Well, that didn't take long. Mere weeks after inking a 3 year deal with Marvel, parent company Disney has put Joss Whedon to work, and it will find him expanding the comic brand to the small screen.
Deadline reports that Whedon will co-write and possibly direct the pilot for the live-action "S.H.I.E.L.D." if he has room in his schedule. Jed Whedon and Maurissa Tancharoen will co-write and, while exact details are still coming together—probably because Whedon still has to put pen to paper (or cursor to screen)—it's a pretty no brainer idea. If Marvel wants to use the small screen to introduce B-level characters that could possibly crossover to the movies, there's no better way to do it than through S.H.I.E.L.D. which could act as a clearing house for that kind of stuff. And we'd reckon that's the way they'll go.
Whether we'll see any of the big screen heroes and villains make small screen appearances remains to be seen, but that too seems like an obvious thing to do, at least for some of the secondary folks (ie. you don't want to waste one of Chris Hemsworth's contractual obligations on a TV cameo). Now that production is officially underway, with ABC ordering up a pilot, and gears turning on this, hopefully we'll find out more soon. And yeah, you can bet that under Whedon, "S.H.I.E.L.D." will tie into the Marvel universe of movies and the slate through 2015 and "The Avengers 2."
Exciting times ahead for Marvel and more evidence that they are leaving DC Comics way, way behind.