ABCCivil war is coming to Agents of S.H.I.E L.D.
Scratch that—the S.H.I.E.L.D. team has been at war with itself ever since Hive (Brett Dalton) began infecting the minds of Inhumans, beginning with our dear Daisy (Chloe Bennet), all in the quest to take over Earth. But with Captain America: Civil War set to hit theaters on May 6—and knowing that nothing in the Marvel Cinematic Universe exists in a vacuum—an even bigger battle is heading Coulson (Clark Gregg) and the gang's way. Battle lines will be drawn and, much like the Avengers on the big screen, everyone's going to wind up having to choose a side.
In the film, friends and allies Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) and Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) become enemies when a proposed Anti-Hero Registration Act (which would limit a hero's actions and force them to operate under governmental oversight) comes between them. Iron Man, feeling guilty for having created the maniacally destructive Ulton in The Avengers: Age of Ultron, supports the act. Cap does not.
During a recent visit to the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. set, each member of the cast was asked to consider whose side their character is on. What follows are their answers.
Iain De Caestecker (Leo Fitz): Hypothetically, you'd expect Fitz to be on the side of technology.
Elizabeth Henstridge (Jemma Simmons): Simmons would be Iron Man, right? I think he could be Cap, right?
De Caestecker: We're so scared doing interviews.
Ming-Na Wen (Melinda May): Oh. Hmm. Who's closer to Thor?
Nick Blood (Lance Hunter): Hmm, he's be Team Hunter. Yeah, I don't know that Hunter would involve himself in that sort of politics.
Henry Simmons (Mack): I think my guy would be against… well… I want to think about it more.
Luke Mitchell (Lincoln): Look, the easy answer is Lincoln wants to be a part of SHIELD. As long as Coulson's the director of SHIELD, I'm sure he's on Team Cap, therefore Lincoln would be on Team Cap. (to Simmons) Did that screw you up?
Simmons: I'm trying to think… yeah, I'll roll with that. I'll roll with that.
Simmons (answering a different question): If you look at everything involving these powers, it's been negative results, from his perspective — things that have happened to him and around him, it really hasn't been too positive. I still think he would be against it.
Reporter: So he probably would be Team Iron Man, then.
Simmons: You might be right!
Brett Dalton: Hive, I don't know where he stands with that whole thing. In some ways, you're having humans—well, I guess they're sort of—I mean, I don't know. It could just be something, "Oh, the humans are fighting again." I think he's even above that. This guy's been around for centuries, so he, I think, has a scope and a perspective that is well beyond what a normal person would have, even a century to him is, like, nothing.
Chloe Bennet: I'd be Team Cap. I think because she's Inhuman. Again, it's one of those things where it's, you know, we've had some tough, hard-hitting scenes about what does accepting people with powers or mutants or Inhumans, what does that mean? And we kind of equated it something of the LGBT community. You know, they're people that lot of people might not understand, and some people don't agree with it, but it's who they are and it's the way they were born. It's their blood. But at the same time, it brings in the debate over guns because these are also people who have very dangerous powers, and they can be dangerous, obviously. So it's a really, really tricky situation and both sides have the right to their opinion, but it might not always be—one side doesn't necessarily mean it's right. I think it's just, it's not black and white. So it's a little tricky, which is hard to play sometimes and it's hard to figure out where we stand, but I think we've kind of accepted that there is no black and white. Picking sides isn't as easy as it might seem.
And lastly, Clark Gregg with the mic drop: I think the Coulson from some of the earlier films especially would have just been, wherever Steve Rogers goes, I'm gonna be there with my cards, and at some point, I'm gonna get them signed. But I think what's amazing about doing this character for 70 episodes of television, and putting him at the lead of a no-longer-existing SHIELD that's hunted around the world is, you get a very different perspective. And what I love about what the writers have done is that they, rather than wait for something to cross over from one of the movies, they just exploded terrigenesis around the world and set up Secret Warriors, and set up an Inhuman outbreak that's different, frankly, from what's in the comics that I ever read. And so now he's having to deal with something that feels very topical to me, in that there are people that are suddenly evolving very differently from the rest of us, and there are forces in the world who want to exploit those people, and there are forces in the world who want to exterminate those people, and here's Coulson with the person who may be the closest thing he has to family and she's one of them. And he's getting closer to more people like that.
Gregg (con't): And at the same time, some of the most terrifying threats to this person that he cares most about are other Inhumans. And I don't know, that feels kind of topical at the moment. And I guess this goes back to try to answer your question, there are a lot of people saying very simple solutions to problems right now, that seem to get people very fired up, and it's usually about kind of identifying one group and then making everyone else the "other." And the other's a threat. And everyone I know, who I've been fortunate enough to meet who worked in the military or worked in police work, they don't see it that way. The people who really, you admire who do those jobs. Because when you get into the actual, practical logistics of that stuff, you see yourself in everyone. And there's no easy answers like that, so I think it's really going to depend, at such time as ever Coulson actually has to deal with what's going on in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, it's really going to depend what has happened here between now and then. Because here is what really, is where his focus is right now.
How do you think Civil War will alter Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. leading into the season finale? And whose answer above surprised you the most? Sound off in the comments below.
Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. airs Tuesdays at 9 p.m. on ABC.