5 Things To Watch Before Captain America: The Winter Soldier

3. Marvel's Agents of SHIELD

Marvels-Agents-of-SHIELD-cast-shot Much maligned by critics and viewers alike, the Marvel Cinematic Universe's attempt to shrink down and fit inside your TV is nonetheless essential viewing before you stand in line for a ticket to Captain America and the accompanying overpriced meal deal. Since the show started last September it's been teasing a mystery that perhaps all's not right in Tahiti, where fan-favourite character Agent Coulson "recuperated" after apparently being killed by Loki in The Avengers. At least, it has whenever it's not been preoccupied with barely-there love triangles and desperate attempts to cover up the decidedly non-Hollywood budget. We've already seen in Avengers that Samuel L. Jackson's Nick Fury was prepared to do some iffy stuff to assemble his rag-tag bunch of superheroes. As Agents of SHIELD has continued, these shady methods of keeping the status quo have started to get all the shadier, and seem to apply not just to Fury but to the organisation as a whole. From the looks of it, The Winter Soldier is where those morally muddy choices reach their breaking point, as SHIELD's chickens come home to roost (to mix a metaphor).
Contributor
Contributor

Tom Baker is the Comics Editor at WhatCulture! He's heard all the Doctor Who jokes, but not many about Randall and Hopkirk. He also blogs at http://communibearsilostate.wordpress.com/