Marvel’s ‘Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.’ delayed in Australia, still fast-tracked from October

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. cast

The debut of Joss Whedon’s new TV series Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. comes on the back of the multi-billion dollar box office hits The Avengers and Iron Man 3, and debuted in the US today to great anticipation, passing 1 million Facebook fans before the show had even screened. However, Australian fans will have to wait a little bit longer, with Channel 7 delaying the “fast-tracked” episodes until 2 October.

Both the pilot and the second episode “0–8–4” will screen as a double-header from next week on Channel 7 at 7:30 PM. The series will presumably then resume a weekly schedule of new episodes more in line with the US screening dates. It is a shame for local fans wanting to watch the debut episode legally and free, but it certainly beats Nine’s treatment of Arrow, which is only wrapping up its debut season now after months of initial delays.

In the series, Agent Phil Coulson (Clark Gregg) returns to the worldwide law enforcement organization S.H.I.E.L.D.  He puts together a small, highly trained, team of Agents to tackle the cases that haven’t been classified yet, the new, the strange and the unknown.  That team also consists of straight arrow Agent Grant Ward (Brett Dalton), an expert in combat and espionage; pilot and martial artist Agent Melinda May (Ming-Na Wen) and they’ll be joined by civilian new recruit and computer hacker Skye (Chloe Bennet).

Look out for more coverage of Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. on this week’s podcast.