Marvel’s ‘Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.': Joss Whedon Talks S.H.I.E.L.D. Gadgets, TV Budget

While Joss Whedon continues to make the rounds for his latest cinematic triumph, the admittedly smaller-scale 'Much Ado About Nothing,' hungry Marvel fans continue to press for news from ABC's forthcoming Marvel's 'Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.' series. We've heard a good deal about the "everyman" approach, but what does Whedon have to say about the smaller-scale budget, or the series' focus on gadgetry and effects?

'Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.' will tell plenty of down-to-earth stories amid the apparent superpowers and hi-tech toys of the pilot, but Whedon told MovieFone recently that the show's struggles to live up to the big-screen budget of its cinematic brethren won't distract from the show's real focus, the fan-favorite Agent Coulson.

There's always the struggle between spectacle and a TV budget. What attracted me to "S.H.I.E.L.D." were the gadgets. But after the gadgets was humanity: The idea that there is an underside, a darker side, a more human context. Phil Coulson always represented the everyman, the schlemiel in the world of the fabulous or the mighty, gods and billionaires and legends. And that's what the show is for, it's for those people who, as remarkable as they may be, are not the supers, are not A-list.

What are the rest of us worth when there are people that are so extraordinary? That's a human story. We hired actors that I am so excited to welcome into our universe, and they're extraordinary, and they're going to bring so much to it. That's what I'm giving people every week; those actors, their stories, and the stories that they encounter. I know that we all share the same sensibility in terms of what makes it Marvel, what makes it that universe. I never worry about what the fanboys think because the fanboy is thinking it up.

ABC has yet to release the show's highly-anticipated pilot to press, but we're hoping for a much more in-depth look at the series during this year's Comic-Con, where naturally the series would find itself in good company among Marvel fans.

While we wait, Marvel’s ‘Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.’ features a cast that includes Clark Gregg’s resurrected Agent Phil Coulson, as well as Whedon vet J. August Richards, ‘ER’ doc Ming-Na, Chloe Bennet, Brett Dalton, Elizabeth Henstridge and Iain De Caestecker as the other agents of the team. Nick Fury himself, Samuel L. Jackson, previously stated that he expected to be involved in some small capacity, while ‘How I Met Your Mother‘ and ‘The Avengers‘ star Cobie Smulders remains open to the possibility (but from the sounds of the trailer, she might just pop up after all).

We'll keep bringing you the latest from Marvel's 'Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.,' due out on Tuesdays this fall, but what do you think? Are you more interested to check out the gadgetry and superpowers than the characters themselves?