah. Well, Iron First is by no means a top-tier Marvel hero, so maybe they could include him…

119

Watched last night, and I give it a guarded thumbs up. Possibly the best pilot Whedon has done, but still very much with that “pilot” feel. Some stuff was predictable, a few things weren’t, and a lot of the setup was rushed. But I’ve learned my lesson after almost abandoning Firefly after the pilot (sorry!) and almost abandoning Dollhouse right before the game-changing episode (dollhouse fans know which one I mean) and passing on Angel until well after watching Buffy (whoops!). Joss has earned my trust, and I can see he’s already plotting and scheming for this to be more than Hero/Monster of the week.

For example…

Precisely. I was bummed with the cop-out “not really dead” bit, but then got a big grin on my face at “He really doesn’t know?” so Joss. so great.

Of course there were some familiar faces from his other shows. That’s how he rolls. And it’s not just Nepotism, it’s because they’re damned good actors. I was really bummed to see J. August Richards listed as Special Guest star and not part of the main cast.

As for the new folks, Ming Na was really great. Lots of subtle reactions indicating there’s more to her character we haven’t seen yet. Also nice to have an action hero part played by an “older” woman. (older in quotes since if I hadn’t looked her up imdb, I would have thought she’d been in stasis since Joy Luck Club. That is one well aged 50-year-old). Agent Ward too, I thought was set up well to have hidden layers. Shades of Angel’s hidden goofiness there. He’s more than just a hunky tough guy, methinks.

Skye seems like what happens if Eliza Dushku and Alyssa Milano have a baby. Beautiful, expressive, but no way do I buy her as a computer expert better than SHIELD’s best. :rolleyes: “Fitz-Simmons” was too cutesy for my taste, too. I’m sure they’ll get their own development eventually. But for now, it seems like a one-note joke, and I often had trouble understanding them.

I’m curious to see how well it integrates with the movie franchise. It would be nice to at least have the occasional cameo from Sam Jackson, or one of the other stars (other than Agent Hill). But I don’t want the show to become just a platform to promote whatever Marvel movie is coming out that week. I expect lot of stuff like the Buffy/Angel “non-crossovers” that happened once the shows were on different networks. “Coulson, nice to have you back, how was your week on Sakaar with the Avengers?” or like Worf’s entrance into First Contact.
Overall, I’m just happed to have a Whedon show on the air again. Here’s hoping this stops reminding me of MIB, Heroes, the 4400, Torchwood, and X-files, and takes the best of those, avoids the worst, and becomes a classic.

120

Actually, this was one of my peeves with the episode. The “He must never know” bit was too cliche, too trite, too predictable for my tastes. I would have preferred more subtlety or just ignore the issue for now. No need to throw that in the pilot.