ABC debuted its second episode of Joss Whedon's new series, set in the Marvel cinematic universe "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D." on Tuesday night and, despite the producer's insistence that the show would focus heavily on the new characters, it seems as though they had as much trouble waiting to include a star as we did to see one.
***SPOILER ALERT***
Last night, Samuel L. Jackson reprised his role as director Nick Fury to chew out agent Coulson for putting a hole in the brand new plane that he gave him as a gift for being injured by Loki before the battle of New York (which clues given to the audience indicate that he didn't in fact survive his brush up with Loki, making his being alive quite a mystery).
The episode was packed full of "Avengers" winks including Coulson explaining the inclusion of the untrained Skye character to the team as a consultant role. When Ward protests, Coulson explains his decision by reminding him that, technically, Tony Stark is a S.H.I.E.L.D. consultant.
That reference was followed by the gang rushing to investigate an 0-8-4 in Peru. 0-8-4 is a S.H.I.E.L.D. code for an alien object of unknown origin. Coulson remarks that the last 0-8-4 he reported to turned out to be very interesting. It was Thor's hammer.
The alien artifact that they go to discover is powered by the Tesseract. Fitz even remarks that it's the kind of Hydra technology that Captain America dealt with in his day during the second world war.
Joss Whedon had previously said that he didn't want people watching the show just waiting for the next super hero to show up. However, Nick Fury technically doesn't fit that category. In fact, not including him early on might have made the series suffer.
With Coulson leading the team, it's important for Fury to drop by and show that he answers to someone. Otherwise he becomes the infallible boss figure on the team, which would make any and all things involving him boring. Seeing him chewed out by an angry Samuel L. Jackson reminded the viewer exactly what happens when Coulson and his team screw up.
As for including someone from the Avengers, Fury makes the most sense. After all the show can't ignore the events of the films and introducing any other character would mean revealing that Coulson is alive. As far as any of those who participated in the Battle of New York know, Coulson was killed a Loki's hand. Bringing in a Tony Stark or Captain America would mean coming face to face with that mysterious plotline, which looks like it will be a bit of a season or series ark. Fury, on the other hand, not only knows about Coulson but is likely responsible for whatever really happened to him.
