11. Agent Coulson Was Only Supposed To Have A Couple Of Lines
Everyone loves Agent Phil Coulson: like Nick Fury, he's a recurring character who - with every appearance - cements the genius of the MCU and its dense, vastly interconnected world. Also, he's just a bit adorable, really, isn't he? It might shock you to learn, then, that ol' Phil was never intended to be anything more than a random S.H.I.E.L.D. agent with a few expositional lines. In the script, Coulson wasn't even called Coulson. He had the dubious honour of being branded "Agent." Even when Clark Gregg was cast in the role, Coulson was only supposed to appear in a single MCU flick; he did it as a favour to his friend Jon Favreau. Nobody on the planet anticipated that this guy would one day end up with his own TV series! And yet audiences responded warmly towards Coulson in Iron Man, and - as a result - Gregg signed a deal with Marvel to reprise his role in multiple flicks. Talk about a stroke of luck, huh?
Sam Hill is an ardent cinephile and has been writing about film professionally since 2008. He harbours a particular fondness for western and sci-fi movies.
