What do you do when your little superhero movie goes on to gross more than $2 billion? You create a TV spin-off, of course! Last year’s The Avengers has given way to Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., which is going to premiere this fall on ABC. And because Marvel Studios are clearly able to recognize genius, The Avengers‘ director Joss Whedon was put in charge of developing Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. For those who don’t know, Whedon is also the brains behind Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Dollhouse and the much beloved Firefly, so the man knows a little something about producing great TV shows.

The new Scoobies

Unfortunately, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. is not going to feature any of the Avengers (probably) or Samuel L. Jackson as S.H.I.E.L.D. director Nick Fury. Maybe we’ll get lucky and they’ll feature in cameo roles, but probably not until Sweeps Week. Instead, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. will star Agent Phil Coulson from the movies, as well as a handful of new, original characters to make up the main cast. Most of the bad guys they fight will probably be original characters too.

That’s all well and good, but a comic book geek like me wants to see real Marvel characters from the comics! The great thing about Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. is that it takes place in the Marvel Movieverse, in the same world as The Avengers and all those Iron Man, Thor, Captain America and Hulk movies. And since it’s produced by Marvel Studios, they have nearly full access to the entire library of Marvel comics for possible characters, cameos and Easter Eggs. So here are six Marvel Comics characters who I think would be perfect for uncomplicated, licensing-approved appearances on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

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