For seven seasons, Chloe Bennet starred as Daisy Johnson/Quake on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Since the series ended in 2020, fans have been desperate to see her powerful character appear in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, a testament to how loved she remains today. I had the incredible opportunity to interview the actress at NYCC about her connection with the show’s fans, stepping into a role that allowed young women of color to feel seen within the franchise, and more.
The first thing I want to ask you is what a character like Daisy would have meant to you growing up, and what do you think would have resonated with you the most?
Chloe Bennet: I think the thing about Daisy is that I did grow up with her. She feels disconnected, like I’m a fan of hers in a way. I have a relative amount of cognitive dissonance with her because I think her character and her storyline were so outside of me, and I think that she raised me a little bit, and the story raised me and the fandom. And so, I think it means as much as it does to everyone else as a fan, weirdly, because I felt like so much of her was created by people around me. So, I learned so much from her.
What does it mean to be at NYCC with a panel so many years after Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.ended and still see that love and support? I mean, watching you meet with fans was really something special.
It’s everything. I mean, it’s not just a show. I think sometimes people come and meet people for a celebrity element, but I think these characters mean something to the fans way past anything regarding celebrity, and I feel like there’s a connection between S.H.I.E.L.D. fans and us that goes beyond the show. I think it’s like this unspoken bond that we have because I think each character represents so much, and there’s a character for every type of person. I don’t know, for me, especially Daisy with young women, I think when I was playing her, there were so many times where I felt so alone. I mean, from the beginning, with great power comes a lot of weird crap that you are not prepared to deal with.
That’s a very emblematic statement for the rest of the show because I was also just a kid trying to grow into my newfound, I guess, public life and responsibility, and my responsibility is all of a sudden being a role model for people when I just felt like a kid myself and [was] trying to find my footing in an industry that’s really difficult and is not particularly good to young women. Find myself and my confidence within my own heritage, within being mixed race, and what that means to me, what that means to other people. So I learned so much through this process, through being her. And so, it’s weirdly not surprising to still — it’s been really special, but also it makes sense that we still have this connection between the fandom and everyone else involved in making it.
I know when I was a fan growing up, Marvel wasn’t really a girl’s thing, let alone the chance to see a female, specifically a woman of color, on the screen — I didn’t have that until you. So how does it feel to hear fans feel seen because of you, knowing you brought that to the franchise?
I think it’s everything. I didn’t have that either, and the only woman of color I knew on screen ended up working side by side with me. As a huge Mulan fan and growing up as a little Chinese girl from the South Side of Chicago, I constantly, like a lot of young women of color, had to try to see myself through white men and try to relate. And there’s something that happens over time when you continuously see yourself in the background, not the leader, not the hero, and it does something to your psyche when you consistently see that. I think that’s why so many straight white men have so much unearned confidence. But for me, to get to do that was really, really amazing. Amazing to me, as the little girl who didn’t have that either. Yeah, so I understand what it is like to feel seen. So, to step into that role is the only reason I do this.
All episodes of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. are available to stream on Disney+.
