ABCWe had a feeling that Creel's eventual return to Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. would be a big deal, but we had no idea that the Absorbing Man's existence could fundamentally alter the fabric of the series.
But that's just the possibility tonight's new episode of the ABC hit presented when FitzSimmons began playing around with his blood in the lab—making a discovery that could lead to a civil war within S.H.I.E.L.D. before that other, bigger Civil War makes its way to the series.
We learned tonight that, when Fitz (Iain De Caestecker) and Simmons (Elizabeth Henstridge) mixed a blood sample from Creel (Brian Patrick Wade)—the only known human with powers, now working as Gen. Talbot's (Adrian Pasdar) heavy—with a sample of Daisy's (Chloe Benent) pre-Terrigenesis as it was introduced to a Terrigen crystal, something in Creel's blood acted as a blocker for the process. Yeah, it stopped Terrigenesis from happening. Of course, the implications of this are huge. The pair may not have found a cure, but they sure are on their way to a possible vaccine for those who carry the alien DNA. We've already seen Daisy and Lincoln (Luke Mitchell) spar over whether this could be a good thing or not—and its a safe bet the heavy discussions have only just begun.
"To be perfectly honest, I don't know exactly how he does feel," Mitchell said during a recent visit to set. "If you could have a prevention, if we could track down every single person who had Inhuman DNA and present them with the choice of, 'Hey, you might turn into a horrible bad person or you could have awesome powers and potentially save the world: Which way do you go when it's not guaranteed one way or another?' I think it's a really interesting topic. Yeah, I'm not sure that Lincoln necessarily has a side, but Daisy certainly seems to take the side of 'everything is a gift.'"
For De Caestecker and Henstridge, the potential discord for their characters is already beginning to also manifest in the actors' relationship. "They usually agree on most things, but they have clashed in the past, certainly when it came to Inhumans. But they seem to be able to get over most obstacles," De Caestecker said, optimistically. "I think throughout their relationship as well, which I think has always been quite nice, is they can always have a big fight and shout at each other, and then 10 minutes later be all right. It's that kind of relationship.
"That makes sense, but I do think that would be something that they would disagree on," Henstridge countered.
Regardless of any potential vaccine, star Clark Gregg could only marvel (no pun intended) over how current the show's debate feels when compared to the pesky real world. "If the things that society considers anomalous, in this moment, could take a shot and be like everybody else, would you take it? That's a fantastic question," he said. "There are those who think, 'Oh, yes, this is great! We can stop people from turning into something different.' And Daisy and a lot of people who are already different and are suffering the consequences of it, but who also have new powers, feel like, 'That already implies that you think something is wrong with us.' I don't know—that feels topical to me. What I love about Marvel and sci-fi is that we get to look at things that are going on through a prism that makes it something we can suddenly all look at differently."
That said, his excitement doesn't extend to the damage this new debate will almost certainly do to the world these characters live in. "I suspect this world, where there are Inhumans, is here to stay," Gregg added. "That's a development that's happening here, in our part of this world, and it seems like it's turning over a shovel and finding a lot of stuff to play with. I suspect that that will be the world we live in, and I'm also afraid that the way that's going to tear us apart has probably only begun to be seen."
Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. airs Tuesdays at 9 p.m. on ABC.