• Entertainment Weekly exclusive interview to Kevin Feige, article of Collider [May 2, 2013]:

"We know that Clark Gregg’s Agent Coulson returns as the star of the show (under some strange circumstances) and the series takes place after the events of The Avengers, but further details about how Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. would fit into the larger Marvel universe have thus far been unclear. EW’s recent cover story on Phase Two provides a closer look at the show, however, with Marvel’s Kevin Feige addressing the possibility of using the series to introduce new characters and Robert Downey Jr. talking about a possible appearance on the show. Hit the jump to read on.

While Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. certainly marks new territory for Marvel, many have wondered if the show could be used as a sort of “minor leagues” to test out new characters before incorporating them into the film universe. EW asked Feige if we could see some as-yet-unused heroes pop up in the show, and he sounded optimistic:

“If that works the way everyone expects it to work, I think that would open up another avenue, another outlet for some of those characters,” Feige acknowledges. “Maybe they guest star, I don’t know. I think they’re avoiding the cameo of the week on that show, which is very smart.”

Speaking of cameo of the week, it’s difficult to imagine the entirety of Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. taking place without at least some acknowledgement of the film characters, and while we’ve heard that Cobie Smulders will probably be popping up, Iron Man himself Robert Downey Jr. was asked point-blank if he would consider appearing on Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. in character, to which he replied:

“You know what? There’s no telling. I am open to everything.”

While it would likely be quite expensive and/or difficult to actually get RDJ on the show, it’s nice to know that the actor hasn’t entirely ruled it out. Before that’s even considered, though, there’s the matter of re-negotiating Downey’s very, very lucrative contract."

• The Playlist question to Kevin Feige on a Q&A, article by Slash Film [October 31, 2013]:

"Next up, bridging the gap between TV and movies, The Playlist asked if the consequences of the Phase 2 movies, specifically Thor: The Dark World, would have ramifications on Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D.:

Well, Jeph Loeb, who runs the TV division for Marvel, is in charge of that show and is doing a great job of overseeing it. The studio’s involvement in that is limited to them going “Hey, we’re thinking of doing something like this, is that ok?” and we’ll go yay or nay. But I’ll say that it’s a smart question, and it’ll probably happen sooner than you realize. I think that’s part of the fun they’re having with that show is that it inhabits the same universe, so if there’s a big event, there’ll be ripples."

• Crave Online exclusive interview to Kevin Feige and other creative collaborators, article of Cinelinx [April 8, 2014]:

"Feige was asked how these major, unexpected events regarding SHIELD would affect the next season of Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. He said, “The TV show didn’t exist when we were starting this. But they were well aware of what was happening because I said, ‘This is what we’re doing. They haven’t been shy about talking about their connection to the Cinematic Universe, and this will be by far the biggest event that has happened for them.”

Series stars Elizabeth Henstridge and Ming-Na Wen—who play Simmons and Agent May—were interviewed by TVLine. Henstridge said, “We were in shock, and still are, honestly. We all had our theories about what might happen because we knew there was a huge tie-in. But none of us saw this coming.” Ming-Na Wen adds, “We just kind of said, ‘Um… so what happens to our show?’

• Wired exclusive Q&A/interview to Kevin Feige [July 16, 2014]:

"How might the Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. TV series connect to Guardians Of The Galaxy?"

Kevin Feige: "I'm not sure. They're working on the second season right now; they're cracking the episodes for that, so I'm not exactly sure what their plans are. But I know that everyone's very happy about the connectivity between Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. They're constantly aware of what we're doing in the movies and take their lead from the feature films. I think they've already tied in a couple of blue aliens in the first season that might or may not relate to blue aliens in Guardians -- I'm not being coy, by the way, I'm really not sure if it does or not. There's always that chance for connectivity, but I'm not exactly sure what they've got in store for episode-by-episode for season two."

"How do upcoming Netflix series -- Daredevil, Iron Fist, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage and The Defenders -- contribute to the Marvel Cinematic Universe?"

Kevin Feige: "I think they're being very smart about that, approaching the shows the way we approach movies, which is to focus on the core project, make sure it's as great as it can be, beginning, middle, and end.

Then they see if there are places where it makes sense to interweave continuity. Right now, their goal, and they're in production on the Daredevil series, is focusing on making it the best incarnation of Daredevil that has ever existed."

• Kevin Feige on Disney's Marvel event [October 28, 2014]:

"Marvel also has two TV shows and Netflix shows. How does that affect your end of things?"

Kevin Feige: "Well, it doesn’t affect my end of things much at all because my end of things is exclusively the features, and Jeph Loeb runs our TV division, which is overseeing Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D., Agent Carter, and of course all the awesome Netflix series. I have some smaller involvement in Agent Carter because Haley and Louis D’Esposito did the short on which the show is based. He directed the pilot and just finished it. It’s awesome, even in its rough form, and I had asked to be a little more involved on that one, so I’m helping them out there. But primarily, and exclusively, I want to make the movies."

"I was wondering what happened to Runaways."

Kevin Feige: "Runaways is still an awesome script that exists in our script vault, by Drew Pearce. Frankly, the best thing that has happened with that script is that it brought our attention to Drew Pearce, who ended up co-writing Iron Man 3 with Shane Black. We’d love to do something with Runaways someday. In our television and future film discussions, it’s always one that we talk about, because we have a solid draft there. But again, we can’t make them all."

"Is there room for The Defenders to show up on the big screen?"

Kevin Feige: "The Netflix series are leading to a Defenders series, and Devin is asking about including them into the features at some point, because Infinity War is going to be big. There are a lot of people from the movies (chuckles) in Infinity War. A lot of it is about space, and a lot of it is about just what happens between now and then. But all of those things inhabit, however far on the outskirts, the same continuity. So certainly that opportunity exists."

• Badass Digest exclusive interview to Kevin Feige, article of ComicBook [April 14, 2015 (?)]:

"Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. has been introducing the Inhumans to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and the Inhumans are also set to hit the big screen with their own movie in 2019. So what’s the balance between television and film when it comes to these characters?

"It was always the intention that introducing them to the public would happen quickly, and it would happen in the show," Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige tells Badass Digest.

Feige says that, where sometimes the television arm of Marvel is forced to work itself into the studio’s movie plans, Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. is the one tasked with leading the way on the Inhumans, at least until we get closer to the movie’s release.

"There have been discussions between me, Eric Buckley and Dan Carroll, who is the conduit between Jeph Loeb and the runners, in terms of them saying, ‘We’re thinking of doing this, this and this - does that gibe with what you’re doing in the movies?’ And in some cases, like with the Avengers movies, it’s very close. We have to say, ‘This is happening, so you have to do this.’

"In the case of Inhumans, they’re blazing new ground. As we get down the road towards that one, we’ll see what the pieces are."

And in terms of what’s off-limits from Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D., Feige assumes most comic fans can probably figure it out.

"Certainly, in terms of those backstories on some of those things. Knowing the comics, you can guess the kind of things you wouldn’t see on a TV show.""

• ScreenRant exclusive interview to Kevin Feige [April 16, 2015]:

"Early reviews and reactions to Daredevil are insanely positive. Does that add incentive to bring the Defenders into the Marvel movies?"

Kevin Feige: "Into the movies? Well, right now, what Jeff Loeb and the TV guys are focusing on is those shows, and certainly with 'Daredevil' coming out last night and being so well received, the next one is already in production, the one after that has been announced, so I think they're doing quite well for themselves in that medium. We certainly have had discussions and thoughts of where down the line who could show up where, but I think they're being very smart in saying, "Let us establish this here, first", and they're off to a very, very good start."

"I didn't want to say the word, but you've assembled a pretty great group of people running these things."

Kevin Feige: "Ha!"

• Desert Chica and The Rebel Chick exclusive interviews to Kevin Feige on a Q&A [April 30, 2015]:

Desert Chica: "With all the movies and Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D., how many people are on the (Marvel) team to keep everything straight?"

Kevin Feige: "Well, there’s a television division; there’s a studio division, and there’s a solid brain trust of seven or eight of us at the studio that oversee each of the films."

Desert Chica: "The Avengers are very cohesive in this new movie. How much time has passed since the last film ended, and when we see them again in the new film?"

Kevin Feige: "I’m not sure we ever directly say it, but we always sorta thought it. It’s between six months and a year after, probably a good year after the events of The Winter Soldier. SHIELD has been brought down at the end of The Winter Soldier, after revealing that Hydra had, had been growing within it, and that there’s a lot of fallout. Some of that is on the television series, and some of that we see at the very beginning of this movie."

The Rebel Chick: "Why is there no end credit scene?"

(...)

Kevin Feige: "Now, for those who aren’t too familiar with the comics, and don’t want Marvel’s Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D., it can be kind of tricky to keep track of what is happening when and where in the Marvel Cinematic Universe."

The Rebel Chick: "How many years is it between the end of the other Marvel Avengers movies and the start of Age Of Ultron?"

Kevin Feige: "I’m not sure we ever directly say it, but we always sorta thought it. It’s between six months to a year after- probably a good year after the events of The Winter Soldier. The Shield has been brought down at the end of The Winter Soldier after revealing that Hydra had been growing within it, and that there’s a lot of fallout. Some of that is on the television series, and some of that, we see at the very beginning of this movie, that that scepter- Loki’s which if you look at the end of the first Avengers movie, the last time you see it, Black Widow is holding it in the shadow of all the Avengers as they’re finally taking down Loki.

Our back stories clearly show that they went into that went to a Shield- secure SHIELD vault somewhere, but of course, SHIELD was not secure, and it ended up in the hands of Strucker at the beginning of this film."

• Crave Online exclusive interview to Kevin Feige [May 1, 2015]:

"The Kingpin was considered to be a Spider-Man villain as well as a Daredevil villain. Do you think there’s any room to follow that through, or is he too dark and R-rated now with Daredevil?"

Kevin Feige: "I don’t know. I think once something is back in the universe, as certainly Daredevil is, it’s all fair game. It’s just adding more toys outside the sandbox that we can grab to pull in the sandbox. I hear D’Onofrio’s awesome in that. I haven’t seen the whole show."

He’s amazing.

Kevin Feige: "That’s great. That’s what I hear."

"It seems like you’re situating the Inhumans to be functionally like mutants, in that it gives people powers without giving them a huge epic backstory. Is that true? Because that’s the talk, and everyone’s asking."

Kevin Feige: "I think they’re beginning to seed a lot of that in the Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. show, but the notion from the comics that I think is interesting is the notion of needing to have this DNA that could be activated by the [Terrigen] Mists, which is what’s so cool about Inhumans to me."

"Do you think the movie is going to be in direct relation to what’s going on in the TV show, or do you have an entirely separate plan for that? I don’t imagine Black Bolt is going to show up in Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. any time soon…"

Kevin Feige: "Exactly. I think there will be threads of it, for sure, that carry over."

• Slash Film exclusive interview to Kevin Feige [May 4, 2015]:

"Now, when Nick Fury goes away and comes back with a Helicarrier, that seems like a big chunk of off screen story. Is that something we might see referenced on Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D.?"

Kevin Feige: "I think it’s fair to say you could fill in some of those blanks in the coming weeks on Tuesday at 9."

• Zap2it exclusive interview to Kevin Feige, article of ComicBookMovie [July 24, 2015]:

"If you've seen Marvel's Ant-Man, which was released last week, you'll know that Darren Cross attempted to sell his Yellowjacket technology to members of Hydra. Ant-Man managed to put a stop to all that, but not before Mitchell Carson could make off with Cross's version of the Pym Particles.

Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. fans will know that ex-agent Grant Ward has since taken over as leader of Hydra, leading many of us to wonder if it was, in fact, him who was ultimately after the Yellowjacket suit. When this question was presented to Kevin Feige, he responded, “People can read into it. We’ll see what it is. We shot that way before [the ‘SHIELD’ finale]." While that may sound like everything is still up in the air, Feige says that's just how it normally goes. "Honestly, somehow that is how connections happen. Something that they don’t seem connected, and someone goes, ‘Hey, you know what? We could connect these things.'”

At SDCC a couple weeks ago, Brett Dalton himself was asked the very same question about his nefarious character. “I think that Hydra doesn’t have a sense of leadership at this point," he says. "We’ve had the Hydra with Strucker, we’ve had the Hydra with Whitehall — all of these other versions of Hydra — and, you know, it’s a ship in need of captaining. Ward has elected himself, and he’s a hero in that story. So, yeah, I don’t know if he’s doing that sort of technology or whatever or if he’s the one who specifically said, ‘Hey, you need to go and get this.’ He’s up there on the list.”

Whether it was Grant Ward himself who made the call remains to be seen, but it definitely sounds like he was involved! We'll know for sure when Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. returns for season three this fall!"

• Q&A session of Kevin Feige and Jeremy Latcham, articles of CBR, IGN and The Marvel Report [September 30, 2015]:

"The question I have is about the intersection of the Marvel TV universe and the film universe. We've seen a lot of references in "Daredevil" and "Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D.", and I'm assuming the other shows that are coming will be to what's happened in the films. Are we going to see references to the events of the TV shows in any of the movies?"

Kevin Feige: "I think that's inevitable at some point, as we're plotting the movies going forward and the shows. The schedules do not always quite match up to make that possible. It's easier for them. They're more nimble and faster and produce things quicker than we do, which is one of the main reasons you see the repercussions of "Winter Soldier" or "Age of Ultron" in the show. But going forward, and as they get to do more shows, and cast them with such great actors they have, particularly in the "Daredevil" show, that may occur. A lot of it is, by the time we start doing a movie, they'd be midway through a season. By the time our movie comes out, they'll be done with the second season and starting the third season. So finding the timing on that is not always easy."

(---)

"As for whether the films will feature any of the TV shows' characters if they're used on the big screen -- a reporter asked if, for example, a Spider-Man movie featuring Kingpin would use Vincent D'Onofrio -- Feige said, "I don't know, probably. That would probably be the cool thing to do. That particular scenario has not come up yet.""

• io9 article of an exclusive interview to Kevin Feige [April 12, 2016]:

"“It’s about finding the right way to do that,” Feige told io9. “And the honest answer is, movies are developed so far in advance that a lot of those things [Inhumans, Hydra monsters, etc.] weren’t done when we started to film [Captain America: Civil War].”

“Or, if we were to do something in a film that absolutely handcuffs what the team can do in season 2 of whatever show, they don’t want to be handcuffed. They shouldn’t be handcuffed. It’s just finding the right time and right place to do it.”

Which is a very diplomatic way of saying, the cross over may never happen—or maybe, it could. What we know is that it would take a huge amount of planning, something that both the TV and movie universes are doing independently of each other right now. Nevertheless, Feige swears it’s something he wants.

“Look, I love heroes,” Feige continued. “I love seeing as many heroes as possible interacting and surprising fans with their presence, but, like Spider-Man, Ant-Man, and Black Panther in this movie, like Falcon in Ant-Man, it just has to be absolutely blended with the story at hand, and not just, ‘Hey, who is that who just drove past?’ That would be easy. We could do that in post—but that, I think, does a disservice to the characters.”"

• The Playlist article of a Kevin Feige interview/Q&A [October 11, 2016]:

Kevin Feige: “They did ask a long time ago, and I think our answer was, ‘No, we’ll do something with ‘Blade’ at some point.’ That’s still the answer. “We still think he’s a great character. He’s a really fun character. We think this movie going into a different side of the universe would have the potential to have him pop up, but between the movies, the Netflix shows, the ABC shows there are so many opportunities for the character to pop up as you’re now seeing with Ghost Rider on ‘Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D.’ that rather than team up with another studio on that character let’s do something on our own. What is? Where will it be? We’ll see. There is nothing imminent to my knowledge.”

• io9 interview to Kevin Feige [May 5, 2017]:

"In a recent interview, I asked Feige if a character showing up on TV 100 percent means they can’t end up in a movie in the future.

“Not necessarily,” Feige told io9. “The future’s a long time. So, the truth is, I don’t really know, but there are a lot of TV shows being made, and hopefully we’ll continue to make a lot of movies. At some point, there’s going to be a crossover. Crossover, repetition, or something.”"

• ComicBook exclusive interview to Kevin Feige, article of Slash Film [September 6, 2017]:

"There are a couple of character names over here that are pretty exciting for comic book fans with Drum and Minoru. How much of that is just nodding to the comics versus just setting things up for the future? Because obviously Runaways has been a topic of conversation for quite a few years now, and seeing that name is pretty exciting."

Kevin Feige: "Of Drum and Minoru that you mention, one of those names you hear in the movie, and one of those – I don’t think… We never say Minoru in the movie, do we? No. So that picture, if it is in an art book, is the only place you’d ever see that name.

Drum, you do hear the name in the movie. That’s how we always build the universe. There are so many characters in the books that if we have a need for a person to be in this place at this time and have a line or have no lines, we still want it to be someone, and oftentimes that’s how the names come about. And the names we pull are the ones that are relatively top of mind or have been amongst characters we’ve thought about, like the Runaways, for a long time. I would call that an Easter Egg that most people won’t even see."

• ScreenRant exclusive interview to Brad Winderbaum [December 18, 2024]:

What do you think are the chances that Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. can be canon? Because it fits really well into the MCU

Brad Winderbaum: I think that Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. is a really great show, and there was a long time where some of the best reveals in that show were during the Winter Soldier era, where Hydra emerges, and you’re like, ‘Oh my gosh!’ I remember that feeling, even knowing what was happening, just being a fan, [going] ‘It really is connected!’ I think that there is, in a crazy way, as you said, it does feel like it fits into The Multiverse Saga in an incredible way. I want to go down this road with you, you know I do, but we’re just gonna take a deep breath for a second. Just know that I love that cast, I love Clark Gregg, and I love that show.

• ScreenRant exclusive interview to Brad Winderbaum [December 18, 2024]:

Brad Winderbaum: Well, I'll tell you this, and put it to you like this. It's exciting for me to think about how to square those ABC shows with the canon. That, to me, if you know me and the way my brain works, that is fun territory to imagine.

ScreenRant: Well, I have a list that breaks down episodically where it would fit into the MCU. So I'll send it to you after this.

Brad Winderbaum: I need it. I need it.

• Digital Spy exclusive entreview to Jeph Loeb [March 4, 2015]:

"What does it add to the show to bring the Inhumans into Marvel's Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D.?"

Jeph Loeb: "For the Marvel fan, there's an enormous connectivity into the Marvel Universe. Also, it is a shift in the show, which began with the idea that not all heroes are super. Now, apparently, there's someone on the team that doesn't fit into that box, and how are they going to react to that?"

(...)

"How excited are you for fans to see the second half of season two?"

Jeph Loeb: "All I can say is, 'You ain't seen nothing yet!' I have to give credit to the incredible writing staff at SHIELD because there's some spectacular stuff coming up. Having Edward James Olmos and Blair Underwood join our cast and knowing that Lady Sif - Jaimie Alexander - is coming back sets you up for excitement. What can I tell you about it? Well, the best is yet to come."

(...)

"What about the Netflix shows? Will they be able to cross over with any of the other Marvel television shows, such as Marvel's Agents of Shield or Agent Carter?"

Jeph Loeb: "Look, it all exists in the same universe. As it is now, in the same way that our films started as self-contained and then by the time we got to The Avengers, it became more practical for Captain America to do a little crossover into Thor 2 and for Bruce Banner to appear at the end of Iron Man 3."

"We have to earn that. The audience needs to understand who all of these characters are and what the world is before you then start co-mingling in terms of where it's going."

• IGN article of an exclusive interview to Jeph Loeb [April 8, 2015]:

"A couple of months back, the official account for Marvel's Daredevil revealed an image suggesting Carl "Crusher" Creel, aka Absorbing Man, would pop up in a flashback to fight Matt Murdock's father, Battlin' Jack.

Of course, we've already seen Absorbing Man on Marvel's Agents of SHIELD, which led some fans to speculate that the time gap between Jack's death and the events of SHIELD might not add up. Others postulated that Absorbing Man may have just been related to the Creel in Daredevil.

However, while speaking with IGN's Roth Cornet, Daredevil/SHIELD producer Jeph Loeb confirmed that Daredevil's Creel and SHIELD's Absorbing Man are the same.

"That is that story," Loeb told us. "I get to smile a little bit because I was the first one who put Crusher Creel in the fight with Jack Murdock in Daredevil: Yellow. It exists there, so it's in the comics."

In regard to the age difference, Loeb explained, "If you look at it, there's actually a very critical line, which is, 'Battlin' Jack is doing very well against a much younger fighter.' So the idea is, we looked at it from the point of view of Mike Tyson, who was the heavyweight champion when he was 18 years old. [Brian Patrick Wade], who plays him in the show, looks like he's in his mid-30s, so there was enough time for us to be able to say, 'There's no reason why that isn't the same person.'

"The fun part is you caught it; the good news is you don't have to. But if you're a Marvel fan or a SHIELD fan or a Daredevil fan, you go, 'Oh! It is all related in some way' -- or like I say, '#ItsAllConnected.'""

• Entertainment Tonight exclusive interview to Jeph Loeb [July 15, 2015]:

"Let’s start with Agent Carter, which at times almost feels like a niche show within a niche show, considering it's set in a post-World War II period, and of all the shows you have on ABC, it feels the most adult. What was the first inkling that this would work as a series?

Jeph Loeb: "Look, we make shows that are best for the character. We don’t ever start from, "Who’s the show for?" I think that makes us a little bit different. So yes, if you look at the shows that we’re doing, S.H.I.E.L.D. is not the same as Carter is not the same as Daredevil is not the same as Jessica Jones. They shouldn’t be. And wait till you get a hold of Luke Cage.

Each show has its own feel to it. But by the same token, we want them to feel like they’re still part of the Marvel Universe. That’s the most important thing about it. The example that I always go to — and I can do it now with our shows, because you couldn’t have two more different shows than S.H.I.E.L.D. and Daredevil — is last summer, when we had Captain America: The Winter Soldier, which was a real-life, grounded, political thriller, and then Guardians of the Galaxy, which was basically a cosmic comedy. But they both felt like Marvel films. The television division is very much built the same way. We have 9,000 characters, but if you’ve been a comic book fan, you know that our comics don’t feel the same. That Spider-Man is not the same as The Avengers is not the same as our horror line."

"You want to explore every flavor that Marvel has to offer."

Jeph Loeb: "We do! The funny part about it is people see Marvel as this gigantic octopus that’s out to swallow the entire galaxy. [Laughs] Which, by the way, we are. But we are in fact a very small company. So the television division and the film division and the games division and the animation division, we’re always talking to each other. We’re just continually trying to find the next story that we want to tell. And what’s the best way to tell it? And who’s the best showrunner? And what do we want it to look like? And where are we going to shoot it? And all those fun things that come along with it.

So, back to your original question. Yes, Agent Carter has a different feel to it. We were faced with a number of challenges: Female lead, period piece, spy show, not a lot of superheroes and super villains running around during that time period in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. There’s certainly a lot of that in the Marvel Publishing Universe, but Carter has to come from the [MCU] world. She’s in First Avenger, she’s in Winter Soldier, so in order to remain true to that continuity, there was no way that you could now suddenly go, "Oh, well Peggy Carter has a completely different story."

We’re continuing to tell that story. When we first sat down to talk with [Christopher] Markus and [Stephen] McFeely, who are the writers on the [Captain America] movies, we said that by showing that Peggy was still alive in Winter Soldier, there were basically all the stories that we could tell from 1946 to yesterday. Then, we had Hayley Atwell — and I don’t really need to go much further. She’s capable of doing anything, from drama to comedy to sincere emotion to kicking ass and all those things on top of she’s a movie star. She’s exactly what Marvel television is all about: bringing you something you can’t get anywhere else on your television set."

(...)

"Is any of that decision a result of some of the criticism that’s been lobbied against the movie side of Marvel?"

Jeph Loeb: "Not in any way. First of all, we tell what’s best for our stories. So we would never react to criticism in that regard. Keep in mind, we’re telling anywhere from 10 to 22 episodes. The movie division gets to make two movies a year, of which a number are sequels to very successful other movies.

So it isn’t a question of whether or not they will. They are! We know they’re making the Captain Marvel movie. They are already very strong characters in Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) and where we see Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen) is going to go. They exist in the world, but just like anything else, it takes the time in order to get there. I think the popularity of those movies speak to the broadness of that audience, the same kind of way that in the television division, we try to reach out to as many people as we can."

(...)

"Speaking of Inhumans, I think a lot of people were really excited when the movie studio announced they were going there, and then probably a little surprised that you guys were jumped into that world years before the movie will come out in 2018. What kind of say does the studio have in S.H.I.E.L.D.’s storylines? Or what kind of coordination needs to go on between the two?"

Jeph Loeb: "(...) Well, we just take those and then we go, OK, you were planning on going to work, and you woke up and now you’re invisible. So, what do you do? And what’s happened to you? In the Marvel Cinematic Universe, which I think a lot of people sometimes confuse with the publishing universe, there are not a lot of people with abilities. I think that’s one of the things that people had to get used to when we had our first season of S.H.I.E.L.D. They were like, "Yeah, but the Hulk is going to be on the show right?" We were like, "No, actually." (...) When you get to take that and put it in Marvel terms, it’s, "OK, everything I touch turns to ice. How do I live in this world? And what’s going to happen to me? And do I want to live in this world?""

"People criticized S.H.I.E.L.D. during the first season for not being more superhero centric. Instead, it focused on everyday people living in a world that has superheroes. The second season really leaned into the powers. I know you said you don’t react to stuff, but was that always the intention?"

Jeph Loeb: "(...) Now we’re going to live in a world where powers are slowly starting to get out and what’s great is, in the Marvel Universe, that’s not always a good thing. One of our most popular characters had to learn with great power comes great responsibility."

(...)

"In terms of actors’ contracts, is it possible that some of your characters could bleed over from ABC to Netflix?"

Jeph Loeb: "We’ve made no bones about it. It is the same world. We don’t want it to be an Easter egg farm. But we’ve acknowledged in Daredevil that there was an incident, as we like to refer to it, which is what happened in the first Avengers movie. We’ve made mentions of Iron Man. We’ve made mentions of Captain America. So once that’s happens, you’ve opened the door.

I can tell you Clark Gregg would pay for his own airfare, his own hotel, just to walk through the set. And the set, fortunately, for the Netflix shows is the city of New York. Our feeling is right now, the shows that we’re doing on Netflix are so young and so new, we need people to get to know Matt, and Foggy, and Karen, and we need people to get to know Jessica [Jones] and Trish [Walker, aka Hellcat] and Luke [Cage]. Once they’re invested in that, it really is the same thing that we did with S.H.I.E.L.D. Trust us. Get to know the characters, invest in them, and then...There may be some."

"Theoretically they could cross over though?"

Jeph Loeb: "Absolutely! There is nothing that could make it not happen. It’s just a question of when it would happen and when it’s appropriate."

(...)

"With a season of Daredevil in the can, is there one thing you’ve learned or a tip you would pass on to the showrunners of Jessica Jones and Luke Cage?"

Jeph Loeb: "Making the shows was incredibly rewarding. It was an opportunity for us to be able to push the boundaries of the Marvel Universe in a way that it had never gone before. Were people going to accept the level of darkness, the level of reality, certainly the level of violence? And not only did they accept it, they embraced it. But again, that speaks to whether or not you care about Matt and Foggy and Karen. Then, when you have someone like Vincent D'Onofrio portraying Wilson Fisk, it’s such a towering performance, that it could only live in that world. It wasn’t a show that we could do on broadcast the way that we wanted to."

(...)

"Now you have that cast in place. But if you're trying to establish each of the character's individual worlds first, will we see any Daredevil crossover, cast wise, in Jessica Jones?"

Jeph Loeb: "Without giving anything away, they’re in the same area. In some cases they are in the same neighborhood. One of the things that is important to us is, when you enter the police station, it’s the same police station. When you go to the hospital, you start to see the same people. [But] we don’t want people suddenly going, "Wait, is that Matt Murdoch that’s walking down the street?" Because that’s going to feel odd, and in a weird way feel false.

It’s one of the things that we talked about at the beginning of S.H.I.E.L.D. You don’t want the audience to go, "I missed Iron Man by three seconds! He just went flying by overhead and you weren’t here for it!" If it feels grounded and real, then those kind of things should happen. Just little things, like the newspaper is The New York Bulletin. And you see it in different shows that we do, and I hear that it’s now getting picked up into the movie side too. It’s one of those things where we’re trying to create something that Marvel fans have become very comfortable with, and something that I’m teased about all the time, which is hashtag it’s all connected.

On some shows, you go, "They’re using that same hospital entrance that I saw on Law & Order?" In our world, it’s like, "No, no, no. This is the hospital that’s in the neighborhood, and if you lived in New York on the west side you go to Roosevelt." That’s the kind of the thing that we really take a lot of care and try to make it feel that way. But, by the same token, we don’t want you to feel like you’re watching the same show again. So, there will be lots of stuff for people to keep an eye out for."

(...)

"In terms of possible new series, the Internet really wants to see a Kamala Khan (aka the new Ms. Marvel) show. Is that on your radar?"

Jeph Loeb: "Uhhhhhh... [Long thoughtful pause] It is... [Another long pause] Uh...not something that I can talk about. [Laughs] Ah! I thought, "You know..." And then I thought, "No, this just gets me into trouble.""

• Entertainment Weekly article of an exclusive interview to Jeph Loeb [January 13, 2017]:

"Speaking of New York, does that mean that The Defenders will visit New York-based Doctor Strange, cross over with other Marvel series like Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., or enter the realm of the films? “You’re trying to trap me into saying, ‘Hashtag, it’s all connected,'” Loeb says, chuckling. “If the story warrants it, we will obviously do our best to have folks cross into each other’s story lines.”

For now, the company’s film and television arms continue to make sure each of the superhero stories can stand alone, no matter the size of the screen. “We certainly communicate with each other in terms of what we’re doing and what we have planned and the characters that we’re using and where it’s all going,” Loeb says of working with Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige, who oversees the films. That helps limit the fatigue, but also poses a personal problem for Loeb: “Unfortunately for me as a fan,” he says, “I tend to know more about what’s happening in the movies than I want to know.” Only fans receive spoiler alerts, after all."

• Jeph Loeb, Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage on panel for Runaways before the TCA [July 27, 2017]:

Jeph Loeb: “It all lives in the same world, how it's connected and where it's connected and what it's connected to remains to be seen. Right now what we're trying to do is tell the great story that Josh and Stephanie have grafted that's based an award-winning series by Brian K. Vaughan, who's also on board. It has an amazing cast and that's where it fits in."

"I think the show much more lives in a world where if you're a teenager -- and everything's connected by social media and everything's connected in a certain way -- would you be following Iron Man or would you be following someone who was more your age? So the fact that they found each other and are going through this mystery together, it becomes the moment that they're concerned about and not what Captain America is doing on a Friday."

"You'll see things that comment on each other; we try to touch base wherever we can," he said. "It's very much like real life — things that are happening in L.A. are not exactly going to be affecting what's happening in New Orleans, or what's happening in New York isn't on the minds of everyone living in Chicago. It's being aware of it and trying to find a way for it to be able to discuss in a way that makes sense."

“Stay tuned”

• Inverse exclusive interview to Jeph Loeb and Jim Chory [September 10, 2017]:

"They all share the same world, but will the Hulu shows address anything in the Netflix series, even in a minor way?"

Jeph Loeb: "You’re obviously trying to get me into trouble by saying “#ItsAllConnected,” and that’s fair. But it is all connected. And they do live in a world where Tony Stark is Iron Man, and by the same token they are aware that there are heroes that live in New York that aren’t part of the Avengers and are street level guys. What it really comes down to is story.

We can always put in a line that says “this person’s going to Hulk out,” but whether or not those stories are going to intersect with each other or those characters are going to interact with each other is complicated on a numbers of things. One is schedule, the other is they are on different networks and oftentimes networks have feelings about that that we have to take into consideration. And, lastly, and most importantly, is storytelling. We never do Easter eggs for the purpose of having an Easter egg. But Cloak and Dagger deals a lot with the people at Roxxon and people will know Roxxon for it being in other series in the same kind of way that there’s Hammer tech running around in Luke Cage, and we all know where Justin Hammer came from.

It’s all part of the Marvel universe, and if you read Marvel comics, you recognize that it’s probably fairly rare that Thor’s going to run into Ghost Rider, but that doesn’t mean that they don’t live in the same world."

"How important is New York City to Marvel TV?"

Jeph Loeb: "Well it’s certainly where it stems from. You know the publishing division, all the way back to Stan Lee, decided that this was the greatest city in the world. They wanted the stories to take place here. It really wasn’t until much later that people decided that they could set stories in Los Angeles, or Chicago, or Louisiana. I think that speaks to the elastic nature of the Marvel Universe that it can be in various places. But the characters that we chose for The Defenders — Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, and Iron Fist — those characters predominately, live and work in New York and in many ways, around Hell’s Kitchen. That gave us a really good place to ground the show and then it just became the reality of shooting here, both from a production point of view and a financial point of view."

Jim Chory: "I think that New York has got a lot of filming going on, but I think that it’s a big character in the show. When Jeoph said “let’s do it here,” that was what we wanted. We wanted it as a character."

(...)

"Why don’t we see Avengers Tower more in the Netflix series? Is it a budgetary thing?"

Jeph Loeb: "I think it’s much more that we look at it from the point of view of “where are we?” and having to establish that along the way. In many ways, being less specific helps the audience understand that this could be on any street corner. Where we’re sitting right now, I can see the Empire State Building, but if we were sitting 30 blocks that way, I wouldn’t be able to see the Empire State Building. That doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. It just means that we can’t see it from where we are."

• IGN interview to Scott Buck and Jeph Loeb [September 30, 2017]:

Scott Buck: "In a way it made it more fun. It was almost like there was a bit of a tease of the bigger Inhumans is going to come out eventually. Inhumans is a comic that’s been around from the mid sixties. It’s a world that’s already been created. We approached it more form that way, building up from the comic book. We don’t see ourselves as an offshoot of SHIELD in any way. We’re just all part of the same family."

Jeph Loeb: "Do I look forward to the day where Daisy Johnson stands in front of Black Bolt and says, 'You aren’t the king of me?' Sure. We should be so lucky that both shows get to that day where we’re going to see those characters interact. But there’s no plan for that to happen right now other than the fact that we know they’re in the same world and characters bump into each other. That’s what happens. That’s the Marvel Universe."

• Entertainment Weekly article of Jeph Loeb and Clark Gregg quotes [March 9, 2018]:

"It’s been six years since Coulson’s miraculous return, yet the Avengers are still none the wiser — which is fine by Gregg. “When they feel like it’s time to start connecting any of these worlds, they will,” he says. “I feel like I’ll hear from them then, but in the meantime, I have my hands full trying to do a good job on [S.H.I.E.L.D.]”

(...)

While Avengers: Infinity War is already jam-packed with more than 20 heroes amassed across the MCU, there’s still hope for this long-awaited reunion. “It’s certainly something that will get resolved, and it may get resolved in a very surprising way,” says head of Marvel Television and S.H.I.E.L.D. executive producer Jeph Loeb. Could that bombshell mean an end-credits scene reveal? We’ll be sticking around after Infinity War 
 to find out."

• TV Line article of a Q&A of Jeph Loeb on Reddit [June 7, 2018]:

"Fielding a flurry of questions in a Reddit AMA (Ask Me Anything) — where he was promoting Marvel’s Cloak & Dagger (premiering tonight on Freeform) — Loeb said that an encore for Defenders Matt Murdock/Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage and Danny Rand/Iron Fist is “not in the plans right now, but you never know!”

Unsurprisingly, given how closely Marvel holds its cards to the vest, Loeb offered up lots of “Wait and see” (regarding, for example, Inhumans‘ Black Bolt and Medusa possibly popping up on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.)… “Stay tuned!” (to find out of we’ll see Ghost Rider again, anywhere)… and “CLASSIFIED!”

(...)

On the rightly undying topic of Marvel’s Agent Carter being resurrected, Loeb offered the usual, “Find us a network!,” adding: “Hayley [Atwell] has been so kind of saying she’d love to come back.”

(...)

Loeb also echoed what the S.H.I.E.L.D. showrunners told TVLine, as to where the assorted TV/Netflix series fall in relation to the MCU-upending Avengers: Infinity War movie (veiled spoiler follows): “For the most part our stories will take place BEFORE Thanos clicked his fingers. A lot of that has to do with production and when we are telling our stories vs. when the movies come out.”

Loeb even re-stated his stance on the old chestnut of: Why don’t we ever see the Avengers Tower in any of the New York-based Netflix series?

“If you live in NYC, you can’t see the Empire State Building from every street,” he noted. “So why isn’t it possible that our shows take place in a world where it IS there, we just haven’t seen it!”"

• TheWrap article of an exclusive interview to Jeph Loeb and Jed Whedon [May 3, 2019]:

"“It’s just the safest way for us to do things,” Marvel TV chief Jeph Loeb told reporters on Friday. “Just looking at it from a very practical place, which is, what the world looked like post-snap, [it] was not something we had seen yet. We were already shooting.”

Additionally, Loeb didn’t want to burden “S.H.I.E.L.D.” with depicting what a post-“Endgame” MCU looks like, with “Spider-Man: Far From Home” coming up in a few months.

“We don’t want to ever do something in our show which contradicts what’s happening in the movies. The movies are the lead dog. They’re setting the timeline for the MCU and what’s going on. Our job is to navigate within that world,” he said. “The only way for us to tell our story is to do them pre-snap. Whether or not you can figure out [how the timeline works], we’ll let ‘timelords’ figure out.”

Co-showrunner Jed Whedon added that although they knew “a fair amount” of “Endgame’s” plot, “S.H.I.E.L.D.’s” air-date wasn’t set in stone when they were shooting. “If they moved us up by two months and we based our show on [‘Endgame’s’] storyline, then all of a sudden we’d burn down a huge story point for them,” he said. “So we had to dodge all of that.”

Whedon added that they pretty much assumed “S.H.I.E.L.D.” wasn’t coming back until after audiences had seen “Endgame,” but Loeb said that ABC did approach them at least briefly about moving their season up a few months. That was quickly rebuffed, for fear of having “Endgame” happen right in the middle of their season.

(...)

They’d rather you just go with it. “We have a logic in our head that makes sense, but we certainly don’t want to burden the audience of telling them all that,” Whedon said. “We just want them to enjoy the ride and let the couch discussions be about that.”

So while there are practical reasons for “S.H.I.E.L.D.” avoiding “Endgame” when it returns next week, Loeb said its mostly so the writers can do the show they want without having to be too shackled too much to the universe-changing events from the films. “Someone will figure it out. For us, it really just comes from a place of just enjoy the show.”"

• SuperHeroHype exclusive interview to Louis D’Esposito and Brad Winderbaum [September 24, 2013]:

"At the Comic-Con Q&A following the short’s premiere, there was a question about Hayley Atwell potentially reprising her role on 'Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D.' I couldn’t help but notice that that question came from Marvel Studios’ Victoria Alonso."

Louis D’Esposito: "(Laughs) Her and her big mouth! She’s a strong female character, Victoria Alonso, also."

Brad Winderbaum: "She’s our personal Peggy Carter."

Louis D’Esposito: "She’s Hayley Atwell, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Scarlett Johansson all rolled into one. Listen, there’s obviously a drumbeat that is banging louder and louder that we want a female lead superhero. We didn’t consciously set out to make a female lead superhero. It just happened that in our last two shorts, the protagonists were female. I just hope we found the best story possible."

Brad Winderbaum: "With 'Item 47', we didn’t think about it at all. We were just going, “A couple finds a weird alien gun and goes on a bank robbing spree!” We didn’t know it was going to be Lizzy Caplan."

Louis D’Esposito: "We always knew that the Lizzy Caplan character was the lead of that. That was more of an ensemble. It’s obvious that Hayley Atwell is the lead in this. Maybe that’s Victoria manipulating us behind the scenes!"

"Speaking as a fan who reads too much into things, I couldn’t help but notice that the bar in “Agent Carter” is called Nelson’s. That’s not a reference to Foggy Nelson in any way, is it?"

Louis D’Esposito: "(Laughs) Oh, geez. That’s a reference to a joke. A dirty joke that I can’t tell you. So yes, you’re reading into it. And now I’m blushing."

(...)

"Is there any chance that the 40’s S.H.I.E.L.D. might pop up on “Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D.? He might not play the nicest guy in the world, but I’m always glad for more Bradley Whitford."

Louis D’Esposito: "Right? He’s got another show on ABC. He’s such a great actor, and he’s wonderful in the role. It would be great to go to flashbacks; however, we haven’t fully discussed that yet. We’ve heard a lot of speculation. We read the comments that people are making. It seems that people would like to see that. We hear it. It’s back there in our brains. Hopefully it manifests itself somehow."

"Can you talk a little about how the cast for “Agent Carter” came together. There are some interesting guest appearances, including even Shane Black as a voice."

Louis D’Esposito: "So, first and foremost, Hayley Atwell. We called her up. “Are you available? Are you interested?” We sent her the script. She didn’t realize she’d have so much fighting in it. “Yeah, I want to do it. It’s great.” So she’s on board. Then we started casting as we do on any of our films. We go through our casting director Finn. She reads the script. I explained to her some of the things we’re looking for, and she sent over a list, just like if we’re doing a feature. We went after Bradley Whitford immediately. We knew we wanted him. There were some scheduling issues. It was touch-and-go, and then he finally became available. So we jumped that hurtle and it was great. Dominic Cooper was also touch-and-go for a while. He was going to actually be in the office and actually walk into the office. He couldn’t be there on the day. A couple of weeks later, he became available, and that’s when we decided to do it as a phone call. Dum Dum Dugan was, at one point, going to come into the office with Howard Stark. When that couldn’t come to fruition, we added the tag scene. These things are very planned out when we do them. Every line of the script and every shot. Every visual effect. That was one where we sort of ad-libbed it and had some fun."

• Entertainment Weekly article about Marvel One-Shots, with Louis D’Esposito quotes [April 26, 2018]:

"Marvel One-Shots: A 5-minute oral history on the shorts that led to Agent Carter and Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D.

(...)

From 2011 to 2014, MCU fans who bought Blu-rays or digital copies got a special treat: an additional short film known as a Marvel One-Shot. The five installments, spearheaded by Marvel exec Louis D’Esposito and co-producer Brad Winderbaum, told tangential — but, as always, connected — stories that highlighted various corners of the comic-book universe. Here, D’Esposito reveals how the shorts came to be.

The Consultant (2011, with Thor) and A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Thor’s Hammer (2011, with Captain America: The First Avenger)

The first pair, clocking in under five minutes each, centered on S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Phil Coulson simply to give Clark Gregg’s popular character a chance to shine. “We knew Coulson was going to play a big part in the universe,” D’Esposito explains. “It was nice to bolster him.”

Item 47 (2012, with Marvel’s The Avengers)

After the Coulson shorts helped video sales, D’Esposito wanted to make longer films — and he got his wish when Winderbaum and writer Eric Pearson (who scripted the first four shorts) pitched a Bonnie and Clyde-esque tale of a couple who use a discarded Chitauri weapon to rob banks and go on the run from S.H.I.E.L.D. “I was reading through a lot of pitches,” D’Esposito says, adding that scrapped ideas include shorts about a young Nick Fury and Maria Hill. “I gravitated toward this one immediately.” Disney CEO Bob Iger did too; after watching Item 47, he greenlit a series about the agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

Agent Carter (2013, with Iron Man 3)

D’Esposito went into the fourth short knowing it would feature Hayley Atwell’s breakout character. (Peggy Carter, after all, could only be seen in old age or in flashbacks after the first Captain America, and D’Esposito wanted to give her more screen time.) “Cap was frozen, and Bucky Barnes had experiments done on him, so we had to get Peggy,” he says. Iger again greenlit a small-screen incarnation, but this one lasted only (a far too short) two seasons on ABC."