ABC picks up Joss Whedon’s ‘Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.’

ABC has given a series order to Joss Whedon’s “Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.”

Making a fashionably late entrance to the pickup/renewal party, ABC has started making its announcements for its 2013-2014 lineup. And it’s doing so with a bang, giving a series order to the Whedon drama based on the Marvel Comics property.

Clark Gregg will reprise his role as Agent Phil Coulson from Marvel’s feature films, including “The Avengers.” In the series, his character assembles a band of agents from a law-enforcement organization known as S.H.I.E.L.D. that will work together, “protecting the ordinary from the extraordinary.”

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The project was first announced in August and seemed a shoe-in to make it on the network’s roster with Whedon on board. He was tapped to co-pen the pilot alongside his brother Jed Whedon and Jed’s wife Maurissa Tancharoen (the trio have worked together before on the Web series “Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog”). They will also serve as executive producers on the show. Whedon also directed the pilot.

And the network isn’t wasting any time drumming up interest in the drama. A first look at the series will air during the season finale of “Once Upon A Time” this Sunday.

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