Cautiously Optimistic

Keeping the Hope Alive: Clark Gregg Loves The Idea of Coming Back as The Vision

by Susana Polo | 11:01 am, September 5th, 2012

When news of Joss Whedon creating a S.H.I.E.L.D. television show for ABC hit, there was a lot of reaction. There’s still a lot of reaction. I think the residual energy of it may have just reached the Curiosity Rover on Mars (she’s also disappointed that Cobie Smulders is way too busy with HIMYM to realistically join the show).

A good chunk of that reaction was from fans of Clark Gregg‘s Agent Coulson, both crying in pain because his character is presumed dead and therefore presumably cannot be in the show, and cries of hope that he will be resurrected in some fashion (possibly as the superhero The Vision, pictured above) for it. Turns out Clark Gregg had about the same reaction to the news.

He told Movies.com: “You know what, that was the moment when I went, ‘Great, they’re doing the S.H.I.E.L.D. TV show and I’m on a slab!” The actor is still uncertain as to his future with the Marvel franchise:

I don’t know if we’ll see Agent Coulson again, but I certainly do his voice in their animated series, The Ultimate Spider-Man, and you never know, there may be a flashback or something sometime. I really hit it off with those guys [at Marvel], and I’ve talked to them lately about some ways I can continue to work with them, perhaps as a writer or director.

But what about the Vision? The Vision has been a popular suggestion for Coulson’s resurrection. The character is an android, with the brain patterns of a deceased superhero encoded into his brain, giving him a “matrix” for his emotions… but basically a human soul. It sounds like Gregg would take the role, if it were offered:

You know the Vision is synthetic with a soul, sort of, and he’s an amazing character who I loved when I used to read those comics. I love the idea of Coulson as that guy, but I don’t know if that’s in the cards.

While it’s far too early for Gregg to know whether or not he’ll be involved in the next Avengers movie, it would seem that since Iron Man 3 and Thor 2 are already underway, he’d know if he was in those (or he’s keeping a very big secret). It certainly seem like if Marvel was going to bring Coulson back, it would be in the next Avengers. Joss Whedon, for example, has expressed a wish to keep The Avengers 2 as self contained as its predecessor, so that folks who don’t see the intervening solo movies can still get a grip on the characters’ development. My pet theory is that it will simply be revealed that Coulson never died in the first place, that his injuries were opportunistically used by Nick Fury (as Coulson himself indirectly suggested before falling unconscious) to manipulate the Avengers to banding together as a working team. A reveal of Fury’s willingness to manipulate those who trust him would be an excellent second movie reveal.

(Movies.com via MTV Splash Page.)

TAGS: Clark Gregg | Joss Whedon | Marvel Comics | The Vision

http://offthemall.org/ Bryant Turnage

I never understood the huge attachment some people have to Coulson, but I do like Clark Gregg and thought he did a serviceable job with a minor character. That said, I truly hope he’s not tapped to play The Vision; I would hate to see them make that sort of major change to what I consider to be an iconic member of the Avengers.
http://www.facebook.com/Travis.K.Fischer Travis Kyle Fischer

I’m going to take that interview as a sign that Coulson as Vision is definitely happening and you can’t stop me!
TKS

Kind of like how Thor is actually Thor and not crippled doctor Donald Blake with a magic walking stick?

Or that Hawkeye was a SHIELD agent, and not a circus trained criminal turned superhero?

I’m fine with getting character details wrong as long as the character resembles the comic character. (Plus, the only reason I ever really liked Wonder Man is that he lead to the Vision. This is similar to how I love Wasp but can’t stand Hank Pym.)
Anonymous

*Disclaimer about liking Agent Coulson just as much as the next person*

I’d sort of like it if Marvel put a stop to the revolving door of death in the movies. Isn’t that one of the weaknesses of a lot of comic books? That really, no major characters stay dead for long so the impact of certain events is lessened.
Anonymous

Let’s be fair, those sort of deviations *already happened* in the comics, what with the Ultimates timeline and all.
TKS

He uses the phrase “iconic.” I’d hesitate to use iconic to describe the Ultimate timeline.

EDIT- also…good point.
Anonymous

I was more just meaning that those devitations — Thor not being Donald Blake, Hawkeye being a secret agent, etc. — are actually comics canon in at least one timeline, even before the movies.

Then again, given the multiverse theory of reality, somewhere out there, there’s a universe for every possible comics canon! Somewhere out there, there might even be a universe where DC and Marvel each have only one timeline, and when characters die off they stay dead!
(…nah, that’s probably stretching the bounds of multiversal probability a bit too far.)
Anonymous

This is highly unlikely, since Coulson has no involvement in Visions backstory. Vision was created by Ultron, who was created by Hank Pyn.

Coulson doesn’t really factors in.

And i’d much rather they’d use the others SHIELD agents. Like Jimmy Woo, Monica Chang, Mockingbird/Bobbi Morse, G.W. Bridge, etc. Not the same random white dude. As much as i like coulson.
TKS

I think people are talking about how Vision was given Wonder Man’s brain patterns when everyone thought he had died. So he was a robot with the mind of a human. (Also, Scarlett Witch was a cellist.)

They would just replace Wonder Man with Coulson because, well, Wonder Man.

I do agree with you on getting some non-white non-dude SHIELD agents.
Anonymous

Ah, then sure, i’m game with that! Though technically, they would still be different people, just like Wonder Man and Vision are different.
http://www.facebook.com/laura.truxillo Laura Truxillo

I’m on the #CoulsonLives boat. Don’t care how they do it, just want to see him back. And honestly, partially for the reason you gave at the end: a living Coulson is a surefire way to make the Avengers break off with SHIELD and Fury being a lying liar who lies (for a good reason), and that would make a nice dynamic secondary conflict to whatever villainous foes they’ll have to fight in the next film.

Or, if nothing else, have Coulson show up in flashbacks.

Crushed that we won’t be seeing Colbie as Maria Hill (maybe a guest spot every now and again?) More Sitwell, then?
Anonymous

I like Coulson, but I really hope the movies don’t bring him back. Death is cheap in comics because the characters just come back later, or it’s revealed that they never really died in the first place. They need to avoid that in the films. The only way I’d accept his return is as Vision, because I’d like to see how the characters react to this machine who is almost – but never can be – the man they lost.
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100003037095323 Jerilyn Nighy

Life Model Decoy.
http://www.facebook.com/skywalker993 Luke Woolley

Hello no. Keep dead characters dead!! Whedon knows the value of killing characters and people better not make him fuck this one up.
Terence Ng

Kind of like Illyria and Fred in Angel. :)