ABC has announced the official name of the new TV series that Joss Whedon is developing for the network along with a synopsis that sheds considerable light on how the series will develop if the pilot, which Whedon directed and co-wrote, is picked up for the 2013-2014 season.  The show’s official title is Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., and according to ABC Whedon’s series “shows us that not all heroes are super.”

 

Although the new show will be set in a world of superheroes, aliens, and major global menaces of all types, ABC notes, in a statement that makes clear that this series will reflect the same approach that animated Whedon’s previous efforts for the small screen including Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Firefly, "The show will speak to the human condition through the lens of our very human, non-powered S.H.I.E.L.D. agents--that together we are greater than we are apart, and that we can make a difference in the world."

 

In the new series Agent Phil Coulson (Clark Gregg) "puts together a small, highly trained team of Agents to tackle the cases that haven’t been classified yet, the new, the strange, and the unknown."  The make-up of the team will be somewhat familiar to fans of Whedon’s other series.  It includes straight arrow Agent Grant Ward (Brett Dalton), the brilliant, but socially maladroit scientist Agent Leo Fitz (Iain De Caestecker), martial arts maven Agent Melinda May (Ming-Na Wen), Agent Jemma Simmons (Elizabeth Henstridge), and new recruit, the computer hacker Skye (Chloe Bennet), who will doubtless assume the “waif” role so typical of Whedon’s productions (see "Another Cast Member for 'S.H.I.E.L.D.'").

 

It is clear from both the show’s announced theme and its cast that is equally divided between male and female characters that Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. will indeed be, as ABC President Pat Lee predicted, very Whedonesque (see "ABC Prexy Calls 'S.H.I.E.L.D.' Series 'Very Joss Whedon'").