Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s Clark Gregg Hopes Coulson Meets The Avengers Again

Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. star Clark Gregg, who first joined the Marvel Cinematic Universe in movies like Iron Man and Marvel's The Avengers, says he hopes to cross paths with Earth's Mightiest Heroes again someday.

"Whether it's at the cinema or on the television, I hope at some point Phil Coulson gets to explain what he's been doing," Gregg told Digital Spy in a new interview.

While acknowledging that keeping the big guns segregated from S.H.I.E.L.D. somewhat was important at first to help the show carve out its own identity, Gregg has enjoyed the involvement of characters like Lady Sif and stressed that almost every Avenger has expressed a willingness to drop by during various interviews over the years.

Of course, not everybody agrees.

"As far as I'm concerned in the films, yes he's dead," former Marvel Cinematic Universe custodian Joss Whedon -- who wrote Gregg's death in The Avengers and his resurrection in the S.H.I.E.L.D. pilot -- said last year. "In terms of the narrative of [The Avengers] his loss was very important. When I created the television show, it was sort of on the understanding that this can work and we can do it with integrity, but these Avengers movies are for people to see the Avengers movies and nothing else. And it would neither make sense nor be useful to say 'Oh and by the way remember me? I died!'"

That said, the Marvel Universe is no stranger to temporary, apparent or revoked deaths...even in the movies.