Captain Marvel May De-Age Clark Gregg ‘A Few Years’

For Captain Marvel, Clark Gregg's Phil Coulson might be the latest Marvel actor to be digitally de-aged following Michael Douglas' Hank Pym (Ant-Man), Robert Downey Jr.'s Tony Stark (Captain America: Civil War) and Kurt Russel's Ego (Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2). The actor is set to reprise his fan-favorite role in the Brie Larson-headlining solo Captain Marvel movie.

Earlier this month, Gregg officially returned to the movie side of the MCU when he started working on Captain Marvel, though his reappearance in the films was revealed via the film's cast list. One of the original actors to be part of the massive franchise, Coulson was introduced in 2008's Iron Man. He continued to be a uniting thread in the next several films until the Avengers first assembled in Joss Whedon's The Avengers. Unfortunately, that 2012 smash hit was also his last appearance on the big screen after he was killed by Loki. Since then, he has been secretly running a black ops team on ABC's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

Speaking with ComicBook, Gregg teased his much-anticipated return to the MCU in Captain Marvel. The actor hinted at Coulson being de-aged in the forthcoming Marvel movie:

“That was a fun call from my friends in the Cinematic Universe, who I normally see at these events, saying, ‘You know, we think once again we have some work for you, but it takes place in the '90s. Can you go to the gym?’ Yeah, I said, ‘The '90s? I mean, there is no gym that can get me back to the '90s.’ And they said, ‘Well, don't worry. We've been working on that technology, and we think we can goose you back a few years.’"

Nick Fury and Agent Coulson stand together in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

While it's not a confirmation, it won't be entirely surprising considering that the film is set in '90s. If anything, it would be exciting to see almost all returning Marvel characters de-aged given the premise of the film and see how that could be pulled off. What's curious to know is if Larson will be included in the digitally de-aged key players and then retain her own physical appearance when she joins the bigger universe moving forward, or if it's going to be the other way around. Another possibility is the actress just having the same look (similar to Steve Rogers' situation) possibly a side-effect to being caught in the Kree device explosion that also gave her powers. Captain Marvel set photos show the Academy Award-winner without the usual dotted face used for CGI work so there's a good chance that the last option might be the route they're going.

After Captain Marvel, fans might see Coulson again on the big screen in the still-untitled Avengers 4. While fans know that he's been running around trying to save the world with his own elite team, Earth's Mightiest Heroes still has no idea that he survived Loki's attack - one long-running mystery that the MCU needs to address fast given the character's predicament in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.