Joss Whedon Says Coulson Is Still Dead As Far As Marvel Movies Are Concerned

Joss Whedon killed off Agent Phil Coulson (Clark Gregg), which was the moment Nick Fury used to galvanize The Avengers. Then Whedon went off and made a Marvel television show and resurrected Coulson, which watered down his death in the MCU and left fans wondering how that will be dealt with in the Marvel movies.

“Yeah he’s dead. The entire television series is just a fever dream, Whedon joked to IGN. “It’s a Jacob’s Ladder moment he’s having at the point of death, but we don’t give that away until after season seven. And there’s a snow globe. Now I’ve given it away. Bollocks!

“It’s a weird little yes and no. As far as I’m concerned in the films, yes he’s dead. In terms of the narrative of these guys [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!’”

Kind of odd that it is only now that Whedon realizes the mistake Marvel made by having Coulson come back from the dead. He’s been the director of the fake branch of S.H.I.E.L.D., interacted with numerous Marvel heroes, like Sif and Maria Hill, but none of the Avengers know that he is among the living once again? Hard to swallow.

Avengers: Age of Ultron hits theaters on May 1, 2015.