Phil Coulson

"I've seen giants. The good ones are not heroes because of what they have. It's what they do with it."

- Phil Coulson

Phil Coulson is one of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s most legendary and best-of-the-best operatives. He served as Director Fury's man on the ground for his most important missions. Dependable, loyal, and one of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s most decorated field agents, Agent Coulson was put in charge of surveillance and served as the primary operative in Director Nick Fury's Avengers Initiative.

Agent Coulson was tasked with establishing contact and running operational surveillance for the initial recruitment of Tony Stark and subsequent first contact missions as part of the Avengers Initiative. Agent Coulson also ran ground interference and tactical operations in Puente Antiguo, New Mexico as part of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s investigation surrounding the incident with Thor and the Destroyer.

Agent Coulson was also the primary S.H.I.E.L.D. operative in the investigation into Stark Industries: Sector 16 and the incident on the Howard Stark Memorial Freeway. When he was seemingly killed by Loki, the Avengers fought in the battle of New York in honor of him. However, Coulson's death wasn't real, and he returned to assemble a new team of young agents to lead them against other supernatural threats.

Coulson's youth and first actions
A son of Robert and Julie Coulson, Phil Coulson was born in Boston, MA, on April 2, 1965. Not much is known about his early life, except that he joined the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division (S.H.I.E.L.D.), eventually becoming a special agent and Director Fury's trusty right-hand man.

When Fury encountered Bruce Banner in a bar and saw his transformation into the Hulk, he called a meeting for some of his S.H.I.E.L.D. operatives. Phil tried to tell him that he and the others will be better prepared the next time Hulk attacks, but Fury said that Hulk is now just a secondary matter.

The Stark problem
"I can be in Afghanistan by sunrise, Director Fury." "You can. But you won't. We're the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division. Note the word "Homeland". We're not currently authorized for foreign ops."

- Phil Coulson and Nick Fury

In 2010, the wealthy industrialist Tony Stark was kidnapped in Afghanistan by the terrorist group called the Ten Rings. Since Stark was involved in making many weapons for the United States Armed Forces, Coulson and Nick Fury feared that Stark, being just a wealthy civilian and not a trained soldier, could tell his kidnappers everything he knows about the American national security. Coulson immediatelly offered to go searching for Stark himself, but Fury stopped him, because the agency wasn't authorized for foreign operations. Instead, he sent him to Stark's business partner Obadiah Stane, to see if Stark is a man who could sell his country to save his own skin.

When he arrived at the Stark Industries headquarters, Stane told Coulson that Tony couldn't tell the Ten Rings much about the American defence systems. Back at the agency, Fury again refused Coulson's offer to search for Stark himself.

Chasing Tony Stark
"I'm Agent Phil Coulson with the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division." "That's quite a mouthful." "I know. We're working on it."

- Phil Coulson and Pepper Potts

Three months later, Stark was found by the Army in the desert. Fury didn't believe Stark's story that the terrorists' ammo dump accidentally exploded. He thought that Stark was actually recruited by the Ten Rings and sent to the only place where he could have all the neccesarry equipment to make more weapons for them―his home.

When Coulson met Stark's secretary Pepper Potts, he attempted to set up a meeting with Tony Stark regarding his abduction and subsequent "rescue" in Afghanistan. However, Stark was bussy, as he organized a press conference where he announced that his company won't produce weapons anymore.

A few days later, the agency's satellites detected something that looked like an unmanned aerial vehicle. But when Fury and Coulson saw the footage of the "vehicle's" flight through the streets of Los Angeles, they realized the "vehicle" is actually Stark in a flying armored suit. To be sure, they hacked Stark's computers and found confirmation that Stark is vorking on the development of the armored suit.

Meeting Stark
"Mr. Stark." "Yeah?" "Agent Coulson." "Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, the guy from the..." "Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division." "Whew! God, you really need a new name for that." "Yeah, I hear that a lot."

- Phil Coulson and Tony Stark

Later, Coulson finally met Stark at the Third Annual Firefighters' Fund gala. Stark was too busy to talk with Coulson, but he agreed to a meeting at some other time.

A few days later, both Coulson and Fury were in Afghanistan, where they visited the village of Gulmira. When one agent found an abandoned camera, they saw a footage of Stark in a repainted armor attacking the Ten Rings and destroying their piles of weapons. Back at the headqarters, Coulson and Fury saw that Stark is chased by two F-22 Raptors. When one plane went down and Stark risked his life to save the pilot, Fury finally realized that he was wrong. He then ordered Coulson to check Obadiah Stane's activities with Stark's financials.

Coulson immediately went to Stark Industries where he encountered Pepper Potts who informed him about Stane's involvement in Tony's kidnapping and attempted homicide. Coulson and four other agents tried to arrest Stane, but their efforts were thwarted by Stane who was now wearing his own armor. However, in the ensuing battle, Stane was defeated by Stark.

I am Iron Man
"Agent Coulson, I just wanted to say thank you very much for all of your help." "That's what we do. You'll be hearing from us." "From the Strategic Homeland..." "Just call us S.H.I.E.L.D."

- Phil Coulson and Pepper Potts

A few minutes after Tony's battle with Obadiah Stane, Tony and James Rhodes were taken to a secret base where they encountered Agent Coulson. Coulson told them that Tony's fight against Stane was good, but that he needs to learn how to become a real fighter, and that his colleagues will teach him.

The next morning, Coulson came to Stark Industries where the journalists expected to hear from Stark about the incident that happened, and who the mysterious "Iron Man" really is. Coulson gave Stark a cover story for the incident, and when Pepper thanked him for all he did for them, he said they'll her from his agency again. When she tried to say the whole name of the agency, he interrupted her and spoke the acronym "S.H.I.E.L.D." instead.

When Coulson returned to the agency's headquerters, both he and Fury watched the press conference. When Coulson asked for Fury's opinion on Stark's possible future work with S.H.I.E.L.D., Fury liked the acronym so much that he decided to make it official. A few seconds later, both Coulson and Fury were shocked when Stark publicly revealed that he is Iron Man.

New tasks
"...He didn't spill a drop of blood this time." "That's true. Perhaps he's finally figured out the role he could play here."

- A S.H.I.E.L.D. agent and Phil Coulson about Tony Stark

Right after Stark revealed he was Iron Man, Fury assigned Coulson to recruit Mr. Hendricks to S.H.I.E.L.D.

Later, after Stark rejected the offer to join the Avengers Initiative, S.H.I.E.L.D. started to watch him. After watching how Stark saved a pilot from an enemy area, Coulson wondered if Stark finally figured how to play the role he may play at S.H.I.E.L.D. He asked Fury his thoughts on this, but Fury told him to not mistake Stark's actions as any kind of new found maturity and that they will keep watching him.

The week starts
"We keep doing what we're doing and tell them that we're doing what they want us to be doing." "How?" "Hell, I dunno. Get creative. Cook the books. Whatever it takes to let us do this job right."

- Nick Fury and Phil Coulson

A few months later, Coulson and Nick Fury led an expedition to Greenland in hopes of finding Steve Rogers, the American war hero from World War II. They didn't find Rogers, but they found one of the disabled flying bombs from HYDRA's super bomber, the Valkyrie. Though Fury wanted to continue the search, the World Security Council ordered them to shut down the operation and return to New York City. Twelve hours later, the Council ordered Fury to stop wasting time on what they called "wasteful programs" and focus on reigniting the Tesseract, naming that operation "Project P.E.G.A.S.U.S.". Despite the direct order, Fury decided to continue with his usual activities, and he told Coulson to do the same.

Watching over Stark
"If you try to escape, or play any sort of games with me, I will taze you and watch "Supernanny" while you drool into the carpet."

- Phil Coulson to Tony Stark When Stark got drunk and had a battle with James Rhodes at his own birthday party, Nick Fury put Coulson in charge of guarding Stark, making sure he doesn't leave his house. Later, when Coulson went down to Stark's workshop and found one of the early prototypes of Captain America's shield in Howard Stark's casket, Stark took the shield and used it to balance the machine he was building.

Later, Coulson informed Fury about the appearance of a wormhole over New Mexico, and Fury agreed to send an expedition led by Coulson himself. When Coulson asked his colleague Natasha Romanoff, the famous Black Widow, if she could handle things at Stark's house, she said yes.

Finding Mjølnir
"Tell them those Tae-Bo tapes really paid off."

- Phil Coulson

While going to New Mexico, Coulson stopped in a service station to buy some snacks and fill his car with gas. While he was in the shop, two robbers threatened the clerk with shotguns. Coulson intervened, passing them his car keys, but showing them his gun. When he gave the gun to them, he quickly knocked both of them unconscious using his S.H.I.E.L.D. training. He returned to the counter and bought two snacks, payed, told the clerk to keep the change and then left the scene.

Upon arriving in the deserts of New Mexico, Coulson and his team discovered the crater site with the mysterious hammer at the center. Though the locals have discovered the hammer before Coulson's team, no one was able to lift it or move it, not even with the help of their vehicles. Coulson and his men quickly set up a perimeter and a base of operations around the crater.

Meeting "Donald Blake"
"Sorry, maam, we're the good guys!"

- Phil Coulson to Jane Foster

Coulson's next mission was to confiscate all of the research about the mysterious wormhole that Jane Foster and her scientific team had collected. They traveled to Puente Antiguo, and despite Foster's protests, Coulson and his men took all of their equipment.

The same night, an unkown man infiltrated Coulson's base and managed to single-highhandedly take out a dozen of S.H.I.E.L.D. agents with various fighting styles. Coulson observed from a distance but not before asking Clint Barton to prepare to take action if necessary. When the attacker tried and failed to lift the hammer, Coulson's men easily captured him.

Shortly after, Coulson interrogated the stranger about his identity and his training believing him to be a warrior of some type. However, the stranger refused to answer his questions. The interrogation was interrupted when Foster's colleague Erik Selvig arrived and informed Coulson that the stranger is Donald Blake, a member of his scientific staff. An agent confirmed Selving's story by running a background check in the computer database and finding a falsified document created by Jane Foster. Though Coulson knew that Selvig was lying, he agreed to free "Donald", only to secretly assign agents to follow Selving and "his friend".

Attacked by the Destroyer
"Is that one of Stark's?" "I don't know. Guy never tells me anything."

- Cale and Phil Coulson

A few days later, an agent discovered the coordinates of another potential crater site that appeared to have an exact signature match to the mysterious hammer. When Coulson and a unit of S.H.I.E.L.D. agents went to investigate, they found the gigantic armor of unknown origin. As the armor slowly approached them, Agent Cale asked Coulson if the armor was one of Stark's. Coulson replied that Stark doesn't tell him anything, and tried to speak with the armor, but the iron giant attacked them.

Coulson managed to survive the attack from the armor. When the armor attacked Puente Antiguo, Coulson saw "Donald" gaining mysterious supernatural powers. When "Donald" summoned the hammer and defeated the armor, Coulson realized that "Donald" is actually Thor, the Norse God of Thunder and Prince of Asgard. Coulson confronted Thor who offered his services in protecting Earth under the sole condition that Coulson returns all of Jane's research and material back to her. Coulson agreed to Thor's terms and requested that they be debrief just before Thor flied upwards with Jane in his arms.

Later, Coulson and Barton suprevised the transport of the armor to a secret S.H.I.E.L.D. facility.

The Big Problem
"They want Blonsky in the team." "The Abomination?" "They really don't like when you call him that."

- Phil Coulson and Jasper Sitwell

When the World Security Council ordered S.H.I.E.L.D. to recruit Emil Blonsky, the Abomination, for the Avengers Initiative, Coulson met with Agent Jasper Sitwell in a cafe to discuss that order. The Council considered Blonsky a war hero, and that he destroyed half of Harlem just because he was attacked by the Hulk. Now S.H.I.E.L.D. had to convince General Thaddeus Ross to free Blonsky.

Both Coulson and Sitwell agreed that releasing Blonsky from the Army's custody would be foolish, and they decided to send a consultant to talk to Ross and convince him not to free Blonsky, someone so irritating and annoying that Ross would simply refuse to free Blonksy. Unwillingly, Coulson decided to send Tony Stark.

A few days later, Coulson and Sitwell met at the same cafe. Their plan worked as they expected beacuse Stark's annoying behaviour made Ross so angry that he refused to free Blonsky.

Russia
"Nat! Stay with me, Nat!" "Damn you, Coulson... Never call me "Nat"..."

- Phil Coulson and Natasha Romanoff

Some time later, when Natasha Romanoff was sent to Moscow to interrogate the arms dealer Mikhail Fjodorov, Coulson acted as control for her mission. After Fjodorov was killed, Romanoff cut off her contact with S.H.I.E.L.D. and started chasing Sofia, a woman who wanted to eliminate her and become the new Black Widow.

Coulson then followed a pair of goons working for the arms dealer General Starodoub. Two of Coulson's men were killed by Sofia, but Coulson came just in time to save Natasha's life. He gave her the necessary equipment to infiltrate the yacht belonging to one of General Starodoub's business partners, where she met Sofia again, an encounter which cost them the life of one more S.H.I.E.L.D. agent.

When Coulson discovered that Sofia's employer was the billionaire Richard Frampton, Natasha infiltrated his headquarters in Vladivostok. She discovered that Frampton works for the Ten Rings terrorist organization and that he has made a Jericho missile that would explode near the border between Russia and North Korea, greatly destabilising the world peace. When Romanoff destroyed the missile, Coulson led a team of agents to the launching area where they captured all surviving members of the Ten Rings.

Finding Captain America
A year after the battle of Puente Antiguo, a group of scientists succesfully reactivated the giant armor that attacked the city. When Coulson saw this, he told the chief scientist to make the armor a hundred times smaller and put a trigger on it.

A few minutes later, Coulson was called by Fury, who informed him that Steve Rogers was finally found. When Coulson arrived at the place of the discovery, he saw his colleagues excavating Rogers' completely frozen, but still living body from the wreck of HYDRA's giant plane, the Valkyrie. However, there was no time for celebrating, as Fury immediately sent Coulson on another mission.

Loki's attack
"Dr. Selvig read an energy surge from the Tesseract four hours ago." "NASA didn't authorize Selvig to go to test phase." "He wasn't testing it, he wasn't even in the room. Spontaneous advancement."

- Phil Coulson and Nick Fury

A few months later, Coulson, Fury, and Fury's second in command Maria Hill were at the secret S.H.I.E.L.D. facility where a group of scientists studied the Tesseract, an object of seemingly unlimited power. When the Tesseract suddenly activated, with no apparent reason, a man suddenly appeared, holding a scepter of alien origin. The stranger displayed powers similar to those of Thor, and he made it clear that he wants to take possession of the Tesseract and conquer the Earth. The stranger introduced himself as Loki, and with the power of the scepter, took control over Dr. Erik Selvig, Agent Clint Barton, and several other agents. In the ensuing battle, Loki and his men escaped with the Tesseract, and the entire base was destroyed.

Fearing for the safety of Jane Foster, who in the meantime became the full-time S.H.I.E.L.D. scientist, Coulson told a fellow agent to contact her and send her to Tromsø, Norway.

Contacting the Black Widow
"I'll brief you on everything when you get back. But first, we need you to talk to the big guy." "Coulson, you know that Stark trusts me about as far as he can throw me." "Oh, I've got Stark. You get the big guy."

- Phil Coulson and Natasha Romanoff

With the Tesseract in the hands of a hostile demigod, Nick Fury decided to form the Avengers, a group of extraordinary people who could protect the planet better than he and his men. The first candidate was Dr. Bruce Banner, the Hulk, but they needed Natasha Romanoff to convince him to join them. Coulson called Natasha on the phone, and when he told her that Barton had gone rogue, she easily defeated her captors, the Russian general Georgi Luchkov and his men, and vent to India. Natasha was able to find Banner and convince him to join S.H.I.E.L.D.

Visiting Tony Stark
"Mr. Stark, we need to talk." "You have reached the life model decoy of Tony Stark, please leave a message." "This is urgent." "Then leave it urgently."

- Phil Coulson and Tony Stark

A few days later, Coulson visited Tony Stark in his completely finished Stark Tower, where Tony and his girlfriend Pepper Potts were having a small party. Though Tony was reluctant to join the team, he agreed when Pepper convinced him, and after Coulson gave him all the available data about the Avengers Initiative and the Tesseract.

Meeting Captain America
"I gotta say, it's an honor to meet you, officially. I sort of met you, I mean, I watched you while you were sleeping. I mean, I was... I was present while you were unconscious from the ice. You know, it's really, it's just a... just a huge honor to have you on board." "Well, I hope I'm the man for the job." "Oh, you are. Absolutely."

- Phil Coulson and Steve Rogers

Coulson's next assignment was to escort Steve Rogers, the hero better known as Captain America, to the Helicarrier. Onboard the Quinjet, Coulson was more than happy to meet his all-time hero, who has joined the Avengers Initiative on Fury's invitation. When Coulson asked Rogers to sign some vintage collectible sticker cards which he gathered in around two years, he revealed the fact that Rogers has always been a model for him.

"Death"
"I'm sorry, boss. They got rabbited." "Just stay awake. Eyes on me." "No, I'm clockin' out here." "Not an option." "It's okay, boss. This was never gonna work if they didn't have something to..."

- Phil Coulson and Nick Fury

Once onboard the Helicarrier, Coulson took up other duties. After the first mission of the team, Coulson said to Fury that the team is not prepared to face the common menace, and that they need to be motivated someway. When Stark managed to capture Loki in Germany, Thor suddenly appeared, and tried to take Loki back to Asgard. However, the whole group assembled on the Helicarrier, where Thor informed them about Loki's plan to conquer the planet with the army of the Chitauri. During the meeting, Coulson informed Thor that he has moved Jane to a safe place.

When a brainwashed Clint Barton attacked the Helicarrier with the group of mercenaries, Loki managed to escape from his prison cell. When Coulson reached Loki's cell, he found the Asgardian free, and Thor trapped in his place. Coulsdon threatened Loki with a weapon created from the Destroyer, but the Asgardian teleported himself behind Coulson and stabbed him in the back. Severely wounded, Coulson could do nothing to prevent Thor's expulsion from the Helicarrier, but he managed to land a blow on Loki with his gun. Later, when the battle was over and lost, Fury reached his agent, just in time to hear him suggesting to use his "death" to motivate the divided Avengers into working together as a team. Coulson's wounds were serious, but not deadly, and though he was going to survive, Fury hid that fact from the Avengers and told them that Coulson is dead.

Coulson's apparent death was the trigger which finally united the Avengers. A few hours later, when Loki led an army of the Chitauri against New York City, the Avengers fought a bloody battle against the alien invaders, showing that they will avenge Coulson. In the end, the Avengers were victorious, and Loki was captured and transported to Asgard.

The New Team
"I'm clearance Level 6. I know that Agent Coulson was killed in action before the battle of New York." "Welcome to Level 7."

- Grant Ward and Phil Coulson

Meanwhile, Coulson was moved to a remote location until things died down. Only agents with the Security Clearance Level 7 were allowed to know that Coulson is alive. When his wounds healed, Coulson was reinserted into duty.

Some time after the battle of New York, Coulson assembled a small, highly trained team of Agents to tackle the cases that haven’t been classified yet, the new, the strange and the unknown.

Abilities
Phil Coulson is highly trained in multiple martial arts and hand to hand combat. He is also a highly tained marksman.

Character traits
In the films of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Agent Coulson is generally depicted as a supporting character of the protagonists and used to represent S.H.I.E.L.D.'s presence in the plots of the films, to the point that Clark Gregg has described Coulson as "the S.H.I.E.L.D. agent". However, in the "Marvel One-Shots", Coulson is given "a chance to stand in his own spotlight for once", when the character is put in a position where there is an imminent threat and no superheroes around. The decision to give more focus to Coulson was "a natural" for "Marvel One-Shot" co-producer Brad Winderbaum.

Gregg has stated, "I think of Agent Coulson, after all these years, as a guy with a full life. I think every day he's somewhere doing something for S.H.I.E.L.D., and yet I don't always know what that is... There's always a different twist. In this one he gets to show more of his wisecracking wit, and in this one he's a little bit more of a badass."

Despite Coulson being called "the most recognizable face in the Marvel Comics movie universe", he is depicted as an "everyman" in a universe full of superheroes – "the glue that binds" the characters together. In Thor, Coulson complains that Tony Stark "never tells [him] anything." In an interview with WNBC, Gregg explained his portrayal of the character as 'just a guy grumbling about his job "''He's the guy who's tasked - a very disciplined guy in my opinion who possesses secrets that would turn your hair white - but at the same time he's tasked with handling these kind of diva superheroes, you know? "Oh, really, Asgard? Dude, just get in the car.''"

Joss Whedon has revealed that Phil Coulson will play a large role in the upcoming S.H.I.E.L.D. television show.

Friends and Allies

 * Steve Rogers/Captain America - Heroic idol
 * Tony Stark/Iron Man
 * James Rhodes/War Machine
 * Virginia Potts - Friend and Ally
 * Nick Fury - S.H.I.E.L.D. Director
 * Black Widow - Fellow S.H.I.E.L.D member
 * Thor - Ally
 * Hawkeye - Fellow S.H.I.E.L.D member
 * Maria Hill - Fellow S.H.I.E.L.D member
 * Jasper Sitwell - Fellow S.H.I.E.L.D member
 * Blake - Fellow S.H.I.E.L.D. member
 * Erik Selvig - Aquaintance
 * Melinda May - Fellow S.H.I.E.L.D member
 * Grant Ward - Fellow S.H.I.E.L.D member
 * Jemma Simmons - Fellow S.H.I.E.L.D member
 * Leo Fitz - Fellow S.H.I.E.L.D member
 * Skye - Fellow S.H.I.E.L.D member

Enemies

 * Obadiah Stane/Iron Monger
 * Ivan Vanko/Whiplash
 * Justin Hammer
 * The Destroyer
 * Loki Laufeyson - Killer
 * Thaddeus Ross - Opposing General
 * Emil Blonsky/Abomination - Coulson prevented him from joining the Avengers
 * Chitauri

Behind the scenes

 * During his first meeting with Stark in the second film, Coulson states that if Stark tried anything, he would "tase you [Stark] and watch Supernanny while you drool onto the carpet".

Trivia

 * According to screenrant.com, Joss Whedon has hinted that Coulson may actually have superpowers. This has yet to be confirmed soon.
 * Clark Gregg is voicing Agent Coulson in the TV series Ultimate Spider-Man and in the show he is drawn in his likeness.
 * Coulson appears in Marvel Universe - THE AVENGERS: EARTH'S MIGHTIEST HEROES #1 comic book tie in to the smash hit tv series, The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes.
 * Due to the popularity of the character, Coulson was introduced into the main Marvel Comics universe.
 * Even though he died in The Avengers, it's rumoured that he may return as Vision.