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Episode 1 – Pilot

Depending on if you saw Avengers (Assemble) in the cinema or watched it at home and didn’t have a US import copy, you’ll have a different interpretation of the fate of Agent Coulson (Clark Gregg). Either way, Nick Fury said he died for the Avengers, to bring them together. Then switch to Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D and #CoulsonLives! As seemingly the head of Level 7, he and agent Maria Hill (Cobie Smulders) are on the lookout for more people with super powers.

In the pilot episode we round up the gang that we’re going to follow in this show, each with their own skills and eccentricities. There is Grant Ward, a black ops specialist, Melinda May, former field agent who is now behind a desk and reluctant to change. Leo Fitz and Jemma Simmons, affectionately known as Fitzsimmons, the uber-nerds who provide the super tech and Skye, a computer hacker with a penchant for heroes.

Skye has found the “hooded hero”, a man with super strength who S.H.I.E.L.D are also after. The Hooded Hero has got himself caught up in a plan to develop a strain of super serum mixed with Extremis and turned himself into a walking bomb. The gang must track him down and stop him from exploding.

For Marvel fans, this is the sort of show you’ll love. It’s what Heroes probably should of been. It has ties to the Marvel Universe that you see on the big screen and it could theoretically be the perfect place for the Civil War to reside with more politics than you’d want from a silver screen adventure. We’ll probably not see cameos from Captain America, Thor or Iron Man (well, maybe the suit sans Tony Stark), but there’ll be plenty of references to all.

With Joss Whedon overseeing the entire Marvel Phase Two strategy and his brother on board at Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D we’ll be in safe hands. The pilot was a great success using a lot more humour than we’re used to and has lots of promise. Hopefully they won’t go with a strong “monster of the week” format – we all know how that worked out for Alcatraz – I’m hoping for some kind of Hydra involvement too.

With the exception of the ending and the special abilities of Lola which really pushed the limits of suspension of belief, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D has increased excitement levels and looks like it could be one of the great television shows of our generation. Roll on episode two.