'Agents Of SHIELD' Season Six Will Honor Stan Lee, But What's Up With Clark Gregg's New Character? [WonderCon]

Marvel's Agents of SHIELD,some say is very underappreciated which , had a panel at WonderCon to tease the show's upcoming sixth season. /Film had a chance to speak with creators Jed Whedon and Maurisa Tancharoen, producer Jeff Bell and cast members Clark Gregg and Henry Simmons about the new season. It will be a full year by the time season six premieres on May 10, but here's a few tidbits to get you through the coming weeks.

A Simple Stan Lee Tribute

Since Marvel legend Stan Lee died last year, the Marvel Cinematic Universe has been paying tribute to him. The biggest was the Stan Lee-packed Marvel logo at the beginning of Captain Marvel. But Marvel's Agents of SHIELD will model their approach after The Punisher season two which simply had a title card in his honor.

"We had the In Memory Of at the end of the first episode," Bell said. "There is an In Memory Of him. Anything beyond that, we would be just going down, so we'll acknowledge it."

Bell is probably right that the simple dedication is best and any more would be redundant. This whole year will probably see every Marvel project acknowledge the passing of their creator. We know Lee will appear in Avengers: Endgame and probably Spider-Man: Far From Home.

Also, the MCU is now so sprawling it would be presumptuous for every single TV show to do a Captain Marvel sized tribute. The first major live-action movie after his passing got to handle the big tribute. Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse was already finished, but still added a thank you message.

Agents of SHIELD Finally Addresses The Snap! (Not Really)

After Thanos snapped half of the universe out of existence at the end of Avengers: Infinity War, fans have speculated who was affected on all the other Marvel projects. Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. actually waited out The Snap so they don't have to address it, but Bell did when asked if the show would address The Snap.

"We're on after [Endgame] so you'll get to see that actually Fitz evaporated into smoke and Deke obviously disappeared, and now they're back," Bell said. "Other than that, no."

He's obviously joking. Marvel Television has kept the shows pretty much out of the way of the Avengers films anyway, even though "it's all connected."

Clark Gregg’s New Character Scared Him

Clark Gregg is the Jason Voorhees of Marvel because death never stops him. They insist it did stop Coulson this time, but they didn't fire Gregg. Instead, he's playing a new character this season. They're still not saying who his new character is, even after revealing him in a clip, but Gregg had to develop a new character for the first time in 11 years of the MCU. Gregg said:

"It was being parsed out to me gradually so I had to take what I was getting, and I like it that way but it was mysterious and unsettling. This is a very, very different type of person is the best I can say. At the same time, there was something really thrilling about being scared again, not sure what to do, not sure what felt right. This guy is in an antagonistic relationship with all of the people who Coulson held most dear so that also created some dramatic fireworks."

Teasers have shown Gregg looking ominous, and as you can see in the above clip, Gregg is now sporting a buzz cut. If the creators had their way, they wouldn't have even shown him.

"Our strategy is always to never reveal anything ever," Whedon said. "Then people who are in charge of marketing are like, 'But what do we show them?' We knew he was going to be on the show and that's all we really wanted to say at first. It's a different version of Clark Gregg so we firmly believe that any season would have to have him in it."

Tancharoen added, "Hopefully that mystery is enough to lure you in."

Fans still wonder about Coulson and May (Ming-Na)'s last day together in Tahiti. Coulson may be gone but Gregg teased that they may reveal more about their final moments.

"There may be some allusions to what went on there during season six," Gregg said. "I wouldn't be at all surprised by that."

Mack Is A Lonely Leader

With Coulson gone, Mack is now the director of S.H.I.E.L.D. Mack, and Simmons himself, discovers that it's lonely at the top. Here's what Simmons had to say about the character has evolved:

"Mack has changed in a way where, because he's out in the field with these people, there's more of a camaraderie, but now as the director of S.H.I.E.L.D. there has been distance between him and the others. As much as he would like to maintain that camaraderie, it's not really acceptable in terms of trying to do what's best for the overall unit. I will say the result of that is quite lonely. It's very lonely because you feel isolated, because you're in a position that really there's no one else that can relate to it, except for the mentor figure that is handed down to each director."

Ain't that the truth. When you're the boss you can't be everybody's friend. Just ask my editor. I kid.

Looks like Coulson isn't quite gone either. At least in Mack's story, Coulson is still speaking to Mack.

"He's like a voice in your ear really," Gregg said. "You can hear what he's thinking sometimes."

That suggests some prerecorded messages, but with S.H.I.E.L.D. technology, that could mean full on holograms of Clark Gregg acting opposite Simmons. Maybe Gregg's new character will come face to face with a Coulson memo too.

We'll see when Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. returns on Friday, May 10 at 8pm ET/7pm CT on ABC.