agent Of Change

Phil Coulson himself, ClarK GreGG, talks the evolution and Endgame…

Where do we find agent Coulson in this film?

It’s very early days, a chapter we haven’t seen yet in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. I think of Phil Coulson in Iron Man saying to Tony Stark at the end of the film: “This isn’t my first rodeo.” I have a feeling that this is his first rodeo. He’s very new at S.H.I.E.L.D., very excited to be there and make his way – and very thrilled and impressed by the presence of Agent Fury.

What was the digital de-aging process like?

There’s something weird about doing a performance and not quite knowing what you’re going to be looking like. But what Victoria Alonso and the specialists in the de-ageing and the VFX department have done already in this regard has been so incredible. I think I accepted that it’s going to look like a younger Phil Coulson more than it’ll look like a younger Clark. And there’s something very freeing about that. I had to remind myself to take away a few layers of Coulson’s jaded, cynical shell and to let him keep some wonder and exuberance in the mix. Luckily, it wasn’t difficult for me to kind of de-mature. That’s a very easy process!

how is the dynamic between fury and Coulson different at this stage of their careers?

From the beginning, there was an easy camaraderie – as much as one can have that with the seriously intense and sometimes grumpy Director Fury! It made you feel like they’ve been through a lot and seen things that would just shock you to your core. And this is before any of that. So Coulson’s finding his way. It’s been almost 11 years since Iron Man and I’ve been in 125 episodes of

Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D., which is its own wearying resurrection-death drama. So this really was about going back to the even more naïve and yet principled early days of Agent Coulson. And [Anna and Ryan] wrote that magnificently. It was always a thrill to be there in the Marvel Universe, but to get what feels like a bit of an origin story for Coulson in the sidelines of this film, and to have an origin story of the Coulson/Fury relationship… and as someone who loves comics and has always loved Captain Marvel, and is the father of a 17-year-old girl – to see this incredibly strong, brilliant woman striking new ground in the Marvel Universe was a thrill for me. I can’t wait to go to this with my daughter.

is it more important than ever that we have a female-fronted instalment in the MCU?

You think, “What took so long? This is crazy. This makes perfect sense. This should have always been the case.” And yet, I’ve been proud of the way that there have been really strong characters, from Pepper Potts, frankly, in her own context, and Natasha Romanoff to Scarlet Witch. There’s been a lot of powerful female characters. I’m proud of, in the Marvel Television Universe, Jessica Jones and the incredibly strong women on my show. The only people with powers on my show have been women. So it’s been something we’ve been working towards. This feels like a culmination.

did you get any input into crafting agent Coulson at this age?

Not really. I know Agent Coulson really well. The thing is, [Anne and Ryan] do too. Everybody’s had this journey with the guy. And one of the joys about it has been to see what everyone’s Rashomon-like take on the guy is. It’s like as soon as I read Joss Whedon’s Avengers script, I went, “Of course, he’s a big fanboy, with a massive man crush on Steve Rogers!”

What are you excited about fans seeing in this movie?

The Skrulls are a cool part of the comic-book universe. The shapeshifter thing with them is really cool – I’m excited that that’s finally coming into the world. But for the people who’ve watched [all the MCU films], there are new layers that will make your enjoyment of the movies you’ve already seen deeper, and will make the payoff of Infinity War and Endgame even more powerful. JC