The Consultant (2011) and A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Thor's Hammer (2011) star Clark Gregg as Agent Phil Coulson and offer up brief, self-contained stories about a day in the life of a S.H.I.E.L.D.

[2] Co-producer Brad Winderbaum said they were a "fun way to experiment with new characters and ideas" and expand the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) beyond the plots of the feature films.

[8] Guardians of the Galaxy director James Gunn said a One-Shot was not included with the film due to lack of space on the disc.

Set after the events of Iron Man 2 and The Incredible Hulk,[2] Phil Coulson informs Jasper Sitwell that the World Security Council wishes for Emil Blonsky to be released from prison to join the Avengers Initiative.

At the 2011 San Diego Comic-Con, Marvel announced that The Consultant would appear exclusively on the Thor Blu-ray release on September 13, 2011.

[2][18] They are joined via archive footage by Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark / The Consultant, William Hurt as General Thaddeus "Thunderbolt" Ross, and Tim Roth as Emil Blonsky in his Abomination form.

The actor noticed that the One-Shots could then provide more information on Coulson, to "build the audience's relationship [with] him" and make his death in the film more impactful.

To help with this, Pearson included Sitwell in the short, who had a minor role in Thor, and had him and Coulson "brainstorming a way to deal with this red tape bureaucratic politics of the Avengers Initiative".

[3] Bennie and Claire, a down-on-their-luck couple, find a discarded Chitauri gun ("Item 47") left over from the attack on New York City in The Avengers.

Instead of killing the couple, Sitwell invites them to join S.H.I.E.L.D., with Bennie assigned to the R&D 'think-tank' to reverse engineer the Chitauri technology, and Claire becoming Blake's assistant.

[4] It was directed by Marvel Studios co-president Louis D'Esposito, written by Eric Pearson,[4] and features music by Christopher Lennertz.

[7] One year after the events of Captain America: The First Avenger,[15] Strategic Scientific Reserve Agent Peggy Carter is stuck compiling data instead of working field cases.

The case line rings again, this time with Howard Stark on the other end, who tells Flynn to inform Carter that she will co-head the newly created S.H.I.E.L.D.

The short introduces Bradley Whitford as Agent John Flynn and Iron Man 3 director Shane Black as the Disembodied Voice.

[15] The short was filmed over five days,[21] and reused visual effects shots of 1940s New York from Captain America: The First Avenger to save money.

[20][7] Trevor Slattery was arrested at the end of Iron Man 3 and is now held in Seagate Prison where he is living luxuriously, with his own personal "butler", Herman, as well as a fan club of other inmates who protect him.

[27] The film stars Ben Kingsley as Trevor Slattery, reprising his role from Iron Man 3; Scoot McNairy as Jackson Norriss, a member of the Ten Rings terrorist organization posing as a documentary filmmaker;[16][25] Lester Speight as Herman;[25] and Sam Rockwell as Justin Hammer, reprising his role from Iron Man 2.

[29] Pearce and producer Stephen Broussard had the idea for the short during the production of Iron Man 3, to provide a "fresh take" on the Mandarin character.

[11] Cindy White of IGN was intrigued by The Consultant and felt the "snappy dialogue seems to fit right in with what we expect from a Joss Whedon-ized Avengers movie.

Shaffer at IGN said A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Thor's Hammer was fun,[38] while Zachary Scheer wrote for CinemaBlend that the short was "as hackneyed as that title.

It's about four minutes of Coulson being a badass, if the definition of 'badass' is performing needless slow-motion action stunts and then pausing to consider something normal people would consider—like which donuts to buy.

"[39] Collider's Andre Dellamorte said Item 47 was silly,[40] while William Bibbiani of CraveOnline found it to be a success, highlighting the performances of Hernandez, Bradford, and Caplan.

[45] IGN's Cliff Wheatley gave All Hail the King a 9.4 out of 10, and described it as a "return to the loveable personality of the hapless Trevor and a step forward for the larger Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Kingsley once again shines in the role of Slattery, aloof and ignorant, but more than happy to slide back into Mandarin mode if it will please his adoring fans.

"[46] Andrew Wheeler of ComicsAlliance criticized the way homosexuality was presented in the short, given it was Marvel Studios' first attempt to bring LGBT concepts into the MCU.

However, D'Esposito noted that a story about Loki would be complicated by how costly it is to portray Asgard, while for Fury and Black Panther they would have to cast new actors and design costumes.

"[5] In February 2014, Pearce mentioned other shorts that he had written that never came to fruition, including ones based on Sin and Crossbones, Jessica Jones, and Damage Control.

[49] In September 2015, he added that with the MCU expanding to three feature films a year they would struggle to find the "time and place" to make more content than that, despite their continued discussions about potential future One-Shots.

[54] In June 2023, Nicholas Pillay of Comic Book Resources opined that Marvel should create new One-Shots to debut on Disney+, as it would provide additional value to the service's subscribers, while being able to expand the wider MCU as the original shorts did.