The blockbuster big-screen success of “Marvel’s The Avengers” inspired ABC to spin off part of that movie’s cast of characters into one of the most hotly anticipated shows of the fall season.
It’s also a make-or-break property for the creatively parched network.
“Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” — created by wunderkind Joss Whedon (“Buffy”), who wrote “The Avengers” — begins where the movie left off. Agent Phil Coulson (Clark Gregg) has his eye on a mysterious group called The Rising Tide. In order to track this unseen enemy, he’s assembled a small, highly select group of agents from the worldwide law-enforcement organization S.H.I.E.L.D. (Strategic Homeland Intervention Enforcement and Logistics Division).
In translating the big-screen concept to TV, creator Whedon said ABC wanted a consistent emphasis on the characters.
“They wanted to make sure that people were coming back for the recurring story, as well as for the story that would conclude in a single episode,” he told reporters.
Rich Johnston, who runs the comics-oriented Web site Bleeding Cool, says that for “S.H.I.E.L.D.” to succeed, Whedon will have keep the characters front-and-center. “You have to show the big explosions every now and then. But at the heart of good superhero stories are the people,” Johnston says. “And television does people often far better than films do. They are closer to you, in your home, rather than towering above you.”
The series won’t have Robert Downey Jr., Scarlett Johannson or the other “Avengers” A-listers, but there will be plenty of action and special effects to lure the young male audience so desperately sought by ABC.
Though its female-driven content (“Scandal,” “Grey’s Anatomy”) makes the network tops with women, it finished fourth in adults 18-49 last season.
“ABC has been trying to find a male show for years,” says Brad Adgate of Horizon Media. “They have no sports shows. But ‘The S.H.I.E.L.D.’ can be promoted the night before [football] airs on [sister network] ESPN.”