ABC Gives Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. A Full Season Pickup; Titus Welliver Set To Appear

After Hulk-smashing all competing dramas in its first week with 11.9 million viewers and an astounding 4.6 adults 18-49 rating (ABC’s best premiere in four years), Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. was widely predicted to earn a pick-up from ABC, and now the network has made it official. With a recently announced back-nine order expanding the length of the freshman show’s first season from thirteen episodes to twenty-two, it’s safe to say that execs over at ABC are currently raising their glasses to a long, profitable future with Marvel.

The show, Marvel’s first foray into television, follows Agent Phil Coulson (Clark Gregg) as he leads a team of highly-trained agents in investigating strange cases around the world. Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. also stars Ming-Na Wen, Brett Dalton, Chloe Bennet, Iain De Caestecker and Elizabeth Henstridge. Though its premiere was far from perfect, subsequent episodes have convinced me that it’s  one of the strongest new dramas on the scene this fall.

In other Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D-related news, Titus Welliver has been confirmed to reprise his role as Agent Blake, who first appeared in Marvel One-Shot: Item 47 on the Blu-Ray for The Avengers. In that short, Blake ordered another S.H.I.E.L.D. operative, Agent Sitwell (Maximiliano Hernández) to recover a discarded Chitauri weapon being used by a down-on-their-luck couple (Jesse Bradford and Lizzy Caplan) to rob banks. Caplan’s character became an assistant to Blake at the end of Item 47, but Caplan’s starring role in Showtime’s Masters of Sex would suggest that her character will not make another appearance.

Welliver will appear in the show’s sixth episode, titled “FZZT.” Check out the official synopsis for the episode below:

“FZZT” – When floating bodies turn up, Coulson and the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D must hunt down an elusive killer. No one is safe–not even the team–on “Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” on the ABC Television Network.

Are you watching Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., and if so, what do you think so far? Does news of Welliver’s involvement excite you? Let us know in the comments section!