Agents Of SHIELD: 10 Phil Coulson Quotes We’ll Always Remember

Phil Coulson has been a lot of things in his time in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. He brought the Avengers together, became director of a more fragmented SHIELD, and even had his mind downloaded into a Life Model Decoy. For Agents Of SHIELD, however, he’s been a team leader with quippy one liners and motivational speeches.

Technically speaking, the original Phil Coulson’s time came to an end before the sixth season of Agents Of SHIELD ever began. With seven seasons for the MCU’s flagship series, and the first MCU character to cross over into television, Agents Of SHIELD and Coulson have given the audience a lot of quotable memories.

10 “I DON’T SWEAT. I GLISTEN.”

Early in the first season, Coulson spends quite a bit of time getting to know Jemma Simmons. As the team’s resident biochemist, she’s responsible for monitoring Coulson’s health. When she comments on him working up a sweat, he tosses her this line.

It’s very much in line with Coulson’s sense of humor, but more than that, it’s also some classic comedy. ’90s sitcom fans might remember Topanga Lawrence making the same comment on Boy Meets World, for example.

9 “WE ARE NOT AGENTS OF NOTHING! WE ARE AGENTS OF SHIELD, AND THAT STILL CARRIES WEIGHT. IT HAS TO CARRY WEIGHT!”

When Hydra emerges from their place in SHIELD’S shadows, it essentially dismantles the entire organization’s structure. SHIELD agents don’t know where to turn and many go on the run.

Coulson and his team are lucky because they have each other, and they head out to search for a hidden SHIELD base where they can lay low. While the rest of the team starts to doubt Coulson’s faith in Nick Fury’s secret base, Coulson desperately clings to the fact that the SHIELD he’s devoted his life to still matters. This moment, when he yells at his team and throws his badge into the snow, the entire audience feels for him.

8 “IF I COME OUT, WILL YOU SHOOT ME? BECAUSE THEN I WON’T COME OUT.”

Coulson and his team have a rough time of it when SHIELD agents are officially declared enemies of the state. Colonel Talbot spends his time tracking them in the first season with the help of Maria Hill. Talbot even gets into the SHIELD base with her help, leaving Coulson and some of his team cornered.

Coulson, of course, goes for humor. When Talbot requests they surrender, this quote is Coulson’s response. It takes a few minutes before they all work things out, but eventually, Talbot and his forces are able to interact with the SHIELD agents without anyone getting shot. Talbot goes on to become an ally.

7 “I’VE BEEN KEEPING MY FEELINGS IN CHECK – AND LOOK WHAT IT GOT US.”

Coulson is not great at compartmentalizing on the job, though he tries. He’s a team leader, but Coulson also cares about his team beyond the day-to-day routine of their job. They’re his family.

When Grant Ward kills Rosalind Prince and kidnaps Leo Fitz and Jemma Simmons in season three, Coulson has had enough. When he is cautioned against going down a dark path, however, Coulson is done trying to apprehend Ward. It just goes to show that even one of the nicest SHIELD agents has his breaking point.

6 “I’VE MET GODS. GODS BLEED.”

The first season references Coulson’s experiences with the Avengers quite a bit, but the references lessen as the show continues. When Coulson meets Gideon Malick, and learns that Hydra developed from a group worshipping the first Inhuman as though he was a god, Coulson remembers his own experiences with those from other planets who have been worshipped as gods.

Coulson might have perished at Loki’s hand in The Avengers, but he also got to see that neither Loki nor his brother could list invulnerability as one of their powers. He knows that these gods are just men.

5 “COOL ORIGIN STORY BRO, BUT THIS ONE MEANS NOTHING TO ME.”

Anton Ivanov spends a lot of years planning his revenge on Coulson. Thanks to his dealings with nefarious figures, he ends up with his head in a jar and a lot of copies of his body.

It’s made clear just how many times Coulson has saved the world, investigated strange occurrences, and retrieved objects of unknown origin for SHIELD when Ivanov tells Coulson why he is the villain he is. Coulson doesn’t even remember the mission Ivanov references, and he still just wants to save the world.

4 “I’M CHOOSING TO STAND UP, TO BECOME A PART OF SOMETHING BIGGER. I REALLY DO BELIEVE THAT TOGETHER, WE CAN ACCOMPLISH ANYTHING.”

As Coulson tells the story in the first season, when Nick Fury mentors him at SHIELD, the future Director tells Coulson he’s becoming a part of something bigger than himself. Coulson holds onto that idea, even when he’s not fully in the Framework.

In the Framework, Coulson is a teacher, but memories of SHIELD still pull at him. Daisy Johnson and Melinda May are able to get through to him, and he says this line when he proclaims himself an agent, denouncing Hydra, on live television.

3 “I KNOW YOU’VE ONLY BEEN HUMAN A LITTLE WHILE, BUT THERE’S A BASIC HUMAN CONCEPT YOU NEED TO LEARN. IT’S CALLED TEAMWORK.”

One of the reasons Coulson is so great on Agents Of SHIELD is because he is part of a larger team. That’s something Aida AKA Ophelia just doesn’t understand when she enters the real world from the Framework.

Aida wants everything on her terms, and she doesn’t care who she hurts. Coulson, of course, isn’t okay with that, and he reminds the audience that the heart of the show is really the team itself.

2 “WE ARE GATHERED HERE TODAY FOR A MOMENT WE ALL KNEW WAS COMING, SOME OF US EVEN BEFORE THESE TWO DID, AND I THINK WE CAN ALL AGREE THAT TO WAIT EVEN ONE SECOND TO DO THIS IS PLAYING WITH FIRE.”

The series loves to throw curveballs at its favorite couple. When Fitz and Simmons finally get to tie the knot in season five, it’s Coulson who marries them, beginning the event with this line.

It’s always nice when a show’s writers can poke fun at themselves through a character like Coulson, whose sense of humor lines up perfectly with this meta remark.

1 “I’VE LIVED A LIFE SURROUNDED BY HEROES, NONE BIGGER THAN ALL OF YOU… WE SIGN UP TO LOSE EACH OTHER, TO GET CLOSE TO GOOD PEOPLE AND HAVE THEM TAKEN AWAY.”

Agents Of SHIELD begins by not spotlighting costumed heroes. Its focus is on the people doing the day-to-day work of the organization.

Though Coulson spends his formative years with an appreciation for the greats, like Captain America, he recognizes that not all heroes are seen as such by the general public. His team has been through more tragedy than most, and telling them goodbye by telling them they’re bigger heroes to him than the Avengers is huge for him.

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