Why Does Clark Gregg Feel Like 'Star Trek''s Captain Kirk On 'Marvel's Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D.'

Clark Gregg's Agent Coulson is making the jump from fan boy favorite in The Avengers movies to team leader on Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and the actor couldn't be happier about it. Gregg spilled to us about which cast member is poised to break out, which Whedonverse actor he'd love to see join the team and why playing Agent Coulson makes him feel like Captain Kirk.

The show's current cast is a mix of veteran television actors like Gregg and Ming Na and newcomers like Chloe Bennet and Brett Dalton. Being surrounded by so many fresh faces makes Gregg feel like "the James T. Kirk on a ship of very young and attractive Enterprise crew members." He joked, "I feed off their energy like an aging vampire."

The cast might be young, but they are "hungry" and "talented." Gregg added that "while it's fun to bring them aboard and challenge them, they're very quickly challenging me, too."

When asked which of his young co-stars he thinks will break out as a star, Gregg turned the tables and picked familiar face Ming Na. "She brings a sexy, stoic badassery" to Agent Melinda May.

Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D is also a Joss Whedon production and over the years, Whedon hasn't just created some of the most popular sci-fi and fantasy television shows of all time, he's also assembled his own team of actors who almost act like repertory players showing up in different roles in different productions.

When we asked Gregg which Whedon alum he'd most like to see on Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., he enthused, "Anyone from Much Ado Nothing." However, he also went on to singled out Nathan Fillion. "It feels like he belongs in the world of S.H.I.E.L.D. because he's so good and so funny."

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Because of the fantastic nature of Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., there's a possibility that anything can happen. However, could we see an evil Agent Coulson? Gregg suggested that such a leap within S.H.I.E.L.D. might not even require a jump to a mirror universe.

"We're an organization that takes a certain amount of license with people's civil liberties and that's something I have feelings about and I can only imagine Phil Coulson does as well. And in a world where there's Snowdens, and Mannings, and Julian Assanges, you know, at a certain point, there's a perspective with which you can look at S.H.I.E.L.D. No matter how many people they save, as being part of that shadow world…knowing Marvel, I wouldn't be surprised if at some point people involved with S.H.I.E.L.D. slipped over into the dark side."

As for Gregg's TV diet, he's into Breaking Bad, Orange is the New Black, Homeland, Bob's Burgers and he's really excited about The Michael J. Fox Show. "He's one of the comic geniuses of our time and I'm really excited about his show being on."

Marvel fans however are probably more excited to see Agent Coulson on television and to find out once and for all how Agent Coulson survived.

Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. airs tonight, October 1, at 8/7 C on ABC.

[Photo Credit: Marvel/ABC]