'S.H.I.E.L.D.' leads into 'Avengers' sequel

Brian Truitt | USA TODAY

Rites of spring nowadays: Chirping birds, sunny weather and a Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. crossover with a blockbuster superhero movie.

The ABC show sent its characters on a roller coaster of betrayal and intrigue last year when Captain America: The Winter Soldier dismantled the title secret organization of S.H.I.E.L.D., though the latest scenario won't be a "nuclear" option, says executive producer Jeff Bell.

The next two episodes, beginning Tuesday (9 ET/PT), will have Easter eggs, plot threads and other connective tissue leading into the opening scene of Avengers: Age of Ultron, in theaters May 1.

Ultron co-star Cobie Smulders reprises her role as former S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Maria Hill on the series, and the May 5 episode will bring the Avengers aftermath back to the small screen "for the five people who don't see the movie that week," says Bell.

He jokes that S.H.I.E.L.D. isn't getting destroyed again — and neither is the rival faction "Real S.H.I.E.L.D." — but various subplots will converge. Phil Coulson (Clark Gregg), who was introduced in the movies but is now on the run from Real S.H.I.E.L.D. with his posse, makes a move toward an uneasy alliance with Grant Ward (Brett Dalton), a member his team who was revealed as an enemy Hydra agent during the Winter Soldier crossover.

"We've been planning all season how can we get Ward back into the mix where we need him in a way where he has to say yes and we have to have him, and yet neither side can fully trust each other," says Bell.

Meanwhile, the concept of super-powered Inhumans has been introduced and fleshed out as Skye (Chloe Bennet) learns how to deal with her new earthquake-inducing abilities, and meets the mother she thought was dead. She and Lincoln (Luke Mitchell) end up getting caught in the fray in the civil war among the various S.H.I.E.L.D. groups.

Having Inhumans on the show — before the Inhumans movie planned for 2019 — is part of the expansion of powered folks in the Marvel cinematic universe, Bell says. The closing-credits scene of Winter Soldier showed the superhuman experiments of Hydra's Baron Wolfgang von Strucker (Thomas Kretschmann) and Dr. List (Henry Goodman), which also ties into the Avengers sequel. And List has appeared on S.H.I.E.L.D. this season.

"As Ward goes into Hydra and makes connections, there are ways for Coulson to find information that we feel will be very rewarding for people who go and see the movie," says Bell.

As for Coulson's mysterious "Theta Protocol" project, Bell teases that "we wouldn't be doing our jobs as storytellers if we didn't pay that off before we're done with the season."

Coulson and Real S.H.I.E.L.D. leader Robert Gonzales (Edward James Olmos) will have to see eye to eye for a little while so their teams can deal with the Hydra threat, and Bell reveals that the events in the movie impact how one group feels about the other.

"What we love is both these sides have really good points, and they both want to do the right thing, and yet clearly they have differences," says Bell, adding that the tense situation resolves itself in a "logical but surprisingly cool way."

Various story lines come together, bodies start to fall and loyalties shift leading up to S.H.I.E.L.D.'s two-hour May 12 season finale. And things are going to get downright emotional.

"There's some amazing action, but there are a couple parts that I think people will just be surprisingly moved by," Bell says. "What we can do in TV really well is make you care about people and invest in them deeply, and then rip your guts out."