Moviefone caught up with  S.H.I.E.L.D. director Joss Whedon earlier this month while attending a Much Ado About Nothing screening.  Here’s what he had to say about Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

There’s always the struggle between spectacle and a TV budget. What attracted me to “S.H.I.E.L.D.” were the gadgets. But after the gadgets was humanity: The idea that there is an underside, a darker side, a more human context. Phil Coulson always represented the everyman, the schlemiel in the world of the fabulous or the mighty, gods and billionaires and legends. And that’s what the show is for, it’s for those people who, as remarkable as they may be, are not the supers, are not A-list.

What are the rest of us worth when there are people that are so extraordinary? That’s a human story. We hired actors that I am so excited to welcome into our universe, and they’re extraordinary, and they’re going to bring so much to it. That’s what I’m giving people every week; those actors, their stories, and the stories that they encounter. I know that we all share the same sensibility in terms of what makes it Marvel, what makes it that universe. I never worry about what the fanboys think because the fanboy is thinking it up.

Source: moviefone.com