Coulson on the Fury Files and SHIELD

When Ultimate Spider-Man premiered 15 months ago, they had this segment with most of the shows, The Fury Files, where a hero would be introduced or described in greater depth than most of the episodes allow. I've been waiting for Coulson to be covered ever since. It seemed a bit like a pipe-dream but at the end of the Iron Fist episode, Journey of the Iron Fist, IT HAPPENED!!!!

The Fury Files...Accessing

Fury's Voice: Fury here, I need a special agent for an important Mission but not a superhero. I need a real agent, Agent Coulson. First name: Phil. This tried and true SHIELD agent proves that you don't need super powers to be a hero. You see, while I've got my head in the clouds, Coulson's got his eyes on the ground. I've got him undercover as the school principal at Midtown High. You see, these "kids" could use a little education, a little guidance and a SHIELD certified role model. Coulson might not be as physically strong as the Hulk but don't let his ordinary appearance fool you, Agent Coulson is my right hand man. Hero Approved. Go get 'em. Fury out.



I'm not sure I totally agree with these statistics but it's still cool that they exist. There was no mention of a birthday. For those unfamiliar with Coulson's birthday drama, this is what has happened:

Fandom decided: April 2, 1962 When in doubt, do the actor's birthday.
IMDB: Insists Gregg's birthday is June 29, 1962.
Iron Man 2 Behind the Scenes/The Avengers: July 8, 1964
Phil Coulson Dossier from the iPad App*: April 2, 1965
*This was NOT included in the Briefcase Set which will always be a disappointment.
Marvel at the New York ComiCon: 1969

This is kind of weird because according to Iron Man 3, Tony and Phil would be the same age but that could be fun. It definitely does match up with the 616 Coulson though who seems a little younger than the cinematic counterpart.

So yeah, while most people accept July 8, he doesn't seem to have a firm birthdate and I'm not changing my story timelines yet again...

Also, when I was watching The Avengers last summer, I noticed in his death scene that it looked like Coulson's ear had been pierced at some point. Gregg confirmed earlier this summer that he had pierced his ear but not whether he'd pierced both so I paid extra special attention during Much Ado about Nothing and it is BOTH ears.

Now, between that and Ultimate Spider-Man insisting that Coulson had long hair when he was younger...I want more fic of Coulson's wild younger days...did someone have to make a different call with him?

I can't wait for more of Agents of SHIELD stuff but for now, we have new character features:

Is it just me or does Fitz have a bit of a Ianto or vulnerable Owen vibe? Ooh, he's Scottish! Oh, he needs to be talking all the time...

Solo Avengers Starring Hawkeye and Mockingbird December 1987

Remember when Brave came out and we all wondered about Hawkeye on a horse?



Oh yeah, I'd love to see that on the big screen...

This is Ralph Macchio who was Thanked at the end of The Avengers.

More SHIELD Stuff, woohoo!

Okay, all from Entertainment Weekly...woah, I just realized it's been twenty years since I first found an issue at our local laundromat. Is it wrong to be happy our dryer stopped working at that particular time? I am though because that magazine has almost never failed to be awesome.

http://insidetv.ew.com/2013/07/11/shield-comic-con/

“In any of these [episodes], you can always ask: ‘Why don’t they just call Iron Man?’” Yeah, that would be annoying! So our next question is: Why don’t they just call Iron Man? “They are aware of each other,” Whedon says of the S.H.I.E.L.D. team and the metal-suited Malibu playboy, “but they do have to have their own lives.”

Cobie Smulders is going to be on SHIELD!!!!!
http://insidetv.ew.com/2013/07/19/cobie-smulders-shield/

“I wanted very much to have Cobie in the pilot because as much as anyone else, she IS SHIELD,” says the pilot’s writer-director Joss Whedon in a statement to EW. “She’s cool and commanding, and has the dry humor that plays so well with Clark’s. Also, if she’s in it I get to hang out with Cobie.”

So, I totally forgot that the panel was today from 1:45-3 PM EST so I...slept through it. Luckily, Entertainment Weekly, Tumblr and the internet will bring me up to speed!

http://insidetv.ew.com/2013/07/19/shield-at-comic-con-joss-whedon-has-a-feeling-that-i-havent-had-in-a-long-time/

Best quote: “I have that feeling that I haven’t had in a long time. … I guess I’m a little excited,” said Whedon. Honorable mention: “I really didn’t like being dead.” — Gregg.

They showed the PILOT!!!!!

http://insidetv.ew.com/2013/07/19/shield-pilot-screens-at-comic-con-heres-what-we-thought/

The character believes he was only dead for eight seconds or so after Loki shot him in The Avengers then spent time recovering in Tahiti. But we’re told by his colleagues, “He really doesn’t know does he?” and “He can never know.”

Ugh, now I want to know more than ever! He's not a LMD, right?

http://insidemovies.ew.com/2013/07/17/marvel-one-shots-agent-carter-ms-marvel-loki-young-nick-fury-black-panther/

We'll discuss the Peggy one-shot more in another post but I do love the idea of these one-shots and SHIELD going into more of the "minor" characters. I'd love for Loki to show up in either. I'd really love for SHIELD to do the Tess Black story and how awkward everyone would be about having to work together but...MCU Loki doesn't seem to have human children at this time. Deadpool was ruled out for the time being today but what about Frank Castle? "Dirty Laundry" was just so awesome and it was just Thomas Jane's FANVID!

Also, Kate Bishop NEEDS to happen sometime, somewhere, but she NEEDS to appear.

http://popwatch.ew.com/2013/07/19/vin-diesel-marvel-comic-con/

I know, I know, Marvel is Marvel and Fantastic Four is Fox and neither the Twain shall meet for now BUT...
I think Diesel could make an awesome Ben Grimm.

The Hobbit: Tolkien on Writing Style

It has been far too long since I've read The Hobbit especially the annotated one.

Page 76:

To an interviewer in 1967 Tolkien commented: "The Hobbit was written in what I should now regard as bad style, as if one were talking to children. There's nothing my children loathed more.They taught me a lesson. Anything that in any way marked out The Hobbit as for children instead of just for people, they disliked - instinctively. I did too, now that I think about it. All this 'I won't tell you any more; you think about it' stuff. Oh no, they loathe it; it's awful. Children aren't a class. They are merely human beings, at differing stages of maturity."

Me Again-
I agree about stuff that can be too preachy but I can like books that directly address the reader especially "A Series of Unfortunate Events" although the fun about that series is that it's really making fun of traditional children's story.

Oh Sunny, you slay me...if only your Scalia joke could be less up to date.

The Hobbit: The Trolls and Spiders

The Annotated Hobbit

Page 86:

In a 1977 speech to the Tolkien Society in England, Tolkien's second son, Michael, said that as children, he, his two brothers, and his sister had each, at some point in their development, thought the Troll chapter was the best chapter in the book. He continued, "We thought there was something rather nice about the Trolls, and it was a pity they had to be turned to stone at all."

Me Again:

Also, one of Tolkien's children had an immense fear of spiders so that's why there are so many, lol.

On page 322, they feel the need to explain "Parley". I think this is because it was published in 2002 because in a post 2003 Pirates of the Caribbean world...EVERYONE knows what parley means.

The Hobbit: The Women We Owe EVERYTHING to

Edith Bratt

Edith was a dark-haired beauty that Tolkien fell in love with and she fell in love with him, but they were both young. His guardian forbid their relationship until Tolkien turned 21, partly because she was three years older. She later converted to Catholicism for him. Tolkien based the story of Beren and Luthien about their relationship. The first version of this story was in 1917 and the rest of The Silmarillion began to revolve around this main couple. Luthien was made one of the most awesome of Tolkien's women, battling both Morgoth and Sauron.

In writing The Hobbit, "the single influence that Tolkien called a conscious one was his own "Silmarillion" legends."

Elaine Griffiths

Elaine was a former student of Tolkien and still worked with him as a fellow and on papers. She had been entrusted to read his rough draft of The Hobbit. When an acquaintance came to her with suggestions of something to bring to her publisher, Elaine told her, “Oh Susan, I don’t know it or can't get it, but I’ll tell you something, go along to Professor Tolkien and see if you can get out of him a work called The Hobbit, as I think it’s frightfully good.”

Susan Dagnall

Susan worked for a publisher, Allen & Unwin, and did ask Tolkien to read his work, The Hobbit. She was so pleased with it that she encouraged and kept after Tolkien until he finished the book and made it into a manuscript that she could show her bosses.

Without Edith Bratt, Elaine Griffiths and Susan Dagnall, there would be no Hobbit, no Lord of the Rings.

To paraphrase Legolas, we owe them our allegiance.