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Agent of SHIELD Agent Coulson on the show’s place in MCU canon: “We’re proud of what we did”

Is it canon? Does it matter? That is the question Clark Gregg is asking. Or, as he put it, "Go fuck yourself."

Agent Coulson in Agents of Shield — Image credit: Marvel Television

News by Trent Cannon, Senior Contributing writer

Published on Tue Oct 21 2025

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There is no denying that Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. has a dubious place in Marvel history. The first two seasons felt incredibly connected to the MCU. However, by the later seasons, it was mostly unconnected to anything else happening at Marvel Studios. That doesn’t mean the man who played Agent Coulson thinks there was anything wrong with the show they made. Years after it went off the air, Clark Gregg is still damn proud of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

During the New York Comic Con 2025 Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. panel, Clark Gregg didn’t hold back when discussing the show’s legacy. “There’s some people who talk about canon,” he said. “You can go fuck yourself. We’re proud of what we did. We’re proud, really deeply proud, of the connection we have with people like you who come visit and hang with us.”

Clark Gregg’s Agent Coulson was a key part of the MCU up through his untimely (if temporary) end in 2012’s Avengers, so he has every reason to be passionate about his place in both cinematic and television history. According to the actor, it was mainly a case of corporate restructuring that caused the rift between Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and the MCU. “Especially at a certain point, when Marvel Television and the MCU were kind of going to different companies, it became harder and harder to get villains. And they got to kind of do some deep cuts into the comic book world that got us some really cool characters.”

On the shift from tying directly into movies like Captain America: The Winter Soldier and getting Marvel stars to appear in the series, Gregg added, “It was a gradual thing. There was never any kind of animosity. It was clear that there was some corporate restructuring going on. There [were] new shows happening that I thought were incredible – thank God Daredevil’s back on [Disney+]. I mean, we would still have people show up, is that true? No, I guess it was mostly the first couple of seasons. We definitely became our own ship out there in the galaxy and I fell like we made it work.”

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