Let’s talk about Phil – Avengers **SPOILERS**
There are some things in life that it is okay to spoil, like classic shows that you should’ve seen, Magnum P.I. for example or trashy soaps, like Hollyoaks, where the whole point is to be titillated into watching even if you know exactly what is going to happen. The Avengers movie ( I refuse to call it the UK-friendly Avenger’s Assemble) does not fall into either of these categories, in fact I think it should be made law not to spoil The Avengers, punishable by death… too much?
It is for this very reason that I have engineered such a long intro to this article which you now read, it will be SPOILER heavy for anyone who has not yet seen the awesomeness of The Avengers. You’ve had fair warning so if you haven’t seen The Avengers and you keep reading you only have yourself to blame and maybe your parents for not teaching you that when The Avengers is in the cinema you go and see it…immediately and repeatedly!
Now that those non-Avengers watching nutters have gone we can get down to the true intention of this post, let’s talk about Agent of SHIELD, Phil Coulson and his untimely demise in the much discussed Avengers movie. Phil went out like a true Avenger, defending the earth from a deadly threat and paying the ultimate price…or did he? He definitely went down fighting but did he stay down? We 
never see the medic’s call his time of death, we are just told by Fury that they did. At this point in the movie The Avengers need a push, a push to make them a team and something to fight for that they all truly believe in, something to avenge. It would seem reasonable that he survived and Fury was using his close connection to the team to spur them into action by faking his death. I have a theory, no funeral = not dead, Whedon saw fit to -OMG massive Sereneity SPOILER coming up- give Wash a funeral and surely Coulson deserves the same?
When Coulson fell, my Sidekick in crime, Dan Marshall turned to me and said ‘You okay bre?’, ‘I’m fine, he’s not dead’ is how I replied. This isn’t because at this point I felt there was a conspiracy surrounding his death but more because I didn’t want to believe that he was dead, I couldn’t face it. Since his introduction to the Marvel movie universe in 2008′s Iron Man, Agent Phil Coulson has worked his way into my heart as I’m sure he has for many other fanboys too. After Iron Man 2 I even wrote a short post about how much of a bromance I was having with good ol’ Phil, you can read it here and also see how Coulson has started to make his way into the comic book Marvel universe too. For the last 4 years, Agent Coulson has been the glue that stuck the Marvel movie universe together and it just doesn’t seem right without him.
Often played for comic relief, Phil has a polite stubbornness and stoic attitude that make him a hard man to ignore, clearly more than just the boring bureaucrat he first appears to be. If you need further evidence of Coulson’s Bad-assness make sure you check out the Marvel One-Shot: A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Thor’s Hammer, you won’t be disappointed. Much of the credit for Coulson’s popularity has to go to the actor that plays him, Clark Gregg, a perfectly balanced performance by an actor who until his appearance in Iron Man had not been on too many people’s radars, apart from all those hardcore West Wing fans…you know the ones, they use let’s ‘West WIng this’ instead of saying lets ‘walk and talk’. Here’s a clip of Clark talking about his character in The Avengers:
So lets assume I’m wrong and Phil Coulson really is dead, where next? Where can I get my Coulson hit? Well, if you’re into your cartoons then you should check Ultimate Spider-Man, which just so happens to co-star Phil Coulson moonlighting as the Principal at Midtown High, where Peter Parker attends. Contrived it may be, Coulson is there to keep an eye on Spidey and his newly formed SHIELD team, it’s cool to see Marvel using Coulson in this way, especially as the character is voiced by Clark Gregg himself. For Coulson in comic book form there’s this travesty of cross-product marketing:
That’s Agent Coulson and Nick Fury Jr just introduced into the comic book Marvel universe during a recent Christopher Yost series, Battle Scars (thanks to Mikey Bumchin for that info). The less said about this, the better.
There is another interesting theory circling the Internet as to Coulson’s fate, what if he is dead but they use his mind as the basis for The Vision, the android Avenger, so far missing from The Avengers lineup. The Vision was an android created by Avengers bad guy, Ultron, himself a creation of Hank Pym (Ant Man), whose mind was based upon that of fallen Avenger, Wonder Man. I don’t think we’re ever going to get to the point in The Avengers movie world where Marvel feel the need to introduce Wonder Man, so why not base the character of The Vision on Phil Coulson? It would certainly fit with the character of The Vision and he is a character I would like to see on screen. It’s not my theory but I like it, I like it a lot.
In a final thought I would just like to say the Marvel movie universe has been a better place for Agent Phil Coulson and it will be a sadder place in his passing, lets hope he can perform one of those miraculous resurrections superheroes are famous for, he is after all, at least in my book, an Avenger.
For more future Avengers predictions, check back here tomorrow for PJ’s regular column Avengers Assemble – Speculating on Marvel Studios Phase Two part one of which can be read here.
About the Author
Gavin Jones Chief Sidekick at Sidekick Central, blogger, podcaster, reader of comics and sometimes other books. Lives in his ipad.
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If Coulson became Vision i would possibly jizz in my pants with excitement.
Agreed. However I still don’t think he’s dead because Nick Fury is a lying liar, as half the team has mentioned.
I got a full-on robot chubby for Coulson becoming The Vision now and yes Nick Fury is very much a lying liar, as opposed to a lying truth teller???!
I liked the vision idea,, but I love the idea of Coulson retired kicking back on a beach somewhere at the start of iron man 3 and but stark follows a line and seeks him out and pulls him back in and of course giving him crap for faking his death to give them the kick in the pants they needed. As to be honest a marvel film, especially an iron man one would feel wrong without him having a role to play.
Ooh, interesting theory on the Vision. Vision features in tomorrow’s column… Which I now have to go and edit…
Really sorry dude, I always knew that may be an issue but I had to give Coulson some love and explore the notion that he may live. Hope I haven’t cocked up your article too much…
Hey Glen, you’re clearly a true believer, Coulson lives, if you say it enough times it may become truth
Vision, pshhh, never going to happen, Life Model Decoy? more than likely, heck Stark even joked about being one at the beginning of the movie. Besides you can’t do Vision without Ultron, and can’t do Ultron without Hank Pym. Although, there was that easter egg in Captain America with the Jim Hammond Human Torch, which Ultron stole to make the vision
Gav still in denial then. Joss whedon loves to kill off a loved character so I think he has. Unless there’s another writer I think he’s gone. Hope hank pym is in the next avengers and they finally get the ant man movie off the ground
Looks like Ant Man is go! But it won’t be Hank Pym, rather the second Ant-Man, Scott Lang. It may be a good way to introduce Hank Pym though, as Scott Lang will need to steal the suit from somewhere, and originally he stole it from Hank Pym. And Coulson is not dead yo!
Agent Phil is confirmed to appear in Iron Man 3.. not sure on the timeline of the film but if its after The avengers there is hope
I really don’t think he’s dead either but he was struck with the tesseract spear so what if that gave him powered that way? I think that’s possible, but I don’t know enough about marvel to know who he could become…
What Power would Son of Coul get? The power to be all awesome, all the time?
there is a much better easter egg IN the movie:
after the battle, they show a montage of new yorkers making comments. in the top left corner of the movie playing interface, there is a section that says:
DATA FILE A 113 / 103
The 103 is in a big circle…
google the covers for avengers #113 and #103
So Avengers #113 is ‘Your Young Men Shall Slay Visions’ showing the death of The Visions and Avengers #103 is ‘The Sentinels are Alive and Well’, with The Vision quite prominently on the cover…I love it. Thanks Jeremie, that just made my day
Thanks. Kind of hard to dismiss this one, no?
Holy crap that is amazing, i really hope that this turns out to be the case
Coulson as Vision would be epic.
I can see it now…Comicon 2013, a packed auditorium…people sit in muted awe…the lights go down…the big screen starts flickering…a close-up of a red face with a black background comes into focus…the eyes light up and the words “Avengers 2 2014″ appear on-screen…the audience goes wild.
It’s The Vision of the Future…and I like it.