NYCC 2015: Agents of SHIELD and Agent Carter Take NYCC By Storm

Faith D’Isa ‘17 / Emertainment Monthly Executive Marketing Officer
Marvel’s head of television Jeph Loeb was on hand at New York Comic Con Friday to share some news and info about Marvel’s two current network television shows, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and Agent Carter with help from the former’s star, Clark Gregg (Director Phil Coulson). Though the panel started immediately with a bit of play about the current Dubsmash Wars going on between the casts of the two shows (which has subsequently spilled onto the television show “Lip Sync Battle”), the two got right into business.
First up was Agent Carter and the obvious–stars Hayley Atwell and James D’Arcy will be returning, respectively, as Peggy Carter and Edwin Jarvis, when the show returns during Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.’s winter break. Fans were then treated to a video message from the two, filming over in Los Angeles, followed by the first glimpse of footage from season 2 featuring the duo. The actors message stated that fan favorite Dominic Cooper, who plays Howard Stark (Iron Man Tony Stark’s father) would not be returning for the next season, but Cooper’s later presence in that same video message (and the fact that his character’s car was the focus of the clip) refuted that fact.
Immediately afterwards, Loeb revealed a slide that did confirm Cooper’s return, along with Bridget Reagan as Dottie Underwood (as Loeb called her “their own version of the Black Widow”, Enver Gjokaj returning as possible love interest and new SSR Chief in Los Angeles Daniel Sousa, and Chad Michael Murray as Peggy’s foil and New York office Chief Jack Thompson.
Joining the cast is Wynn Everett as someone fans will know from the comics, Whitney Frost, Reggie Austin as Dr. Jason Wilkes, Currie Graham as Calvin Chadwick, and Lotte Verbeek as the often heard of but never seen Ana Jarvis, Edwin Jarvis’ wife.
Afterwards, Clark Gregg took a couple of questions, notably going on a small rant about the idea of Inhumans in the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. universe and talking about the parallels between our world and theirs, where people often look down on and isolate those who we see as “strange” or “weird”. He was also asked about the dreaded Marvel “M” word–”mutants”–which Jeph Loeb immediately attempted to shut down.
Clark was having none of that, though–in response to the question, which was asking when we were going to see mutants in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, he responded saying that the mutants were trapped in a different dimension called the “copyright zone”. He told anecdotes about reading comics starring these mutants as a kid and said that one day we’ll live in a world where “the fandoms can live in harmony”.
After that, the audience was treated to the entirety of next Tuesday’s episode of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., and security was tight–but this fan can promise that there’s a lot of excitement to look forward to.