Marvel's Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. - How Many Episodes Are There In Total?
After the blockbuster success of Marvel's first superhero crossover event, "The Avengers," the Marvel Cinematic Universe was primed for significant big-screen expansion. It was sort of odd, then, that said universe's first true growth happened on the small screen, doing so via the Joss Whedon-produced network project "Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D." Initially a sort of ground-level examination of the post-"Avengers" world, the series resurrected the film's fallen human hero, Agent Phil Coulson (Clark Gregg), placing him in charge of a special S.H.I.E.L.D. unit that seeks to track and contain new super-powered people.
"S.H.I.E.L.D." began its network tenure in the fall of 2013 and did so behind a rash of mostly positive notes from both critics and, perhaps more importantly, Marvel fandom. Ensuing seasons saw the narrative grow well beyond its street-level origins, with Coulson and his team of powered and non-powered allies traversing space, time, and often death itself by the end of its wildly entertaining primetime run. Said run would chart seven seasons of super-powered adventures before all was said and done. And in doing so, "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D." would tally a total of 136 episodes.
That number easily makes "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D." the longest-running Marvel series to date. And as every ensuing season was better reviewed than the first, "S.H.I.E.L.D." should also rank among the best of the MCU's small-screen offerings to date.
The legacy of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. has gotten complicated to say the least
Of course, these days there's considerable debate as to whether or not "Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D." is even a part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. That's more than a little bit surprising given how easy it would seemingly be for Marvel bosses to merely write the entire narrative of the series off as one of many in the ever-expanding multiverse — particularly as it's fronted by O.G. MCU stalwart Phil Coulson. On top of that, the series itself should make such an approach all the easier, as "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D." sort of beat its big screen brethren to the multiverse market by exploring several timelines and alternate universes during its run.
While on the air, "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D." also earned itself quite a devoted following. Despite its popularity and the fact that the series' early episodes regularly reference events and characters from the Marvel universe, even featuring cameos by MCU stars Samuel L. Jackson and Jamie Alexander (Sif from the "Thor" franchise), Marvel bosses still won't signal whether or not it is legitimately part of MCU canon. And, as noted by Dave Gonzalez and Joanna Robinson in their recent book, "MCU: The Reign of Marvel Studios," Joss Whedon has even made claims that Marvel brass didn't want the series to get off the ground in the first place.
As the deck was potentially stacked against "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D." to begin with, it's sort of miraculous the show actually sent 136 episodes to air. And given both its success and enduring fandom, it's a little baffling that Marvel bosses have somehow not embraced "S.H.I.E.L.D." wholeheartedly.