What If: Clark Gregg Jokes About Coulson’s “Huge Crush” on Thor

The newest episode of Marvel’s What If…? is out now and asks the question, “What If… the World Lost Its Mightiest Heroes?” The episode took fans back to the Phase One timeline, kicking off when Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) and Natasha Romanoff (originally played by Scarlett Johansson, but voiced by Lake Bell in What If) seek out Tony Stark (originally played by Robert Downey Jr., but voiced by Mick Wigert in What If) at the donut shop in Iron Man 2. However, things take a dark turn. Warning: Spoilers Ahead! Unlike in the original MCU timeline, Stark gets assassinated and most of the original Avengers follow suit, including Thor (Chris Hemsworth). When Phil Coulson (Clark Gregg) first sees Thor, he calls him “gorgeous,” and after Thor’s untimely death, Coulson sniffs the god pretty intensely, comparing his scent to lavender. It was a hilarious break in an otherwise bleak episode, and Gregg recently talked about “marveling at the beauty of Thor” during an interview with Entertainment Weekly.

“Oh my gosh, yes. I mean, look, it’s very true to life in that the guy who plays Agent Coulson has certainly spent his fair amount of time marveling at Hemsworth in all his glory. [Laughs] So apparently, there is no Chris that I don’t have a huge crush on,” Gregg shared.

“The most,” Gregg laughed when asked if he had fun recording his lines. “Earlier days, there was a little more like, ‘Hey, just riff a little.’ And I remember when I first was interrogating Thor, I think they finally told me to stop. There was definitely some improv I was doing that was, ‘Who are you? Where are you from, you beautiful WWF wrestler Viking god?’ It’s just hard not to. That’s also always been one of the funnest things about Coulson is that he might be having the most fun of anybody — unless he’s being shanked by the god of mischief.”

During the interview, Gregg also talked about what it was like bringing Coulson back in animation.

“It is different now when I see it. At the time, it was very much like when I do post-production audio, like when a line got chewed up by the wind. I wasn’t looking at anything yet. I remember having a lot of fun, but I don’t think I was looking at anything. Maybe a few frames here and there. I was excited by the whole thing,” he explained. “The minute I saw stuff from What If…? and this one in particular, I was really blown away by the animation and how great it all looks. I liked comic books a lot when I was a kid, so every time I see a version of me in anything like comic book form, never mind a full-on cartoon (although this is quite a bit more evolved than cartoon), the 10-year-old me just freaks out.”

Marvel’s What If…? releases new episodes on Wednesdays. If you haven’t signed up for Disney+ yet, you can try it out here.

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