Five Marvel Heroes Who Would Make Sense As Guest Stars On Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D.

It’s going to feel like a long wait until Marvel’s “Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” comes back with new episodes in January. With Agent Coulson in enemy hands and Agent Ward down, the midseason finale ended with some pretty big cliffhangers.

Since the ratings have been in the “good but not great” category, a lot of the recent debate has been whether the show could use a heavier dose of Marvel flavor. There have been arguments on both sides, and when you consider that some people who watch regularly don’t read comics at all (my wife, for one), it’s hard to say whether a move to tie the series more closely to its source material would move the needle or not.

Just for fun though, let’s assume the Whedon crew decides it’s time to ratchet up the Marvel hero appearances. Who could reasonably be pulled in to help the team out in a particularly tough spot? The Marvel universe is full of candidates, but some make more sense than others.

For starters, the show doesn’t have an unlimited budget, so street level characters without super flashy powers would work best. They also can’t have their movie/TV rights owned by other companies (so no mutants or Spider-Man associates). And if they have comic book ties to S.H.I.E.L.D., so much the better.

(As an aside, we can probably eliminate Daredevil, Luke Cage, Jessica Jones and Iron Fist, even though they’d be great, since they have their own Netflix shows on the horizon.)

We did a little brainstorming and came up with five heroes—or at least four heroes and a character who could be an ally—who we’d love to see grace “Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” if Marvel and Disney want to ramp up the guest stars. Click through to find out who they are, and leave us a comment with your own ideas.