After considerable fan speculation over the upcoming Marvel Comics TV series for ABC, both owned by Disney, Deadline announced today that ABC has ordered a pilot for S.H.I.E.L.D., a live-action series from Avengers writer/director Joss Whedon, Marvel TV and ABC Studios.
The possible series is based on Marvel's espionage and military law-enforcement agency, currently known as the Strategtic Hazard Intervention Espionage Logistics Directorate in the comics and the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division in the Marvel cinematic universe. The agency first appeared in Strange Tales #135 in 1965 and was created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby.
The adaptation will be the second made for television, after the 1998 Fox TV movie Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. that starred David Hasselhoff as Nick Fury and was written by Batman movie screenwriter David S. Goyer. S.H.I.E.L.D. will be written by Whedon, his brother Jed and Jed's wife Maurissa Tancharoen. Whedon is also set to direct the pilot as long as his schedule permits and production is scheduled to begin immediately, presumably so Whedon can hurry up and start preparing for The Avengers 2 afterward.