Marvel’s ‘Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.': Joss Whedon Won’t Depend On ‘The Avengers’

With the Upfronts over, fall feeling further and further away, and Comic-Con 2013 on the immediate horizon, we're not certain how ABC will handle promotion of Marvel's Joss Whedon-directed 'Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.' Whedon himself has proven to be plenty forthcoming with tidbits on the TV series, but how will ABC approach more casual fans of Marvel's Cinematic Universe?

'Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.' will no doubt prove to be one of fall's most exciting offerings, but it seems the door between cinematic crossovers and Whedon's "little guy" approach to 'The Avengers' universe will swing both ways. Not only will superhero crossovers be something of a rarity, but Whedon recently explained to Entertainment Weekly that 'Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.,' by design, wouldn't lean on viewer knowledge of the other Marvel movies, including 'The Avengers' itself.

It's very important to me that the show stands on its own, that people who never saw any of the movies can tune in and enjoy it. We like being a part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, we like having all of the mythos to play off of. But if the show was, "You just missed Tony Stark, wow, he was just here!" it would be the most unsatisfying show ever. We have a new ensemble, apart from Clark [Gregg], it's all people I've never worked with before, but I'm really excited about them, I'm really proud of them and I think people are just going to want to see them every week.

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're anxious for a first taste of the pilot to learn how 'Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.' correlates with the Marvel universe we've seen already, but what say you? Would you prefer ABC's new series to feel like its own entity or connect to the films wherever possible? Tell us in the comments after you watch the trailer!