The fact that there is a real group called the Rising Tide isn't the weirdest part. The real-life Rising Tide is also an Activist Group, and they don't seem too thrilled at the way the activist community in general is depicted in the Disney series. The Rising Tide has picked up chapters in the U.S., U.K., and Australia since their formation in 2000. The group estimate over fifty active local chapters in North America. They aim at combating climate change and reliance on fossil fuels through nonviolent direct action. The group claims Disney is co-opting their name and logo in their depiction of a shadowy cyber-terror group on the show. As you can see from the picture at the side, they both have pretty similar logos. The petition has gained over 800 signatures since last weekend. On its larger concerns about the way activists are portrayed in mainstream media and culture, the real Rising Tide said:
“In this spinoff of the popular Avengers movie series, Rising Tide is a shadowy cyber-terror group similar to Anonymous. Their role in the show is to expose super humans, like the Hulk and Thor, and secret government agencies like S.H.I.E.L.D. In our estimation, exposing governmental secrets and lies is a most worthy pastime and similar to what groups like WikiLeaks and Anonymous have done in real world. Unfortunately, the series plays to our mainstream culture’s fears around anarchists and radicals, and portrays the group as a threat to national security. Some reviews call the group ‘cyber-terrorists.’ This is par for the course in a Hollywood that uses pop culture to turn government agents into heroes and seekers of truth, justice and ecological sanity into evildoers."
Because it also appears to be an activist group, and one that is portrayed as a danger to the heroes of the show, the real Rising Tide doesn't want to share it's name with the Rising Tide of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
“The show’s shadowy main threat, as described in the publicity materials, has the same name as our group — it also has a logo that looks very similar to ours — and is described as a hacktivist group, similar to Anonymous,” said Parkin.
“[But] we’re very much above ground, and work with front line communities, including people who live next to mine sites or pipelines… We don’t want to be seen as a ‘shadowy terrorist organization.’” The Rising Tide hasn't heard from Disney regarding the 'issue' or even Marvel. But even though they haven't heard from them, they are getting a lot of hate from Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. fans on Social Networking sites like Twitter.
“On social media, we’ve actually gotten attacked quite a bit by fans of the show,” Parkin said.
“We’re getting tagged in tweets that tell us that we don’t know what we’re talking about, that they wish we’d go away.”
Clark Gregg reprises his role of Agent Phil Coulson from Marvel’s feature films as he assembles a small, highly select group of Agents from the worldwide law-enforcement organization known as S.H.I.E.L.D. Together they investigate the new, the strange, and the unknown across the globe, protecting the ordinary from the extraordinary. Coulson’s team consists of Agent Grant Ward (Brett Dalton), highly trained in combat and espionage, Agent Melinda May (Ming-Na Wen) expert pilot and martial artist, Agent Leo Fitz (Iain De Caestecker); brilliant engineer and Agent Jemma Simmons (Elizabeth Henstridge) genius bio-chemist. Joining them on their journey into mystery is new recruit and computer hacker Skye (Chloe Bennet). From Executive Producers Joss Whedon (“Marvel’s The Avengers,” ”Buffy the Vampire Slayer”); Jed Whedon & Maurissa Tancharoen, “Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” pilot co-writers (“Dollhouse,” “Dr.Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog”); Jeffrey Bell (“Angel,” “Alias”); and Jeph Loeb (“Smallville”) comes Marvel’s first TV series. “Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” is produced by ABC Studios and Marvel Television and will premiere on Tuesday, September 24th at 8:00 P.M. Eastern Time on ABC Network.