ABC/Danny FeldAs Skye, Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s slightly shady computer hacker, Chloe Bennet seems to have kind of a dream job.
"I grew up with six brothers, and I'm from Chicago, so princesses and Barbie dolls were not around the house," the actress told us. "It was more like sports and comic books, so getting to work for Marvel is like my version of being able to be a princess."
Not only does she get to join such characters as Iron Man, Captain America, and Thor in the world of Marvel, but she also gets to be a part of another prestigious fictional universe—the Whedonverse, ruled by Joss Whedon, his brother Jed Whedon and Jed's wife Maurissa Tancharoen. "I feel so lucky and I'm so excited, particularly to work with the Whedons, who are so funny and smart and I can't believe I get to spend my days with these people who are so much cooler than I am, in my mind."
Bennet couldn't help but gush we asked her what it was like to work with Joss Whedon, who wrote and directed the pilot. "Just getting to work and be around such an intelligent, awesome, smart, funny director was a dream come true," she said, "He's amazing, and he's the best dancer I've ever met...He has the bendiest knees I've ever seen."
While the writer/director/producer/actor/dancer is "busy doing this small little movie called Avengers 2: Age of Ultron," Bennet said Joss is still very much a presence on set. "He's still an executive producer, so he still has a huge say in what happens on the show. We get to see him every once in a while."
And Bennet assured us that Joss's signature style will continue to permeate the series, as the show continues to get darker and deals with some "heavy stuff," of which we've so far only had a taste with Simmons' attempted suicide and the death of the fireman in "F.Z.Z.T."
"In true Marvel fashion, most of the stuff that we do touch on is very dark, heavy stuff, but there's also still a lightness to it, you know, even in the darkest moments one of Joss's signature things is to at least make us laugh. We'll see some darker stuff from Ward's past, along with me," she explained. "Everything gets tied in in the next couple of episodes. Episode 10 is a big, big cliffhanger. I can't wait for everyone to see that. It was torture for me to wait for the next script after reading 10, so I can't imagine what the audiences are going to think. They rocked it."
As for the mystery surrounding Coulson coming back from the dead, Bennet doesn't even know the whole truth, but she was able to tell us that some answers about what happened in Tahiti will come in the next couple of episodes. And she's also in the dark when it comes to Skye's parents. "I don't know, maybe I could have been Captain America's long-lost daughter, and Chris Evans could be my dad. That would be very weird," she said. "Everyone's going to have to tune in and watch. I can't tell you, because it's Level 7. I don't even have Level 7 access. I'm just a consultant!"
Bennet was also pretty tight-lipped when it came to tonight's episode, which will deal with the aftermath of the events in Thor 2: The Dark World, but teased that it will be a "big episode for Ward" and his backstory, and that it will involve the team finding an Asgardian relic that causes extreme internal and external rage to anyone who touches it. "And ladies can expect to see Brett Dalton with no shirt on, so if you didn't have a reason to watch it, now you do!" Bennet teased. (Sold!)
Finally, Bennet reveals to us which Avenger she'd want to see hang with the S.H.I.E.L.D. gang. "I love Robert Downey Jr. We need to petition to get him on the show." Now that is one petition we will totally sign.
Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. airs tonight at 8 p.m. on ABC.