Bill Paxton is bringing some heavy firepower to ABC's "Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D." this winter.

Paxton returns to television in late February/early March for a four episode stint on the spy drama as Agent John Garrett, a character described by showrunner Jed Whedon to TV Guide as "a rough-and-tumble former cohort of Agent Coulson, with a little bit of attitude and cigar-smoking swagger... [W]hen Garrett got his promotion to Level 7, he refused to sit behind a desk anddoesn't like the formalities of S.H.I.E.L.D. He's going to help Coulson solve some mysteries and is not afraid to rig an explosive or two."

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The character, who was introduced in Frank Miller and Bill Sienkiwicz's "Elektra: Assassin" miniseries in the '80s, is the latest S.H.I.E.L.D. aggent to make the leap form the comics to television, following in the footsteps of Agent Victoria Hand and Agent Jasper Sitwell.

Garret is introduced to the team "in a very surprising way," according to executive producer Maurissa Tancharoen. "Heis the type whowants to stay out in the field no matter howhigh-level he gets."