In the Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode The Zeppo, Cordelia Chase– upset Xander has cheated on her with Willow– lashes out at him, calling him “The Zeppo”, after Zeppo Marx. She insists Xander’s hero friends are fine without him getting in the way.

Xander then proceeds to battle zombies intent on blowing up the school, loses his virginity and gains a new confidence while his friends pop in every once and a while, dealing with the opened Hellmouth.

I’ve always thought using “Zeppo” as an insult was erroneous. Zeppo Marx was a brilliant straight man. He acted as a bridge between his zanier brothers and the rest of the cast– and by default, the audience. While he never developed a broad persona, he was reportedly a comedic genius and far more useful during their vaudeville days, being able to sub in for any of his brothers at a moment’s notice and being just as funny (or funnier, as Groucho thought Zeppo made a better Captain Spaulding).

Only a few paragraphs in and I’ve already gotten off track. I just can’t resist talking about the Marx Brothers.

The reason I bring it up as Joss Whedon has called Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. a series-long The Zeppo.

L-R: Chloe Bennet as Skye, Elizabeth Henstridge as Agent Jenna Simmons, Iain De Caestecker as Agent Leo Fitz, Clark Gregg as Agent Phil Coulson, Ming-Na Wen as Agent Melinda May and Brett Dalton as Agent Grand Ward

S.H.I.E.L.D was introduced into Marvel Comics in 1965’s Strange Tales #165 by the legendary team of Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. Initially standing for Supreme Headquarters, International Espionage, Law-Enforcement Division, the acronym was changed to Strategic Hazard Intervention Espionage Logistics Directorate in 1991. This series takes place in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, where the acronym is Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division.

As pointed out by Agent Grant Ward (Brett Dalton) in the pilot, the acronym means that someone really wanted their name to spell “shield”.

In the comic universe, S.H.I.E.L.D is an espionage and law-enforcement agency within the Marvel Universe. As presented in the pilot, it has the feeling of a Men In Black or Torchwood. They are a government agency protecting citizens from the larger-than-life superheroes and villains that have impacted America since Tony Stark first built a suit in a cave. (With a box of scraps!)

The series is done by ABC and Marvel Studios, which is owned by Disney… If the seven robot drones Leo Fitz (Iain De Caestecker) uses while singing “Heigh-Ho” wasn’t a tip-off. As mentioned above, the series is part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The MCU is a huge undertaking by Marvel/Disney to create a shared universe for all of their properties.

This brings us to what properties this includes. The properties owned by Marvel-Disney has been a hot conversation ever since people realized the scope of the MCU.

Marvel Studios is a fairly recent thing. Before that, they licensed their characters out to other studios. A few of these licenses have been very successful and the studios aren’t going to let them go easily. These properties are X-Men and the Fantastic Four, at Fox Studios, and Spider-Man at Sony.

Unfortunately, being some of the top-tiered Marvel titles, it’s highly unlikely that Fox or Sony will ever give up these properties. But you know what? Aside from the sticky wicket that is the Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver, I can live with these titles not being with Marvel. It allows other characters to come to the forefront.

Just based on the pilot, it doesn’t seem like Marvel is terribly worried about what licenses they don’t own. They’re not even terribly worried about the licenses they do own. Aside from a cameo from Maria Hill, every single character to appear in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D is an original character to the MCU.

While this isn’t necessarily a bad thing– S.H.I.E.L.D is a huge organisation– I don’t know if it’s a good thing either. Marvel has a gigantic catalogue of characters. Just look at this list and that’s just the characters who are directly members of S.H.I.E.L.D. Just about every character in the Marvel Universe has had some sort of interaction with the organisation. I would like to see this explored.

I think Marvel might be hesitant on using established characters in the series, as they don’t know which ones are going to get features. They want to keep Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D in the continuity of the MCU, without limiting a character on the casting and backstory they can do in a television series.

But if that is the case, they need to relax on that. Everyone was able to accept Edward Norton turning into Mark Ruffalo. Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D could be an excellent testing ground for what characters get movie adaptations.

Not that the pilot shies away from talking about the superheroes of the MCU. I particularly liked Maria Hill’s lustful assertion that Thor was indeed a god due to his arms. Can’t say I disagree with her.

The pilot is decent. It introduces the main characters and the general premise, but not much more. Which is fine. A pilot doesn’t need to do much more than introduce the characters.

We have Agent Grant Ward, the strong-jawed Black Ops specialist; Agent Melinda May (Ming-Na Wen), pilot and weapon specialist; Agents Leo Fitz and Jemma Simmons (Elizabeth Henstridge), the bickering Science Bros so close they’re referred to as “Fitzsimmons”; Skye (Chloe Bennet), civilian recruit and superhero groupie. Commanding them is Agent Phil Coulson (Clark Gregg), who somehow survived being stabbed by Loki in The Avengers.

The team is assembled and their first mission is bringing in Skye and a hooded man– Mike Peterson (J August Richards)– with superpowers who rescued a woman from a burning building.

Plotlines are established. What is Agent Ward’s family history that makes him antisocial? Who is Skye and why did she delete her identity? Why is Melinda May hesitant to go into the field? Most importantly, how is Agent Coulson alive? How are we to believe Clint and Natasha aren’t at least Level Seven?!

While the pilot is a strong start, that’s not to say there aren’t issues.

My biggest is how freakin’ white the cast is. With the exception of Ming-Na Wen and half of Chloe Bennet, everyone is white.  This is a troubling pattern with Joss Whedon. Of all of the projects he did previously, there has been only about five people of colour in major roles. While he’s miles ahead of others with his representation of female characters, Joss definitely needs to work on his portray of people of colour.

But Clare, you say… What about Mike Peterson? He was played by a black actor

I couldn’t miss Mike Peterson being played by a black actor. I have adored J August Richards for years. But the ridiculous, Pursuit of Happyness with superpower storyline pissed me off. There is one prominent black character in the pilot and it’s an unemployed man raising a son on his own? Give me a break. And you cast J August Richards and don’t make him at least reoccurring.

I will give them points for casting Ming-Na Wen. Not because she is an actress of colour, but because of her age. It’s really nice to see a nearly fifty year old woman in an action hero role. Not that Ming-Na Wen looks at all fifty.

With the exception of a few speedbumps, the show worked for me. I look forward to seeing more. There are a few things I wish for in the future:

• Get some people of colour in the cast. You know why people kept on theorizing that J August Richards was playing Luke Cage? Because everyone wanted him to be Luke Cage!
• Maria Hill to be a prominent reoccurring character, possibly a regular character with How I Met Your Mother in its death throes.
• An appearance by Agent 19, Bobbi Morse. Because reasons. Also, some reference to her “working” with Clint (come on, Captain America is already giving me Natasha/Bucky, now give me Clint/Bobbi).
• Acknowledgement of major events in the movie universe. Thor: The Dark World is coming up November 8th, just in time for sweeps. Based on the commercials, it will majorly impact Earth. Don’t just pretend it’s not happening. It looks like Captain America: The Winter Soldier is also going to deal heavily with S.H.I.E.L.D. Acknowledge this in series.
• Take Samuel L Jackson up on is offer to appear in the series occasionally.

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I will continue to watch Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. I’ll have to catch the West Coast feed, as ABC commit the horrendous sin of scheduling it against Supernatural. Sorry, Marvel. Supernatural has my brand loyalty and I have friends who come over to watch it with me. Oh well. Supernatural is winding down and I’ve got the feeling this will be the one Joss Whedon show safe from cancellation.