Marvel at the super secrecy
Getting a sneak preview of comicbookinspired series Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D, Shaun Bamber finds secrecy is a top priority.
S.H.I.E.L.D. A secretive organisation known for its work with those of a superhuman persuasion. Fictional.
Marvel. Also a secretive organisation known for its work with those of a superhuman persuasion. Not so fictional.
Spend any amount of time with those behind the making of hotly anticipated new television show Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D and you soon begin to realise just how much the lines between these two different entities – one existing only in the imaginations of millions of Marvel comic and/or movie fans, the other in what we will for convenience’s sake call the real world – have been blurred.
Having signed the necessary confidentiality agreement, I was lucky enough to sit in on what I was told was only the second-ever public screening of Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D episode one.
Later, at a Q&A session with the main cast members and a smattering of executive producers, including geek guru Joss Whedon – he of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Firefly and, more recently, The Avengers fame – the entire panel responds with a loud and enthusiastic ‘‘Yes!’’ to my suggestion that, as far as security and secrecy goes, working for Marvel might be a little like actually working for S.H.I.E.L.D.
In the ensuing hubbub, Jeph Loeb – Marvel’s head of television no less – points a thick finger in my direction as he intones, ‘‘And speaking on behalf of Marvel, you can’t even ask that question!’’ with such authority that I can’t help but glance around, just in case a troop of sombre, silent men in dark sunglasses appear to drag me away.
No such goon squad materialises, but Loeb does have a perfect little story to tell that aptly demonstrates the reasoning behind all the subterfuge in this age of smartphones and instant internet news stories.
‘‘The best way that I can describe it is, on our first day, we were shooting on a military base – a military base. So you couldn’t get in there [and then there was] Marvel security on top of it. And at 6.15 in the morning, I got a phone call, ‘Please go online’. And there was a photograph of one of the [Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D] vehicles that someone took and posted online, and it had gone viral.
‘‘So really, what we are trying to do with this show is just bring back some of the urgency of television. Wouldn’t it be great if we could get back to a place where everybody got together and decided to watch Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D so that the social experience is actually one that’s immediate as opposed to something that is shared and reshared and spoiled?’’
While some might not agree with those sentiments, writercreator Joss Whedon stresses that it’s all about creating ‘‘a sense of wonder’’ for the fans – a group he strongly identifies with.
‘‘Once a geek, always a geek. I learned how to tell stories as much from Marvel comics as from anything, and the thing I love about Marvel is that there is a sense of wonder and hope and excitement and absurdity and fun.