On the heels of the recent (and we hope incredibly lucrative) exclusive deal Avengers director Joss Whedon signed with Disney, we get word from Deadline that the long-in-development SHIELD tv show will be executive produced, and at least the pilot co-written by Whedon, who will also direct “schedule permitting.”
The pilot will be co-written by Joss’s brother Jed Whedon and his wife Maurissa Tancharoen, who also previously worked on both Dollhouse and Dr. Horrible’s Sing-a-Long Blog. ABC is saying the pilot will go into production “immediately,” but no word on when we might actually get to see this show. Unless ABC is really going to break with network schedules, it will probably not be until Fall 2013.
The show will follow the exploits of S.H.I.E.L.D, the organization led by Nick Fury that helped bring together The Avengers. . . you know, when its not saving the world from other threats. Of course, no word on whether Sam Jackson will actually appear in the show (I’m betting not), so we’re likely to get other S.H.I.E.L.D.-centric stories in the Marvel universe.
Now this is PURE speculation on my part, but the show is going to require some lead characters who are not just newly-created S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, but something for the fanboys to chew on. Maria Hill would be an obvious choice, but, alas, Cobie Smulders is already in a very successful and popular tv show opposite Whedonverse-alums Alyson Hannigan and Barney Stimson errr. . . Neil Patrick Harris. But, with fellow co-star Jason Segel exiting How I Met Your Mother at the end of the year, could Cobie follow? It would be smart. . .
But my personal hope is this: the show’s star is Carol Danvers. Think about it: strong female lead who kicks ass? It’s right in Whedon’s wheelhouse. Also, you could have a very simple pilot: new hotshot recruit to S.H.I.E.L.D. and former Air Force pilot (callsign “Warbird”) goes on her first mission and encounters alien technology from the Kree empire, who have scheduled Earth for eradication. She and her team must unravel the mystery, with help from Dr. Walter Lawson, who reveals himself as the Kree sentinel Mar-vell. Maybe they fight a giant robot or something, during which time Mar-vell and Danvers are hit by some crazy beam which infuses her with Kree DNA. She then develops superpowers and becomes “Ms. Marvel,” who will lead the team of S.H.I.E.L.D. agents week to week as they protect the world from threats foreign, domestic, and extra-terrestrial. Bonus if you can find a way to introduce Rick Jones. For those not in the know, yes, that is a storyline ripped directly from the funnybooks.
And dream casting? Yvonne Strahovski, formerly of Chuck.
Of course, I don’t doubt Whedon’s ability to find and nurture young, relatively-unknown talent. But who would you like to see fill that black unitard and thigh-high boots?
Or, what else should a S.H.I.E.L.D. show do? If not Ms. Marvel as the lead, who should be?