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The MCU's most popular hero Iron Man returning as its next big bad Doctor Doom is a gutpunch - both in the casting announcement, and invariably when the marketing begins and into the movie itself. While Robert Downey Jr.'s Tony Stark is framed by some to be the beating heart inside the larger MCU, I'd argue that's not true.

Clark Gregg's Phil Coulson is the heart of the MCU.

And much like RDJ, his MCU character is dead - and much like RDJ he was revived in a shocking twist (oh, those later seasons of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.), but with Downey's Doctor Doom returning in a big way as the centerpiece of the next two Avengers movies - it also opens the door to Coulson returning as well.

In this edition of Popverse's weekly series Marvel Matters, we delve into the reasons behind Coulson's exit from the MCU, what stands in the way of the character's return, and how he could be the logical pairing for Robert Downey Jr's Doctor Doom.

Agent Coulson's place in the MCU

Altough originally introduced as a minor footnote of a character in the MCU's debut in 2008's Iron Man, Agent Coulson (as played by Clark Gregg) is a serial overachiever and within a few years came to be the impetus for the creation of the Avengers - and gave perspective with his human-ness compared to the heoes who would become that team. 

Gregg's background as a comedic actor helped the Agent Coulson character avoid being a one-note action star and grew to become the everyman in the MCU. In the MCU Phase 1, Coulson in many ways was a surrogate for fans - wanting to be part of the action while still being a fan-at-heart as the heroes he's looked up (in some cases, since childhood) stepped up.That led him to star in ABC's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., which was buoyed by his credibility but over a seven-season run stretched him pretty thin - and ended up placing his return from the dead outside of the scope of the MCU.

As of November 2023, the 'Sacred Timeline' of the MCU as laid out in Marvel Studios - The Marvel Cinematic Universe: An Official Timeline, Coulson died in 2012's The Avengers film and hasn't been seen since - with seven-season Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. being retconned out of continuity due to Marvel Studios' not ever having control of the storylines. While it was a shock to some, the writing had been on the wall for years with Avengers and Avengers: Age of Ultron director Joss Whedon saying in 2015 that Coulson's return was outisde the bounds of Kevin Feige's MCU, staging "that really came from the television division, which is sort of considered to be its own subsection of the Marvel universe. As far as the fiction of the movies, Coulson is dead."

That was underscored when Disney+'s Loki referred to Coulson's death at the hands of Loki in Avengers being the end of the character - with the show's head writer suggesting that Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. took place on "one other tendril of the multiverse, perhaps."

While he hasn't appeared in the 'Sacret Timeline' of the MCU since the events of 2012's Avengers, Feige has made it a point to include Clark Gregg's character in flashbacks like 2019's Captain Marvel, and also as variants of himself in several episodes of the animated What If... ?. That shows that Kevin Feige's vision of the MCU hasn't excised Agent Coulson completely.

Coulson lives (again)

With Robert Downey Jr. returning in a mind-bending way as Marvel's other iron man Doctor Doom, it would make a certain kind of sense to find a way to bring Clark Gregg's gritty optimist back in the mix of things. Whether it's through some variant business like Hugh Jackman's Wolverine in Deadpool & Wolverine or perhaps something more pedestrian, Coulson is the perfect person to give a reaction to Doctor Doom looking like Tony Stark - and frankly, we've missed him.

This isn't the first time Coulson was written out of the MCU but was eventually brought back. Following his surprise death in 2012's The Avengers movie, fans led a campaign dubbed 'Coulson Lives' to convince Marvel to bring back the character - and it was taken on by Marvel Studios' sister division at Marvel Television as the driving force in what became Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. In that show he died two additional times, before dying once again - only to be brought back as a Life Model Decoy (or LMD, for those in the know).

But instead of trying to bring back a thrice-dead, Coulson-as-LMD into the MCU (with all the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. baggage with it), it's possible that Coulson could simply ride on the coattails of RDJ's Doctor Droom in whatever MCU alternate universe he is from. It worked for Hugh Jackman's Wolverine, as we all know. 

Agent Coulson is the heart of Marvel's MCU

With Marvel Studios' firmly stepping into its nostalgia phase now with Jackman's Wolverine (and all the other heroes brought back in Deadpool & Wolverine) as well as the impending Downey Doctor Doom, could there be enough nostalgia left over to bring back Agent Coulson as a supporting character for the all-new Avengers? 

Agent Coulson is the heart of the MCU, and his return could (to borrow a phrase) prove that Marvel Studios has a heart as well.

Consider this a meta post-credits scene for Marvel fans - the four key articles you need to read next to continue the thrills:

• How to watch the Marvel Cinematic Universe in release or chronological order
• The best Marvel Comics stories of all time
• All the MCU movies ranked from best to worst
• Our weekly Marvel insider's column, Marvel Matters