海角大神

There has been plenty of speculation regarding the upcoming Joss Whedon听厂.贬.滨.贰.尝.顿.听TV series 鈥� specifically in regards to the show鈥檚 plot and whether or not well-known comic book characters will make an appearance; not to mention the question of how the series will be linked to the听Marvel movie universe.

While Marvel has previously stated that the pilot will be part of their 鈥淧hase II鈥� storyline, they have now officially confirmed the that series will take place after the听Avengers movie timeline 鈥� but will consist of its own self-contained stories.

In a recent interview with IGN, ABC President Paul Lee had this to say about S.H.I.E.L.D.鈥檚 place in the Marvel Universe:

鈥淭here is no question that it is part of the Marvel Universe. In fact, the story takes place after the battle for New York.This is S.H.I.E.L.D. They鈥檙e following their own particular stories. There are characters in it, Coulson, who clearly come from Avengers. So it鈥檚 part of the world, but we鈥檙e going to be very, very careful that we don鈥檛 tread on the toes of the features and build a whole new world. And that鈥檚 what Joss Whedon does better than anybody else. He鈥檚 built a world for us.鈥�

That being said, the real question on fans minds is this: If the S.H.I.E.L.D. pilot takes place after the Avengers and deceased fan-fav Agent Phil Coulson (Clark Gregg)听is set to return, how will the character be听resurrected?

Bringing Back Coulson: How It Could Be Done

With all the options of bringing a character back to life Hollywood and comics have to offer, we took the time to compile a list of the most-likely options ABC or Whedon might use for Coulson:听

Flashbacks: Possible, but it would kind of defeat the purpose of having the series take place 鈥渁fter the Avengers.鈥� The flashback idea also lacks the token Joss Whedon flare for the obviously complicated, but we鈥檒l see.

A Ghost \ Helpful Sprit: Ummm, seems a bit unlikely (or at least we鈥檙e really hoping it is), despite Joss Whedon鈥檚 penchant for the supernatural and Marvel鈥檚 use of spirits in the past. The idea may sound cheesy at first (mostly because it is), but perhaps under the creative eye of Whedon it might actually work. Come to think of it, a ghost would make an excellent spy.

A Deathlok: Zombies are totally 鈥渋n鈥� right now, and a Zombie Cyborg is definitely a step up. Deathloks are dead soldiers\agents reanimated with future technology by the US government (or S.H.I.E.L.D.) to serve as the perfect military operative. The downside to a Deathlok operative is that they often end up at odds with their organic and cybernetic brains, which usually resorts in the Deathlok going crazy and turning on its masters.

Life Model Decoys and Other Various Types of Robot: Marvel and Whedon LOVE robots (just ask the Vision and the BuffyBot) but the favorite of S.H.I.E.L.D. brass is the Life Model Decoy. LMDs are androids designed to function as an exact body double of the humans they鈥檙e based on.

The near-flawless mimicry of their subject鈥檚 outer appearance 听- i.e., fingerprints, hair, skin, retina patterns, speech patterns, scent, body language and thought patterns 鈥� have even fooled the acute senses of Wolverine and high-level telepaths. Apart from any invasive medical examination or strong EMP, LMDs are indistinguishable from the original.

(PS: We鈥檙e also including a living computer based on Coulson鈥檚 brain patterns in with the 鈥渞obot鈥� category.)

Cloning: To say Marvel loves a good cloning would be an understatement, in fact you haven鈥檛 made it as a superhero unless some villain has tried to clone you for nefarious purposes. While LMDs maybe S.H.I.E.L.D.鈥檚 go to, clones also play a big part within the organization. The real question of cloning Coulson will be if he鈥檚 aware of his duplicate nature and if not how will he react when he finds out.

Mystical Resurrection: We all hate to lose a fantastic employee and S.H.I.E.L.D. is no different. Bringing characters back from the dead is a staple of Marvel comics (*cough* Jean Grey) and S.H.I.E.L.D. has numerous sorcerers on the payroll. The Hand, an order of evil mystical ninjas and longtime adversaries of S.H.I.E.L.D frequently use resurrection to replenish their ranks and have been known to use former superheroes and S.H.I.E.L.D agents including Elektra and Northstar. Perhaps S.H.I.E.L.D鈥檚 first TV mission will be to recover Coulson鈥檚 body from the Hand鈥檚 wicked clutches?

Never Died:听Most Likely. Nick Fury has shown he is a man of action no matter what he must do, and faking a man鈥檚 death to manipulate a group of super-powered narcissists into playing nice is not above him. Sure, we saw Coulson take the pointy end of Loki鈥檚 staff to the gut, but that doesn鈥檛 mean he died before making it to the top medical facilities of S.H.I.E.L.D. 鈥� or perhaps an unsuspecting Life Model Decoy took that 鈥淩ed Shirt鈥� hit in place of the real Coulson.

Alien Technology:听Why strain your brain about the Coulson issue when there鈥檚 perfectly good deus ex machina staring you in the face? The Avengers fought alien hordes of The Chitauri over NYC, and the Marvel One-Shot short film 鈥淚tem 47鈥� already chronicled S.H.I.E.L.D.鈥檚 collection and cataloging of all the Chitauri technology leftover after the battle; who鈥檚 to say they didn鈥檛 discover tech that could bring Coulson back to the land of the living?

Scott Stoute blogs at Screen Rant.