Coulson isn’t too fond of the new SHIELD Director Jeffrey Mace, also known as Patriot to comic book fans. It was revealed early on that he’s an inhuman with super strength, but he revealed to the world his new identity during Agents of SHIELD Season 4 episode 5, “Lockup.”
Mace has even more ties to Captain America: Civil War than we originally thought. In the second episode of Agents of SHIELD season 4, we found out Agent Coulson was hoping Steve Rogers would take over as the new Director, but since he’s gone MIA after the Sokovia Accords and the aftermath of Civil War, Jeffrey Mace was the next best thing.
In the comics, Mace is not only known as Patriot. At one point, he even took the name of Captain America during one of the hero's many absences. But Agents of SHIELD is putting their own twist on the character, giving him new origins. Mace was never an inhuman in the comics and we learn he actually had a more of role in Captain America: Civil War -- thanks to Jemma.
During an interview with Senator Nadeer on national TV, Mace asks for Jemma’s help and hooks up an intercom so she can feed him answers to questions about inhumans. At one point, he shuts off his earpiece and tells a story about saving a woman during the UN bombing in Vienna (as seen in Civil War, killing King T'Chaka of Wakanda at the signing of the Sokovia Accords. )
Jemma catches Mace in a lie and confronts him about it. Turns out, Mace wasn’t telling the whole truth about his involvement in the Vienna incident. It’s definitely something Mace wants to keep hush hush; he cancelled all of Jemma’s lie detector tests so the secret won't get out. Finally, Jemma has some leverage on the new mysterious director. This could be a good thing for Coulson and the old team, especially considering Quake and Ghost Rider are helping SHIELD on a secret mission.
Mace clearly has an identity he doesn’t want people to know and it could have something to do why Coulson really doesn’t like the guy. Any ideas on what Mace could be hiding? Let us know in the comments below!
Agents of SHIELD airs Tuesdays at 10 p.m. on ABC.
