My last SHIELD ep was finally OK...

I was just about to give up on "Marvel's Agents of SHIELD." The stories were a bit lame, conoluted, or just improbable, and almost completely devoid of any serious connection to the Marvel Universe (Until this last episode when it turns out the whole season has been a long form origin story, of a fan fav 1970's Marvel character).

But then when I, newly interested in the show again, went looking for SHIELD news stories this morning regarding the character's introduction into the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Not only did I find some, and some news about a cameo from a movie character and a villain from one Thor's pantheon, BUT I also found the below article where Agent Coulsen talks shit to fans AND Jim Steranko...

http://comicsalliance.com/clark-gregg-losers-agents-of-shield-steranko/

Plus a nice Easter egg mention of being stationed to guard Emil Blondsky's (the Abomination) cryo-cell being the Marvel Universe equivalent of being sent to the North Pole. Along with the addition of the character you mention, the show is hitting its stride and solving some earlier disappointments.

I was so proud of my wife when she caught that reference. She didn't remember him as the Abomination, but as the hulk-like monster played by "Honey Bunny" from Pulp Fiction.

I've ruined that poor woman.

Joe Lee wrote:

I've ruined that poor woman.

If only I had a nickel for every time I'd been accused of that.   

edquinby001 wrote:

Plus a nice Easter egg mention of being stationed to guard Emil Blondsky's (the Abomination) cryo-cell being the Marvel Universe equivalent of being sent to the North Pole...

It may be more than just an Easter egg, Adrian Paqsdar has just been cast as Major Glenn Talbot. We could be seeing the Abomination soon. Maybe even a Hulk Cameo?

http://comicbook.com/blog/2014/03/12/heroes-star-adrian-pasdar-joins-marvels-agents-of-s-h-i-e-l-d/

That would be gammatacular! In his voice-over work as Iron Man, Paqsdar does a nice Robert Downey Jr. delivery. Sounds like his character here will not be nearly as affable and friendly to Coulson's group. Which makes sense, there definitely should be some repercussions from running roughshod over Shield regs and protocol these last few eps. All together, I've enjoyed them a bit more as well. Of course, that may have as much to do with Lady Sif as anything!

The Winter Soldier film can't come soon enough, explaining what's been going on in the background at SHIELD and where Fury is. I'm curious to see where it all fits in with the show.

But still I wish they'd step it up with the cameos. Abomination would be awesome! Arrow has nearly one or more DCU guest stars every week. Last week's episode had Black Canary, Huntress, Speedy (he really called Roy Speedy), and Deathstroke, as well as flashbacks featuring Prof. Ivo and a reference to Amazo. And the week before was the Suicide Squad, With Deadshot, Bronze Tiger and more. There were several cameos from other DCU villains in their cells. Even Harley Quinn. Shield needs to step up.

Hey was the end of the episode last night a clip from the movie supposed to be a part of the episode?

It started out as any other scene in the show with a little text identifying the location as Washington, but finished as an ad for the movie. Was it just an extended clip and an ad or was that the end scene of the episode leading up to the film, a sort of "Continued in Captain America The Winter Soldier"?

Terry M (Ditko Fan) wrote:

I'm curious to see where it all fits in with the show.

If I'm right about last night's episode it fits right in after last night and before the next episode, next Tuesday or maybe it fits in with the next few episodes?

Terry, I totally agree with you about the guest stars being so much more fun and frequent on Arrow. I know they have to be careful about Movie continuity and using only characters that are already established or will never be, but the first season is almost over, there are so many d-list and e-list characters they could have used, thousands. Probably a few b and c listers they could have gotten away with too.

But Centipede is to close to Scorpion for my tastes. If it leads there it'd be a waste, I'm still holding out hopes for a stylish Steranko inspired Nick Fury SHIELD film. Which directly contradicts my above plea for sure.

Maybe the reference to the Abomination will lead somewhere.

And there are more movie characters that could work, like Sif. Why not Dum Dum Dugan (Jr. to solve the time issues, and no continuity problem with a Jr. either right?)

Why not some Avengers members or villains you know won't make it in the big movies, or c-listers that already have ties to SHIELD like Mockingbird or Spiderwoman. Spider-Woman (she'd muddy the movie waters for some but her SHIELD connection could be a great season long MAOS story or could she already be Sky?)

Moon Knight (too much like batman for movies but as a storyline on SHIELD and possible TV spinoff?),

Taskmaster could be a great villain with all those Avenger's powers. And not likely to make a movie. Too cool to be a throw away like Batroc but not engaging or cool enough to carry a movie like Red Skull, Loki or Ultron

I thought the Deathlok suit looked a lot like the costumes on Arrow.

Very true, the brief x-ray shot of Deathlok actually looked more like the comic version or was that my wishful thinking? Maybe it was intentional and a harbinger of things to come. Along those lines, I guess the astrology conversation with Skye, I think it was her, saying she was a Scorpio is a nod to Steranko's 'Who is Scorpio' classic story. If so, it was a nice Easter egg, maybe with a payoff down the line?

edquinby001 wrote:

Very true, the brief x-ray shot of Deathlok actually looked more like the comic version or was that my wishful thinking? Maybe it was intentional and a harbinger of things to come.

I took it as a nod to the comics version, or maybe an admission that the x-ray shot was as close as they were going to get to the comics version, but I hope you're right and it's a preview of things to come.

edquinby001 wrote:

Along those lines, I guess the astrology conversation with Skye, I think it was her, saying she was a Scorpio is a nod to Steranko's 'Who is Scorpio' classic story. If so, it was a nice Easter egg, maybe with a payoff down the line?

I missed that. Very cool if it was.

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Ok so given the events in Winter Soldier, how do you have a show called Agents if SHIELD, without SHIELD? Looking forward to how they move forward with this as well as how this effects all the other movies.

Anyone else catch the reference to the Griffin in tonight's episode? Just a quick mention of John Horton, a guy with lion paws for hands.

I heard it alright, but couldn't begin to reference it. For the life of me I couldn't think of a Marvel character with lion paws... Zabu? he's a tiger, a Red K effect? that's DC. So, I gave up, well done, Terry! The action seems like it's about to get interesting in this series, hope it doesn't get slowed down with too much soap opera. And Garret has some cyborg parts!

Lots more more references tonight. It's nice seeing Deathlok, Maria Hill and Glenn Talbot all in the episode. But I still wanted more.

How about that Man-Thing reference. And while she was on the phone with Pepper Potts? Almost as cool as the Stephen Strange mention in Winter Soldier.

I love the idea of Talbot and Hill being in the show, I can't help wondering if this is all leading to a Deathlok/Abomination fight in the finale. Okay more wishful thinking than wondering.

I agree, I still want more Marvel supporting cast members sprinkled around. Not saying they should get Sally Field to make a guest appearance. But, there are a great many supporting characters to choose from. Having a Howling Commando's grandson be on the team was an awesome idea and a pretty good start, maybe a few more occasionally reoccurring characters would be cool.

I explained the Man-Thing reference to my wife as, "He is Marvel's Swamp Thing but has the intelligence of a raccoon". She's never read comics, so it's funny that she does know who Swamp Thing is. The power of even a 30 year old C level movie I guess.

I think DC(more likely suits at Warner Bros.), is trying to answer Marvel's incursion into prime time TV. In addition to Arrow and the promised Flash spinoff, I just saw trailers for "Gotham" and "Constantine" all of which promise to show ACTUAL comics characters. Unlike Shield that just mentions them.

Say what you will about continuity or quality. DC's TV shows have actual title characters, a & b list villains, and some actual Justice League members. Where MAOS has references to a, b, and c listers, and the occasional cameo from Sif, Fury, Hill or Deathlok. Even the main villains are just a sub-sect of Hydra.

edquinby001 wrote:

The power of even a 30 year old C level movie I guess.

Two movies, a two season live action syndicated TV series and a kid's cartoon show.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uxxVv5VetBo

Wow,Terry! I knew about the second Swamp Thing movie, but apparently I was taking a long snooze between 1991-4 for the rest!

There was a live action Swamp Thing TV show?

Yep, just looked it up. It starred Dick Durock as the monster, the same guy from the two movies. There were three seasons not two, my memory was incorrect. It was on USA from July 27, 1990 – May 1, 1993. According to wikipedia it was one of USA's top rated shows.

Heck, according to wikipedia there is an Hourman series in development. There are already five total DC live action shows scheduled to be on the air next year. (Arrow, Constantine, Gotham, The Flash, and iZombie)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_television_series_based_on_DC_Comics

The Marvel live action list is much shorter, but the animated series list look about the same.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_television_series_based_on_Marvel_Comics

Terry M (Ditko Fan) wrote:

Heck, according to wikipedia there is an Hourman series in development.

They have been using "Miraclo" all season on Arrow. They have been calling it "Mirakuru"

They used it to give Slade Wilson superpowers, and it was used as a substitute for Roy's drug problem.

Joe Lee wrote:

... and it was used as a substitute for Roy's drug problem.

Which is so much more poignant than his real drug addiction, from back in the comics.