When Marvel announced that its first live-action television series set in their cinematic universe would be a S.H.I.E.L.D. show created by Joss Whedon and starring Clark Gregg as the Avenger's Agent Coulson, anticipation quickly reached a fever pitch. The pilot episode's ratings clearly reflected Marvel's estimation that the world wanted a TV show from them, but as the figures rapidly petered off it became uncomfortably obvious that maybe it just wasn't this show they wanted. There are many factors that can be pointed to that explain Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s disappointments, possibly the biggest of which is that it's the first of its kind, and the fact it was always going to have a lot riding on it meant that the many fingers controlling the series - the showrunners, ABC, Marvel, even parent company Disney - were always going to have their way with its pies. Whedon's inconsistent involvement with AoS, too, may have been a factor - though he co-wrote and directed the pilot, he's only ever had a creator/executive producer credit on the other episodes and left his brother (and relative TV production newbies) Jed Whedon and Maurissa Tancharoen in charge of the ship along with former Angel writer/exec Jeffrey Bell. Though Whedon has a better track record with endings than beginnings when it comes to TV shows (Buffy is barely recognisable as the show we've come to adore for the first half of season 1), perhaps a bigger presence from the man would have resulted in a series that knew what it wanted to be instead of the sometimes sloppy, always not-quite-there show we got. But here's the thing: Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. has really found its feet in recent episodes and looks set to get better and better, and it seems like a great shame that half of its original audience has abandoned it when it's getting so good. So in the spirit of trying to convince some lost souls to come on home and see the light, here are 10 things we now think that AoS has that it didn't when it started. Warning: Spoilers ahead for Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. up to the latest episode.
