As Marvel likes to remind us, when it comes to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, everything is connected… except, it seems, when it comes to Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. – or more specifically, Agent Phil Coulson and his resurrection on the small screen.

Last week Joss Whedon was quoted as stating that “as far as the fiction of the movies, Coulson is dead” and now the Avengers: Age of Ultron director has elaborated on those comments during an interview with IGN.

“Yeah he’s dead. The entire television series is just a fever dream. It’s a Jacob’s Ladder moment he’s having at the point of death, but we don’t give that away until after season seven. And there’s a snow globe. Now I’ve given it away. Bollocks!”

Joking aside, Whedon went on to stat that: “It’s a weird little yes and no. As far as I’m concerned in the films, yes he’s dead. In terms of the narrative of these guys [The Avengers] his loss was very important. When I created the television show, it was sort of on the understanding that this can work and we can do it with integrity, but these Avengers movies are for people to see the Avengers movies and nothing else. It would neither make sense nor be useful to say ‘Oh and by the way remember me? I died!’”

“I think actually the movie people were a little bit cross about the TV show,” he continues. “They were sort of like ‘Well you can have this but not this. And this but not that.’ It’s complicated enough as it is without me adding another layer of complication. We also created a TV show called S.H.I.E.L.D. right before they made a movie where they destroyed S.H.I.E.L.D.. So everybody’s having a GREAT time!”

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Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. fans – how do you feel about this news? Will you be disappointed if it turns out that the show isn’t as connected to the rest of the MCU as we’ve been led to believe? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below…