TheRetroCritic

Post- The Avengers , Marvel's first attempt at translating the new MCU to the small screen was Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. , a show following a team of S.H.I.E.L.D. agents led by the originally killed-in-action Phil Coulson (Clark Gregg). The idea of giving a character we all believed to have been written-off completely his own show which, as far as we knew, wouldn't include any major Marvel superheroes, was not a particularly exciting prospect as it felt like a bit of a stretch. On the other hand, Phil Coulson was always a likeable character and S.H.I.E.L.D. has always been a setting packed with potential. The team we're introduced to includes the recently revived Coulson, tough-as-nails operative Melinda May (Ming-Na Wen), top scientists and tech experts Fitz (Ian De Caestecker) and Simmons (Elizabeth Henstridge) with superspy Grant Ward (Brett Dalton) and new recruit hacker Skye (Chloe Bennet). The early episodes focus mostly on Skye's absorption into S.H.I.E.L.D. as

Long before Samuel L. Jackson made the Marvel character his own and assembled The Avengers , David Hasselhoff was Nick Fury: Agent Of SHIELD in a 1998 film which saw Fury come back to SHIELD after leaving the organisation to take on Hydra. While "The Hoff" may sound like a goofy casting choice today and, it frankly did even back then, it's hard to deny that he does fit the look of the character in the comics at the time so could it be that the film was dismissed by critics and audiences solely based on Hasselhoff's reputation and past work? If not solely, then certainly partly because, while the actor gets to say some pretty cheesy lines throughout this film, his performance actually works: he's believably tough and wears the iconic eyepatch well. We first meet Nick Fury at a point in time when he's left SHIELD and is reluctant to join the organisation again but when Hydra kills an old partner of his, he is hired back and is soon ready to kick ass. The f

In 2014, Marvel Animation followed up their Iron Man/Hulk team-up animated feature with Iron Man & Captain America: Heroes United , another Avengers duo movie. Using the same 2-D wrap technique which gives 3-D characters a more "drawn" look, the film sees Captain America and Iron Man discuss their respective fighting styles before Hydra, led by Red Skull and Taskmaster, invades Tony Stark's training facility and not only steals some of his more destructive technology but captures Captain America himself as well. Iron Man, with the help of trusty artificially intelligent assistant Jarvis, sets off on a rescue mission while Red Skull reveals his evil plan to Steve Rogers. The goal being to build an army with the exact same physical strength and fighting moves (and shield) as Captain America. Taskmaster, using Stark's stealth suit, would then mimic all of Iron Man's moves and, once the world is force-fed the Super Soldier Serum, Red Skull would then easily g