Tonight is a big night. What can fans expect from Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D? We can expect a little bit of ABC's campyness, a C-list villain, hints about Agent Coulson's return, and Lola. For anyone living under a rock, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D is a spin off of last summer's blockbuster hit, Avengers. Instead of focusing on Marvel's big guns, this group of Agents handles cases that the big guns do not. This show can be considered an adaptation of Marvel's Secret Avengers without the cape and tights.
Midway through the summer, I noticed a few articles mentioning Marvel's Superhero Registration Act. Much to my surprise, Marvel's cinematic universe was attempting an adaptation and calling it "Registered Gifted Act." One of the very few sites to even mention the act was
Superhero Movie News and Bleeding Cool. On July 16th, Marvel registered "Registered Gifted" for trademark. Of course "gifted" is an alternate word for Mutants, since Fox owns all the rights to the X-Men franchise.
What exactly is Marvel's history with the Registered Act? Here's a quick history lesson.
After the collapse of the Avengers and the death of the Mutant gene, (thanks a lot, Scarlet Witch) Tony Stark and Fantastic Four's Reed Richards supported the Federal Government's
Superhero Registration Act. The Act ordered super humans to inform the government of their secret identities. Furthermore, they can be called upon by the government at anytime during a national crisis. Even though Iron Man and Cap's identities were not a secret, this Act impacted Marvel's street heroes. It laid the foundation for Marvel's Civil War which dissolved the Avengers into two camps, one led by Iron Man, and the other by Captain America. The biggest consequence was Spider-Man unmasking himself on live television. His unmasking led to the near death of his Aunt May (for like the fifth time), and the demonic divorce between Peter and Mary Jane. Yes, demonic. Google it if you care.
Now that I'm done telling you about its comic history, lets start connecting the dots with the Act's possible history with the cinematic universe.
1. Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D deals with classified cases that do not evolve the Avengers. I'm wishing and hoping and thinking and praying that J. August Richard (Gunn from Angel) is playing Luke Cage and not Mike Peterson. Mike Peterson is too normal of a name for a Whedon creation. Buffy is a cool name, and Mike is super average. Not very exciting.
2. I don't see Civil War being a major part of the Avenger movies because they simply won't have time. Avengers 2 is using Ultron, and Whedon has mentioned that Thanos (the villain we saw in the first movie) will be the villain for the third movie. That's a whole lot of story and not enough time for a superhero war.
3. Sony owns the rights to Spider-Man and has zero plans to sell it back to Disney. I truly believe we will never ever see a crossover between Spider-Man and the Avengers on the big screen. Would it make 44 trillion dollars? That's a yes, but I cannot see Disney and Sony agreeing on how they would split the revenue. Sometimes greed can ruin a fanboy's wet dream.
4. With Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D unable to use Marvel's #1 street hero, the show needs a hero almost on the same level as Spider-Man. Recently, Marvel got back the rights to their next best street heroes, Daredevil and The Punisher. Since the tv show will be using the art and focusing on the street heroes, I'm a little nervous. Daredevil and The Punisher do not deserve TV treatment. They deserve the big screen.
5. If it turns out that J. August Richardson is Luke Cage, then I support the small screen adaptation of Registration Act. Once we see Luke Cage, I can see them bringing Iron Fist to the show, and that means Heroes for Hire is happening. Every 70s-80s comic fan will jump for joy and do an awkward dance. For those who don't know, Iron-Fist is a New York City Playboy. He's kind of like Batman, but with Ku Fung superpowers. Using the Act would be a great way of introducing Marvel's favorite tag team.
