ABC Entertainment President Paul Lee has described the S.H.I.E.L.D. pilot as "just very Joss," explaining last month, "You know how Joss is so high-low? And he’s able to be intense and epic and suddenly funny and silly? He’s just got that ability to be super-entertaining and sort of super-educated.” But how would Whedon himself characterize the highly anticipated Marvel drama?

“I’m excited about the show because it’s a very hopeful show,” he told TVLine over the weekend. “It’s not about murder, and it’s not about crime, and it’s not people looking into their own belly buttons. It’s about people who are trying to help each other, and that’s one of the things I loved about comic books. They had costumes and the villains were cool [but] they stood for something, and I like doing a show that does that. [...] We’re trying very hard to be true to [Marvel's] ethos and also to the structure of their universe. So it is definitely a Marvel show.”

Targeted for ABC’s fall lineup, S.H.I.E.L.D. centers on the global espionage and law-enforcement agency that’s helped to provide the connective tissue between the films of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Whedon directed the pilot, which he co-wrote with his brother Jed Whedon and Jed’s wife Maurissa Tancharoen. The project, which stars Clark Gregg as fan-favorite Agent Coulson, Ming-Na as Agent Melina May, Elizabeth Henstridge as Agent Gemma Simmons, Iain De Caestecker as Agent Leo Fitz, Brett Dalton as Agent Grant Ward and Chloe Bennett as Skye. However, as we reported last month, the roster may not end there.

Cobie Smulders, who played S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent Maria Hill in The Avengers, indicated there are "definite talks" for her to reprise that role in the television series, although it likely would be only a cameo. Whedon confirmed as much, but cautioned Smulders' schedule “will permit very little” involvement, “but if we can get a hold of her any time, we will.”

Filming on the S.H.I.E.L.D. pilot wrapped last week, which means we probably won't have to wait long to learn of the project's fate.