Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

Joss Whedon’s Marvel TV Show: 10 Intriguing Possibilities

In the wake of Whedon’s TV deal, we examine the options...

10 - Hulk

Why It Might Happen: If Avengers Assemble proved one thing (it didn’t, it proved several things, but bear with us here), it was that Joss Whedon can deliver a Hulk that will make audiences whoop with giddy joy.

After suffering through early attempts to bring the character to the big screen, audiences were grateful.

Grateful enough to make a Joss-led Hulk TV show a Lost-sized hit for ABC?

Guillermo del Toro is attached to direct the pilot, and he recently discussed a mysterious writer who he was keen to involve: "I had one meeting with Marvel after Avengers and we had a very, very good chat.

"We have a writer that we want to bring on board, a very, very concrete name. I can’t reveal it, but we want to wait for that writer. It’s a writer who is otherwise engaged. So right now we are in a holding pattern until that writer becomes free. Then we’re going to do a new draft of the script."

Sounds like Joss to us.

Possible Problems: We can’t actually think of any. This is looking like the most plausible option.

9 - Astonishing X-Men

Why It Might Happen: We know, we know - 20th Century Fox has the rights to the X-Men movies, but did you know that Marvel retains the TV rights?

After Whedon’s run on Astonishing X-Men, not to mention Buffy (which was X-Men in all but name), he would be the perfect person to bring a live-action Mutant soap to the small screen.

Possible Problems: Would Marvel want a competing continuity? It could get confusing for fans.

Having said that, Marvel has all sorts of X-books on comic-shop shelves, so that’s never bothered them before.

But there’s a more significant issue: if a live-action X-Men TV show is successful, it could end up helping a rival studio to promote their own X-brand.

8 - Runaways

Why It Might Happen: Runaways has been on Marvel’s development slate since 2008.

In 2010 production halted, ostensibly so that the studio could concentrate on Avengers Assemble.

But we’ve always felt that Runaways would work best as a TV show. And its plot - a gang of kids discover that their parents are a gang of supervillains, before going on the run and discovering their own powers - fits perfectly into Joss’ recurring motif of teenagers vs. authority figures.

Possible Problems: Marvel has spent a lot of time and money developing this one into a movie property.

Despite the fact Whedon is the best possible person to turn it into a TV series, we reckon it’ll stay in its current format, and be announced as part of Marvel third phase of films.

7 - Marvels

Why It Might Happen: Marvels would work so well as a TV series, we’re surprised it hasn’t been mentioned as a possibility by Marvel.

But that could just be because they want it to be a nice surprise.

It’s the story of news photographer Phil Sheldon, who happens to be present at some of the most significant events in Marvel comic history.

It was one of the earliest examples of Marvel tales told exclusively from the perspective of ordinary people - making it right up Joss’ alley.

Possible Problems: It covers events from the 1939-1974 period in Marvel history, which could make it a logistical nightmare in terms of tying it in with future film projects.

6 - S.H.I.E.L.D

Why It Might Happen: Telly audiences love procedural shows, and, with the world of S.H.I.E.L.D already established by Whedon’s Avengers Assemble, it could hit the ground running.

We could definitely see a show in which the agents of S.H.I.E.L.D have to clean up after super-messes - it would basically be Men In Black meets The X-Files, with capes.

Possible Problems: Samuel L Jackson is an essential element of a S.H.I.E.L.D show.

There’s a chance it could work with occasional cameos from Jackson’s Nick Fury, but that would be a compromise to the integrity of the property.

S.H.I.E.L.D without Fury would be like The X-Men without Professor Xavier, and we all saw how that worked out for The Last Stand.

It would be far better to feature Fury as a central character, but Jackson constantly has movie projects on the go, which would make finding time in his schedule a task trickier than gathering the world’s greatest heroes into one centralised superhero team. Not impossible, but very difficult.

5 - Marvel: Code Blue

Why It Might Happen: If S.H.I.E.L.D won’t work, it might be preferable for Whedon and Marvel to take essentially the same concept, and apply it to a brand-new brand.

Marvel: Code Blue is a team of police officers created to fight super powered criminals, who have never had their own comic (they first appeared in Thor #426, and went on to have guest-spots in other Marvel comics).

But the concept has small screen potential. We’d love to see Marvel’s version of The Wire, in which cops and supers have to work together to defeat various villains.

Possible Problems: There’s a reason there’s so many sequels, reboots and remakes doing the rounds - it’s a hell of a lot easier to adapt an existing property than to launch a new one.

With so much attention on Marvel’s move into TV, we imagine they’ll be playing it way too safe to take a risk on an untested concept.

Still, the rumors of a Marvel cop show refuse to go away, and Code Blue is one way of making it work.

4 - Alias

Why It Might Happen: Marvel has been developing an Alias series - otherwise known as AKA Jessica Jones - since 2010.

In 2012, ABC passed on Twilight screenwriter Melissa Rosenberg’s pilot.

Alias’ lead, Jessica Jones, has strong ties to both The Avengers and S.H.I.E.L.D - and, in fact, much of the Marvel universe, in her role as an ex-costumed superhero who hangs up her cape to become a private detective.

She’s a complex character - resilient and tough on the outside, but maternal and sensitive on the inside. She’s also very funny, with a dark, dry wit.

Basically, she’s exactly the sort of strong female lead that Whedon enjoys writing.

If Marvel and ABC were still interested in the project, Whedon could deliver it with ease.

Possible Problems: Jones’ back-story involves some spectacularly nasty events (the original comic was released on Marvel’s adult imprint Max), so it might be a tricky one to bring to the small screen.

3 - The Punisher

Why It Might Happen: ABC committed to a Marvel-led Punisher series, but eventually passed on Criminal Minds writer/producer Ed Bernero’s pilot.

The character might seem a bit too bleak for Whedon’s sensibilities, but Angel proved that he can do city street-based vigilante darkness with style.

And if there’s one thing that The Punisher needs, it’s a strong streak of tongue-in-cheek humour.

Again, if this is a project ABC are still keen to take forward, Joss’ input would be extremely valuable. After all, if he can make Hulk work, he can pretty much make any character work.

Possible Problems: Of all the titles on this list, this one is the least likely. The Avengers and The Punisher have never teamed up for a reason - they are the antithesis of each other.

Still, the skull t-shirt-wearing Punisher geeks in the office would be prepared to swap their comic-collections to see Joss make this. We’re just putting that out there.

2 - Why It Might Happen: Marvel Television announced at Comic-Con 2011 that they were developing a Cloak & Dagger series. Since then, we’ve heard nothing.

Which is a shame - we were extremely excited about the idea of a Cloak & Dagger TV show.

The high-concept - two teenage runaways with powers declare war on drug dealers and city crime - is one that could run and run.

Though we’d definitely prefer the ret-conned version of the backstory, which makes them mutants, to the original, which saw them gain their powers after being injected with experimental heroin.

Created in the ’80s, Cloak & Dagger have appeared in Marvel plotlines as significant as Maximum Carnage, Secret Invasion and Civil War.

They’ve fought alongside The Avengers many times, and we could definitely see them making an appearance in future Marvel films.

What better way to establish them than in a Whedon-led TV show?

Possible Problems: Cloak & Dagger are also part of Marvel’s Paramount movie deal - so there’s a very real chance it’s being developed into a film franchise following Avengers Assemble’s success.

1 - Civil War

Why It Might Happen: Avengers Assemble is Marvel Studios’ greatest event movie, and Civil War is arguably Marvel’s best crossover event.

It’s so complex it would be almost impossible to do as a film franchise - it would require at least seven dedicated movies, possibly more.

The story saw the US Government creating a Superhuman Registration Act which required any person in the United States with super powers to register with the government as a "human weapon of mass destruction," to reveal their true identity to the authorities, and undergo government training.

The legislation split the Marvel Universe in two - with one side supporting the act, and the other violently opposing it.

Surprisingly, Captain America led the group opposed to the plan, whilst Iron Man (a character who has always been open about his superhero identity) supported it.

We could see a Marvel TV show introducing elements of the Civil War plot - namely, the introduction of the act - allowing Joss to weave them into his Avengers Assemble sequels plan.

Possible Problems: As much as we’d love this one to happen, it’s probably waaaaay too complicated for even the genius of Joss to make work.

If you’re reading this Joss, consider that an Infinity gauntlet we’ve just thrown to the ground.