A S.H.I.E.L.D. To Watch Over Us

The main characters for Joss Whedon's S.H.I.E.L.D. TV show were just released.  Thanks to TV Line for the breakdown of the Strategic Hazard Intervention Espionage Logistics Division's crew:

• Skye – This late-20s woman sounds like a dream: fun, smart, caring and confident – with an ability to get the upper hand by using her wit and charm.
• Agent Grant Ward – Quite the physical specimen and “cool under fire,” he sometimes botches interpersonal relations. He’s a quiet one with a bit of a temper, but he’s the kind of guy that grows on you.
• Agent Althea Rice – Also known as “The Calvary,” this hard-core soldier has crazy skills when it comes to weapons and being a pilot. But her experiences have left her very quiet and a little damaged.
• Agent Leo Fitz and Agent Jemma Simmons – These two came through training together and still choose to spend most of their time in each other’s company. Their sibling-like relationship is reinforced by their shared nerd tendencies – she deals with biology and chemistry, he’s a whiz at the technical side of weaponry.

Sufficed it to say that their blurbs probably aren't doing them justice.  Following closely on the heels of The Avenger's big-screen success, Whedon and ABC are taking a big gamble that superheroes will translate to the small screen.  Actually, scratch that.  These aren't superheroes per se.  They're agents of an NGO with the power of a first-world nation and the cajones of the mossad.  But while they inhabit a world full of superpowered baddies, they themselves aren't particularly spectacular.  In the comics, and indeed, in Avengers and many of Marvel tie-ins, the agents serve as foils to the hero.  How they'll manage to eke a television series out them is anyone's guess.

But I'll be glad to find out.