When Marvel announced back in August that Jason O’Mara would be playing the new boss on Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D., it came with a tease that he’d be a character whose “roots go back to the 1940s.” That pretty clearly implied some connection to Captain America, but it wasn’t clear what that connection would be until last week’s episode of Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. indicated that O’Mara’s character is Jeffrey Mace—an old Marvel hero better known as the Patriot who briefly took the Captain America name. Now, as reported by Entertainment Weekly, Marvel has confirmed that O’Mara really is playing Jeffrey Mace, so everybody who accurately called it two months ago can give themselves a hearty pat on the back.
The big question here, though, is what O’Mara playing the Patriot actually means for the show. We know the character on S.H.I.E.L.D. has powers—unlike the Jeffrey Mace of the comics—but was he a costumed crimefighter in this universe? Or will he become one? We have no idea, but knowing this show, it’ll probably drag out any sort of reveal for as long as it possibly can. Then the Marvel movies will completely ignore anything that happens on the show, as has become the norm.
Also, for those who can’t keep the many Captains America straight, Mace was the third guy to carry the name. He shouldn’t be confused with the guy who wore a tri-corner hat, and he’s also not the guy who joined up with a right-wing terrorist group that was not-so-subtly based on the Tea Party movement, although bringing him in would have introduced some uncomfortable parallels with this presidential election. That could’ve been fun.