A new rumor details that Marvel Studios is developing an Agents of S.W.O.R.D. series for Disney Plus.
The rumor comes from Mitch of Comic Book Cast. He took to Twitter posting a gif of Chloe Bennet’s Quake with a sword and shield emoji.
🤔 ⚔️🛡️ pic.twitter.com/1HC4oc0Btu
— Mitch ⎊ (@Mitch692) November 19, 2019
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He would elaborate indicating he had word that Marvel was looking at incorporating Nick Fury into a either a Sword or Shield series that would feature Bennett.
All I heard was Nick Fury in a show based on either Sword or Shield, they hadn’t decided and that they were thinking about Bennett being in it and that the show was moving fairly quickly.
— Mitch ⎊ (@Mitch692) November 22, 2019
Who Started the Fire
However, Mitch might not have been the origin of the rumor. The rumor might’ve been spurred from a 4channel thread stating that Marvel Studios is working on a S.W.O.R.D. series for Disney Plus. And it will have many of the actors from the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. series reprise their roles, Chloe Bennet and Ming-Na Wen among the bunch.
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The rumor reads:
“Marvel Studios is currently working on the CGI for an 8-episode Disney+ series for phase-four with the working tittle been S.W.O.R.D. and the first episode was written by Jon Favreau.
It indicates that the series will feature Samuel L. Jackson, Cobie Smulders, Cameron Monaghan, Katheryn Winnick and Nicholas Hoult with Paul Mendelsohn, Sharon Blynn, Clark Gregg, Chloe Bennet, Ming-Na Wen, Natalia Buckley, and Jeff Ward as supporting actors.
Leading actors: Samuel L. Jackson, Cobie Smulders, Cameron Monaghan, Katheryn Winnick, and Nicholas Hoult. Supporting actors: Paul Mendelsohn, Sharon Blynn, Clark Gregg, Chloe Bennet, Ming-Na Wen, Natalia Buckley, and Jeff Ward.
It details that Monaghan will play Victor Kohl as the main protagonist with Winnick and Hoult playing Thanos’ progeny.
Newcomers, Cameron Monaghan will play Victor Kohl as the lead protagonist who is an Inhuman, and the twin son’s of Thanos will be the villains played by Katheryn Winnick (Supergiant) and Nicholas Hoult (Thane). I’m told the supporting actors will have less than five minutes of screen time across season one.”
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This might be a wild swing in the dark for Mitch of the Comic Book Cast. There’s nothing official or even a hint of a word from Marvel or any of the trades regarding this. The only thing that might’ve hinted at it was an article from ScreenRant, and it posited that maybe Marvel should consider the Agents of S.W.O.R.D. show for their Disney Plus programming.
What’s Happening with S.H.I.E.L.D.
Currently, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. is on its last season that will begin airing some time in 2020. With its 13-episode run being its last, it will serve to tie up any threads and try to create a satisfying conclusion to the story of the secretive organization and its agents. Show runner Jed Whedon in August also said that the final season of the show would connect with the MCU. With just a nod. A tiny one at that.
The seventh season served as a back-to-back filming with the sixth, with show runners having little confidence the series would continue after lackluster viewings of the fifth season. Plus it was renewed with lower budgets and licensing fees, which stifled a lot of the creativity the show explored in its fourth season and the introduction of Ghost Rider in Gabriel Luna.
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Speaking of connecting to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the last we saw of Ghost Rider, he used his flaming chain whip to create a portal much like Doctor Strange does. Which somewhat connects to the MCU, but doesn’t quite explain how he acquires this power.
But any further connections seem to end there. There have been no connections to the biggest MCU event, Avengers: Infinity War, and it doesn’t look like there will be any time soon.
The final season will see the Agents travel to the past and meet up with Peggy Carter and explore S.H.I.E.L.D’s origins.
Meanwhile, Five Years Later
On the other side of the MCU, we see the effects of the decimation, or the blip as it’s called in Spider-Man: Far From Home, have made the problem of connecting the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. to the present that much more difficult. The time travel aspect of the show has thrown the agents for a loop in connecting with any of the big events covered in the films going forward, and their only choice now is to go back.
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But for those going forward, it looks like at the end credits scene of Spider-Man Far From Home Nick Fury is in space with a crew of Skrulls constructing something. What might Fury be doing in space at this time?
Perhaps this is teasing the beginnings of S.W.O.R.D. In the comics, S.W.O.R.D. is a defense station set up in space to counter any extra-terrestrial threat to the Earth. As the name implies, it is the “Sentient World Observation and Response Department.”
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And it makes sense to set it up that way. The last being to pose a threat to Earth managed to wipe out half of all life.
If the rumors are true, then it’s likely the S.H.I.E.L.D. team would be brought back to the MCU. And it would serve as a fresh take with familiar characters reprising their roles. Maybe they can do space with a bigger budget this time.
But what do you think about the rumor? Sound off in the comments below or let’s talk about it on social media!