There's Already A 'Civil War' On 'S.H.I.E.L.D.'

While Marvel fans are busy counting down the days until May 6, when Captain America: Civil War is released, they may not realize that another superhero battle is already happening — and I'm not talking about Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. As star Clark Gregg explained during a WonderCon appearance, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. has a civil war of its own raging on every Tuesday night. “I like the way that we have our own version of a civil war brewing within our own team with Inhumans and some of them seeming to move in a Hydra-ish direction,” Gregg said.

Throughout Season 3, viewers have watched the Inhumans struggle against those who either don't understand their powers or want to use them as weapons, and it's no coincidence that Marvel's ABC series is dealing with themes similar to Civil War. Jeph Loeb, head of Marvel Television, said that Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. introduced Inhumans exactly when it did for a reason.

The reality is that we have in many ways been dealing with a very similar storyline that’s been going on since we introduced the Inhumans. This was a show that started with the idea that not all heroes are super. Now one of our team members, Agent Johnson, is someone who has powers. The idea of the question between humanity and inhumanity, how they’re going to get along and whether or not they should be controlled, whether or not they should be cured, which is part of the Simmons storyline, is all leading to that inevitable question, which is what do you do in the real world when people are different? That is the heart of what Civil War is about and it’s the heart of what our show is about right now.

Captain America: Civil War is expected to deliver an epic superhero battle, but on TV, it's going to take a while to reach such a conflict. Though there will be fights, Loeb said that on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., there’s more time to reflect on the themes of civil war.

"Hopefully, the message that you’re getting from watching our show is that tolerance is actually the best answer," he said. "Marvel always works best when we take the real world and we go through the Marvel prism. You come out and you take things that are happening and give them a different way of looking at it. When you think about it, what’s going on in this country and what’s going on in the world, our intolerance and tolerance towards each other has never been turned up as bright."

Now, some of Marvel's biggest movie heroes and TV agents will make that light even brighter as Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. continues and the Avengers prepare for Civil War.

Images: Kelsey McNeal/ABC (2)