As rollicking a final stretch as Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. delivered at the close of Season 1, the fact is the ABC series had to spend much of its freshman run “treading water,” until Captain America: The Winter Soldier hit the big screen and — movie spoiler alert — toppled the S.H.I.E.L.D. organization in every sense of the word.

RELATED Fall Preview 2014: Your Handy Calendar of 99 Premieres

But when we last tuned into TV’s take on the Marvel-verse, Nick Fury (Hey, Samuel L. Jackson!) resurfaced sans eyepatch to name Phil Coulson the new director of the shattered S.H.I.E.L.D. In doing so, was a baton passed in more ways than one? Is it now incumbent on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. to move the narrative to a certain place before The Avengers: Age of Ultron storms the Cineplex on May 1, 2015 — right at the start of TV’s sweeps period, natch?

And might said destination have to fall shy of Coulson successfully rebuilding S.H.I.E.L.D., given recent hints about where Age of Ultron picks things up with Tony Stark, Black Widow et al?

Not surprisingly, given the Level 10 top-secrecy surrounding all things Marvel-ous, exec producer Jed Wheon at first hedged, “We can’t say much,” when TVLine asked last week if the TV series is tasked with getting S.H.I.E.L.D. from “Point B to Point C” during its sophomore run. He then allowed — echoing the Season 1B theme — “Everything is connected, sometimes more so than other times. Obviously Coulson was born out of the films, and we can only hope to have that sort of impact in the other direction.

“But right now,” he added, “we’re just trying to make everybody as cool and interesting as we can.”

RELATED Lucy Lawless Recruited By Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. — Who Will She Play?

During a previous conversation with TVLine, Whedon’s fellow EP (and wife) Maurissa Tancharoen offered on the exact same topic, in measured words, “All of us are aware of the moving parts at all times. With that said, there are many opportunities for planting things that… end up in other things.”

Whedon himself then revealed this much: “Let’s put it this way: In the second season, there’s definitely a milestone that everybody needs to hit.”

RELATED Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.’s Clark Gregg Weighs In on Coulson’s New Gig

ABC Entertainment president Paul Lee last week acknowledged that “it took time to find our sea legs” with S.H.I.E.L.D.‘s first season, given the way it needed to dovetail with Winter Soldier‘s April release date. But the aftermath of that, he promised, “triggered a whole lot of [Season 2] storylines that we’re reading at the moment, and I’m loving those scripts. I feel good.”