WARNING: The following article contains spoilers for Avengers #32 by Jason Aaron, Ed McGuinness, Francesco Manna, Jason Keith and VC's Cory Petit, on sale now.

In 2008's Iron Man, fans were introduced to S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Phil Coulson. As an original character in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Coulson would make further appearances in Iron Man 2 and Thor before dying at the hands of Loki in The Avengers. But even that wouldn't keep him down. In fact, the character proved to be so popular among fans that he was brought back to life for the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. television series. He would even return in the 1990s'-set Captain Marvel.

Naturally, Coulson also found his way into the comic book Marvel Universe, where he was also a faithful S.H.I.E.L.D. agent for years. But while Coulson has remained a hero in Marvel's live-action universe, things took a darker turn in the comics. And now, Coulson is more of a supervillain than anything else.

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Phil Coulson made his comic book debut in 2012's Battle Scars miniseries by Chris Yost, Cullen Bunn, Matt Fraction and Scot Eaton. Like in the movie universe, Coulson was a dedicated S.H.I.E.L.D. agent. He was a fan of superheroes, he was friends with the son of Nick Fury, and he even helped recruit one incarnation of the Secret Avengers. He was also one of the main cast members of the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. comic series, where he proved to be just as heroic as in the MCU.

However, all of that changed with the advent of the 2017 event Secret Empire. At the time, Steve Rogers had been replaced by an alternate, villainous version of Captain America who secretly worked for Hydra. As the Sentinel of Liberty, this Steve had the trust of all who had fought alongside him or who believed in the red, white, and blue shield -- including Phil Coulson. When Steve's allegiances to Hydra were still secret however, Coulson started to grow suspicious of Captain America. As he got close to the truth, the villainous Steve ordered Deadpool to eliminate Coulson.

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While Deadpool wasn't exactly willing to pull the trigger, Steve convinced Wade that Coulson had turned and that he needed to be stopped. And since Deadpool believed Captain America's judgment and orders to be above reproach, he followed through in Gerry Duggan and Matteo Lolli's Deadpool #31: Wade murdered Coulson, just before Secret Empire.

But even death wouldn't stop Coulson, because the character returned to life in 2019's Avengers #10. However, this Coulson was no longer the delightful agent he once was. He was now cold, dark, and calculating -- and worst of all, he now appeared to loathe the Avengers. In fact, his ongoing mission involves taking down Earth's Mightiest Heroes, by becoming the leader of another government-sponsored response team: the Squadron Supreme of America.

Agent Coulson evil Avengers

As revealed since then, Coulson was brought back to life by Mephisto, one of Marvel's closest analogues to the Devil. The demon is playing a long game to take out the Avengers, which involves Dracula's Vampire Nation, a villainous Namor, the Winter Guard, and the Squadron Supreme. Coulson is a pawn in Mephisto's game, but he appears to be a willing participant after growing hateful of superheroes due to the circumstances of his death.

Although he may be working against the Avengers for the time being, there's still time for Coulson to be redeemed. After all, he's the whole reason the Avengers first assembled in the MCU. He's a hero, through and through, and he's bound to remember that, eventually.

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