Agents of SHIELD Season 2 EP 2 Review

Marvel's Agents of SHIELD continues to change the characters fans grew to love in season 1, whether we like it or not. In "Heavy Is the Head," more changes to the lives and personalities of Coulson, Fitz, and even Simmons were glimpsed and touched upon. Between the meaner and slightly crazier Coulson and the depressed and delusional Fitz, the Agents of SHIELD team continues to change.

Last week's premiere brought the likes of Isabelle Hartley, Lance Hunter, Idaho, and Mack to the team. Unfortunately, Hartley and Idaho had a very short tenure on the show. They both were announced dead from the hands, or should I say concrete body, of Carl Creel, the Absorbing Man. The main team now consists of Coulson, May, Skye, Triplett, Fitz, Mack, and Hunter. 

"Heavy Is the Head" continued on the strong path as the premiere but also had some of the recurring problems of the series. So far this season we have been given more questions than answers. This episode did answer the fate of Isabelle Hartley did not do much of anything to address the biggest questions surrounding the series. While we did get some insight on Coulson's "episodes", the show needs to quickly give us a reward for these mysteries and not drag them out all season long.

On a positive note, Henry Simmons, who plays Mack, and Iain De Caestecker, Fitz, give the best performances of the episode. While many of us do not like the direction that sad Fitz is in and is heading, the dialogue all episode between him and Mack was fantastic. Much like last season's bromance between Fitz and Ward, it looks like a new bromance is forming and I love it.

Kyle MacLachlan also made his Agents of SHIELD debut as Skye's father. Raina brought him the 0-8-4, in which he showed her she can not be harmed by touching it. For answers on why she was not harmed, Raina must bring Skye to her dad so they both can be informed of their origins.

The promo for next week's episode "Making Friends and Influencing People" is exciting to say the least. As you can see below, next week's episode will feature the return of Donnie Gill and also a new (HYDRA?) version of Simmons!

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Marvel Weekly News #5

This was a big week for Marvel, especially on the television front. Agents of SHIELD season 2 premiered on Tuesday with a different look. We also got news on Adrianne Palicki as Mockingbird, a Hawkeye solo movie, new casting for Agent Carter, Guardians of the Galaxy DVD release, and a new rumor about Avengers 3.

Shea Whigham Added to Agent Carter Cast

Early this week Marvel announced a new addition to the cast of Agent Carter. Shea Whigham has been cast as Roger Dooley, the chief of the SSR. Whigham has recently had roles in Boardwalk Empire, True Detective, Non-Stop, The Wolf of Wall Street, American Hustle, and Silver Linings Playbook.

Hawkeye does not want a solo movie

In an interview this week with MTV, Jeremey Renner revealed that unlike fans, he is not in a rush for a solo Hawkeye movie. Renner is one of the busiest actors around. He is involved with the Bourne franchise, Mission Impossible franchise, and Hansel & Gretel movies. Not to mention Avengers: Age of Ultron and very likely a role in Captain America 3.

Agents of SHIELD returns

Season 2 of Agents of SHIELD kicked off on Tuesday. "Shadows" had a lot to deal with like introducing new characters and answering questions. I thoroughly enjoyed the premiere and you can read my review of it here. Ratings wise it was down 58% from the season 1 premiere, but that should not be a huge cause for concern. Season 1 came directly after The Avengers so the amount of anticipation and excitement for the show was much higher than it is now. Hopefully as the show continues to improve it will draw in new fans and old that may have left at the beginning of season 1.

First look at Mockingbird

Marvel and Entertainment Weekly gave us our first look at Adrianne Palicki as Mockingbird in Agents of SHIELD. As you can see in the picture, her look has changed from the classic comic look. Her back story has also reportedly changed. This next piece of information could be considered a spoiler so read if you dare. In Agents of SHIELD Bobbi Morse will reportedly start off as a HYDRA agent before eventually turning to help SHIELD. We will get our first live look at Adrianne Palicki as Mockingbird in episode 5.

Guardians of the Galaxy DVD release

Amazon.com allowed fans to start pre-ordering Guardians of the Galaxy for DVD and Blu-Ray. With that, they revealed that the cosmic hit will be available to buy everywhere on December 9th. James Gunn took to twitter to confirm the release date and also said there will be plenty of extras and commentary packaged along.

Will Avengers 3 be a 2-part movie?

We got another new rumor about Avengers 3 on Friday. According to The Daily Marvelite and their sources, Marvel is considering breaking Avengers 3 into an epic 2-part adventure. This makes a lot of financial sense for Marvel and is something many have been speculating since Marvel announced their slate of movie dates. Making Avengers 3 a 2-part movie would give Marvel the ability to kill off Captain America and Iron Man in part 1 when their contracts would expire, then introduce new plot points and characters like the Black Panther in July and November before Avengers 3.5 hits theaters in May 2019 with the possible help of the Guardians to take down Thanos.

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Agents of SHIELD Season 2 Premiere Review

Marvel's Agents of SHIELD returned to ABC last night with a new time at 9 p.m. EST. The much discussed and anticipated season premiere brought lots of new faces but also more questions than answers.

Season 1 of Agents of SHIELD left all of us with a long list of questions; we had 10 questions of our own. After the season 2 premiere "Shadows", that list of questions has seen a few new additions. We will touch on those questions shortly but let's first look at the positives that season 2 showed.

Isabelle Hartley (Lucy Lawless), Lance Hunter (Nick Blood), Alphonso "Mac" Mackenzie (Henry Simmons), Idaho (Wilmer Calderon), Daniel Whitehall (Reed Diamond), and the Absorbing Man (Brian Patrick Wade) all made their debuts in the premiere and made seamless transitions into the show. Hartley, Hunter, and Mac look to have prominent roles in helping the original team and helping rebuild SHIELD.

Carl Creel, the Absorbing Man, was a real stand out in the premiere. His visual effects were outstanding and were 10xs better than any effects we saw from season 1. It's also a nice breath of fresh air to get a villain that has an interesting backstory and that will be featured in more than just one episode. In season 1, the majority of the villains the team faced were one and done, not giving the audience time to know them or for the writers to flesh out their story.

The show also dealt with some more mature content than what season 1 went through. Ward trying to kill himself, cutting off Isabelle Hartley's arm, and the mental breakdown that Fitz is experiencing are all interesting plot details "Shadows" gave us.

Unfortunately, the show was not perfect. The premiere gave us questions like where Simmons is at, does Ward know Skye's father, and what exactly the newest 0-8-4 does, while not addressing any of the questions from season 1. Fitz's state of mind and being was the only question we got somewhat of an answer of. The premiere did not deal with the mysterious alien markings, Skye's origin, or what that blue alien was. We did not expect full answers for all of those but at least for them to touch on it.

Hopefully episode 2 can dive into some of these questions while giving us more info on Carl Creel, Daniel Whitehall, and the 0-8-4. Episode 2, "Heavy is the Head", also will give us our first look at Kyle MacLachlan as Skye's father. Make sure to check out Agents of SHIELD every Tuesday at 9 p.m. EST on ABC!

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Marvel Weekly News #4

Marvel is ramping up their TV production and schedule. This week we got lots of news about the various television projects they are working on. We got new casting for Daredevil and Agent Carter, plus casting confirmations for season 2 of Agents of SHIELD. We were also given the plot synopsis for Avengers: Age of Ultron as well as some new tidbits on Ant-Man and the future Doctor Strange movie.

Daredevil casts Stick

Marvel announced that they have added Scott Glenn to the Daredevil cast as Stick. Stick is the mentor to Daredevil and trained him as a fighter. We will get our first look at Scott Glenn when the Daredevil cast joins New York Comic-Con.

Synopsis for Age of Ultron

Marvel revealed the official plot synopsis for Avengers: Age of Ultron this week. Here is the synopsis- "Marvel Studios presents Avengers: Age of Ultron, the epic follow-up to the biggest Super Hero movie of all time. When Tony Stark tries to jumpstart a dormant peacekeeping program, things go awry and Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, including Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, The Incredible Hulk, Black Widow and Hawkeye, are put to the ultimate test as the fate of the planet hangs in the balance. As the villainous Ultron emerges, it is up to The Avengers to stop him from enacting his terrible plans, and soon uneasy alliances and unexpected action pave the way for an epic and unique global adventure."

The plot synopsis confirms that Tony Stark is the one that created Ultron. The other interesting point is that "uneasy alliances and unexpected action" will take place in the movie. The alliances are probably between the Avengers and "The Twins."

Edwin Jarvis cast in Agent Carter

Agent Carter has cast James D'Arcy as Edwin Jarvis. This will be the first time we will get to see the original Edwin Jarvis, the one that inspired Tony Stark's A.I. known as J.A.R.V.I.S. This casting means that in some capacity Howard Stark, played by Dominic Cooper, will be involved in the show.

Ant-Man villains revealed?

Evangeline Lilly posted a possibly spoilerly picture on Instagram this week. The photo was taken down by Lilly, probably by the authority of Marvel. You can still see the photo here. The caption was "*#!$ing around #onset today with #TheCrims. @troubleman31 @dastmalchian #Antman #Marvel #MarvelComics" The caption reveals that T.I. and David Dastmalchian are criminals in Ant-Man. Does this mean that they will be henchmen for our main villain Yellow Jacket, played by Corey Stoll, or are the ex-criminals turned heroes like our Scott Lang, played by Paul Rudd? We will have to wait for the official word from Marvel to answer that.

Doctor Strange filming in UK

According to a report by Screen Daily, Marvel is finalizing a deal to film the future Doctor Strange movie at Pinewood-Shepperton, a sound stage in the UK. Marvel has still not officially announced a release date for Doctor Strange or any casting decisions, but they do have Scott Dickerson as the director and Jon Spaihts revising the script.

Blizzard returning to Agents of SHIELD

Dylan Minnette will be returning to season 2 of Agents of SHIELD as Donnie Gill. The last time we saw Donnie was in episode 12 of season 1 when he was creating a weather machine for Ian Quinn. The machine was struck by lightning and gave him the ability to freeze anything he touches. Now known as Blizzard, he will return to the show in episode 3 of season 2.

Agents of SHIELD season 2 premiere

Season 2 of Agents of SHIELD kicks off this Tuesday at 9 p.m. EST! Make sure you all tune in to the premiere and meet the new members of the team. Then make sure to check back here later that night or Wednesday afternoon for our review of the season 2 premiere! Also check out our 10 questions we want season 2 to answer right here.

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Marvel Weekly News #3

This past week has been a busy one for Marvel. Not only did get lots of news about season 2 of Agents of SHIELD but we also got some new releases from Marvel. This week Captain America: The Winter Soldier and season 1 of Agents of SHIELD came out on DVD and Blu-Ray. This won't be a major sub point but make sure you all go and pick these up for your Marvel collections! As far as other news goes, we will touch on Avengers: Age of Ultron, Ant-Man, Avengers 3, Captain America 3, and season 2 of Agents of SHIELD.

First Full Look at Vision

This week gave us our first look at the front of Vision. Thanks to some promotional displays, Vision's full form was revealed to the public.

Guardians Top Box Office. Again

By now everyone knows how big of a success Guardians of the Galaxy was for Marvel, but even so, the Guardians continue to surprise. Last weekend, Guardians of the Galaxy was the top film at the box office. That is the fourth time that the Guardians have achieved it. This marks the first time since 2012 that a film has topped the box office in four different weekends. Ohhh, yeah.

No Iron Man 4

Robert Downey Jr. revealed this week that there are currently no plans at Marvel to produce another Iron Man movie. This should not come as a surprise because even if they did, Marvel would not announce anything until Downey Jr. has signed on contractually.

A Ripped Paul Rudd

Paul Rudd has officially taken the Ant-Man role seriously. Michael Douglas said in an interview this week that Paul Rudd is in such great shape that Marvel took out the built in muscles from his suit. While we have yet to see the official Ant-Man suit on Rudd, this only further builds up the hype.

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Season 2

With season 2 of Agents of SHIELD being just over a week away, Marvel has started releasing episode synopsis' and cast lists for the first two episodes. I won't go into full detail for those of you who want to go into the new season knowing little of anything. As far as non-spoilers go, the season premiere will feature a cameo appearance by Peggy Carter and the Howling Commandos in a flashback scene! We will also be introduced to Isabelle Hartley, Lance Hunter, Alphonso "Mack" Mackenzie, Daniel Whitehall, and Carl Creer. Episode 2 will give us our first look at Kyle MacLachlan as Skye's father.

Falcon's Return Set

The Russo brothers continued press tours for the DVD release of Captain America: The Winter Soldier and continue to dodge questions about the title, villains, or plot. One thing that was confirmed this week was that Falcon will return for Captain America 3. We will get to see more of Falcon and what he can do in 2016.

Dave Bautista Getting Upgraded

Dave Bautista is about to get a lot more screen time and money if recent reports are true. PW Mania, a wrestling website, revealed that they have knowledge that Marvel is redoing Bautista's contract to add more movies and money to his deal. One movie that the website reported will feature Bautista will be Avengers 3. It sounds like Drax, and possibly the rest of the Guardians, will get their chance to stop Thanos from taking over the galaxy.

Daredevil Cast at NYCC

It was announced this week that the Daredevil cast will make an appearance at New York Comic-Con. They will join NYCC on October 11th for a panel about Marvel's TV properties. This will be the first time the cast will be together in public and hopefully will give us confirmations on casting and an official look at the new Daredevil costume. 

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