AoS-Less Tuesday Discussion: Agent Carter Spinoff

Image Courtesy
www.facebook.com/AgentCarterTV

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. entered its winter hiatus following the winter finale, “Maveth” (3x10).  There are going to be five total weeks without any new Marvel TV—Agent Carter will begin on January 19—so I am going to post a new discussion thread every week with a different concept for us to explore and debate.

First, here are the previous discussions:

If you could be Inhuman, what power would you want?  Mostly MCU Reviews Reddit

Pitch a new hero for the MCU Mostly MCU Reviews Reddit

Pitch a crossover fight between Marvel and DC characters Mostly MCU Reviews

Here is this week’s prompt:  Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. has two different spinoffs or semi-spinoffs on the way in Marvel’s Most Wanted and Damage Control.  Pitch an Agent Carter spinoff to air alongside Agent Carter, presumably taking the place of Marvel’s Most Wanted during the midseason break next year.  Obviously this series can work with a slightly higher budget-per-episode than a typical TV series (less episodes to spread it over), but it is still on a TV budget.

I think of the five prompts this might be the most challenging, as we haven’t seen a lot of indications for where an Agent Carter spinoff might go, so here are a few suggestions:

• A Golden-Age hero from Marvel Comics (owned by Marvel Studios), such as Whizzer or Miss America
• A hero retconned into Marvel continuity (such as Isaiah Bradley)
• A character we’ve met already on Agent Carter or could meet this season
• A team of S.S.R./S.H.I.E.L.D. characters

I don’t think I would stray from a setting contemporary with Agent Carter; this is a spinoff, after all!

Image Courtesy www.comicbook.com

With that out of the way, here is my pitch.  I was thinking about using Isaiah Bradley, a.k.a. the Black Captain America, but I’ve already talked about him, so instead I’m going with one that might be more likely anyways:  the Howling Commandos.

We’ve already seen the Howling Commandos twice, once in Captain America: The First Avenger and once in Agent Carter season 1 (1x05), so we know it is absolutely possible for them to show up.  The team that appeared in Agent Carter season 1 was different from the characters that appeared in the movie—only Dum Dum Dugan appeared both times—and not because of recasting but rather because they introduced 3 new Howling Commandos from the comics.  Based on this as well as the name recognition of the team and their place in S.H.I.E.L.D.’s history, I think they could make for an excellent spinoff from Agent Carter.

First things first:  who will be on the team?  Below is the list of all the Howling Commandos, who plays them, and what they are in (parentheses mean that the character is from the comics but not an official member of the team to my knowledge):

Character	Actor	CA:TFA	AC (1x05)	Comics
Sgt. James Buchanan “Bucky” Barnes	Sebastian Stan	X		(X)
Cpl. Timothy “Dum Dum” Dugan	Neal McDonough	X	X	X
Gabe Jones	Derek Luke	X		X
Jim Morita	Kenneth Choi	X		(X)
Jacques Dernier	Bruno Ricci	X		(X)
James Montgomery Falsworth	JJ Feild	X		(X)
Samuel “Happy Sam” Sawyer	Leonard Roberts		X	(X)
Percival “Pinky” Pinkerton	Richard Short		X	X
Jonathan “Junior” Juniper	James Austin Kerr		X	X
Isadore “Izzy” Cohen				X
Dino Manelli				X
Robert “Rebel” Ralston				X
Eric Koenig	Patton Oswalt(!)			X

For the purpose of this pitch I will assume that Neal McDonough’s role on Arrow as Damien Darhk will not extend past this season, thus allowing him to star in Howling Commandos next season.  Additionally, I will assume that JJ Feild’s role on Turn: Washington’s Spies will (unfortunately) preclude him from appearing in this series as more than a cameo (which is disappointing since I think it’d be pretty cool to see him become Union Jack over the course of Howling Commandos).  Of the other characters/actors, Kenneth Choi is a series regular on another series, but he’s the only other whose schedule looks like it would preclude some sort of appearance in this series.

Based on all this, I would probably try to have a team consisting of Dum Dum Dugan, Happy Sam Sawyer, Pinky Pinkerton, Gabe Jones, Jacques Dernier, and one of the comic characters who hasn’t appeared yet (say, Izzy Cohen).  Of course, if they wanted to throw in Eric Koenig, played by Patton Oswalt, just to deepen that mystery, I’d be all for it!  If possible, I would still try to get Montgomery Falsworth for an episode, showing that he’s retired from the military but still around.

Image Courtesy
marvel-movies.wikia.com

The series will premiere with a crossover episode with Agent Carter, coinciding with the start of Agent Carter season 3.  Both series will focus on picking up some pieces left over from the Agent Carter One-Shot in which Peggy foiled a Zodiac plan.  Following that setback, Zodiac will be revealed to have gone underground to regroup.  However, Howard Stark’s sources inform him (and the nascent S.H.I.E.L.D.) at the beginning of the season that Zodiac has a new plan which they are putting into place, one which involves bringing something big into the United States as part of an attack on Washington.  Howard assigns Peggy to investigate Zodiac’s activities in America, but tells her that they need someone to track down whatever intelligence she finds on Zodiac’s European operations.  Peggy flies out to West Germany to meet with the Howling Commandos and ask for their help.  The Howling Commandos agree to help her out and leave to track down the first lead.

While Peggy focuses on finding and stopping Scorpio, the Zodiac leader in America, the Howling Commandos work to track down six Zodiac bases in Europe and capture or kill their leaders.  In contrast to Agent Carter’s focus on character-driven stories, The Howling Commandos will be much more action-oriented and plot-driven, providing some contrast between the two.  I would expect Dum Dum to be the main character of the series, similar to the way that Coulson is on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

Image Courtesy
marvel.wikia.com

The two groups join up in Europe in their respective series’ penultimate episodes, in which they work together to take down the final Zodiac stronghold, secure the Zodiac Key (an alien artifact/weapon) before they can ship it to America, and capture the four remaining Zodiac leaders (Taurus, Virgo, Cancer, and Capricorn).  Though they are ultimately successful in destroying the base and stopping the shipment, two of the leaders escape with the Zodiac Key.  In their respective season finales, Peggy returns to America following Capricorn to prevent him from carrying out Zodiac’s backup plan of blowing up the White House, while the Howling Commandos chase down Taurus to recover the Zodiac Key.  After an epic battle against Taurus’ forces, the Howling Commandos capture him and take the Key away from him.  Meanwhile, Peggy thwarts Capricorn’s plans in Washington and summons the Howling Commandos to S.H.I.E.L.D.’s Washington headquarters.  When they arrive with their prisoners, Peggy invites them to work for S.H.I.E.L.D. as their first Strike Team.  The Howling Commandos agree and return to Europe to continue hunting down the remnants of Zodiac.

Subsequent seasons of The Howling Commandos could see the team branching out away from Agent Carter and carrying out operations for S.H.I.E.L.D. all over the world against groups like Zodiac and Leviathan.  Eventually, the team could even go the direction of the modern comic incarnation of the Howling Commandos by dealing with supernatural threats like vampires, zombies, and werewolves—or Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D./Marvel Netflix can introduce the modern incarnation of the team which handles those threats.

What do you think of this concept for an Agent Carter spinoff?  What’s your pitch?

If you want to get an email whenever I publish a new article, go to the top of the page and enter your email address in the box labeled “Subscribe to Mostly MCU Reviews” and click “Submit.”