There’s one question that’s been bugging Marvel fans for years now: do the Avengers know Phil Coulson is alive? Back in 2012’s team-up movie, the loveable S.H.I.E.L.D. agent was killed by Loki, thereby giving the heroes someone to avenge. While that really was it for Coulson on the big screen, Clark Gregg soon returned to the role when the character was resurrected to lead TV’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Since then, though, he’s never even been mentioned in the films, suggesting that Coulson never thought to let his super-friends know that he’s alright.

Considering it’s been six years, it’s widely assumed that any chance of this mystery being cleared up has long passed. However, Marvel Television exec Jeph Loeb has now reignited the hope that Coulson might appear in the movies again. He promised EW that the issue would 100% be addressed at some point and that the way it comes about will be “very surprising.”

“It’s certainly something that will get resolved, and it may get resolved in a very surprising way.”

After that eyebrow-raising tease, Clark Gregg gave a much more measured response on the same topic, rolling out the usual “we’ll have to wait and see” type of reply.

“When they feel like it’s time to start connecting any of these worlds, they will,” he says. “I feel like I’ll hear from them then, but in the meantime, I have my hands full trying to do a good job on [Agents of SHIELD].”

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Loeb’s intriguing comments can’t help but make us think that maybe Coulson will return, or at least be referenced, in Avengers: Infinity War. Marvel chief Kevin Feige did promise that the event movie would wrap up every single ongoing plot thread of the MCU so far, after all. And fans have been crying out for some connective tissue between the MCU’s TV shows and the films for a long time now.

The trouble is, though, that the TV shows don’t reach the same global audience that the movies do, so if it’s suddenly revealed that Phil Coulson is actually alive, viewers who don’t know of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. will be left scratching their heads as to how he’s back. But, then again, maybe it’s worth it to give the fans who have stuck with the franchise in all of its forms a treat.

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.‘s fifth – and possibly final – season is currently airing now, while Avengers: Infinity War lands in cinemas on April 27th.