Ever since we heard that the beloved Agent Coulson was going to be on ABC‘s Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., we’ve been alternately overjoyed and befuddled. You’ve seen The Avengers, right? And you remember what happened to Agent Coulson, played by Clark Gregg? Clark Gregg‘s Agent Coulson who was in Iron Man, Iron Man 2, Thor, and had a cameo in Captain America, The First Avenger before he was in The Avengers?

So while we were all completely excited when we heard that he’ll be starring in Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. coming to ABC in the fall, we were just a bit concerned about how they’re going to be explaining his character’s ability to appear in anything that occurs after the events of The Avengers in the Marvel shows/movies’ continuing timeline.

Hopefully it won’t be only the little bit o’ explanation we get in the trailer, that we just didn’t have a high enough clearance level to know before now:

[youtube]http://youtu.be/MXjoPRvSd7k[/youtube]

Joss Whedon recently spoke with EW about his several ongoing projects when the Agent Coulson question arose. So, will there be an explanation? “Oh yes, we’re going to earn it. That’s not something you take lightly.” Presuming that saying so is not something that Joss Whedon takes lightly, I will now set that worry free.

Whedon, who has routinely cast from a group of actors who could easily be known as the Joss Whedon Players, went on to say that other than Clark Gregg, he’s never worked with anyone in the Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. ensemble before. You may have noticed J. August Richards, who was in Whedon’s Angel, in the trailer; he’ll be a guest star on the show, but Whedon will say nothing for now about just whom Richards is playing.

And that series name? Whedon aurally rolls his eyes, calling it “Tales of Marvel’s Agents of Shield The Next Generation”; Fox owns the name “S.H.I.E.L.D.” so qualifiers on the name are a requirement. Personally I’d love it if we could just lose the periods after each letter of the acronym.

The good news for S.H.I.E.L.D. fans is bad news for Dr. Horrible fans; additional installments of Dr. Horrible have been at least temporarily pushed out of the way in favor of the ABC series. Sorry kids.

You can hear the entirety of the EW Inside TV podcast here, which includes the Joss Whedon interview; it’s a must for all his fans.

“MARVEL’S AGENTS OF S.H.I.E.L.D.” Clark Gregg reprises his role of Agent Phil Coulson from Marvel’s feature films, as he assembles a small, highly select group of Agents from the worldwide law-enforcement organization known as S.H.I.E.L.D. Together they investigate the new, the strange and the unknown around the globe, protecting the ordinary from the extraordinary. Coulson’s team consists of Agent Grant Ward (Brett Dalton), highly trained in combat and espionage; Agent Melinda May (Ming-Na Wen), expert pilot and martial artist; Agent Leo Fitz (Iain De Caestecker), brilliant engineer; and Agent Jemma Simmons (Elizabeth Henstridge), genius bio-chemist. Joining them on their journey into mystery is new recruit and computer hacker Skye (Chloe Bennet). “Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.,” Marvel’s first television series, is from executive producers Joss Whedon (“Marvel’s The Avengers,” “Buffy the Vampire Slayer”), Jed Whedon & Maurissa Tancharoen, who co-wrote the pilot (“Dollhouse,” “Dr.Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog”). Jeffrey Bell(“Angel,” “Alias”) and Jeph Loeb (“Smallville,” “Lost,” “Heroes”) also serve as executive producers. “Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” is produced by ABC Studios and Marvel Television.
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Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., starring Clark Gregg, Brett Dalton, and Ming-na Wen, will air on Wednesdays at 8/7c this fall on ABC.