One of the nagging questions at fans for quite some time when it comes to the S.H.I.E.L.D. TV show, should the pilot go to series, is just when does it take place. While we know Clark Gregg is signed on to the show as the lead of an ensemble cast, there’s still murky questions about when it could take place and how it would interact with the larger Marvel Cinematic Universe. Part of that has finally been answered as ABC President Paul Lee commented on it during some conference material recently, stating:

“There is no question that it is part of the Marvel Universe. In fact, the story takes place after the battle for New York.”

He also went on to talk about how the show has to jive with what’s going on in the larger universe but craft its own stories and connections while not radically altering something that could cause confusion if you watch the mainline features as well.

“This is S.H.I.E.L.D. They’re following their own particular stories. There are characters in it, Coulson, who clearly come from Avengers. So it’s part of the world, but we’re going to be very, very careful that we don’t tread on the toes of the features and build a whole new world. And that’s what Joss Whedon does better than anybody else. He’s built a world for us.”

All of this still leaves us with the Coulson question though, and hopefully that will get answered sooner rather than later so we can all just get on with enjoying what we see coming out of the pilot.