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The stars of "Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D," from l.: Chloe Bennet, Elizabeth Henstridge, Iain De Caestecker, Clark Gregg, Ming-Na Wen and Brett Dalton
ABC wouldn't mind building its whole prime-time schedule on soaps and superpowers, and if they were all done as well as “Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.,” viewers wouldn’t mind, either.
Hard-core Marvel geeks can and undoubtedly will have their own discussion on how well the TV show honors the mythology and reflects the true spirit of Marvel.
Purely as action-adventure, however, something the most unschooled civilian can punch up on the TV screen, “S.H.I.E.L.D.” is rip-roaring good fun.
Clark Gregg stars as agent Phil Coulson, resurrected here after his death elsewhere.
Coulson heads up the “S.H.I.E.L.D,” team, which includes ace spy Grant Ward (Brett Dalton), martial-arts master Melinda May (Ming-Na Wen), renegade computer genius Skye (Chloe Bennett), science whiz Gemma Simmons (Elizabeth Henstridge), engineer Leo Fritz (Iain De Caestecker) and maybe a pickup or two.
Their mission is protecting the world from bad guys, some of whom have superpowers. That’s not a new concept — think “Fringe” — but it’s done in a nice, inclusive, friendly way. Like, say, the “Spider-Man” movies.
And yes, it keeps Marvel’s familiar sense of wry, droll humor.
The pilot, which obviously had a big budget, looks almost as sleek as a movie. Creator Joss Whedon promises the show will work hard to stay on that level.
It will live or die, however, on whether we want to keep watching its characters. Right up front, the answer is we do.
dhinckley@nydailynews.com
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