[Update: Jeremy Renner suited up in his Hawkeye gear January 6, 2015 for a secret appearance somewhere...]

In a remarkable about-face from a mostly-middling first season, Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. stormed into its sophomore season with fresh energy and impressive momentum, with new characters and deepening mysteries culminating in an exciting, game-changing mid-season finale.

With the show officially introducing a new origin for superpowered beings - and setting things up for Marvel's 2018 Inhumans - fans get to hold their breath for the next few months until the show's return in 2015. The limited run of Agent Carter starting in January will keep the adventure going in its own way, but the confirmed crossover between Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and The Avengers: Age of Ultron invites plenty of speculation about what 2015 will hold for the show.

Now, Phil Coulson himself, AoS star Clark Gregg has added fuel to that fire with his Facebook post of a comic book panel depicting a standoff between Agent Coulson and the superhero Hawkeye/Clint Barton. Check it out below.

Hawkeye vs Agent Coulson

Naturally this begs the question: will the MCU Hawkeye - played by Jeremy Renner - make an appearance on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.? The panel above is from Secret Avengers #10, released in late November, so Gregg's post cannot simply be dismissed as publicity for the comic book (unless he's just a massive fan of the series) - is it wishful thinking on the actor's part? Or can we really look forward to a significant crossover between Marvel's movie and TV realms?

Lest we forget, it was Coulson's perceived death at the hands of Loki (Tom Hiddleston) which kicked off the action-happy third act of Joss Whedon's The Avengers, with Phil's loss finally cementing our heroes together as a team. At this point in the MCU, Nick Fury's (Samuel L. Jackson) deception is still apparently unknown to the rest of the Avengers. Can we expect some kind of reveal that at least Hawkeye has discovered the truth, followed by a confrontation?

Agents of SHIELD Dark Logo

It certainly makes sense to reunite Hawkeye and Coulson - we were introduced to Agent Barton via a forced cameo introduction in the first Thor film, and Hawkeye was originally meant to appear in Captain America: The Winter Solder before the sequence was eventually cut.

We know now that Marvel has a long-term plan for Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., having staked out the show as laying the framework for an important part of the MCU's Phase 3. If Hawkeye appears, it might end up being more than just a cameo, with the surrounding events possibly reverberating across both the movie and television continuities in a significant way.

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. returns on March 3, 2015. Agent Carter starts its limited 8-episode run on January 6.

Source: Clark Gregg