Marvel's The Avengers director Joss Whedon recently spoke about the return of Clark Gregg as Agent Coulson in ABC's upcoming TV series Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.. While the series creator didn't say exactly how the S.H.I.E.L.D. agent returns, since he clearly died in Marvel's The Avengers, the writer-director did say that it wasn't taken lightly.

""We're gonna earn it. That's not something you take lightly."

Last month, executive producer Jeffrey Bell revealed that actor J. August Richards is not playing Luke Cage. While many are speculating that he is playing Rage, Joss Whedon would not confirm this mystery character's identity.

"I'm not going to say who he's playing. But he's certainly cranky, as you can tell from the trailer."

Joss Whedon also revealed that the series will stand on its own, and that viewers do not need to have seen Marvel's The Avengers or any of the other Marvel Phase One movies to enjoy this show.

"It's very important to me that the show stands on its own, that people who never saw any of the movies can tune in and enjoy it. We like being a part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, we like having all of the mythos to play off of. But if the show was 'You just missed Tony Stark, wow, he was just here," it would be the most unsatisfying show ever. We have a new ensemble, apart from Clark, it's all people I've never worked with before, but I'm really excited about them, I'm really proud of them and I think people are just going to want to see them every week."

ABC has not announced exactly when Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. will debut on the network this fall, so stay tuned for that.