Phillip Coulson is a major character within the Marvel Cinematic Universe. A high-ranking agent of the global peacekeeping force S.H.I.E.L.D. (Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement & Logistics Division), Coulson serves as something of a poster-boy for the organisation, acting as their "friendly face" for the public. Coulson served as a trusted right-hand for S.H.I.E.L.D.'s director Nick Fury and plays a key role in assembling the Avengers. He would later go on to become the head of S.H.I.E.L.D. following its near-dissolution in Captain America: The Winter Soldier. Coulson is portrayed by Clark Gregg and has appeared in Iron Man, Iron Man 2, Thor, Avengers Assemble and is the main protagonist of the TV series Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D..
Death[]
During the events of Avengers Assemble, Agent Coulson assists Nick Fury with assembling the heroic individuals who would become known to the world as the Avengers. After Iron Man, Captain America, Black Widow and Thor succeed in capturing the renegade Asgardian Loki, they return to the S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier where Loki is locked away in a reinforced cell. However, the brainwashed Hawkeye sneaks onto the vessel and sabotages its engines, threatening to bring the airborne fortress crashing down into the ocean. Whilst Cap and Iron Man attempt to stop the Helicarrier from falling, Dr. Bruce Banner panics and transforms into the Hulk, going on a rampage. A mind-controlled S.H.I.E.L.D agent frees Loki from his cage, but Coulson enters the brig carrying an experimental particle rifle. As Coulson talks, he is suddenly stabbed in the back from behind. Loki used his magic to sneak behind Coulson unseen, using an illusion to keep him distracted. As Coulson lies bleeding on the floor, Loki gloats, only for Coulson to suddenly blast him through the bulkhead with the particle gun.
Nick Fury later arrives to find Loki gone and Coulson bleeding out. As Coulson breathes his last, he tells Fury that this is what should happen, that the Avengers would never come together if they didn't have something to avenge. He then dies from loss of blood.
Resurrection[]
While Coulson did indeed die in Avengers Assemble, he appears alive and well in the pilot episode of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.. For the first half of Season 1, the details behind Coulson's return remain a mystery, but it is later revealed in the second half of the season that Coulson had once been in charge of Project T.A.H.I.T.I., a S.H.I.E.L.D. plan to resurrect an Avenger if any one of them should fall in battle. The plan revolved around an experimental drug derived from the blood of a Kree corpse, but the project was shut down after several test patients experienced symptoms of psychosis and hypergraphia. After Coulson's death, Fury had the project reinstated and used it to bring Coulson back to life, replacing his memories so that he could move on with a healthy life. Coulson would eventually regain his memories and ran S.H.I.E.L.D. in Fury's absence for years.
Second death[]
In Season 5 of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Coulson reveals to his team that he is dying. Having made a bargain with the Spirit of Vengeance, he had temporarily gained the Spirit's demonic power in order to destroy the maniacal life-model decoy Aida. The price Coulson had to pay, however, was that the serum used to bring him back to life would wear off and he would ultimately die. Following a climactic battle against the altered Glenn Talbot, Coulson left S.H.I.E.L.D. in the command of Alphonso Mackenzie while he and Melinda May travelled to Tahiti so that Coulson could live out his remaining days in peace. He ultimately succumbed to his illness and died in his sleep with May at his side.