Joss Whedon Resurrecting an 'Avengers' Character for His Marvel TV Pilot 'S.H.I.E.L.D.'

The latest casting news for Joss Whedon's pilot for the ABC/Marvel TV project "S.H.I.E.L.D." suggests the series is going to somehow resurrect a character who died (we'll admit, tragically) in the director's massive blockbuster hit "The Avengers."

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At New York Comic Con this past weekend, Marvel's head of television Jeph Loeb announced that Clark Gregg would be in the potential series, reprising his role as Agent Phil Coulson, the character he played in "Iron Man," "Iron Man 2" and "Thor," and who met his end in Whedon's supergroup effort this summer. 

"I thought it was something I wouldn't get to do again," Gregg said in an interview with Marvel.com -- for good reason, since the guy died at the hand of Loki (Tom Hiddleston)... or did he? Characters evading death in one way or another isn't unheard of in comic book universes, but Coulson's return could also be as simple as "S.H.I.E.L.D." being set before "The Avengers."

Whedon is co-writing the pilot for "S.H.I.E.L.D." with his frequent collaborators Jed Whedon (his brother) and Maurissa Tancharoen. If "S.H.I.E.L.D." is picked up to series, it will be Whedon's fifth TV project, following "Buffy The Vampire Slayer," "Angel," "Firefly" and "Dollhouse."

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Whedon's indie Shakespeare film adaptation "Much Ado About Nothing" premiered at Toronto last month. Gregg recently shot his second film as a writer/director, "Trust Me," a comedy that will reunite him with Sam Rockwell, the star of his 2009 directorial debut "Choke."