News broke this weekend that Joss Whedon announced at South by Southwest that Agent Coulson was coming back for the “S.H.I.E.L.D.” television series. In the interview, Whedon joked about the Heimlich, before saying he couldn’t talk much about it but that Agent Coulson was coming back from the dead “for realsies.”
Of course, the comment sections on various websites exploded. One Internet troll said that Marvel “f***ed superhero movies forever.” Another commented that it is the “decline of the Marvel universe.” At least there were some smart comments that reminded people that the ones complaining about Agent Coulson returning are the same ones who complained when he “died” to begin with.
That’s the problem with the Internet. Too many people leave comments without thinking first. The worst of the bunch are the ones who think they are always right and know more than anyone else. Actually, even worse than those are the people who believe their opinion is the only one that matters and all others should conform to their views or they are “idiots.”
I’ve been writing as a professional freelancer since 1996, my first national magazine article hitting that year. However, I started writing on the Internet in 2007 over at Chud.com and was amazed at the hatred that flowed out of faceless Internet trolls keyboards. It’s enough to make someone without a spine want to quit writing. I have spoken to a lot of writers over the years who have quit reading their comments completely because of the hateful people who believe insulting a writer is cool.
I still read the comments and the Internet TROLLS don’t really get to me anymore. I used to have fun with them, turning their words back around on them. Now I ignore the trolls, but I keep reading because there are a lot of great comments left by people who actually think before they type. Those people deserve to have their comments read and writers shouldn’t let the trolls ruin it for everyone.
With that said, what about Agent Coulson? I think the story goes one of two directions.
First, Agent Coulson could possibly have never died. Remember, Nick Fury lied to The Avengers from the start. Captain America, the last of his loyal followers, even found out that Fury was hiding things from them just to get them to help him achieve his goal. When Fury tossed the bloody Captain America cards onto the table to prove that Coulson was dead, it gave the team the passion to fight their hardest. The cards were faked, as Maria Hill revealed. If Fury lied about that, why wouldn’t he lie about Agent Coulson dying in order to save the world?
S.H.I.E.L.D. has the most high tech weapons and technology in the world. Who is to say they couldn’t have saved Coulson’s life. And just because Whedon said “back from the dead” doesn’t mean he is resurrected. The fans think he is dead, so bringing him back could use the same wording.
The second idea is the Life Model Decoys that S.H.I.E.L.D. uses in the comics. Agent Coulson could be dead and replaced with the LMD, or maybe it was an LMD that was stabbed and not Coulson. This could also lead to Coulson becoming The Vision, something that could be a very cool situation.
Either way, it is way too soon to start the funeral march for Marvel movies. Of course, with the comment sections on the Internet, lots of Internet trolls will want to voice their opinions, stated as fact, before the show ever airs.
That’s the way the Internet works.