Phil Coulson

Phil Coulson
Clark Gregg as Agent Phil Coulson in Thor
Publication information
Publisher	Marvel Comics
First appearance	Iron Man
First comic appearance	Battle Scars #1 (January 2012, voice) Battle Scars #6 (June 2012, full appearance)
Created by	Mark Fergus Hawk Ostby Art Marcum Matt Holloway
In-story information
Team affiliations	S.H.I.E.L.D.
Partnerships	Nick Fury, Jr.
Supporting character of	Iron Man Thor Avengers
Notable aliases	Cheese

Phillip "Phil" Coulson, better known as Agent Coulson, is a fictional character in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, a shared fictional universe that is the setting of several superhero films produced by Marvel Studios. Coulson first appeared as a member of the fictional agency S.H.I.E.L.D. in Iron Man (2008), in which he was portrayed by American actor Clark Gregg, who then signed a multi-film deal with Marvel Studios and reprised the role in Iron Man 2 (2010), Thor (2011), and Marvel's The Avengers (2012). He has reprised the role in Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., a television series produced by Marvel Television. Gregg also starred as the character in two short films.

The character's popularity has resulted in his appearance in the mainstream Marvel Comics universe, as well as in extended media such as several video games and the animated television series Ultimate Spider-Man.

Marvel Cinematic Universe

Iron Man

Agent Coulson attends the press conference of Tony Stark (Robert Downey, Jr.) after the latter returned from captivity in Afghanistan. Coulson talks to Stark's assistant, Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow), and introduces himself as a government agent of the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement, and Logistics Division. He tells her that he needs to discuss the circumstances of Stark's escape, and they schedule an appointment. He is present when Tony announces that Stark Industries will cease production of weapons.

Coulson later meets Stark at the Walt Disney Concert Hall, trying again to discuss the escape with him. However, Stark is distracted by Christine Everhart (Leslie Bibb), and leaves to end the Ten Rings' terrorism of Gulmira, Afghanistan.

Later on, Coulson arrives for his appointment with Pepper Potts, where she informs him of Obadiah Stane's (Jeff Bridges) armor. He and several other agents accompany her to the building housing Stark's arc reactor, where they find that Stane's armor is already active. Coulson manages to escape alive.

As a running gag, when Coulson attempts to speak with either Potts or Stark, he always says the agency's full name, only for them to comment on how the organization needs a shorter name. At the end, Coulson presents Stark with a cover story involving Stark's bodyguard (Jon Favreau) and a yacht. When Pepper goes to say the agency's full name, Coulson interrupts her, saying, "Just call us S.H.I.E.L.D." Coulson attends the press conference where Stark fumbles through the cover story before revealing his true identity as Iron Man.

Iron Man 2

After Tony loses one of his armored suits to James Rhodes (Don Cheadle), S.H.I.E.L.D Director Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) places Tony on house arrest to sober up and find a replacement for palladium in his arc reactor. Coulson is one of the agents, briefly along with Natasha Romanoff (Scarlett Johansson), assigned to supervise Stark. After Stark requests coffee, Coulson sourly threatens to tase Stark and watch Supernanny if he attempts to escape.^[2] He presents Tony with the work of Howard Stark (John Slattery), who was Tony's father and a S.H.I.E.L.D founder. Before he departs, Coulson assists Tony by drawing his attention to a partial model of Captain America's shield, which Tony absentmindedly uses as a wedge for a particle accelerator and manages to synthesize a new element with atomic number 118.

In a post-credits scene, Coulson observes an impact crater in the New Mexico desert. He calls Fury and says, "We've found it." The final shot shows a hammer lying in the crater.

Thor

In Thor, S.H.I.E.L.D. appears to investigate the discovery of the title character's hammer on Earth. Coulson interrogates Thor (Chris Hemsworth) after the depowered Asgardian attacks a S.H.I.E.L.D. facility that has been erected around the recently discovered hammer, commenting that Thor has effortlessly defeated some of his best men and asking where Thor received his training. S.H.I.E.L.D. had earlier confiscated Jane Foster's (Natalie Portman) research about the dimensional anomaly that brought Thor to Earth (later revealed as Bifröst), but when Thor's powers are later restored Agent Coulson agrees to return Jane's research to her and Thor assures the "Son of Coul" that they will be allies in the defense of Earth's innocent inhabitants. Coulson appears alongside S.H.I.E.L.D. agents Jasper Sitwell (Maximiliano Hernández), Clint Barton (Jeremy Renner), Cale (Patrick O'Brien Demsey), Garrett (Dale Godboldo), and Director Nick Fury.

The Avengers

Gregg reprised his role as Coulson in The Avengers,^[4] where he is shown to be a Captain America (Chris Evans) fan who owns a collection of his vintage trading cards and helped design the Captain's new uniform. When Steve Rogers initially dismisses the uniform (and himself) as "old-fashioned", Coulson comments that "the world could use a little old-fashioned." He is initially responsible for recruiting Tony Stark to the Avengers. At Stark Tower it is revealed that Pepper Potts is on a first-name basis with Coulson, while Stark, still feeling uneasy with S.H.I.E.L.D. interfering with his life from time to time, jokingly refers to Coulson's first name as "Agent". He is also in a long-distance relationship with a cellist; at one point Stark offers to fly Coulson to Portland to see her.

Gregg stated in August 2011 that he had been getting himself into "fighting shape" for the film.^[1] Coulson was "responsible for shepherding" the film's superheroes together.^[2] Although director Joss Whedon is known for "killing off beloved characters", Gregg had previously stated that Whedon confirmed Coulson would survive the events of the film.^[5] In the film, Coulson is last seen attempting to combat Loki (Tom Hiddleston). When Coulson threatens an illusion of Loki with a large energy weapon (revealed in the tie-in comic The Avengers: Fury's Big Week to be a reverse-engineered version of the Destroyer made into a handheld weapon), the actual Loki stabs him from behind, before ejecting the horrified Thor, who was unable to help Coulson, from the Helicarrier. Coulson tells Loki he will lose as he lacks conviction, and then uses the weapon to blast Loki through a wall. Coulson speaks briefly with Fury and is then seen falling into a non-responsive state as paramedics approach, his last words being to note that the heroes needed something to avenge; Fury relays over the radio that paramedics have called time of death, though they are not shown doing so onscreen. Fury later uses Coulson's death as a way of igniting a pro-active spark in his disheartened team, though Fury's "push" (Coulson's bloodstained Captain America trading cards) is pointed out by Maria Hill (Cobie Smulders) as a fabrication (having come from Coulson's locker rather than his jacket, as stated). Stark later acknowledges his respect for Coulson in his confrontation with Loki, calling the fallen agent by his real name for the first time: having previously informed Loki that he has angered the other five Avengers, Stark subsequently informs Loki, "And there's one other person you pissed off. His name was Phil."

Future

There was talk about him appearing in Thor: The Dark World before Patty Jenkins was replaced as the director of the sequel with Alan Taylor, Gregg stated, "I’m going to be speaking with her very soon. And I’m looking forward to it because I’m a big fan of hers and I thought the movie she made was great."^[6]

Joss Whedon has stated that Coulson will not appear in the upcoming sequel to The Avengers, Avengers: Age of Ultron.^[7]

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

Gregg reprises the role in the television series Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.,^[8] and will "headline" the series.^[9] It was reported that the show is meant to take place after the events of The Avengers.^[10] At the 2013 South by Southwest festival, Joss Whedon confirmed that Coulson will be brought back from the dead after his apparent demise in The Avengers.^[11] In the series' pilot episode, Phil Coulson reveals that he did technically die at Loki's hands but was immediately resuscitated by S.H.I.E.L.D. medics and sent to recover in Tahiti. Nick Fury withheld this information from the Avengers to facilitate their collaboration as a team. However, a conversation between Maria Hill and Dr. Streiten (a S.H.I.E.L.D. medic) suggests there is more to Coulson's resurrection than he himself is aware.^[12] In a later episode, a former protégé notes that something is different about Coulson, who becomes suspicious himself when he discovers that he keeps involuntarily saying exactly the same thing whenever asked about his injuries, and all files related to his injury and recovery can only be accessed with Fury's authorization. In the mid-season finale, Coulson is kidnapped by Centipede, the series' primary recurring antagonists, who make clear their desire to learn more about his "death". In the subsequent episode "The Magical Place", Coulson is subjected to a Project Centipede mind-probing device, and learns that he did actually die. Nick Fury ordered that surgeries be performed on Coulson to bring him back to life. S.H.I.E.L.D. surgeons were actually able to bring Coulson back to life days after he had been killed, but altered some of his memories to make him believe that he was revived in Tahiti in order to erase the trauma he experienced during the procedures. The specific reason for Coulson's revival after death has not yet been revealed.

Short films

In August 2011, Marvel announced that Coulson would be the subject of a series of direct-to-video short films called "Marvel One-Shots". The first two star Clark Gregg as Agent Coulson in two self-contained stories depicting a day in the life of a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent. Gregg stated of the short films, "Some [would be] the connective tissue between the movies [of the Marvel Cinematic Universe] and others are behind-the-scenes in the day of a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent... In one of them there's a daily crisis [in which] a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent deals with the World Security Council and one of our super heroes." The first short film, entitled Marvel One-Shot: The Consultant, was released on the Thor Blu-ray and Blu-ray 3D on September 13, 2011, and takes place after the plots of Iron Man 2, Thor, and involves the ending to The Incredible Hulk. The second film, titled Marvel One-Shot: A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Thor's Hammer..., which takes place after Coulson leaves Tony Stark's lab during Iron Man 2, and before he arrives solo at the crater site in Thor, was released on the Blu-ray edition of Captain America: The First Avenger.

The Consultant

Coulson walks into a restaurant where Agent Sitwell is eating breakfast, and informs him that the World Security Council wishes Emil Blonsky released from prison to join the Avengers Initiative, as they see him as a war hero, and blame his fight in New York City with Bruce Banner on Banner himself. They order S.H.I.E.L.D. to send an agent to ask General Thaddeus "Thunderbolt" Ross (William Hurt) to release Blonsky into their custody. Nick Fury then tasks them with finding a way to follow their given orders, without actually obtaining Blonsky. The two agents consider sending a patsy to sabotage the meeting, so Ross will refuse to release Blonsky. Coulson suggests an alternate option, they send someone who will annoy and offend the general so much he will refuse to turn Blonsky over. At Sitwell's urging, Coulson reluctantly sends the consultant: Tony Stark (Robert Downey, Jr.). As partially depicted in the end scene of The Incredible Hulk, a disgraced Ross sits drinking in a bar, when he is approached by Stark, who ends up annoying Ross so much that Ross tries to have him removed from the bar. In reply, Stark buys the bar, and schedules it for demolition. The next day at the restaurant, Sitwell arrives to Coulson eating breakfast. Coulson informs him that their plan worked, and that Blonsky will remain in prison where he belongs.^[13]

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Thor's Hammer

Coulson is on his way to Albuquerque, New Mexico, when he stops to refill on gas at a Roxxon Oil gas station. As he heads inside the gas station to pay, he decides to get some snacks, and makes his way to the back of the station to decide what he wants. Two robbers enter the station without noticing Coulson, and demand the money from the register. When the robbers ask whose car is outside, Coulson reveals himself, surrenders his keys, and offers to surrender his pistol as well. As he is about to surrender his pistol, Coulson distracts both robbers and quickly takes both of them down. He then nonchalantly pays for his snacks, hints to the clerk that she take credit for subduing the criminals without mentioning his involvement, and leaves the station.

Item 47

Coulson's death is briefly alluded to by S.H.I.E.L.D. agents Sitwell and Blake when Blake accidentally refers to Sitwell as Coulson. Sitwell replies, "We all miss him".

In other media

Television

Ultimate Spider-Man

It was announced at the 2011 San Diego Comic-Con International that Gregg will return to voice Phil Coulson in the cartoon series Ultimate Spider-Man, where he appears as both a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent and Peter Parker's school principal.^[14][15] Coulson's first appearance in Ultimate Spider-Man was in "Great Responsibility", where he tries to persuade Nick Fury not to include Spider-Man as a member of S.H.I.E.L.D., due to Spider-Man's actions and personality, calling Spider-Man a wild card. Fury disagrees, saying that's he's training Spider-Man to be one of the greats.

A short time later, after discovering other heroes are in league with S.H.I.E.L.D., Spider-Man argues with Coulson, with Coulson saying they are part of a program employed by S.H.I.E.L.D., but Spider-Man leaves S.H.I.E.L.D., saying this wasn't what he signed up for. At the end of the episode, when Peter seeks to transfer to another school upon discovering Iron Fist, Nova, Power Man, and White Tiger are now attending Midtown High School, he is denied by Coulson, who is now the school's acting principal. Coulson states that his presence at the school, along with that of the other four heroes, is a way for Fury to keep an eye on Peter.

In "Attack of the Beetle," Coulson engages in a parent-teacher conference with Peter's Aunt May, who states she would like to continue her conversation with Coulson over dinner. Later that night, Coulson and May go to a restaurant where Spider-Man tries to secretly disrupt the date. While in the bathroom, Coulson confronts Spider-Man and admits that he likes May, but their conversation is crashed by Beetle, who attacks Spider-Man. When Beetle takes Aunt May hostage, Coulson, who had defeated Beetle in the past, teams up with Spider-Man to defeat him and rescue May. At the end of the evening, May thanks him for the night but insists that Peter means the world to her and doesn't want to pursue a relationship if he doesn't approve. However, after talking with Peter, she changes her mind and goes out for dessert with Coulson.

Iron Man: Armored Adventures

Coulson makes a by-name cameo appearance in the Iron Man: Armored Adventures episode "Extremis" as one of the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents encountering (and getting knocked down by) the just-mutated renegade agent Mallen.^[16]

Comic books

• In 2010, Agent Coulson starred in the Marvel digicomic Iron Man 2 - Phil Coulson: Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. #1.^[17] This was later published into comic book form in November 2010. He subsequently appeared as a supporting character in other comics set within the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

• In the series Battle Scars (2012), writers Matt Fraction, Chris Yost and Cullen Bunn with artist Scot Eaton brought Phil Coulson into the mainstream Marvel Universe. In the sixth and final issue, the character codenamed "Cheese" is revealed to be Phil Coulson as he and Nick Fury, Jr. go into battle.^[18] Coulson appears in the 2013 Secret Avengers series by Nick Spencer and Luke Ross.^[19] He has since made appearances in other situations involving S.H.I.E.L.D., usually working at the right hand of Maria Hill.

• In the comic book continuation of the TV show, The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes, the stories are told from the point of Agent Coulson, despite his not appearing in the show.^[20]

• In 2014, the Ultimate version of Phil Coulson will debut in the Ultimate FF title.^[21]

Novels

• Coulson appears in a minor role in New Avengers: Breakout by Alisa Kwitney, where he annoys Hawkeye by asking him why he refuses to wear a regulation S.H.I.E.L.D. uniform.

Video games

• Phil Coulson appears as an non-player character in the Marvel Heroes video game. He is an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. who helps the heroes.
• Phil Coulson appears as a non-player character in Marvel: Avengers Alliance.
• Phil Coulson appears in Lego Marvel Super Heroes, with Clark Gregg reprising his role.^[22]

Characterization

In the films of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Agent Coulson is generally depicted as a supporting character of the protagonists and used to represent S.H.I.E.L.D.'s presence in the plots of the films, to the point that Clark Gregg has described Coulson as "the S.H.I.E.L.D. agent". However, in the "Marvel One-Shots", Coulson is given "a chance to stand in his own spotlight for once", when the character is put in a position where there is an imminent threat and no superheroes around. The decision to give more focus to Coulson was "a natural" for "Marvel One-Shot" co-producer Brad Winderbaum:^[1]

First and foremost it was an opportunity to work with Clark Gregg. The guy elevates everything he takes part in and we knew that if he was into it, we couldn't pass up the opportunity to tell some stand-alone Coulson stories with him. Also, in the case of The Consultant, we wanted to paint a picture of S.H.I.E.L.D. pulling the strings and being responsible for some of the events we've seen in the films. What better character to represent this idea than Agent Coulson, the first S.H.I.E.L.D. agent we were introduced to in the first Iron Man film. [sic]^[1]

Gregg has stated, "I think of Agent Coulson, after all these years, as a guy with a full life. I think every day he's somewhere doing something for S.H.I.E.L.D., and yet I don't always know what that is... There's always a different twist. In this one he gets to show more of his wisecracking wit, and in this one he's a little bit more of a badass."^[1] Despite Coulson being called "the most recognizable face in the Marvel Comics movie universe", he is depicted as an "everyman" in a universe full of superheroes–"the glue that binds" the characters together. In Thor, Coulson complains that Tony Stark "never tells [him] anything," while in The Avengers, Stark shows his disdain for G-Men (as well as some degree of jealousy of Pepper Potts' very amiable treatment of him) by insisting that Coulson's first name is "Agent" rather than "Phil". In an interview with WNBC, Gregg explained his portrayal of the character as "just a guy grumbling about his job":^[2]

He's the guy who's tasked - a very disciplined guy in my opinion who possesses secrets that would turn your hair white - but at the same time he's tasked with handling these kind of diva superheroes, you know? "Oh, really, Asgard? Dude, just get in the car."^[2]

References

External links

• Agent Phil Coulson at the Internet Movie Database

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